USS Frament (DE-677)

Found for your enjoyment a rare film about a destroyer escort of WWII, the USS Frament (DE-677) which, through the shakedown very nearly matches the experiences of our fathers.

As I’m writing this in 2013 it is more than a decade since the bulk of this site was laid down. It is more than three decades since I taped the conversation with my father.

It is not my intent with this new page to give you a history of Tokyo Rose. You can go look her up. Rather, I’d like to give you a couple of updated thoughts.

About this website. The design of this site is as ancient as the iron age in computer years. Heck, the program it was built on went dinosaur more than ten years ago, my time! Yet, it is still functional and carrying on the work that was intended admirably.

When the Morrison Audio was taped, and it was taped on one of the first portable cassette players, he was obviously still alive. He still had about ten years of life in him at the time. At the time I thought I knew him.

Honestly, my first real insights into the man probably started ten years after his death. It was only as I myself began to approach his age at the time of the conversation that dimly, I could begin to identify better with the old man. I suppose this is just nature at work. It’s a lucky boy or girl that is really able to know their father while he is still alive.

My father was and still is something of an enigma to me. He was coarse, complex, witty, crass. All that stuff. A local legend in his own time. He was one you could definitely point at and say when he was born that the mold was broken. He was a one of a kind.

My father lived three lifetimes. The one before the war, during the war, and after the war. I will always believe that even though he was in his late twenties during his time aboard the Davis, this is where he actually grew up. His experience there shaped the rest of his life. Whereas he never dwelt on it afterwards, that “shining harbor” was one of the last things he dreamed of before his lights twinkled out.

As for Mr. Morrison and the war… During the taping all I knew of WWII was pretty much what I learned in the old war movies, plus a smattering of historical research.

At the time of the interview, however, I got the the notion that he bore no ill will (unlike the war movies) against the Japanese. He wasn’t on a mission. Today I believe that more deeply than ever. To him, it was simply a job to be performed.

Particularly by the time of our chat, in a way, I suppose he felt a certain kinship with his foe. Of course he always maintained that the Japanese were barbaric and treacherous, (He said our side could be that way too!) but in the final analysis, I think he thought they (Japanese) were just doing their job as well. He never spoke of them with malice. (At the time, that was a puzzlement to me.)

I can only wonder what my father would have thought about this video. Since the Mighty George E. launched nearly a year later it’s quite possible that he and his shipmates watched this very training film!

I confess that I had my kids in mind when I built this website. A way to know their family history. But they aren’t very interested. Perhaps their kids will be. Or their kids. Those old guys who are now mostly gone, who paved the way for us to be alive won’t truly be forgotten until the last person forgets.

When I began this project the prospects of my own lights dimming seemed distant. Now, it is closer. As I am getting nearer to my own shining harbor, I especially don’t want for the new folks to forget the old. Thanks to the dozens of shipmates and shipmates once and twice removed that have contacted me over the years!

Norman Morrison
September 2013

Presented below is a selection of news broadcasts that the shipmates could have heard, as it covers the time span from the beginning of the war in Europe until just about the time they shipped out to the Pacific. While not about the adventures of the DE357, these broadcasts are an interesting window into the run up to the war cruise of the USS George E. Davis. The broadcasts you will hear are all brand new, for you have not heard them before.

All cuts are in MP3 format. Click a date to download and hear it on your player!

My gratitude and thanks goes to Jerry Randall of Jacksonville, Florida, a 20 year Navy man, for his assistance with this project.

Above excerpted from an article by John Muldowney USS J. R. Y. Blakely, DE 140… For the full article visit http://www.desausa.org/pollywog_to_shellback.htm .

The men of the George E. Davis had their own little wangdoodle upon the high seas…and nobody was excepted…not even the pollywog captain. There were enough Shellbacks available on the George E. to assist Neptune and his ministers, to induct the rest of the crew into the “mysteries.” It boded well for the Mighty George E. as good luck followed her ever afterwards…  

Find two pages of pictures for your enjoyment. I assure you the victims were not enjoying it. These photos alone of them all assured that this site would be published. You see, as a child discovering my dad’s scrapbook, my FAVORITE of all the material therein was the Neptune photos….

Morrison was already 29  when the Davis sailed, yet, he had never been away from his home in Oxford, Alabama, so, his service was a force in shaping the rest of his life. Frankly, after the war, he never cared much for the ocean again. He said he had had enough. He turned down excellent job opportunities so that he could stay close to home and family and work his own business.

Morrison was an electrician by trade before the navy, and afterwards. He was a master electrician, and one of the best in the state. He had a gift and talent for it. He was also a master story teller and yarn spinner. His friends and customers were absolutely enthralled with his stories of the “olden” days…whether completely true or not.

Thus, I can not testify to the complete historical accuracy contained in the Morrison Audio Cuts. I could testify that I know for a fact he embellished a bit, but after all, what you will hear below is a collection of sea tales, and a bit salty at that. It’s not a History Channel quality production here, but  if you are interested hearing a first hand account of your navy in WWII, you will be thoroughly entertained. Nearly everything is true, even if at times he used the pronoun “we” as in the navy in general, rather than just the particular adventures of the George E. Davis. You will catch on.

The audio is….atrocious. As they say in New Jersey, the boidies was a ‘chirpin’ just behind him outside the frame window. The muffled interviewer’s voice is me, Norman E. Jr.

The interview took place in 1980 and the cassette tapes were already 22 years old when they were dubbed to digital. We begin with tape two. Tape one has succumbed to the ages. Tape two begins just after launch in Orange, Texas…

You are hereby given permission to copy the files below for your personal collection. They are not to be used for commercial purposes without the consent of the family. Knock yourself out!

-Norman Morrison Jr. shipmate@de357.com
    

All cuts are in MP3 format. My gratitude and thanks goes to Jerry Randall of Jacksonville, Florida, a 20 year Navy man, for his early assistance with this project.