JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A World War II veteran’s dream became reality Friday at Naval Station Mayport.
Mr. James Crider got to tour a destroyer.
“It was awesome,” Crider said. “It was a big ship. I had never seen one that large before.”
Crider is 96 years old and a three-war veteran.
“I wanted to serve on a battle wagon, I wanted to serve on a submarine and I wanted to serve on a destroyer,” he said. “But I was never able to get on.”
That changed on Friday. Crider, who served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, stepped on board the USS Lassen at Naval Station Mayport.
A part of his 45-minute tour included getting an up close look at the launching and weapon systems, and walking up the deck to see the gun.
Lt. Cmdr. Zachary Gagis led the tour. He is the USS Lassen’s executive officer.
“I’ve only met one World War II veteran before in my life,” Gagis said before being introduced to Crider. “Getting this break to look back in honor the past and legacy of those that came before me and before us as shipmates is as much as a welcome for us as it is for them.”
Mr. Crider served 23 years in the Navy and enlisted when he was just 16 years old in 1944.
He was a petty officer first class.
Mr. Crider, who is from Charleston, West Virginia, said joining the Navy was the best thing to ever happen to him.
“At the time I had no education, I had no job training,” Crider said. “The only thing I knew about the Navy was it taught me to understand and do my time and use what it could teach me. I grew up to be a man and accept the responsibility for myself for the choices that I made. I made some bad choices.”
There was something that made the tour even more special on the USS Lassen.
Mr. Crider’s youngest son, Curtis, shared the experience with his dad.
For both of them, it was their first time on a destroyer and they both took it in together.
“It is living a part of his dream,” Curtis said. “His dream at this stage of his life was to be able to get onto the deck one last time, see a ship.”
Curtis said his father had some mixed emotions.
“A day of happiness, but also sadness,” Curtis said. “Then I said [to my father], ‘Well tell me about the sadness.’ He said the sadness is because I knew that there were a lot of people who were with me on those ships. He said most of them are probably resting in the grave. Hearing him say that just kind of got my mind thinking about making the most of every moment of my life now with the people that I know and love.”
Curtis said watching his dad speak with the sailors, including younger ones, confirmed why he has the utmost respect for him.
“I have listened to all of his stories that he would talk about in terms of his experience in the Navy and how it helped him prepare to be a man,” he said. “His experience at war that he shared with us. I was trying to imagine the younger version of my father. What he was like getting and climbing onto ships back in his younger days. I was thinking about what he might’ve experienced being on those ships. This is the first time I have ever been on one. Being on that ship with him and now remembering all of his stories. My mind was just running Thinking about what that must’ve been like for him. Was it scary up there when the wind was blowing really hard? Was it cold? How did he prepare for that? How does anybody prepare for that?”
Mr. Crider commended the status of the Navy and the USS Lassen.
“I will always remember this until I die,” he said.
Gagis said he hopes Crider knows that the Navy is in a good place.
“I hope he has a great sense of pride of where our Navy is at,” Gagis said of Mr. Crider’s experience. “I hope that he knows that we have the watch. We have the torch that has been passed and we are ready to get out there.”
The USS Lassen is named after Clyde Lassen who was a Navy commander. At one point, he was a lieutenant and helicopter who served during the Vietnam War.