John H. McGoran
John H. McGoran
 My name is John H. McGoran I was born to John and Nellie McGoran, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, November 5, 1922. I attended St Thomas elementary school and Davis Technical High School. At age 18, I joined the U.S. Navy and did my boot camp training at Great Lakes, Illinois
In January, 1941, after boot camp, I was assigned to the heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31). However, before my departure date, it was found that I was a lad from Michigan. My orders were changed and I was sent to the Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Michigan. Henry Ford had made an agreement with the Navy to build a Navy Training Center to train seamen in various skills. I was one of a draft of ten seamen who were charged with placing the base in commission.(We ten gobs were just what Henry Ford needed for publicity and he got plenty of it.) It was luxurious duty. Everyday we had contact with Mr. Henry Ford and Mr. Harry Bennett, Mr. Ford's executive officer.
In March 1941, the first shipment of seamen arrived at the Ford Motor Company. My duty there was over and I was sent to the battleship USS California (BB-44), then in Bremerton, Washington undergoing repairs. Soon the huge battleship got underway for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii where we operated, in and out of Pearl Harbor, until the Japanese attacked December 7, 1941. The California was torpedoed and sunk.
I was reassigned December 14, 1941 to the light cruiser USS Detroit (CL-8) on which I stayed until WWII ended at Tokyo Bay, Japan September 2, 1945. The USS Detroit was present for the ceremony.
In January 1947, my enlistment expired and I returned to Grand Rapids, Michigan where I worked for the Oliver Machinery Company in the label printing department, until 1951. In April 1951, I decided to expand my horizons and took a job as Wheelsman, steering a Great Lakes Ore Carrier, operating between Buffalo, New York and Duluth, Minnesota.
After two years as a Wheelman, I took a vacation to visit my brother in San Francisco, California. Once there, I decided to stay. Obviously, I would need work. My brother who was an officer with the San Francisco Police Department suggested that I go to work at the Federal Penitentiary Alcatraz located in San Francisco Bay. He said, "I'll catch them; you take care of them." So, I spent a year on the "Rock" amongst the likes of, "Robert Stroud "The Birdman," Alvin "Creepy" Karpis, and Morton Sobel, The Atomic Bomb Spy.
After Alcatraz, I went into the Service Station business with the Texaco Company.
On January 4, 1958, I married a wonderful young lady by the name of Gloria Knotts who had just entered the teaching profession in San Francisco. We are about to celebrate our 42nd wedding anniversary January 4, 2000.
Stories of Pearl Harbor and WWII
Images from WWII
E-mail John McGoran
Updated December 15, 1999.
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