To War in a Tin Can: A Memoir of World War II Aboard a Destroyer

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During World War II, James Patric served for two years aboard the destroyer USS George E. Badger. The ship, launched in 1918, was one of several hundred
mothballed
World War I four-pipers. As American involvement in World War II drew closer, most of them were re-activated for service in the US Navy; four-pipers such as the Badger were involved in reporting and tracking ships and aircraft approaching American shores, seizing Axis ships in American ports, occupying Greenland, and relieving the British from the defense of Iceland. The Badger was involved in every stage of the conflict, from pre-war Neutrality Patrol, escorting convoys, carrying Underwater Demolition Team 8, anti-submarine warfare (a pioneer hunter/killer), and pre-invasion (Frogmen) reconnaissance of South Pacific invasion beaches. This memoir weaves together the oral and written memories of James Patric, a Connecticut farmboy who was drafted in early 1943, with those of his shipmates on the Badger, supporting them with documents and historical records. The book records the ship’s role in worldwide conflict and traces the author’s evolution from raw peacetime civilian to veteran wartime sailor. Appendices list the muster rolls of the crew and commissioned officers.