GRANVIL RAY “G.R." WILLIAMS
Patriot, Chapter 1919
(NAVY,
WWII, Pacific) Article March 1999
Granvil Ray Williams
was born in Big Spring, Texas in 1919.
When he was very young, his family moved to San Antonio where he spent his
"growing-up" years. He enlisted In the Navy in December 1939. He was sent
by train to San Diego, California for basic training. He was then
immediately assigned to the Battleship, U.S.S. West Virginia, with
homeport of Long Beach, California. He says, “We trained often in the
open ocean and were frequently in and out of Pearl Harbor”. The entire
Sixth Fleet had conducted night battle exercises and returned to Pearl
Harbor on Dec 5, 1941 when Granvil mailed a letter back home to his fiancé,
Helen Creswell. He had an approved leave that was supposed to start on
December 7th and he was coming home to be married. The Japanese changed
those plans, (see what Helen says below).
Just before 8AM on December 7, 1941,
Gunners Mate 3rd Class Williams was making his way to his battle
station, the forward Anti-Aircraft Directory, high above the ship's bridge.
He was in position to see as the Japanese planes began coming in and
sweeping past the ship, below his eye level. Looking down, he could see the
rising sun Insignia on the aircraft and the expression on the faces of
pilots staring back towards him. Granvil was blown off his feet when the
battleship, Arizona (immediately astern) blew up. The West
Virginia was hit with (a total of) eight torpedoes and three 500 pound
bombs. The directory was put out of action so G.R. made his way down to the
deck. The ship was listing to starboard and already beginning to sink. G.R.
pulled a dead sailor off one of the anti-aircraft guns and had just put the
gun back into action when a bomb detonated near mid-ship, blowing all the
gun crews off thee guns. He says, “I was blasted into and over the gun
shield, over the rail and into the water with broken left leg, broken right
shoulder, and flash burns to all my exposed skin. My eyebrows were
completely burned away. Oil from the fuel tanks already covered the surface
so when I hit the water, the oil in my eyes blinded me. I lost
consciousness, but was later told that a shipmate held my head above water
to save me from drowning and a sailor from the battleship Tennessee pulled
me into a life raft and beached it on Ford Island. I regained consciousness
and lay there helpless as planes continued to come in, strafing sailors in
the water; but passed out again when a crew came by and gave me a morphine
shot.”
G.R. woke up in a plantation hospital and
was later taken back in to the Pearl Harbor Naval Hospital where he remained
for about a month. He requested immediate assignment to another combat ship
and was ordered aboard the carrier, Enterprise, even though he had
not healed well enough to perform his assigned duty as a 20 mm.
anti-aircraft gunner. He served aboard Enterprise during engagements
around Kwajalein, the Marshalls, the Solomons and the Gilbert Islands and
was again wounded in action by shell fragments. He returned to the West
Virginia after the battleship was raised in 1943 and sent to Bremerton,
Washington for overhaul. At that time he finally got 30 days leave home to
San Antonio. He and Helen married, nearly two years after they had
originally planned, and days later, G.R. returned to duty on the West
Virginia. After the war, G.R. entered Federal Civil Service working at
Kelly Field in San Antonio and he retired there 27 years later. He and
Helen have since lived in retirement in Canyon Lake and in Kyle.
HELEN SAYS....
We didn't exactly date as teenagers growing up in San Antonio. But, we
went to Harlandale High School together and both our families attended
Taylor Tabernacle (Pentecostal Church) so we saw each other every day of
the week. We would have been married in Dec 1941 if it had not been for
the attack on Pearl Harbor; as it is, this is our 56th wedding
anniversary year. We are proud of our four daughters and seven
grandchildren. One of our daughters (a school teacher) and her husband
own the house next-door to us and they help out a lot because G.R. has
recently had a shoulder replacement and his disabilities do not permit
him to drive. In addition to the Military Order of the Purple Heart, he
is a dedicated member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Assn.
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