When we shipped for Vietnam, the Second Fleet Flag left NN.  That meant that the Public Affairs office moved from its hole in the fantail to an office in the superstructure.  Nothing like having to work in officer's country.  In any case, this placed me in closer proximity to T2, and Joe would spend some of his free time hanging around the PA office crew.

I spent a lot of duty in the powder room with Joe, sometimes I stood watch as a pointer/trainer in the booth.  Joe taught me about the powder room, how to run the elevators and move the powder casings in and out of the holds.  During re-arming, I worked on the T2 crew getting powder and projectiles into the turret.

On Oct. 1, I had just gotten off watch from T2, had just gotten back into the Public Affairs office when the rhythm of the guns broke and I knew something was wrong.  Things had been weird lately, and I was between assignments for general quarters duties, so when the alarm sounded I had nowhere officially to go.  I ran down to the fire control station where I usually geared up, but there was no extra equipment.

Guys were starting to come up out of the lower decks next to T2.  We were supposed to close all the hatches, but the center manhole was left open and I was helping guys crawl out and directing them to the fantail.  An aid station had been set up there.  I remember helping Joe up out of the hole.  He was coughing and all worked up.  He was concerned that there may still be guys trapped down in the powder decks.  He wanted to go back down, but I got him moving to the fantail.

I found out later that he cut back across to the starboard side and went back down to look for more of the guys.

Guy L. Pace   

This is Bob Liitle GMC USNR.  I knew both Joseph Grisafi and William Harrison whom both were killed in the Turret 2 explosion.  Us three were all SN in 7th division together.  My memory is not that good anymore from back then, but Joe and William were exceptional sailors.  The NN was down in the Carribean , I can't remember the exact dates, but we had gone to places such as Trinidad Tabago, Cartahenga, Caracass and of course San Juan.  When the ship was down there, the Weapons department passed the word to all deck divisions, that they needed Gunners mate strikers.  Bill, Joe and I decided together that we would be gunners mates.  We had reported to the weapons department, and they proceeded to show us the 3'' , 5'' and 8'' gun systems.

Also Weps interviewed our divisional CPO to ask what kind of workers we were.  We all got high recommendations.  Bill and Joe decided they wanted to work on the 8" gun systems, so they were sent to 2nd division.  I decided to go into the 5" gun system, so I was sent to 5th.  We were very good friends, after we split up, I saw less and less of them.  We would see each other occasionally, but when we were over in west pac, we were always working or at GQ, or on Condition III watch.

I do remember William was a squared away sailor, his uniform was always very neat, and he was easy to talk to.  He had a good sense of humor too ! My memory is fading a bit with Joe, I am having a hard time remembering exact details.  I do know that a strange thing did occur.  I live in Akron Ohio.  After the explosion, and the bodies were shipped back home, I got a letter from my uncle who lives in Springfield, Pa.  In his letter, he said that Joe Grisaffi parents had gone to the same parish as them, and that is where they had Mass of Christian burial at my uncles church.

To this day, I feel very fortunate.  If i had gone into the 8" gun system with Bill and Joe, well, who knows?  I guess the Lord had other plans for me.  I was in 5th div and i knew Louis Sansone too.  He was assigned to mt.55 where he worked.  I was not close with Louis, but there was a gunners mate named Fred Blind GMG3, who was very close to him.  I think Fred now lives in Hollywood Fla.  I remember the day Louis fell over the side.  I did not see it, but we had to go to quarters at foul weather parade.  That is when we knew right away that it was Louis.

Well, it is time for me to get to work, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Thanks

Bob Little