Mason was a product of the depression. An honor student at his high school, no one in his small high school was offered any kind of scholarship, so the future looked bleak, pumping gas, or driving for a local physician. His girl had just dumped him for someone else, so he was susceptible to the entreaties of the local Navy recruiter and enlisted for a one year tour of duty as a radioman. This was inmid-1940. Despite constant warnings of war, the press and those seemingly in the know were sure the "slant-eyed Japs" would be quickly
overcome; after all, there was no way they could construct any kind of weaponry that could challenge the mighty United States Navy.
Clearly, Mason was not impressed with the level of preparedness, or lack thereof, of his battleship. They seemed to spend more time working
on spit and polish to keep the brass happy than in drill, and comments made by a British sailor from the warship Warsprit which docked
along side of them briefly on its way to being repaired at Mare Island, did nothing to assuage his concern. The Brit, after being shown around
the California, Mason's ship was dismayed at the inadequacy of the anti-aircraft guns. He thought they were short half the number they
should have, much to the surprise of Mason who thought the California fairly bristled with antiaircraft capability.
Late that summer, he was given a promotion and new duties that probably saved his life. He was moved to the maintop, on the mast high
above the decks, to act as relay for information from the spotter planes who would radio back how accurate the gunners were in hitting their targets. Most of the radiomen were sealed (quite literally) in the radio room and most died during the bombing. He escaped by not being there, but at his assigned post high above the decks. It was an interesting duty, although watching the huge shells leave the barrels of the guns could inspire awe. As flames licked high above the turrets,
the shells raced toward their targets at 2500 mph sounding like closely-passing freight trains, the ship being pushed sideways in the
water from the recoil. It inspired thoughts of Armageddon.
Mason was on the California during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was sent to his station at the maintop to be able to handle radio messages.
It was an order that saved his life. Forced to abandon ship three times — he had been sent back after each command to leave, in order to work some of the radios — he finally had to leave permanently when the battleship was close to capsizing. Most of his friends were killed. Given that several of his shipmates had been in the brig for failure to maintain a watch or being late for duty, he justifiably wondered what
the punishment might be for the admirals and captains, if not the president, for their failure to maintain a good watch and prevent the destruction of most of the fleet.
Mason is a literate, very interesting writer, who provides fascinating insights into the daily grind of a sailor during perilous times.
