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DON MACPHERSON - In 1937 I entered UCLA as a freshman & decided
to make engineering
my major. I went out for football & made the team. I
later learned that UCLA did
not give four years of engineering & I didn t want to
transfer to U.C. Berkley
so I changed my major to geology. UCLA inaugurated a
Naval ROTC course when I was
a sophomore & I decided to take that rather than the
mandatory Army ROTC course
which was required for the first two years. I think the
two reasons for changing
to the Navy were that the uniforms looked better & it
was necessary to march only
once a week instead of twice a week as required by the
Army. Football players were
able to get jobs as extras in the movies. At that time
extras were paid $10.50
per day & $25.00 if you got a line, which seemed like
a fortune. As an extra I
played in a number of movies including "Knute
Rockne All-American". Ronald Reagan
was the Gipper in the movie, & of course became
President of the United States.
I remember playing a part in raiding Mrs. Rockne s icebox,
and another scene in
which we practiced in Rockne s backyard with
chairs, developing what came to be
known as the "Rockne Shift". This movie
is still shown in the early morning hours.
After I graduated in the fall of 1942. I received a
commission of Ensign in the
Navy by mistake sent to a school on Treasure Island in
San Francisco Bay. The
school was designed to train young businessmen going into
the Navy in 90 days.
They called these officers "90-Day Wonders".
Since I had taken ROTC courses for
four years I was the star in school. I knew the
communications, navigation & was
a platoon leader in marching. I was over in Frisco almost
every night having a
good time. This went on for about 4 to 6 weeks until my
desire to get into the
war overcame all these benefits. I finally confessed to
the CO that I was put there
by mistake. He wired Washington & orders came
back for me to report to the USS
Chicago, a heavy
cruiser. It was in dry dock at Mare Island & did not have a bow.
Her bow had been knocked off in the initial landing of Guadalcanal.
She received
a temporary bow in Australia & came back to Mare
Island to get a permanent one.
Once I saw it I began to wonder if it had been a good
idea to inform the CO about
the mistake. Went aboard uncertain as to what lay ahead.
We left San Francisco
for the South Pacific between Christinas & New
Year s of 1942. My feelings of doubt
continued as we left the Golden Gate behind. About
halfway to our destination,
Noumea, New Caladonia, we had gunnery practice. My station was in Turret Two
officer's compartment. There was only room for one person
but two of us crammed
inside. The Lt. in charge didn't seem too interested in
transmitting any information
to me. I looked out of the periscope most of the time we
were in training. One
day I arrived at Turret Two only to find that the Lt. had
the flu. I sat in his
seat looked at the knobs & dials in complete
confusion. With earphones I was
connected with the Captain, gunnery officer & the
director station below where
the guns were controlled. The order came to train 090. I
had no idea what to do.
All the 20 & 40-mm guns & the 3 8-in. guns of
Turret One went to the right, but
the 3 8in. guns of Turret Two went to the left. Never
heard so much yelling and
screaming over the earphones directed towards me, Ensign Macpherson.
I cracked
the hatch to see what Turret One was doing & did the
same thing from then on. It
was a bad thing for the Navy but a good thing for me.
That was the only time my
name was brought to the attention of the senior officers.
In general, they favored
the Annapolis guys whenever job assignments were
issued. (About 2 weeks later we
were sunk off of Guadalcanal). Considering all
options, I was certain I was getting
nowhere on the Chicago. We went down to Noumea,
New Caladonia & joined 5 other
cruisers. Together within a circle of destroyers went up
the west side of
Guadalcanal. About
that time the Japs decided to take their troops off Guadalcanal.
They were headed south & our purpose was to intercept
them when they tried to return
to the north. I was junior officer of the deck & my
station was in the Conning
Tower. My one duty was to sound the alarm when general
quarters were called. I
was so unimportant that I didn't even have to wait to be
relieved. The reason for
the GQ was a group
of Japanese planes were coming dropping torpedoes on us from
the east.
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