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WWII Vet Rides USS HEWITT to Rose Festival

By JO1 Scott Sutherland

ABOARD USS HEWITT -- Bud Weigand left the naval service near the end of World War II, but his love of the Navy has lasted for five decades since then. The Moscow, Idaho native, who now lives in Hillsboro, Ore., got a chance to relive his Navy days when he traveled from San Diego to Portland, Ore., in early June aboard San Diego-based USS HEWITT (DD 966).

The Spruance-class destroyer and six other San Diego ships participated in the annual Portland Rose Festival Fleet Week. HEWITT is the Rose Festival flagship for Destroyer Squadron 7 commanded by Commodore Richard Arnold.

Things were a lot different this time around for Weigand. Instead of surviving a Japanese kamikaze attack and withstanding the ramming of an enemy submarine as he did while serving as a carpenter's mate aboard USS HAGGARD (DD 555) in 1945, the 74-year-old Navy veteran was a guest aboard HEWITT during its five-day transit up the West Coast.

According to Weigand, he got the green light from Commander Naval Surface Force Pacific to ride HEWITT after his mailman, a naval reservist who drills at Naval Reserve Center Swan Island near Portland, asked him last January if he wanted to be a guest aboard the 563-foot long destroyer. Weigand and his wife previously rode USS JOHN YOUNG (DD 973) from Portland to Astoria, Ore., near the mouth of the Columbia River.

"He [my mailman] got to talking to my wife about me riding the ship from San Diego to Portland," Weigand said. "She said, 'I don't know whether he'd like it or not, but I sure would love to see him get out of here for awhile.'"

He did, and that sealed the deal.

While on HEWITT, he had a full itinerary, including tours and a visit to damage control spaces, an area similar to the one he worked while aboard HAGGARD. As a carpenter's mate, he helped repair the ship's two motor whaleboats. The carpenter’s mate rate has since converted to damage controlman.

He also visited HEWITT's vertical launch missile system and other weapon's areas. "I just can't believe the changes," he said. "It's mostly push button now. Everything we did was manual."

Weigand entered the Navy on his 18th birthday in November 1942. After attending boot camp in Farragut, Idaho, he went directly to Navy Yard Bremerton, Wash., where he reported aboard aircraft carrier USS PRINCE WILLIAM (CVE 31). His stint there was brief, as he only rode the carrier to Honolulu where it unloaded aircraft. He then went to Harbor Island, Wash., and reported aboard HAGGARD.

"I worked for the carpenter's mates there, and they encouraged me to strike, which I did," he said. "Then I made third class. "He also became a part of history, as HAGGARD saw its first combat action of World War II in the Marshall Islands. "Our mission was patrolling the South Pacific waters in search of Japanese bombers and barges," Weigand said.

He vividly remembers when HAGGARD shot down two Japanese planes and destroyed two of its submarines. "We sank one submarine [on May 16, 1944] with depth charges," he said. "[On March 23, 1945], we brought a Japanese sub to the surface because we were afraid they were going to fire a torpedo at us. Our skipper [Cmdr. Verner J. Soballe] turned and got the sub broadside to us. He got the ship as fast as it could go, and hit it right behind the conning tower, and sunk it."

According to documented reports taken from the ship's log, "the submarine pointed her bow skyward, pitched over on her portside, and slid beneath the slick, oil-covered surface 50-feet away. HAGGARD vibrated from stem to stern, this time with the hoarse cry of victory that went up from the crew."

"That wasn’t the scary part, though. The scary part was when we got hit by a kamikaze pilot (on April 29, 1945)," continued Weigand. "We took a hit amid ships right at the waterline. A 500-pound bomb exploded in the forward engine room. It knocked out three engine spaces. We lost 13 men and had about 40 wounded. We never did find the engineering officer. He must’ve gone out the hole."

On that same night on April 29, 1945, a second kamikaze pilot tried to attack the already-damaged HAGGARD, but the pilot misjudged, and plunged in the Pacific about 10 feet off the port bow, only succeeding in spraying the fore deck with shrapnel.

For his actions during the kamikaze attack, Weigand was commended at Meritorious Mast for his "continuous shoring and checking throughout the night of the athwartships bulkhead and relentless effort in effecting repairs."

After he was discharged in 1946, Weigand went on to become a surveyor, using the skills he learned while spending his off-hours in HAGGARD’s small shipboard library. He ended his surveying career in 1974, and worked until 1982 as a logging contract supervisor before finally retiring.

Even though he was successful in two careers after the Navy, Weigand said he still regrets getting out of the Navy when he did.

"I feel so ashamed of myself for not signing that piece of paper when they asked me to," he remembered, referring to the re-enlistment paperwork "They sat me down at the desk and said, ‘Okay, here’s what we have for you. Read it and we’ll talk to you about it.’ If I would’ve signed it, they probably would’ve given me first class. Once I got my four years in and passed the test, I could’ve been chief. That’s what I regret the most. My advice to the young people in the Navy today is to stay with it."