Tag: USS Dixie

Flippo’s in the Navy Now!
Marshall Flippo · My Thoughts

Flippo’s in the Navy Now!

Featured Larada Horner-Miller1 Comment
Flippo, the young sailor in the Nay
Young Marshall Flippo, the Sailor

Navy and Marshall Flippo? Really? I never would have guessed that! Marshall Flippo had an amazing life with world experiences I would have never dreamed of for a boy from Abilene, Texas.

During our interviews, he quickly relayed how he volunteered to join the Navy at the end of World War II. It’s a poignant story.

World War II began on September 1, 1939 and ended on September 2, 1945. In 1944, the war was intensifying. Flippo’s sister, Helen, had already joined and was serving. Patriotism flourished across the country with Flippo experiencing his own version in his small west Texas town.

“I joined the Navy when I turned seventeen in 1944.” After Flippo shared this, he sat quiet—his thoughtful silence spoke volumes.

In reviewing the part in the first interview about him joining the Navy, I mistakenly thought he had falsified his records to join.

Quickly he answered, “Whoa, whoa, whoa!! What did you say about the records?”

From his tone, I realized I had made a mistake. “I thought you told me that you falsified your records when you were seventeen. That’s how you got into . . .”

He interrupted me with a resounding, “No!”

So he explained what happened. “Well, Dad had to sign for me, but we didn’t falsify it. I got in. Daddy signed for me, and I went in on my seventeenth birthday. I didn’t falsify anythang.”

Just Another Square Dance Caller: Authorized Biography of Marshall Flippo, p39.

Before he signed up, Flippo’s friend, R. H. ‘Hub’ Evans returned to Abilene in his Marine uniform and this influenced the young impressionable teenager—Flippo was ready to sign up!

In Flippo’s biography, I divided the Navy section, The Texan Becomes a Sailor, into three chapters:

  • You’re in the Navy Now!
  • USS Lander
  • Three More Ships and Baseball

Flippo’s easily made friends and connected with two men in boot camp, Thurman Curry and Harold Snodgrass. Thurman lived in Abilene, and Harold grew up in Tennessee. I loved his stories about hitchhiking with Thurman to Abilene from San Diego between boot camp and Amphibious Training. No one would dare do that today!

Then the three of them—Flip, Thurman and Harold—enjoyed Harold’s car driving around small towns around Abilene and a trip back to San Diego and then around San Diego.

USS Lander - Navy destroyer tender
USS Lander

After Flippo’s training, the Navy assigned him to the USS Lander, a destroyer tender. As he talked about his years in the Navy, he referenced his War book often. I regret that we never read it together, but I used it as a reference for his biography. The book’s title is USS LANDER 1945, so it had in-depth information about his time on that ship. What a treasure this was for Flip!

Interesting fact about the USS Lander: seventy-five percent of the sailors on the ship had never been to sea before! So Flippo fit right in! He looks so young in the pictures!

Young Navy man onboard ship
Young Flippo, the Sailor onboard ship

It was on the USS Lander, Flippo made his first trip to Japan which began a love affair he had with the country and people the rest of his life.

USS Piedmont

After the USS Lander was decommissioned, Flippo sailed on the USS Piedmont, another destroyer tender, and ended up at Yokosuka Harbor again, right back to Japan, right in the same harbor where he had left a month before.

Did you know Flippo was an athlete? Flippo’s sports career started on the USS Piedmont. They had a football team and baseball team, and he was on both.

USS Wiltsie

Then the Navy transferred him to the USS Wiltsie, another destroyer tender. So, the Navy decided they’d make a team: DesPac, standing for “Destroyers of Pacific.” They took two guys off of all the destroyers who had baseball teams. They selected Flippo as one of the two players from the USS Wiltsie to go the USS Dixie for the DesPac team. They played Navy teams or Army teams who had baseball teams. He ended his Naval career on the USS Dixie, another destroyer tender.

USS Dixie

Finally, the Navy wanted Flippo to reenlist, but he wanted to go home to Abilene—he was done! Laced throughout these three chapters in his biography, Flippo shared a bird’s-eye view of World War II and what it was like on a destroyer tender in Asiatic-Pacific Theater, providing support to the Marines on the shores of Iwo Jima and being a part of the occupying force in Japan.

These four years had a lasting impact on Flippo and his view of life. He entered the Navy a young naïve seventeen-year-old and left a seasoned sailor who had seen the world.

Have you read about World War II? Does seventeen seem young to go to war? Was it different back then? To make a comment, scroll down to the bottom of the page! I’d love to hear from you!

Previous Blog Posts You Might Have Missed

Just Another Square Dance Caller book cover

~HAVE YOU ORDERED YOUR AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF THE FLIPPO BIOGRAPHY? AVAILABLE NOW! Go to the homepage on my website & pay for it there: https://www.laradasbooks.com

~One-Year Anniversary of the Release of Flippo’s Biography! Join me to celebrate on May 10, 2021 from 7:00 – 9:00 PM Email me at larada@icloud.com if you are interested!

~Here’s Christmas greetings from Flippo & Neeca, featuring his song, “When Its Christmas Time in Texas”: https://youtu.be/mpJCUGffU3A

ALL FOUR E-BOOK FORMATS OF FLIPPO’S BIOGRAPHY AVAILABLE NOW:

~Visit my website for all the information you need about me & my books: https://www.laradasbooks.com

~My Amazon Author’s Page: https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B00LLQTXSM

~ Visit my Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LaradasReadingLoft

~VISIT MARY ZALMANEK, A FRIEND’S BLOG: Cooking in a One-Butt Kitchen | Eating Well in Small Spaces: https://cookinginaonebuttkitchen.com/

Marshall Flippo – a Navy Man!
Marshall Flippo · My Thoughts

Marshall Flippo – a Navy Man!

Featured Larada Horner-MillerLeave a comment

“How’s the Flippo book going?” I’m asked regularly by curious friends. I appreciate the interest from many. Writing the authorized biography of Marshall Flippo is the project of a life time. I have completed the Prologue and Chapter One, Flippo’s childhood, but this carefree time of his life was cut short because World War II was raging in 1944 and many Americans’ patriotic focus gave them no option but to join up.

“During World War II (1939-1945), the Battle of Normandy, which lasted from June 1944 to August 1944, resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. The Normandy landings have been called the beginning of the end of war in Europe.


https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day

Flippo is one of the best-known callers in the world, so, do you think you know him? Do you know that Marshall enlisted in the Navy? At what age?

A Young 17 Year-Old Marshall Flippo

On his 17th birthday, Marshall Flippo enlisted into the Navy with his parents’ consent—17 years old! That sounds so young today!

As discussions about Flippo’s choice of which branch of the service to join filled the Flippo home, Marshall wanted to join the Marines because his buddy, Hub Evans, had enlisted and returned in his dress uniform which dazzled the young Flippo. His Dad encouraged him not to join the Marines, so somehow, he ended up in the Navy.

After this discussion, Flippo recalled that his parents accepted readily his patriotic desires because his older sister, Helen, had enlisted before him and they were used to it!

He was inducted into the Navy in Dallas after an enjoyable train ride with a bunch of recruits from Abilene, then the train went back through his hometown, so Flippo said good-bye to his parents once again, bound for San Diego for boot camp.

Flippo went unnoticed in boot camp, so at the end of it, his superior commented that he must have done a good job because he didn’t know Flippo—I guess the rowdy ones are the only recruits he dealt with during that time.

A Young Marshall Flippo Cleaning a Colander

Flippo volunteered to go to “Amphib” training on Coronado island across from San Diego—he had no idea what that meant, but he volunteered anyway. His fate was set for the end of the war. He ended up on the USS Lander, a destroyer tender,  where he was a baker and spent two years. We do have a couple pictures of him on the USS Lander: cleaning a colander and on deck.

USS Lander

His wartime stories are unique through the eyes of a 17-year-old. He ended up at Iwo Jima at the end of the big battle there. Then on he went to Okinawa. From there, he had a surprise voyage to China crossed the equator, experiencing the initiation of a “Pollywog.”

A Young Marshall Flippo on the Ship

After decommissioning the USS Lander, Flippo landed on USS Piedmont, then the USS Wiltsie and finally the USS Dixie. The Piedmont, Wiltsie and Dixie were all after the war. All four of these ships were destroyer tenders:

A destroyer tender, or destroyer depot ship in (American) British English, is an auxiliary ship designed to provide maintenance support to a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships. The use of this class has faded from its peak in the first half of the 20th century as the roles of small combatants have evolved (in conjunction with technological advances in propulsion reliability and efficiency).


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destroyer_tender

USS Dixie

He played baseball on the USS Wiltsie and was selected as one of two baseball players from the Wiltsie to transfer to the USS Dixie to play baseball in Des Pac, Destroyers of the Pacific team. He returned to San Diego on the USS Dixie and played baseball at David Field.

Flippo spent four years in the Navy, two years in the South Pacific at the end of the war and two playing baseball for Des Pac.

Flippo had a Navy book he referenced often—it chronicles the year 1945 and the USS Lander. I’m so sick I didn’t read it before Flippo passed away, because I’d loved to question him about the specifics detailed in the book. He refrained from describing some specific events because he thought we’d go over the book together. My regrets for sure!

This is just a short summary of Flippo’s Navy experience. I hope I’ve whet your appetite! His stories are rich and wonderful! I have more than 10,000 words from our interviews about his Naval experience, so there’s more!

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