Oliver Nordstrom, WWII U.S. Navy veteran, served aboard USS Franklin
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OLIVER NORDSTROM
By Missy Klatt
Ninety-seven-year-old, Oliver “Ollie” Nordstrom, a resident of Glenhaven, grew up in Cherokee, Iowa. Over the years he lived in Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota and most recently, prior to Glenhaven, New Richmond, WI.
Some of Nordstrom’s memories are a bit fuzzy, as he states, “it was a long time ago”, while we were talking about his military service.
Nordstrom enlisted in the United States Navy when he was 17 years old and served for three years. He didn’t finish high school stating, “they needed the men and away we went.” This was common during the time, for young men to not finish high school and enlist to serve their country due to World War II.
He was first stationed in Farragut, Idaho for his basic training. Afterwards he was sent to the Pacific and served aboard the USS Franklin (CV-13), an aircraft carrier. When asked what his job was he smiled and waved his hands toward himself. After the planes would land it was his job along with two others to “park the planes” as they were taxiing in. His title was Plane Director and he worked on the flight deck. He said there was another group that worked on the hanger deck.
Asked if the ship was ever fired upon, Nordstrom replied, “Oh yeah” and then he chuckled. “They were always after us and we were always after them.” He admits that at times it was scary when the “Japs” came at them. He goes on to say that they carried a lot of planes and pilots, some of them Marines and some their own pilots.
Being on the ship Nordstrom and his fellow seaman were working every day, no Sundays off. “We took a beatin’ a couple of times, can’t dodge them all.” He goes on to explain that they had two large ships and two smaller ones in their ‘convoy’ with theirs, the Franklin, being the biggest one. He jokes however that it was also the biggest target.
Of his time on the ship, Nordstrom remarks, “I enjoyed it. It was scary half the time, but you set that aside and dive in there.”
A quick internet search revealed that the USS Franklin was the most heavily damaged carrier in World War II to survive an attack.
“I was on the flight deck of course. Never made general or anything. I was a seaman. They needed the men so that was us.” He goes on to say that he had a lot of fun in the service, mentioning that he didn’t drink or smoke or anything but there were other ways of having fun especially during boot camp.
Nordstrom liked living on the ship and was proud of living there. He thinks there were 300 men living on the ship at the time.
Ollie Nordstrom cherishes his hat depicting the USS Franklin. Most of the pins on the hat are blood donor pins that Ollie earned over the years. —photo by Missy Klatt
A unique experience that Nordstrom recalls is going through the Panama Canal on his way out to the Pacific.
Nordstrom had a brother who was also in the war serving in the Coast Guard. “He was in Pearl (Harbor) for a while, then he was in Orleans and the southern states. “We both came out pretty lucky.”
Nordstrom noted that he told his children, two daughters, honest tales about the war, no glory.
After he got out of the service he and his brother went to Missouri and farmed for a while. He said that they bought a combine and combined for all the neighbors until the neighbors finally bought their own combine.
Although some of the memories have faded over the years it is apparent that Nordstrom kept a positive attitude and is proud of his service to our country.