We’ve been learning about Ornie Alness and his journey from his birth on the family farm in rural Clarkfield; through his childhood there during the 1920s and ’30s; to the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet aboard the transport ship, USS Wharton, during WWII.

Ornie laughed when I asked him about his first operational mission aboard the Wharton.

“I’m glad you asked. It was the worst one I had. . . We got out in the North Pacific. We had 40-50 foot waves — swells. They were great big mountains come rolling in towards you. It was terrible. So I got initiated real good the first time.”

The Wharton’s mission was to carry the Navy’s 38th Construction Battalion (Seabees) and all their equipment from their depot at Port Hueneme, California, to repair and upgrade the Navy and Army installations at Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Carrier aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy had damaged these installations in an attack in early June 1942.

Ornie described how the Wharton carried the heavy equipment of the military units they transported. “We had some big holds in the ship that we’d put anything from jeeps to tanks to trucks in there. . . You name it. . . We put some things on topside once and awhile and had to anchor them down.”

This transport mission involved steaming across the North Pacific during December 1942. The Navy issued the crew cold weather gear, including insulated underwear and heavy coats. That gear was essential for members of the Wharton’s deck force who stood four hour watches out in the wind-whipped cold.

The Wharton arrived at Dutch Harbor in mid-December after brief stops in Seattle and Bremerton, Washington. Ornie explained that December in Alaska is not only freezing cold, but dark as well, “When we were up there it wasn’t more than 4-5 hours of daylight. Otherwise it was dark all the time.”

The Wharton’s off-loading in Dutch Harbor came in two stages. First, they tied up to a wooden pier and marched the Seabees off the ship. Then the cargo handlers went to work with cargo booms attached to the fore and aft towers on the Wharton’s main deck.

Ornie explained, “The guys got busy with their steam-powered booms for unloading. They picked up (the Seabee’s equipment in the hold) one thing at a time; moved the boom over; and set it on the dock.”

The freezing conditions caused a problem when the unloading crew discovered a hatch cover to the hold was frozen in place. The crew chief decided to use one of the steam-powered booms to yank the cover from its icy lock.

Ornie described what happened, “They had a pad-eye welded to the . . . bulkhead up here to hold (the boom) out so that it stood (at an angle). . . The guy give the command to the guy handling the steam control and he put pressure on (the boom cable hooked to the hatch cover). . . They tore the . . . welded pad-eye right off the steel bulkhead. It came sailing like a bullet and hit the guy in the head and that was it. . . He didn’t know what hit him. . . So I had quite a first trip. I realized it wasn’t all fun. There was lots of things to think about.”

Ornie had another sobering experience when the Wharton sailed from Dutch Harbor for Kodiak Island, right into that major winter storm. He described that experience.

“Well, I had never experienced anything like it. I’d been assigned to have a 4-hour shift steering it . . . great big wheel on the bridge. We got into that storm. That was fierce. You had to zig-zag due to submarines. You couldn’t always have that ship where you wanted it . . . You want that nose into the wave, (but sometimes) she’d catch you on the side . . . But if you hit her right-on, why of course then the bow went down in the water and you’d wonder when you were coming back up again.”

The Wharton’s crew had secured the ship for the storm, so she was watertight and safe, but all the rolling and pitching took a toll on many of the crew. Ornie explained with a laugh, “I never missed a meal. There was a lot of them who did.”

The weather began to clear in time for Christmas at sea. Ornie recalled, “It was a little bit windy then, but we had a terrific meal. They always observed that, if they could . . . Like I said, the cooks and the bakers did a pretty good job on there.”

The Wharton executed three more transport missions between Seattle and Dutch Harbor during January and February 1943.

Ornie described another hairy experience off Kodiak Harbor on their second trip, “We had to anchor out one night . . . before going into the channel . . . In the morning the old signals started going, ‘You’d better get out of there. You’re in a minefield.'” Ornie recalled with a laugh, “We’d drifted off track a little. We had a close shave there”

After their last mission to Dutch Harbor, the Wharton steamed to San Francisco where she received orders for the South Pacific, where the war was hotter in more ways than one.

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