US-Navy - A Boy A Ship and A War - The journal of a Tin-Can sailor, serving on the USS VanValkenburg
Learn about WWII from one who lived it. Claud Aldrich was a Tin-Can sailor, serving on the USS Van Valkenburg - named for the captain of the USS Arizona. The crew of the USS Van Valkenburg took the ghosts of USS Arizona with them into battle.
Claud was a poor boy, one of nine kids, seven boys and two girls. At 18, he was drafted in to the United States Navy, which was an entirely new world to him. He knew nothing about life outside his home. It was a rude awakening for him, to shape up to the facts of life on a warship in a time of war. Learning to be in harm's way and survive was a hard life's lesson to learn, but if you didn't learn it - you didn't ever go home.
Proud, very proud to be one of the 'greatest generation!'