Seafaring Life, Historical Biography - United States - 20th Century, United States - Naval History, United States - World War II Armed Forces, World War II - Personal Narratives, United States Navy - Military Biography, World War II Narratives, World War

Sailor from Oklahoma

Name: Sailor from Oklahoma
Author: Floyd Beaver
ISBN: 9781591140603

by Floyd Beaver

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Overview

Sailor from Oklahoma presents the life of the enlisted seaman, both before and during the war, as seen through the eyes of a young sailor from the west, who joined the Regular Navy before Pearl Harbor. Its scope spans the twilight of peace to the final days of World War II, treating the preparation for war and the actual fighting. The perspective is that of seaman to chief petty officer, and their relations with commissioned officers of all grades. How they lived, what they felt, what were their dreams and ambitions...both for the war and afterwards. How they adapted to their new world of modern weapons and the flood of reserves who so disrupted their accustomed lives and who openly sneered at revered customs and traditions. The book is meant to portray, if not explain, the world of the professional Regular Navy man as contrasted with that of the more accepted civilian world from which they had been sequestered for so long. The wartime Reserves, by the sheer weight of their numbers, were dominant throughout the war years. The book describes what essentially a clash of cultures was in a time of great psychic and physical stress, and the effect that clash had upon the conduct of the war.

About the Author, Floyd Beaver

Floyd Beaver left Tulsa University after one year to join Navy just before the outbreak of WWII. During the war, he served in 15 different ships under four separate Admirals' Flag Allowances as signalman. He did liaison duty with both the British and French navies and served in the Pacific, as well as with North Atlantic convoys, and Mediterranean landing forces. He was promoted CSM for Meritorious Conduct in Action and awarded British Mention in Dispatches. He made a career as an advertising executive after the war. He is now retired and lives in Mill Valley, CA.