Fred Kazetsky was a member of the original crew of the USS West Virginia in 1923.
Born: |
October 29, 1899 |
1917 |
Machinist School – Ford Motorcar Co., Detroit, Michigan |
1919 |
Employed
Packard Motor Company as a machinist
|
4-26-21 |
Enlisted into the Navy as Machinist Mate Second Class at the Houston
Naval Recruiting Station |
5-6-21 |
Arrived
Naval Training Station Hampton Roads, VA and received Ship AK-1, USS
HOUSTON. HOUSTON was assigned Trans-Pacific duty. Sailed from
Philadelphia and Norfolk, thru Panama Canal, to San Francisco,
Pearl Harbor, Guam arriving Manila 22 Oct 1921. Arrived
San
Francisco 11 Jan 1922. (AK-1 decommissioned 23 Mar 1922) |
5-23-22 |
Received
Ship BB-38 USS PENNSYLVANIA at Mare Island, CA
|
9-5-22 |
Arrived Naval Training Station, Hampton Roads, VA |
11-23-23 |
Graduated
from United States Navy Machinist Mate School, Naval Training Station,
Hampton Roads, Virginia as Machinist Mate 1st Class
|
11-30-23 |
Received
Ship BB-48 USS WEST VIRGINIA. WEST VIRGINIA was completed
12-1-23. Fred was MM1st Class of her first crew, a PLANK OWNER,
and served on the WEST VIRGINIA until his Honorable Discharge from the
Navy. |
4-25-25 |
Received Honorable Discharge from the Navy |
The above information about Fred’s Naval Record
was taken from the backside of his Discharge Certificate. By the way,
AK-1 was the first USS HOUSTON, most folks have never heard about. She
was a German freighter that was trapped in Charleston Harbor at the
outbreak of WWI. She stayed there, anchored with her crew for about a
year when the crew finally ran out of stores, scuttled the ship, and
left. The next day the US Navy raised her, refitted her, and she became
a shuttle ship between the two oceans via the Panama Canal with her last
cruise in the Pacific.
From Don Minzenmayer, son-in-law
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