Edgar Eugene “Gene” Fricker goes by Gene because he liked being greeted that way. He was born in June 1926 in Cushing, Oklahoma. He had a brother, Billy Joe, who was killed in Korea [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953] in 1951. Fricker was raised by his parents. The family lived in Cushing until Fricker reached the eighth grade whereupon they moved to Enid, Oklahoma after Fricker’s father was called up by the National Guard for the regular Army. Prior to going into the regular Army, his father had been a barber and volunteer firefighter. Fricker loved his father being in the military. He sometimes accompanied his father, a sergeant, into camp wearing a uniform. An officer admonished Fricker’s father that the soldier was not dressed properly. The officer had to be advised that the improperly dressed soldier was the sergeant’s son. [Annotator’s Note: Fricker laughs.] Fricker was tall at the time. He went to Camp Barkeley in Abilene [Annotator’s Note: Abilene, Texas] during the summer. Fricker always loved the military. His father was in the 45th Infantry Division, 120th Medical Regiment. He was trained to take care of the wounded and had a commitment to do so. Fricker’s mother was a homemaker. The effect of the Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States] on his schoolmates can be seen in a group photograph of his school class where many of them are dressed in their best clothes, but wearing no shoes. Fricker attended class barefooted. He wore used clothing from his grandfather’s shop until he entered the Navy. That was when he received his first set of new clothes. The family had nothing, no car or anything. Fricker rode his bicycle extensively as a youth. He was riding his bicycle to a friend’s house on the Sunday when he heard that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He had no idea where Pearl Harbor was. He was in the ninth grade at Enid and was allowed to finish high school, but the day after graduation, he was on his way to San Diego [Annotator’s Note: San Diego, California] for boot camp. He enlisted as a senior in 1944 and graduated at 17 years of age. Fricker was anxious to get into the conflict.

Edgar Eugene "Gene" Fricker had his boot camp training in San Diego, California. Even though he was in the Navy, he was frightened of water. He still has trepidation about water, but has taught classes involving water safety and swimming. He even became a lifeguard. When Fricker contracted an earache, he stopped going into the water for good. He was a Water Safety Instructor (WSI) at the University of Oklahoma in Norman for a summer prior to giving up swimming. Fricker’s father was supportive of him joining the Navy and even visited him at boot camp. The visit afforded Fricker a rare opportunity for a trainee. He received a three-day pass [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] to spend time with his father who had been hurt, but not badly, on the Anzio beach [Annotator’s Note: Fricker’s father was a member of the 45th Infantry Division, 120th Medical Regiment. The Battle of Anzio beachhead took place between January and June 1944 at Anzio, Italy]. With Fricker’s father wearing his medals, Fricker ended up receiving a three-day pass to spend time with him. His father was a master sergeant in the Army and knew how to give orders even to the sailor in charge of his trainee son. There was never a conflict with Fricker being in the Navy and his father being in the Army. After enlisting in the Navy, Fricker loved the structure of boot camp. Following his father into various camps in his childhood had taught Fricker about obeying orders [Annotator’s Note: Fricker’s father occasionally brought his son to camp with him while stateside]. Fricker learned from his strict father that the last order received is always the priority order to follow. After boot camp, Fricker was sent to Imperial Beach in California to learn how to hit a beach and back off in an LCVP [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat]. The training allowed the boat operators to learn how to withdraw from a beach after disembarking the 35 troops with their full equipment. The LCVP could also carry a small jeep. Training was both in a classroom and aboard a boat. The sailors had to dig ditches if they had nothing to do. The structure was great. Fricker’s job on the LCVP was to dog down the ramp and secure it before its deployment. Troops could not do that job. There was also a sequence requirement for unfastening the boat from the davits so that it did not swamp the boat and sink. Timing was important. It was fun for Fricker who was an 18 or 19-year-old. Besides, the food was good.

Edgar Eugene “Gene” Fricker was a crewman on an LCVP [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat] which took troops of the 77th Army [Annotator’s Note: 77th Infantry Division] to the shore in three battles. He was at Okinawa and Ie Shima [Annotator’s Note: Okinawa and Ie Shima, Japan]. The loaded LCVPs were stopped on one assault and the troops were loaded on Alligators [Annotator's Note: Landing Vehicle, Tracked or LVT; also referred to as amtrack or alligator] which had come from an LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank]. Coral at the beach would have ripped the bottom out of the LCVPs before reaching the shoreline. After training, Fricker was allowed to return home, but all his friends were still serving in the military. He enjoyed walking around in his uniform. His father was in combat in the war [Annotator’s Note: Fricker’s father was a member of the 45th Infantry Division, 120th Medical Regiment], but Fricker did see his mother. He returned to San Diego [Annotator’s Note: San Diego, California] after his leave. He was sent to Astoria, Oregon for assignment to a ship. It was raining when Fricker observed his large ship. The ship had just been launched, so Fricker was aboard her for her lifetime [Annotator’s Note: after the war, Fricker voyaged to Norfolk, Virginia where the ship was quickly scrapped]. It was the USS Eastland (APA-163). It held 1,500 troops. It was Fricker’s first time aboard a large ship. It had to go on a shakedown [Annotator's Note: a cruise to evaluate the performance of a naval vessel and its crew] which was scary. The landing craft were taken on at San Francisco [Annotator’s Note: San Francisco, California] and troops boarded at Pearl Harbor [Annotator’s Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. The Pacific was usually calm, but Fricker was still scared to be aboard and away from land. His bunk space and storage compartment were both very limited. His dress uniforms had to be slept on to press them. He learned a lot of things in the service, particularly how to be prompt. Being late could be Captain’s Mast [Annotator’s Note: misconduct brought before a superior officer for his attention] and missing a ship departure could be deemed as desertion. The 77th Division was carried to Okinawa in order to assault small islands adjacent to the larger island before the big battle. Fricker observed one enemy prisoner who was taken aboard the Eastland. The ship received three battle stars [Annotator's Note: a device worn on a campaign ribbon to indicate the number of campaigns a ship or individual took part in]. That is reflected on Fricker’s discharge papers. While at Ulithi [Annotator's Note: Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands], Fricker would observe ships that had been severely damaged by kamikaze aircraft. While in a convoy of transports protected by destroyers, kamikazes attacked the Eastland off Okinawa. One of the intruders was shot down by APA-163 prior to orders to fire. The commanding officer was angry that it was accomplished prior to his order to commence fire. Before the two days were over, four more kamikazes were shot down. It is documented in Fricker’s book [Annotator’s Note: no title is provided for the book]. Fricker was on a twin 40 [Annotator's Note: two Bofors 40mm antiaircraft automatic cannon tandem mounted], but a quad 40 [Annotator's Note: four Bofors 40mm antiaircraft automatic cannon mounted together] was on the bow. The stern had a 5”/38 [Annotator's Note: five inch, 38 caliber naval gun]. The kamikaze dropped a bomb on the Eastland, but missed. Another ship was hit and lost ten men. The Eastland was never hit, though. The stern 5”/38 shot down another kamikaze. Acting as a lookout, Fricker saw each one of those planes being shot down. There was a fighting chance against the incoming planes. It was altogether different when a ship entered a typhoon. Fricker was in Halsey’s [Annotator's Note: US Navy Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey] typhoon [Annotator’s Note: Halsey led his task force into a vicious typhoon that resulted in ship and personnel losses and heavy damage to numerous smaller warships]. The Eastland rose 50 feet and slammed downward with the wave action. The Eastland had to have work done on its shaft after the incident. The shaft is critical for the ship’s life. Three destroyers and 700 sailors were lost in that typhoon. Hurricanes are on one side of the ocean and typhoons are on the opposite side, in the South Pacific. When the Japanese surrendered, there were 1,500 troops aboard to land in Japan. The men were told that many of them would not make it. The children were armed with little swords to fight the Americans. It was going to be a rough one. Dropping the bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] made Fricker glad. The enemy had hidden many airplanes for the final fight. The Japanese planned to fight to the end. At the time, our friends were China and Russia and the enemy was Germany and Japan. Now, our friends are Japan and Germany and our enemies are China and Russia. Fricker returned home in 1946. The older men were let out first. The ship was taken through the Panama Canal to Norfolk, Virginia. At Norfolk, the ship equipment was removed prior to the ship being ready to be scrapped. It went to the scrap pile quickly. While in Japan, Fricker was at Yokosuka, Yokohama, and Hokkaido. It was safer than being in San Francisco. After the Japanese surrendered, the people became friends with the Americans. Fricker learned to travel in threes when going to a new place. He even does that today. Everything was destroyed in Japan. The same was true with Guam’s terrain. The people were nice in the places that Fricker visited. That was true in China. Fricker was in the exotic places just for recreation, not particularly any duty. The Navy allows two thirds of the ship’s personnel at any one time to visit the local area where the ship is berthed. At Pearl Harbor, the Japanese would have caused two thirds more casualties on the ships if the attack would have been on Monday instead of Sunday [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was on Sunday 7 December 1941].

Edgar Eugene “Gene” Fricker was quickly released from the Navy after the war and attended college on the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment]. The Bill paid for everything at Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma, where Fricker met his wife. Fricker along with some other friends had tried another institution, but decided on Enid because they were treated so well there. The veterans refused to take the harassment normally bestowed on freshmen in college. He studied education and became a teacher in Cheyenne Valley [Annotator’s Note: Cheyenne Valley, Oklahoma] and taught English and History for ninth through twelfth grade. His wife taught elementary students. After a year, the married couple moved to Fairview, Oklahoma and taught for four years. Fricker moved to Progressive School as principal for two years. He next went to Kansas as an elementary principal and no longer had to teach. The pay was better as a principal. He retired in 1989 because he felt, as a Christian, it was getting hard on him. He is more in favor of military over political individuals. The former cannot be bought off, unlike the latter. The country was 100 percent for the war unlike the divided country we are now. We were unified back during World War Two. The citizens today do not know much about the war because it is not taught in school as it was before. Institutions like the WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] are needed because curricula do not cover the story today. The Vietnam War [Annotator's Note: Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War, 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975] is not well known today either. Fricker got through the years because of his future wife converting him to Christianity. She saved him and he would do anything for her.