His experiences while aboard the light cruiser USS Helena and during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; his experiences aboard the Helena and the antiaircraft cruiser Reno in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Decision to join the Navy, January, 1941; boot camp at San Diego, California; assignment to the Helena at Pearl Harbor; the peacetime Navy; his account of the Japanese attack; his activities in the immediate aftermath of the attack; various naval engagements around the Solomon Islands, October-November, 1942; the sinking of the Helena in the Kula Gulf, July 5, 1943; assignment to the Reno, April, 1944; damage to the Reno due to a kamikaze hit off Formosa, October, 1944; torpedoing of the Reno in the San Bernardino Strait, Philippine Islands, November 3, 1944; temporary repairs at Ulithi and voyage to Charleston, South Carolina; postwar effects of his experiences in World War II.