The Reminiscences of Roger L. Bond

In this engaging memoir, based on two interviews conducted by Paul Stillwell in October 1987, former Quartermaster 3rd Class Bond serves as a representative for hundreds of thousands of enlisted men whose only active military service was during World War II. He enlisted in the Navy in 1942, took boot training at San Diego, and then reported to the destroyer USS Saufley (DD-465). He was on board for operations around the Solomons late in 1942. In 1943 he joined the navigation gang of the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3), which had been in commission since 1927. Bond paints a vivid word picture of the living and working conditions in a ship that was outdated but still called upon to take part in a modern war. He talks about the ship's air operations against the Japanese, including a stint in the Indian Ocean with the British. He provides a valuable discussion of the professionalism of the ship's quartermasters. Detached from the Saratoga in 1945, Quartermaster Bond was attached to the patrol craft USS PCE(R)-858, commonly known as a "Peecer," and served during her shakedown cruise, training cruises, and her role in minesweeping operations around Japan after the war was over. He was discharged in 1946 and had a successful career in the trucking industry.