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Richard Domagalski was in World War Two and this is his
story. Richard Domagalski was born in Cleveland Ohio. His father’s name was John Paul
Domagalski and his mother’s name was Stella Domagalski. He had five siblings, their names are;
Carole, John, Ralph, Maryann, and Kathleen. Richard grew up in Garfield Heights and went to Garfield Heights elementary and high school this
is also where he met his wife. He
played a couple sports when he was younger. He loved and played mostly baseball,
but he also played for Garfield Heights football. He quit school when he was
sixteen. He did not attend
a college but he went to a couple Navy schools. In the Navy schools he did get a
degree in engineering but it wasn’t a formal degree. Richard enlisted for the Navy at
sixteen during World War II. The
war had been going on for two and a half years before he enlisted. Even though he had no military
experience before World War II, he had heard about the war in news and was
eager to ‘get going’.
Richard Domagalski went to Great Lakes to receive his basic
training. He was being trained as
a loader for an aircraft gun. He
boarded on to the USS
Arkansas B-33 battleship
and they set sail. The ship was 562 feet low with 6 turn guns, 12-12inch guns,
16-5inch guns, and 20-6inch guns.
He was assigned to be a loader of a 3inch gun. Then he became an engineer for the
aircraft on the ship.
Richard’s highest rank was a E6 ADR1 first class officer. The part of his job that he especially
enjoyed was being above people in rank and feeling like a teacher to them. There were regular supply ships that
supplied them with food. The food
was pretty good. Most of it was
rice, milk, potatoes, coffee and basic things. They had three meals a day but you
couldn’t be picky because you weren’t getting anything else. The only rules were “God and
Country” and to listen to the people ranked higher than you. They worked when they were needed and
rested when they weren’t.
When they had time off from duties they would sleep in their hammocks
or eat and sometimes they would play poker and pinochle and other card games
to pass the time. They had 3 sets
of clothes, jeans and a t-shirt, blue and white navy suit and one just white
suit with a pair of black shoes.
Finally their ship arrived in Cherbourg,
France. They were there to
patrol the beaches of Cherbourg, France. This was Richard
Domagalski’s first time in a foreign country. His ship was there when the Germans
invaded France on June 6th 1944. There were five battleships like his
and lots of cruiser and destroyers. His battleship was firing 12 inch guns
with 2 spotter planes in the air, and lots of army on the beach. The people on the beach were shooting
at the enemy as the ships with the 12inch guns were shooting in front of
them. Richard was one of the people shooting the 12inch guns. The 12inch guns could shoot up to five
miles away. They also made such a
big explosion that the people that were shooting them had to run to the other
side of the boat to cover their ears and shield their eyes. The invasion was the first time that
he heard the shots of the big guns.
He says that that was his most frightening experience.
After the invasion, the ship was sent home back to the U.S. After that they were sent to the Pacific Ocean and went through the Panama Canal and then to the Philippines. In the Philippines they did the same thing as in
the France invasion but now were warding
off the Japanese. Also in the Philippines they saw two USO shows with the
basic showgirls. One was shown on
the ship and the other they attended at a local theater in Guam. The one in Guam was very elaborate with Bob
Hope and Jerry Calona. The one
shown on the ship was performed by locals. But his most exiting experience was
after the war. He was flying with
a plane that was almost empty of its fuel and they had to beach it. There were 13 other men with him when
they were on a mission and could not make it back to base and were to far
away from anywhere to refuel so they had to land it. Now going back to the war,
they also went to several others places. One of the most impressive places
they saw according to Richard was Japan. After they were back in America all of the survivors on the USS
Arkansas BB-33 that had served received a unit commendation. The award was as Richard Domagalski
put it “for doin’ our thing”. During his travels at war he wrote to
his wife, Helen, and his three kids Michael, Lisa, and Rick almost every day. Also they were waiting for him when
they got home.
After the war he remained in the military for twenty
years as a flight engineer. He
traveled all across the country.
Some of the places he went were: California, Texas, Carolina, Washington state, and he went to the Pacific Ocean. His wife and kids traveled with him
where ever he went. His favorite
place that they lived was Key West, Florida. In Key West, their son Michael was
born. They were moving all the
time. In high school he met his
wife Helen and married her after he went to war. He married her April 15, 1946 after he left for war but before he was done with his
military experience. He has three kids, two boys and one girl. He also has
one grandson, one great-grandson, and one granddaughter. Some of Richard Domagalski’s
favorite hobbies are fishing, hunting, and playing pinochle.
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