Wesley Navarro

Wesley Wes Carl Navarro

A memorial service is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. , Friday, March 28, 2008 at the Ballard Chapel for Wesley Wes Carl Navarro, 81, of Roswell who passed away March 20, 2008 at his home after losing his battle with Parkinson Disease and Diabetes. Cecil Kimberlin will officiate. He was cremated according to his wishes.

Wes was born on March 15, 1927 in Cleveland, Oklahoma to Wayne Carl Navarro and Beatrice Irene Greeson Navarro. His parents have preceded him in death as well as a sister Irene Sue Nichols.

Wes served in the U.S. Navy during the World War II. He enlisted when he was 17 but was not inducted until April 13, 1945 after reaching his 18th birthday. After boot camp he waited in San Diego to board the U.S.S. Pensacola, He boarded on August 3, 1945 and then headed for Adak, Alaska. On August 9, 1945 they steamed in Kuluk Bay, Adak where they waited for the other heavy cruisers to join them. During this time Wes and 50 other sailors were volunteered to be trained as Rangers. During this same period he was also assigned as Coxswain of the Captains Gig. Coxswain manned the tiller of a former whaleboat that had been customized as the Captains Gig. Two other crewmembers accompanied him. They were to transport the Captain to and from ships.

While they were still anchored at Adak, WWII was declared officially over on August 14, 1945 with the unconditional surrender of the Japanese Empire. August 20 1945, the Pensacola stood out of Adak bound for Attu. The area leading up to the approach to the Tsuguru Strait was known to be one of the heaviest mined areas in the world. For that reason, the fleet was preceded in that approach by 129 mine sweepers, that were to cut the mines loose and as they came floating by the ship, the sailors attempted to detonate the mines by means of small arms. If these attempts failed, the destroyer crews were ordered to run the mine down and explode it, with their own ship if necessary.

On September 9th, 1945 Wes served as the Coxswain of the Captains Gig that transported Vice Admiral Fletcher and the Commodore to the dock at Ominato, where Vice-Admiral Fletcher accepted the surrender of the Japanese. Unnoticed with any significance by anyone, Wes stepped out of the Gig first, becoming the first American to step on Japanese soil after the War had been declared at an end.

On November 7, 1945, the Pensacola stood out of Ominato, Honshu for the time, en route West Coast Continental U.S. headed for Iwo Jima. During this leg of the voyage, they encountered a fierce typhoon, which delayed their arrival at Iwo. They typhoon tore a Quad 40 Mount off the bow of the ship, resulting in a large hole and the ship began taking on water. The bow was rising and falling over 100 feet with the swells and bucket brigade was organized to bail the incoming water. The storm was so violent that the sailors could only bail for short periods of time before becoming violently seasick- when they could recover slightly they were back on the line again. The storm carried winds of 150 mph with 100 ft. waves and lasted three days. Upon finally arriving at Iwo, they took aboard passengers and within a few hours were under way again to San Francisco, via Pearl Harbor. St. San Francisco the passengers were quickly disembarked.
P After disembarking the passengers the ship proceeded to San Pedro for stripping, and discharge of all unnecessary personnel. The U.S.S. Pensacola also known as The Grey Ghost was to be used in the famous destructive test of an Atomic Bomb on a fleet of ships at sea. Since Wes was soon to be up for discharge, this was where Wes chose to bow out of this mans Navy even though he was offered a grade promotion from 3rd Class Petty Officer to 2nd Class Petty officer he wanted no part of that bomb. In March, when the Pensacola sailed back to Pearl Harbor to complete experiments and preparation for the test, Wes remained at San Pedro in a work pool where he served wherever he was needed. He was officially disc

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