Hi!

Perhaps it is my age...perhaps it is the season...but I thought some of the Severn alumni might enjoy reading about my father, Owen Rees. My dad was the first skipper of the Severn and commanded her during the wartime years. He was born in Northeastern Nebraska. His parents were immigrants from Wales. He was brought up on his dad's farm with his brothers and sister. It was expected that each child would work hard on the farms and then inherit a farm on their coming of age. But when my dad was a sophomore in high school he ran across a  story called "Stover At Yale" in the Saturday Evening Post. He felt a burning desire to go to college after he read the story. His teacher suggested that he think about applying to the Naval Academy since he would need to support himself in school. He dropped out of high school and studied for the entrance exams at night in the outhouse using a kerosene lamp for light. He was accepted and his life was forever changed.

 

After graduation he married my mother and they both went to China on the Yangtze Patrol. The movie Sand Castle described his life on the gunboat. His son was born in Hong Kong. After duty in China and the Philippines he returned to the states and went to Columbia Univ. where he received his Mater's degree in Mechanical Engineering.

 

He served on the Flagship of the fleet, The USS Pennsylvania when I was born. Then he was skipper of the Vireo, a minesweeper in the Aleutian Islands.

 

He had many other interesting tours of duty...but when World War 2 arrived, he was stuck at the Bureau of Ships in Washington, D.C. He wanted to get involved in the action with his classmates and friends and badgered  the Flag Officers for a ship. One day he came home beaming. They promised him Command of the Severn. We went to visit AO61 as she was being built...and it was thrilling to watch. I remember the ship's Christening. A woman I thought looked like the Duchess of Windsor crashed the champagne on her beautiful bow. She was a dramatic ship dressed in camouflage. Cab Calloway's band came to entertain the officers and men. I remember them playing "Swinging on a Star".

 

Soon the Severn sailed off to take part in some significant action. You probably know her code name was FOUR ROSES because she carried Admiral's Halsey's liquor supply! My dad was honored to have served aboard that wonderful ship and cared deeply about the crew.

When he left the Severn after the war, the men gave him the ship's mascot...a Boxer dog named McGruder. He was quite an amazing sea dog.

 

There is so much more I could share but I thought this might be a story that belongs with all the other great stories about his grand ship and her men.

 

Have a great Christmas...Warmest regards, Anne Anderson