STORY BEHIND THE PLAQUE
Service Reflections of RM3 Sidney Weinstein, U.S. Coast Guard (1942-1946)

I was in high school at the time of Pearl Harbor. I had never heard of Pearl Harbor and didn’t know where it was. That was true for many of my friends, but we sure found out quickly. We all became Gung Ho and were ready to enlist; however, we had a couple of months left before graduation, so I opted to finish school. Many of my friends did enlist, going into the US Army Air Corps to become pilots. That was my desire also, but my father said “NO.” He was in the First World War, captured by the Germans, and gassed. He was shot, and he lost three fingers on his left hand.

When I said “US Army,” he said, “Not MY son.” My friend said we could enlist in the US Coast Guard, but I said I wanted to fly. He said, “I will take care of you, and you will fly.” We went for our physicals. I was accepted, but he was rejected for the athlete’s foot, which could have contaminated the entire group. I met him in New Guinea and said, “Look what coast you gave me.” We never went to flight training as I thought I would. Instead, I became a Radioman on a ship.

My service path is as follows: Enlisted as an Apprentice Seaman, boot camp, assorted guard duty in North Philadelphia, and then Cape May, NJ Radio School in Atlantic City, NJ. USCGDO New York for assignment finally to the US Army FS-271 as a Radioman. We took the ship from Wheeler Shipyard in NY through the Panama Canal to the west coast for guns and then to Honolulu, HI, and the Pacific Ocean areas south of the equator to New Guinea and then shuttled in the area supplying the Army and Marine units fighting the Japs on this God-forsaken island. Assigned to the USS Aquarius (AKA-16) for further duty in the radio room of this Attack Cargo Ship.

It was an amphibious type with 8 LCMs and 16 LCVPs plus an array of anti-aircraft guns with a complement of plus or minus 500 men when assorted troops of the Marine Corps or the US Army. After the Japanese defeat, we were assigned to Admiral Kinkaid’s 7th Fleet to transport Chiang Kai-shek’s Chinese troops to North China to fight Mao Tse Tung’s communist Chinese troops. We made numerous trips to deliver those troops and finally went back to Okinawa to pick up US Marines and take them to Seattle, Washington. We finally left the west coast for New York, through the Panama Canal up the east coast to the good old USA, and finally discharged in very late April of 1946.

We took the ship from Wheeler Shipyard in NY through the Panama Canal to the west coast for guns and then to Honolulu, HI, and the Pacific Ocean areas south of the equator to New Guinea and then shuttled in the area supplying the Army and Marine units fighting the Japs in this God-forsaken island. Assigned to the USS Aquarius (AKA-16) for further duty in the radio room of this Attack Cargo Ship. It was an amphibious type with 8 LCMs and 16 LCVPs plus an array of anti-aircraft guns with a complement of plus or minus 500 men when assorted troops of the Marine Corps or the US Army.

Of all your duty stations or assignments, which one do you have fondest memories of and why? Which was your least favorite?

To tell you the truth, I did enjoy my duty in the Coast Guard wherever I was stationed. I have no regrets, except that I wasn’t allowed to go to pilot training as I had anticipated. I would say, however, that my greatest sea duty station was aboard the USS Aquarius AKA-16 for the exceptional tours, the initial combat in areas unknown to me. To the friendships that lingered far beyond the service. We had reunions for many years. Believe it or not, I want to tell the people aboard this ship that she was built at Kearny Shipyards in New Jersey, just a few miles from my house. Some of them even thought I had helped build the ship. That’s how gullible some of them were.

I think my most memorable experience was being assigned to the US Coast Guard detachment in Camp Lejeune, NC. I was privileged to go to Elizabeth City, NC, to the Coast Guard air station there and allowed to take an anti-submarine warfare flight in a Martin PBM patrol plane over the Atlantic Ocean. That cemented my desire to become a pilot. (I was able to do that later in life, eventually flying for the Civil Air Patrol, an arm of the US Air Force, and becoming a Command Pilot with 15 years of service.)

Of all the medals, awards, formal presentations, qualification badges you received, or other memorabilia, which one is the most meaningful to you and why?

I was never awarded any medals of valor other than the Coast Guard Good Conduct Medal and the Distinguished Service Medal from the state of New Jersey. I would say the Good Conduct Medal and the NJ medal mean the most because as I think back, if I were allowed to become a B-17, B-24, or a fighter pilot, I could have been awarded all types of medals, but I could have been shot down or killed as so many of my high school friends were. Therefore, I am glad to have survived WWII and to have done the duty that I was assigned to do without too many physical problems. The ones that I did incur are relatively minor compared to some who paid with their lives. They are the Heroes of this country of ours and should never be forgotten.

I would say that, in looking back my two best buddies would be Charles Nickerson and Gus Reibe on my first ship (FS271). We were a very close crew since there were only 18 men assigned, including officers. Charley was a Quartermaster, Gus was a Machinist’s Mate, and I was a Radioman, but we became like brothers while we were together on the ship. They were good shipmates, but they were also my friends. I have lost track of them over the years, but I still remember them.

One of the funniest incidents, I would say, was when we stopped the FS271 when we reached the equator, and we had a King Neptune ceremony (Shellback). We had a ceremony that included getting our heads shaved. I was the Royal Barber with a set of hand shears, and I shaved everyone bald, including the Skipper. Then we had a concoction of a drink made with everything we had in the galley, from ketchup to vinegar and everything in between. Then, of course, we had to crown a King Neptune for the ceremony, but I forgot who that was.

Upon my discharge, I returned home to a waiting job with my father and uncle in a wholesale dry cleaning business that expanded after the war, with returning vets going into business. We did build a drive-thru retail dry cleanser later on, and it was pretty large, with about 15 full-time employees. That lasted for about 25 years, and then it was sold, and I went back to work for Uncle Sam again as a US Post office route carrier. I was a mailman. I then retired from that in 1992 and have been a man of leisure since, doing everything I wanted to do. My greatest joy was flying my airplane with my partner and wife and going wherever we desired, from Montreal to the Bahamas, New Jersey to Chicago, and everything in between.

I am a life member and past Commander for 25 years of my DAV chapter. I am a life member of and past Commander of my VFW post. Past Senior Vice Commander of the American Legion, a post my father was Commander of. I am a 50-plus member of the Elks Lodge number 2004 in Springfield-Hillside, New Jersey. Now, for the most loyal association that I do belong to now, I will tell you that is the Coast Guard Combat Veterans Association. I am a Past Trustee and a Life Member. This is my pet organization today.

The military taught me many things, primarily how to grow up, think for myself, and be self-sufficient in my life. It also gave me a goal to learn how to fly, and I did that to my fullest. I have no regrets about being in the military and serving with the United States Coast Guard.

To advise all people who are serving in the military today would be of no consequence, for each one is a person unto him or herself and must make their own way. Advice can be given, but it has no true meaning in that it is not the individual’s thoughts or doings and can be sidestepped as irrelevant. To be able to let each individual make their own thoughts and minds to function for themselves is the asset that will fulfill a hope and desire that can be the goal of a person. Do your best to do your duty and fulfill your desires.

I had never heard of Together We Served until Diane Short called asking for my service story, but I look forward to learning how it works.

Thank you!
Herb Weinstein