Jack G. Franklin
Jack G. Franklin, Boatswain's mate 1/c, born Jan. 31, 1924, Shawnee,
OK. He joined the USN from Houston, TX, on his 17th birthday and was in
the West Virginia Dec. 7, 1941, when she sank. Transferred aboard USS
Minneapolis and participated in battles of Midway and Coral Sea. He
helped commission the battleship Indiana, then sought more direct
action transferring to landing crafts at Guadalcanal to make landings
from Russel Island through the Philippines. Ending the war at Buckner
Bay ducking kamikazes off Okinawa.
On December 7, "Away Fire and Rescue Party" was sounded to help the
burning Oglala. When SN Franklin rushed topside to man his boat
station, the first torpedo bomber released his torpedo and banked to
reveal the "Rising Sun" on his wings. Franklin ran to his 5"25 gun
station and fired the only shot fired from the Starboard AA Btry. that
day. He was suddenly elevated to "The Pointer" who pulled the trigger
from a lowly "Hot Case Man."
Released from the service in October 1945, graduated from Baylor
University as a preacher in 1950 (was a "Holy Joe" in the USN) and is
now an art buyer and gallery owner in Texas. Married five times and
has seven children and two grandchildren.
Reprinted with permission from Turner Publishing