Wednesday, May 24, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
EMMARSON: Veteran
lost close friend
during war
Continued from page 1
Island, among other duties,
and returning to Pearl Harbor
on Saturday, December 6, to
refit and refuel. The Selfridge
was parked alongside a fuel-
oil barge in the harbor.
Emmarson, like so many
others, had gone ashore
Saturday evening to enjoy the
local flavors, and was sleep-
ing in on Sunday morning
when the Japanese attacked.
Marvin recalls hearing an
explosion, followed shortly
by the call for General
Quarters. Still half asleep, he
ran briefly topside where he
saw a Japanese Zero fighter
plane flying into the harbor
on a low-level run.
“I didn’t know what was
going on,” Emmarson told
The Nugget.
After seeing the Zero,
he ran belowdecks to his
General Quarters station in
the Selfridge’s fire room —
where he and others made
steam for the ship’s engines
— and saw no more of the
battle raging all around him,
which cost the lives of 2,403
servicemen, and injured
1,178 more.
History records that the
USS Selfridge’s guns were
firing within five minutes
of the Japanese attack, and
by 1300 hours, manned by
a mixed crew, the ship was
underway. Marvin recalls
that they were sent out from
Oahu to find the carriers
from which the Japanese
attack waves had launched.
“We were lucky we
couldn’t find them,” he said.
“They would have wiped us
out.”
After several other mis-
sions, including an aborted
attempt to reinforce the
beleaguered Marines on
Wake Island, Emmarson
and his shipmates were ulti-
mately involved in the inva-
sion of Guadalcanal, a piv-
otal battle in the war.
Marvin recalls that “We
escorted these Marines in.
I’d see them going ashore
in their landing barges, and
then the barges came back
and they (the casualties)
were stacked in there like
cordwood. Those goddamn
Marines were just tougher
than hell. We would go along
and fire five-inch shells and
try to kill the Japanese, but
we didn’t get very many of
them.”
E m m a r s o n ’s
ser -
vice included many other
engagements.
In October of 1942,
Emmarson was on board the
Selfridge during the battle
of Vella La Vella. Having
intercepted a convoy of six
Japanese destroyers, trans-
ports, and smaller craft, the
Selfridge was hit by a tor-
pedo that essentially cut the
ship in half. In the fight,
the Selfridge lost 13 sailors
killed, 11 wounded, and 36
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missing in action.
Among the dead was
Emmarson’s friend Owen
Bauserman.
“We were very good
friends,” Marvin said, “like
brothers.”
Marvin remembers the
impact of the torpedo caus-
ing the ship to list severely,
in danger of sinking, until it
was ultimately righted. After
a patch repair at a small dry-
dock on Guadalcanal, Marvin
and his shipmates rode the
ship — without a bow —
7,000 miles across the ocean
to Mare Island in California,
where it was ultimately
repaired and retrofitted.
U l t i m a t e l y,
the
Selfridge was sent to the
Mediterranean, where
Emmarson and his shipmates
conducted patrols off the
shores of North Africa and
Italy.
After duty on several
other ships, Marvin was hon-
orably discharged from the
Navy in 1947.
“I don’t have much to say
about myself,” Marvin told
The Nugget about his service.
“It’s all the rest of the guys. I
didn’t do any more than any-
one else. I was just lucky to
survive.”
After the war, Marvin
returned to Portland where he
worked for Western Electric,
and ultimately Techtronics
Industries, where he helped
build oscilloscopes and other
technological devices.
Marvin married his wife,
Marge, in 1986, and after
many years of traveling
between Yuma, Arizona, and
Sisters, the couple settled
in Sisters to be closer to
their family, which includes
Marge’s son John Tehan;
g r a n d c h i l d r e n A u d r e y,
Hattie, and JC; and daughter-
in-law Peggy Tehan.
Emmarson’s service to his
country, and his shipmates,
was extraordinary. But a man
is always more than his ser-
vice record. John Tehan told
The Nugget: “Marv treats my
mom like every son wants his
mom to be treated, and only a
son can say that.”
29
MEMORIAL DAY:
Observance will be
followed by gathering
Continued from page 1
to join the Air Force.
Meeker’s last assignment,
before retiring, was serv-
ing as the vice commander
of the USAF Expeditionary
Center where, for a year, she
was the second in charge of
a 14,000-person organization
supporting air forces around
the world. Another yearlong
position was as the senior
special assistant to the com-
mander of NATO and the
European Command.
The ceremony will be fol-
lowed by a barbecue at noon
with burgers, soda, and coffee
($5 suggested donation). The
public is welcome.
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