Letters From War Wednesday: World War II – Bernard Duesler.

In this edition of Letters From War Wednesday, we feature a short note from Navy man, Bernard Duesler.

Bernard Duesler - USS Barbel

“…I’m very proud to be in our armed forces,” Duesler wrote home from training at Camp Moffett, Great Lakes, Illinois in early 1943.  “It makes you feel very proud and kinda puffs you up a bit on the inside.  Once in a while it kinda leaves you when things are going against you, but it all comes back again when you think what we’re fighting for.  …I’m going to try to do all I can to do my part.

“Navy life, so far as I am concerned, is swell.  …I’ll say this much, we sleep in hammocks located some four feet from the floor and the floor is hard.  I know.  You crawl in, you try to jump in, you try to slide in slow and about every other way.  The first few times if you’re lucky you’ll make it without landing flat with your bedclothes on top of you.”

Sadly, Duesler, along with his 80 crew mates, would be lost when their submarine, the USS Barbel, was struck by a Japanese dive bomber in the South China Sea.

One Response to “Letters From War Wednesday: World War II – Bernard Duesler”

1. Chris Duesler says:

   October 29, 2012 at 5:35 pm

   I grew up hearing about this story and served 22 years in the Navy as an Radioman. So from one Sailor to another thank Great Uncle.

   Reply