The Military Service of Norman Mosey

Almost a year ago, I wrote my very first blog post—“For the Love of Norman.”  It was about my quest to record the family history of my father-in-law and his death in the middle of our project.  I mentioned that after he died, I finished recording the story of his military service, using the papers he left on his living room table to share with me.  Here it is, in condensed form…

Norman Mosey was in the U.S. Navy from March 1944 to June 1946.  He served in the Pacific Theatre during World War II as a “TM 3/C” (Torpedoman’s Mate Third Class).  He met his future wife Donna via letters she wrote to him during the war.  His “vessels and stations served on” included:

• Naval Training Station at Farragut, Idaho 
• Cub 15  (an advanced base unit)
• Fleet Service School (Advance Torpedo), San Diego, CA
• ABPD (Advance Base Personnel Depot), San Bruno, CA
• USS Sierra [AD18]—a destroyer tender
• USS Stevens [DD479]—a Fletcher-class destroyer

His training began with 8 weeks of boot camp at the Farragut Naval Training Station.  The 4,000-acre Farragut was the second-largest naval training center in the world.  Drilling was given in seamanship, military discipline, physical fitness, and Naval procedure.  Vessels on nearby Lake Pend Orielle were used for training on the water.  The men learned to march, row, swim, and use firearms.  Over 293,000 sailors (“Blue Jackets”) received basic training at Farragut.  It was also used as a POW camp; 900 Germans worked as gardeners and maintenance men there.

In May 1944, after a 10-day furlough, Norman was sent to the Advance Base Personnel Depot at San Bruno, California.  He says he did nothing but menial work there, so after four months he applied for a transfer to Fleet Service School (Advanced Torpedo) in San Diego, where he had 16 weeks of torpedo training in all aspects from assembly to repair in late 1944.

Norman served on the USS Sierra in 1945.  It was a “Destroyer Tender” with 1,050 crewmen that serviced destroyers and destroyer escorts.  In March 1945 the Sierra went to the Caroline Islands, then the Philippines, for anticipated strikes against the Japanese mainland, but the surrender of Japan ended that assignment.  Norman was at Leyte Gulf, Philippines when the Japanese surrendered; he remembers all the Navy ships firing off ordnance of every kind—or in the case of his ship, flares, since they didn’t have ordnance aboard.

The Sierra sailed in September 1945 for Japan, Korea, and Shanghai, China, where Norman visited a Japanese prison camp.  He was sent home on emergency leave in December 1945 due to the death of his father.  He spent much time with Donna while he was home.

After his leave he was sent to San Diego to finish out his service.  He served on the USS Stevens, a Fletcher-class Destroyer.  The Stevens had seen much action in the Pacific Theatre during the war, but at this point it was undergoing a six-month “deactivation overhaul” before being decommissioned. 

Norman was honorably discharged in June 1946.  He married Donna later that year in Clare County, Michigan.

Norman & Donna - A Love Story

My father- and mother-in-law met in an unusual way—through letters.  Their story began in 1944... 

War had been declared, and Norman Mosey, a farm boy from Michigan,  was newly drafted into the U.S. Navy.  A reporter for Michigan Farmer magazine did a story about "our boys in the service” and when he asked Norman, “What can we at home do for our servicemen?” Norman answered, “Write us letters.”  Norman had no mother or sisters or girlfriend to write to him, so mail call was probably not his best time of the day.

Donna Garver, working at a factory in Ypsilanti, saw the article. She and her sister Virginia decided to write to Norman. Donna told me, “Our theory was, let’s both write to this guy and see if he tells both of us the same story!”

I have a copy of the first letter that Norman wrote to Donna—it was found in his desk drawer after his death. He wrote, “Dear Donna, I received your letter today and was glad to hear from you. I too am a former farmer. I lived on a farm near Bad Axe in Huron County… I am 19 years old, have hazel eyes, brown hair, am 5’7” tall and weigh 170. I have been in the naval reserve since February 21, 1944... I have three brothers. One is at home on the farm with Father, as my mother died when I was four years old. Well, I guess I’ll close now. Hope to hear from you soon.”

Over time, Norman’s correspondence with Donna had staying power.  Soon he was writing to her nearly every day.  Near the end of the war he was sent home on a 30-day leave, due to the death of his father.  So Norman went home to Bad Axe in February 1946, borrowed a car from his brother, and drove to Ypsilanti to meet Donna.  They got to know each other in person at last—and by the time he went back to finish his stint in the Navy, they had decided they belonged together.  They were married in November of 1946.  Norman was a hard-working and faithful husband to Donna for the rest of his life.

When Norman died in November 2008, he and Donna were just two days short of their 62^nd anniversary.  In a quiet moment that week, Donna asked us, “Do you think Norman loved me?  He didn’t say so, not in words…”  And all of us answered without hesitation, “Yes, Donna, we know he loved you—there can be no doubt of that.”  Norman was of that generation of men who didn’t believe in talking about their feelings.  But he lived them out every day—his love for God, for his country, and for Donna.

For the Love of Norman

I was married for the first time in 2007 at age 51, to a wonderful man.  His father, Norman, walked me down the aisle that day, since my father had died many years before.  As I got to know Norman, I was intrigued by the story of his mother, Eliza Jane Carriveau Mosey, who had died tragically when Norman was five.  Norman had only one picture of her—her wedding picture—and knew very little about her, since his father had remained a stoic and grieving widower for the rest of his life.

I had been a genealogy buff for a long time by then.  So Norman and I began looking at his ancestry, trying to find out more about his mother and her family.  We spent many happy hours around his kitchen table that first year, poring over documents and talking and taking notes.  Slowly the story of the Carriveaus started coming together. 

I also wanted to record Norman’s own life story.  So shortly after Veteran’s Day 2008 I phoned him and said, “When I am in Michigan on Thanksgiving weekend, let’s talk about your time in the Navy during WWII.”  He happily consented. 

Little did I know that this would be the last time I ever talked to him...  On the day before Thanksgiving in 2008, he was out on his beloved John Deere tractor, plowing snow out of his driveway, when a van flew over the hill and hit him.  He was thrown to the ground, breaking more bones than any doctor could count.  His tractor was left in two big pieces on the road.  The doctors kept him alive until we could rush to Michigan to say goodbye, and then he was gone.

Later that weekend, when we returned to Norman’s home before the funeral, there on a table in the living room was a neat pile of pictures and documents—the things that Norman had gathered together to share with me about his time in the Navy.  I did write up the history of his time in the Navy, but I had to do it without him; perhaps I’ll share it another day. 

I was never able to find any more photos of Norman’s mother Eliza, but I’m still researching his family’s history.  I’ve learned so much since then, that I wish I could share with him!  I still do Mosey/Carriveau genealogy—For the Love of Norman.