Note to my loyal reader(s):
There’s nothing really new in this chapter about my “investigations” into my father’s military service, and I’m only adding it now because I wrote it for continuity sake for a PDF version of my Blog that I am putting together. The PDF is divided into sections that are more or less chronological in order. If you would like a copy, just send me an email at billdubiak@verizon.net and I’ll attach one in the reply. Of course you will need the latest version of Adobe Reader to view and or print it. Be sure to scan it for viruses, as you should all attachment files nowadays – I’ll scan the file before it goes out.
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I looked at the documents that the Navy sent me as the first few pieces of a real-life puzzle that I felt needed to be assembled. There were ten sheets of paper, photo-copies of pages from dad’s service record that spanned a period in his life that before this time were a complete void to me. The enlistment contract, or one just like it, I had seen before when I joined the Navy in 1970. Not much in that document had changed over the years. This one was dated January 21, 1942, and it contained very little information that I didn’t already know about him. It was for a two year enlistment in the Naval Reserve, but the document had been stamped with an appendage to the oath of allegiance stating, “I further obligate myself to serve throughout the war or national emergency, if so required.”
Next came a summary sheet dated May 4, 1950 and addressed to “To whom it may concern.” It had been prepared by the Discharged Naval Personnel Records branch of the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Garden City, New York. On the page were listed 8 different stations with dates and codes for various actions such as transfer and receiving. He had reported to the Navy Recruiting Station in Philadelphia on January 21, 1942 and arrived at the Naval Training Station in Newport RI that same day. Six days later he was received (R) there, and less than a month later on February 18 he was transferred (T) to Comm Inshore Patrol in Boston, MA and quickly handed off to R/S, NYD., in Boston. On March 1 he arrived at the Boston Section Base at Lockwood Basin and finally ended up at MTBS Training Center, Newport (Melville) RI on April 17, 1942. Having been in the Navy, I assume that somewhere between all of those transfers he underwent a battery of tests and received some sort of basic training, but nowhere near the 13 weeks Seamanship training or the 18 weeks of electronics training that I had received.
I have tried to glean whatever I could from descriptions whenever they were provided for each station; for example at the Boston Section Base at Lockwood Basin, he was transferred to the C.O. BosSecBase FFT (for further transfer) Mine Assembly Unit, Hinghan(m), Capt. R.C. Grady. It’s fruitless to speculate, but at this time in the war U-boats were placing all manner of explosive mines up and down the east coast of the United States, so perhaps he was being trained to deal with them.
My dad arrived at the new Motor Torpedo Boat (MTBS) Training Center at Portsmouth RI on April 17, 1942. Contained in the documents are no indications or clues of any training provided, but there is one promotion on May 21 and a string of disciplinary actions after that, leading up to a Bad Conduct Discharge on December 9, 1942. On April 24, 1942 he went AWOL for four days and 20 minutes, and after a Captain’s Mast conducted by Lt. D.J. Walsh, was confined in the brig for 5 days on bread and water. Less than one month later, Lt. D.J. Walsh promoted him to Seaman 2nd Class. In September he went AWOL again for 8 days, and on September 18 1942 in “Deck Court” held by Lt. D.J. Walsh he plead guilty and received 10 days confinement, and loss of pay of 10 dollars for two months. Finally in November he was AWOL for 4 hours and apparently had been arrested driving a stolen car, and two days later plead that he did “unlawfully take, drive, and operate an automobile, the property of John Hogan, Usher Place, Bristol RI.” The Court-Martial was held by now Lt. Cmdr. D.J. Walsh.
One month later, on December 9, 1942 Edward Dubiak was discharged from the Navy with a Bad Conduct Discharge signed by D. J. Walsh, paid $34.28 by the disbursing officer, one Ensign G.C. Ferguson, and notified to report to his local draft board.
There was one other document in dad’s service record, a copy of a letter sent by the Bureau of Naval Personnel to the Headquarters of the Anitaircraft Artillery Training Center, at Camp Stewart GA dated September 18, 1944. It was written in reply to a request August 29 by the Army Assistant Adjutant General, Major W.A. Rugg for a report on the circumstances of discharge from the United States Navy in 1942 of Seaman Second Class Edward Dubiak. Why, I wondered, was the Army doing a background check on my father at this time? My first thought was that he had gotten into further trouble, perhaps finding himself in an Army stockade for AWOL or some other reason, but his Army transcript that he received after the war clearly states that on September 6, 1944 he qualified Expert with the M-1 rifle on the rifle range. It didn’t make sense to me that a soldier confined in the stockade or awaiting trial, would be allowed to fire a rifle. The only other explanation is that he was being trained for something secret, that required a background investigation.
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