G.E. McGowan joined the Navy in December of 1942 at the age of 17. He spent the majority of his 2 1/2 years of service aboard the now decommissioned USS Reno.
The light cruiser supported and protected aircraft carriers in the South Pacific. It participated in numerous surprise attacks, including one on Iwo Jima, and supported strikes during the largest naval battle of World War II, the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
In October of 1944, during a three-day strike on Formosa, the Reno shot down six enemy planes. During the battle, what McGowan believes was a kamikaze plane crashed and exploded on the ship’s main deck. No one was killed.
Less than a month later, a Japanese submarine torpedoed the Reno at night. Between that night and the next morning, 41 Americans died.
“I heard my men screaming,” McGowan says. “I couldn’t do nothing for them.”
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