JANUARY 2013
SUNRAYS | 31
ONLINE:
SCTXCA.ORG
Bill Wightman
—
Enlisted at age 17 and was
assigned to an LST, a Landing Ship Tank.
There were 10 of them converted to ammuni-
tion ships that re-armed larger ships. He was
sent to Okinawa two weeks before the action
started, and he stayed in that assignment
until the war was over. Bill got a
Bachelor’s of Science degree
in accounting, then went
to law school. He was the
Marketing Manager for Shell Oil here in Texas
for 18 years. For 30 years, he was in business for
himself and in commercial and industrial real
estate. He’s been married to Mary Lou for 58 years.
Jim Morrison
—
In ’41, he received
an appointment to
the Naval ROTC
program at the
University of South-
ern California. He
received his Com-
mission in February ’44, and went on to
assignments in the Straits of Juan de
Fuca, Alaska, and KeyWest. In June ’45,
he reported as Navigator on the U.S.S.
Delta, a major repair ship assigned to
Halsey’s Third Fleet. The U.S.S. Delta
was in Tokyo Bay at the surrender of the
Japanese in August ’45. After the war,
he remained in the Navy as a member
of the East Coast Reserve Fleet out of
New York City. As Commanding Offi-
cer of the U.S.S. Delong, his ship was
awarded The Top Destroyer Escort in
the East Coast in 1965 by the Secretary
of the Navy. He retired from the service
in 1980 with the rank of Captain. While
in New York, he worked in
commercial and in-
dustrial real estate
leasing, where he
met his wife, Caro-
lyn. They have been
married 31 years.
Bruce Vernier
—
Enlisted at age 17. He
was enrolled in the V12 Program, which
worked with the Navy sending kids to col-
lege to become officers. They were called
Apprentice Seamen. Bruce graduated from
Cal Tech in engineering. He worked for
Northrup-Grummond in Aircraft Manage-
ment. He retired, but soon went back into
the workforce with Brown and
Root. There he inspected
oil platforms in the Middle East. Back at Lackland
Air Force Base, he taught the Royal Saudis math
and science, and he trained about 10 percent
of the Saudi Air Force! He’s also worked in the
space industry. Our Bruce has truly been there,
done that!
Jack Cash
—
Enlisted at age
16
toward the end of the war
in ’45 (his parents signed him
on). His detachment moved
into Kobe, Japan, to take
over the port facility. Jack
was a switchboard operator
and learned Japanese fast—
he still speaks it today! After
one marriage and
three kids, he married his high
school sweetheart, Velma, who
had four kids! After the service,
Jack ran the chemical division of
Atlas Powder. That’s dynamite!
Jack is proud to say that he walks
with the Lord every day.
Ben Schleder
—
This South Da-
kotan farm boy enlisted in ’42. Un-
cle Sam decided to make a medi-
cal man out of him. In 90 days, he
was taught to do appendectomies,
tonsillectomies, sever limbs, etc.
He was on board a fleet tug with
450
men for four years (the clos-
est doctor was thousands of miles
away). After one wife
and three kids, he married Betty. They
have two kids together. Ben spent 10
years with GM and, then, went on
to own his own financial investment
company. He and Betty followed the
oil business to Texas as independent
producers.
