This is where snippets and comments go from people who've seen the DVD and have similar stories to tell. The creators of this Web site would like for this page to grow over time, so please come back soon and visit often.

Greetings - Sorry I am so late answering your email. We changed mail service and I didn't realize it was putting a lot of emails in the trash. I just got around to checking the trash.

I don't remember a Brown on the Zaniah. We had a Captain Brown on the Frazier(DD607) which I was assigned to before the Zaniah. He was an excellent skipper and was the one who rammed the Jap sub. I knew all the officers on the Zaniah but I didn't have much contact with the enlisted men.

The typhoon at Okinawa was an exciting experience. We were in blackout condition except we had one bow light and one stern light on. There was an LST that had lost both its anchors, so it had to stay underway in the harbor trying to keep from running into other ships. An LST( because of its flat bottom and a lot of freeboard to catch the wind) was very hard to control.They saw our bow light and stern light but didn't know there was a ship between them, so it tried to go between the two lights. Finally when they saw our ship they had to back down full to keep from hitting us. Can you imagine the strain that the skipper of that LST was under during the several hours he had to contend with trying to keep from causing a lot of damage.

I am 86 yrs old and in fairly good condition. I tell people I am growing old, bottom half first.  My legs are giving out on me, possibly due to the Polka dancing that I have done until recently. I still sing in two choirs though. I assume from your email that your father is no longer alive.

The DVD of my WWII experiences hasn't been selling too well. It probably needs better promotion. However, I did it because as the ships photographer, I had all those pictures and movies and it seemed a shame to not make them available for posterity.

It was good hearing from you.  

--- Jim Hampton

Thanks for the reply,

My dad wasn’t an officer, only a grunt. He died in 1998 after 13 good years of retirement. After the war he worked as at a full time position with the PA National Guard. He retired as a W4.

I had several conversations with him before his death and he told me about working on a ship, and I believe it was a carrier, after a Kamikaze had crashed into the ship. I was wondering if you know if there are records form the Zaniah that can be accessed to show what ships the crew worked on?

I assume that the carrier was what my dad called a”Baby Flattop” but I have no idea the name of the ship.

I am going to order your DVD, a copy for me and a copy for my brother, so look for the order.

 I wish my dad was still alive because since his death you are the second person that served on the Zaniah that I have been in contact with. I am sure he would have enjoyed contacted you and reminiscing about those times.

Growing up my dad spoke very little of his experiences during the war, he spoke more about my uncle that served in the 82nd airborne, did 4 jumps and is still alive at 85. I think that maybe my dad felt that his brother’s experiences were more important than his own. Just a guess. As a boy I probably saw it that way too but now at 47 realize that everyone of your generation that served during that time had an important job to perform. Without your contribution the world as we know probably would not exist.

I never told my dad.” Thanks for everything you did” But at least I can tell you and all the remaining WW2 vets that are still here.

Today when I read about what happened at that time and especially when I see the pictures of the men that served I realize that many were just boys. When I was 18 I was enjoying the fruits of what you and my dad sowed in your youth.

Again thanks for emailing me back and special thanks for what you did all those years ago. Good luck with your health.

--- Don B.

Hi Don,

When you get the DVD you will see near the end of it a destroyer that had taken 5 kamikazes.  When I first recorded that portion I couldn't remember the name of the destroyer. I called it the Haggard. It was actually the Hadley. I have since been in touch with two crew members of the Hadley. Their email site is usshadley@aol.com.  They are scheduled to have a reunion I think in Washington D C on May 10-14, 2007.  I am not planning to attend it and I doubt if there are very many young enough to attend. The Hadley had only about 1 year of life from the time it was commissioned as a new destroyer until it was too severely damaged to be repaired.

There is a picture that I took of the damaged Hadley as it was tied up to the Zaniah. I was on the bridge of the Zaniah at the time and the picture is looking down on the Hadley. There are a number of the Zaniah crew lined up along the side looking over the railing at the damage on the Hadley. I guess it is remotely possible that your dad was one of those looking over the railing.

I am not aware of the various ships that were repaired by the ship repair personnel on the Zaniah. I think the small escort carriers were designed mainly to ferry planes to the war zone.  However, they were sometimes used for air strikes. But it was very difficult to land on the small flight deck because the ship rolled and pitched a lot compared to the larger carriers. There were a lot of crashes of our own planes as they were trying to land on the rolling and pitching decks.  Its possible that the work your dad did was the result of our own planes causing damage.

Its been interesting rehashing some of these old memories with you. My son Rob helped me get started with the DVD about 5 years ago. He now has his own business teaching guitar. His web site is Heartwoodguitar.com. He built the business mainly via the Internet and is now getting 10,000 hits a day on his web site coming from all over the world including Iran and Russia. I am wondering what the world is going to be like when our grandchildren are in their 80's.

--- Jim Hampton

I must tell you I was extremely impressed. You had a great story to tell and you did a fine job in all aspects. Humor was present and the photography and music well timed and chosen. You have a DVD here that would be excellent for use on television, most likely with a PBS presentation.

--- Griff M.

I very much enjoyed your adventures in the WWII Navy. The ship names as well as a description of your duties on each would help bring back a lot of memories to WWII "old salts".

--- Fred W.

The shots of your farmer father and the "90-day Wonders" marching are wonderful. The story of the $25 from the Navy Relief Society was fun.

"Stand by to Ram" is a great title and story.

--- Norm M.

Your DVD brought back memories of my uncle, Captain John P. Cromwell who was a submarine "Wolf Pack Commander" and died in WWII.

--- Tom C.