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MESKILL, David T. (b. 1917)

Military ServiceU.S. Navy WWII Veteran

Oral Histories

OH 1182

His experiences in the Pacific Theater during World War II aboard the USS Spence. His duties in the S Division as paymaster and disbursing officer; battle station in the Combat Information Center; comments about the skipper, Lieutenant Commander Henry J. Armstrong; assignment to Solomon Islands as part of Destroyer Squadron 23 (DesRon 23); combat in "The Slot"; comments about Commander Arleigh Burke; Bougainville landings; Battle of Empress Augusta Bay, November 1, 1944; morale and recreation ashore; treatment of Japanese prisoners-of-war; everyday life aboard the Spence; origins of the "Little Beavers" nickname for DesRon 23; action off Truk; invasions of Saipan and Tinian, 1944; transfer off the Spence to stateside duty; separation from the Navy; lasting effects of wartime experience.