Ed & Ray Hersman in WWII - Robert Marks.org

3.5. EUROPE Ed & Ray Hersman in WWIIFigure 3.2: The USS Texas was commissioned on 12 March 1914. It madenumerous sorties into the North Sea during World War I. In World War IIin 1941, the USS Texas took on the role of escorting war convoys acrossthe Atlantic, and she later shelled Axis-held beaches for the North Africancampaign and the Normandy Landings before being transferred to the PacificTheater late in 1944 to provide naval gunfire support during the Battles ofIwo Jima and Okinawa.strung from hooks in the ceiling. I was late stringing mine up and could onlyfind hooks that I could tie to in the cross ship direction. I tied the hammockup and climbed in. In a few seconds I felt the head end of the hammockcome untied. All I could do was grab on to the hammock edge and old withboth hands. The foot end held and I turned a somerset and landed on myfeet. I would have cracked my skull if I had hit on my head. That night Iwas miserable as the ship wallowed and pitched and do to the way I had thehammock pitched I felt every motion. I didn’t get sea sick but it was close.I never pitched a hammock across ships again.The food on this ship was terrible, and we couldn’t eat it. One morning34