By Ken Raymond
The Oklahoman
Old sailors swap memories of a scary time. Carl Wallace still remembers it clearly.
The kamikaze plane came out of the sun, whizzing toward the USS Intrepid as if unconcerned by the aircraft carrier's guns, which scored hits even as he watched.
"I'd seen the thing a'coming," said Wallace, 82, of Evansville, Ind. "We'd knocked one wing off it, but it kept coming. ... When it hit, it blew me down the hatch. Tore my arm up. That's how I got my Purple Heart."
The suicide attack was followed minutes later by another. On Nov. 25, 1944, about 70 men perished and 85 were seriously injured in what the USS Intrepid Association has dubbed "the blackest day" in the ship's history.
And Wallace can't forget.
In a way, those memories are what brought Wallace to Oklahoma City this week for a reunion of Intrepid veterans from World War II and Vietnam. The reunion continues through Sunday at the Embassy Suites hotel, 1815 S Meridian Ave.
"We talk with one another all the time," Wallace said.
"We share memories, inquire all the time," said Keith Butterfield, 79, a World War II vet from Colleyville, Texas. "It's our chance to find out how everyone's doing."
Surprisingly, many of the memories center on minor aspects of ship life. Wallace drew laughs describing how he hated the powdered milk on board so much that he tried to make real milk by mixing it with 10 pounds of butter.
John Morgan, 80, of Rowlett, Texas, said his most vivid memory of the war is the time his commanding officer caught him sneaking a bit of liquor.
"I was taking a drink out of my locker, and my commander came by and tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'Save one of those for me,'" Morgan said. "After action, you know, you want to take a drink."
But Francis E. Tetreault mainly recalls the fear.
"I couldn't understand," said Tetreault, who has lived in Oklahoma City since 1945. "After we got them suicides (kamikazes), I couldn't understand why they were doing that. They weren't proving anything. One of them would drop flares on one side so another could attack you on the other side. You stayed awake all the time."
In recent years, the Intrepid is perhaps most famous to New York City residents and tourists as a military museum. The ship has resided at Pier 86 for decades, allowing visitors to explore life aboard an aircraft carrier and examine vintage and later- model military aircraft.
The museum has closed for two years to allow repairs to the pier and ship, but will reopen in 2008.
"We always have a national reunion every year," said New Jersey resident Charles Wladyka, 59, a past president of the USS Intrepid Association. "Usually it's on the ship. Back in the early 90s, when we were a young organization, we started encouraging local chapters to have their own reunions.
"This has grown, and now we have probably five or six regional reunions like this one every year."
Bill Diedrich, who organized the Oklahoma City reunion this year, met Wladyka for the first time this week -- or so he thought. Friday, the men realized they served at the same time and used to pass each other in the mess hall.
That's what it's all about, Diedrich said.
"They come from all over," he said. "I've got them from New York, Texas, Indiana and Florida. It's just good conversation and good fun."
