Francis Eugene Somers Oral History Interview, May 12, 1988; March 10, 1989; April 28, 2001

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Francis Eugene Somers Oral History Interview, May 12, 1988; March 10, 1989; April 28, 2001

May 12, 1988; March 10, 1989; April 28, 2001

http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/special/ead/findingaids/OH0109/

Life at the U.S. Naval Academy as a member of the Class of 1941 is described briefly (p. 1). After graduation Somers was assigned to the USS BUCK. In the interview he discusses the activities of the BUCK as part of a task force carrying Marines from Newfoundland to Iceland, and then briefly describes the sinking of the BUCK off the coast of Italy some months after the invasion (p. 2). (Somers had left the BUCK before it sank.) After leaving the BUCK, Somers was sent to serve aboard the USS WILKES. He describes convoy duty in the North Atlantic to Scotland and Londonderry and duty supporting invasions in North Africa and Sicily while aboard the WILKES (p. 2). Following the WILKES, he was transferred to the USS MARSHALL and he notes its participation in the Second Battle of the Philippine Sea (p. 4).

0.015 Cubic Feet; 3 audiotape, 3 hours, 45 pages

East Carolina University. J.Y. Joyner Library

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 11665413

East Carolina University. J.Y. Joyner Library

Related Entities

There are 2 Entities related to this resource.

Lennon, Donald R.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6g26sn5 (person)

>Don Lennon was a longtime director of the East Carolina Manuscript Collection and Coordinator of Special Collections. Born in Brunswick County, North Carolina on October 6, 1938, he attended junior college in Wilmington, NC before completing his studies at East Carolina College. He taught school and worked in the North Carolina state archives before returning to East Carolina to assist with the creation of a historical manuscript collection. He passed away in Greenville, NC on April 26, 2018.Do...

Somers, Francis Eugene, 1918-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65v4c8n (person)

Francis Eugene Somers (b. 1918) entered the Naval Academy in 1937 and graduated with the Class of 1941. During World War II, he served on destroyers BUCK, WILKES, and MARSHALL. After the war he transferred to the U.S. Navy Reserve (USNR) and inactive duty (1947); he returned to active duty in 1950 and served until 1955. Somers joined the C.I.A. in 1955 where he worked in the nuclear weapons division for seventeen years. He retired as a captain in the USNR in 1978....