Childhood and early adulthood in Houston, Texas; education at Rice Institute. World War II-era service in U.S. Navy aboard the USS Turner; convoy missions across the Atlantic Ocean; January 4, 1944, sinking of the Turner while moored in New York Harbor and court of inquiry regarding the sinking; service aboard USS Wren in Pacific Theater, including actions in the Aleutian Islands, Attu, Okinawa, and Philippine campaigns and anti-kamikaze warfare; piloting ship into Tokyo Bay immediately following the Japanese surrender; account of effects Allied bombing campaign had on Tokyo.