Remembrances of Executive Officer Benjamin Bigelow
Contributed by his son, Peter Bigelow
Benjamin Bigelow was the first EO of LST 1090. He passed on March 17, 2006. RIP.
My father did not speak in much detail of his WWII "active service" days until late in his life. My father met my mother, who was also a Navy officer, during the war so stories were mostly the chit chatty type of two young newlyweds with some mention of ships and service. As kids, my brother and I were too naive to ask the questions that now as adults we would have loved to ask. When my father was older he did begin to tell some of the stories and pieces did surface.
Regarding the 1090, a little of my father's previous military background needs to be understood. During 1942-1943 my father was the "gunnery officer" on US Merchant ships. This meant that he was the senior US Navy person in charge of a small Navy gunnery crew on a ship commanded by a "civilian" Merchant Marine officer and crew. (Ed. To learn more of the Armed Guard, start with this article.) My father always did say that the merchant marine folk were under rated as to their contributions during the war. My father was on several convoys where his ship was one of the few to make it because of the German Navy's excellent submarine corp. He carried in his wallet a newspaper article my mother had seen and clipped regarding a convoy in the Mediterranean where his ship, the Delmar, was the only US ship to make it.
My father, the gunnery officer, directed the guns pretty well -- the ship's Captain, avoided torpedoes pretty well, -- and God was looking upon them all more than pretty well!
My father then was sent to school to learn about the new technology of radar (or sonar- not sure) to be on Destroyers back in the Atlantic. By time training was over, the Atlantic convoys were not the concern but eyes were on the Pacific and the need for supplies/troops and gear that the Navy could best deliver with the LST's. When my father reported to Pittsburgh he was very concerned that he was the only officer with active "combat" service and as friendly as the Captain was, he was very happy to have my father "take charge as needed".
The next major issue my father had to deal with was sea sickness. As I am sure your father could confirm the LSTs had virtually flat bottoms and, as I understand it, were terrible at sea. So, as my father said often, he was sea sick the entre time he was on board the 1090 -- and trying hard not to show it -- which may have contributed to his minimal conversations with others.
One of his proudest moments on the 1090 was navigating her to Hawaii. My father had only had a six week "crash course" in celestial navigation -- he was very concerned that if he messed up a reading or calculation he would be responsible for the loss of life or ship.
Overall, what we learned about his days on the 1090 was it had a good crew who were all quick studies of ship life. The ports of call were interesting, they contributed to the end of the Pacific war, and he wishes his entire service had been on the 1090.
Soon after he died I read on one of the LST 1090 sites some reflections from people who were on the ship during WWII. Some had very negative comments about my father, his background, sternness, and social skills/opinions. I can attest that he was a taskmaster but not strict. And I know he took his responsibility seriously after having almost lost it all a couple of times in the Atlantic. However for a guy who worked prior to the war as a farmer and then a welder at a GE plant, -- and having seen him over the years, I find the rest of the comments a bit difficult to imagine. Then again, war brings out many different aspects in everyone and the times our parents lived were such amazing times. I do believe that our parents were truly The Greatest Generation and that everyone who served on the 1090 represented their generation well.
One final thought, sometime in the mid sixties my father was traveling on business and ended up on an airplane next to someone who had served on the 1090 during the Korean conflict. At the time he was surprised that the ship was still in service (he was not aware that it had been mothballed between wars) and he was amused that some of the ship's idiosyncracies were being experienced by "another generation" of sailors. He exchanged a picture with that gentleman, but we have no idea where it is at this point in time. Meeting another "1090 vet" clearly made him happy, so I sincerely doubt that he held any ill feeling toward anyone related to the ship. |