Ervin W. Goss enlisted in the Navy on October 7, 1942. He served on the USS IDAHO and the USS DAMATO, which he had books about, and also served on the WHIPPET. Ervin fired the boilers, which was called 'Water Tender Second', then during the Korean War they changed it to 'Boiler Technician', same job, different name.
After Boot Camp in San Diego, he was sent to Machinists Mate School at Las Cruces, New Mexico early in 1943.
Ervin went to 'Oil Burning School' in Philadelphia at the end of January of 1945.
Then Ervin was assigned to the Whippet, which was an old converted Liberty Ship, a tanker. They were in the Phillipines until the summer of 1946. When they got back to San Francisco, they decommissioned it and put it in the graveyard. Then while on temporary duty there in San Fransico, he helped decommission the Cruiser, Vincennes, which was there in the yard.
Then Ervin was discharged on December 8th, 1946. He was discharged late, it was supposed to be December 3rd, which unfortunately is the day he died in 1993, and his service was on December 7th, which we thought was very fitting, since he talked about Pearl Harbor quite a bit.
Then Ervin signed up in the Reserve in 1947, and in 1950 got called back for the Korean War. In 1952 he got orders to go aboard the DAMATO. Ervin took his seperation papers and was done on January 13th, 1953.
Ervin was paid for a total of 10 years and some months of service.
Thanks to Malcom Strom for taping this interview of Ervin, Dad, and for documenting it.