Harold Zeringer was born in Houma, Louisiana in 1922 and grew up in New Orleans. There were good neighbors and friends nearby. There was plenty of room to play outside. Games were played instead of being inside. There was a large base of friends on the street to socialize with each day after school. There were no problems with the police. There were no drugs. His family, like others, was short of money during the Depression. They did not suffer more than anyone else that he knew. He attended Catholic grammar and high schools in New Orleans. He graduated from high school in 1938 and then attended Tulane University. The ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] was first organized at Tulane at that time, but he was more focused on being in the band. While at Tulane, he took courses in preparation for attending law school. He received a scholarship to attend Tulane. Zeringer would join a fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha, and leave the band shortly thereafter. He enjoyed being a Pike and became the president of the chapter. He liked building the fraternity. While in the band, Zeringer played the baritone horn which was between the trumpet and the sousaphone. Zeringer was friends with Al Hirt who played the trumpet. The Tulane concert band was very good, but with the fraternity business, he did not have enough time to devote to it. The night before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the fraternity had its Spring Formal Dance at the Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans. The Pikes were committed to that dance being the very best one ever. Extensive time was spent decorating the Yacht Club. Everyone was there for the celebration. The next day while having lunch with sorority girls, radio reports were received concerning the attack on the American naval base. His first reaction was one of shock. It was not a total surprise. His father had been in France in World War 1. His father and mother were engaged at the time. World War 1 was hell because of the trenches and type of warfare. That war was not discussed by his father, but Zeringer knew his mother worried about his father being killed. Zeringer studied that war because he was a history major. He also listened to the war reports from Europe in early World War 2. He saw the Movietone News when the Wehrmacht [Annotator's Note: the German military] marched down the Champs Elyse in 1940. The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise that it occurred when it did. Most of his mates felt that there would be another war and that they would be in it. Not many Americans fought in World War 1 compared to the other belligerents. Most of the fighting was between the French, British and Germans. The Americans turned the tide in 1917 and 1918. After Pearl Harbor, people feared bombs would start falling on New Orleans. 7 December was a beautiful afternoon and everyone was shocked. Although unprepared, the graduating seniors were concerned that they be allowed to graduate. On 9 December, several seniors joined the V-7 Program so that they would become naval officers. [Annotator's Note: The Navy's V-7 program allowed college men to finish their college work and graduate after which they would enter the midshipman program in preparation for a Navy commission.] With New Orleans being a Navy town, Zeringer made his decision to become a member of that branch of the service. He enjoyed being around ships even though he knew nothing about them. His father was in the Army, but Zeringer joined the Navy and was glad that he did.

Harold Zeringer and several of his friends decided to enlist in the United States Navy on 9 December 1941, just a few days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. They were designated as apprentice seamen and officer candidates. As a result, they were allowed to complete their senior year at Tulane. Consequently, Zeringer and the other enlistees were not called for duty until the summer of 1942. [Annotator's Note: Zeringer was in his senior year at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana when he volunteered for the Navy's V-7 program which allowed him to finish his college work and graduate before entering the midshipman program in preparation for a Navy commission.] Following graduation from Tulane, Zeringer and several others traveled to New York City and enrolled in the midshipman program at Columbia University. That training program continued through 1942. Zeringer was then commissioned as an ensign in the United States Naval Reserve. It was a freezing day when he received his commission. Orders next took him to Miami to a submarine chasing school. In Miami, he found the temperature much more comfortable than it was when he received his commission. He became a student of submarines and submarine chasers. After completing their training in Miami, the students were assigned to various roles. Zeringer became a member of a submarine chasing outfit because of his very high scores in navigation. It was obvious that he could travel the seas and know where he was located. He had further training in Miami operating submarine chasing vessels to familiarize himself with the operations of the craft. When he had down time, he would play ball or go swimming. Life in Miami was enjoyable for Zeringer. Orders came for Zeringer to report to Los Angles to become second in command on the SC-1011 [Annotator's Note: USS SC-1011 was a SC-497 class submarine chaser] which was being built by Fellows and Stewart of Wilmington, California. Those were the same boat builders who had constructed yachts for the movie stars such as Errol Flynn. The boats were well built with wooden hulls at a length of 110 feet and a 17 foot beam. It had a complement of 24 crew and three officers. Since the ship was still under construction and not yet completed, Zeringer lived at Terminal Island near San Pedro. Terminal Island was a favorite place to relax for the movie people at that time. Errol Flynn enjoyed parties at Terminal Island. The second in command at the base was Commander Robert Montgomery. [Annotator's Note: Both Errol Flynn and Robert Montgomery were famous movie actors at the time of the outbreak of the Second World War.] Weekends were a time to party with the movie stars while the work week was focused on hard work. During this time, Zeringer was executive officer of SC-1011 and the captain was Emery Percy Boynton. Boynton was a yachtsman and knew his business well. He and Zeringer worked well together. Their duty was to patrol up and down the California coast out of San Pedro and hunt for enemy submarines. Since there were no Japanese submarines threatening that area of the west coast, the main duty for the SC-1011 was to escort newly constructed American submarines from their building yards in San Diego to San Francisco. Escorting a submarine is not easy because of their black hulls and low profile in the sea. This effort continued through the summer of 1943. In November 1943, Zeringer and the SC-1011 were assigned to a convoy sailing to Pearl Harbor. The convoy arrived there on 7 December 1943.

Harold Zeringer arrived at Pearl Harbor after convoy duty from the west coast. He saw the Arizona [Annotator's Note: USS Arizona (BB-39) sunk in the mud of the harbor. The Oklahoma [Annotator's Note: USS Oklahoma (BB-37)] had been righted after it had capsized. Much of the harbor damage had been repaired by the time the USS SC-1011 in the harbor. Seeing the battered ships was very sad. There was still evidence of the massive damage to the harbor a year after the attack when Zeringer first observed the after effects. At this time, Zeringer took command of SC-1011 after the captain was given command of a DE [Annotator's Note: destroyer escort]. Zeringer was delighted to take command. He enjoyed being captain. He had a good crew and a good ship. The ship was busy with several trips to multiple Pacific islands. The ship crossed the equator and the ceremony was observed for the first passage. [Annotator's Note: In Navy tradition, a crewman who had never crossed the equator was referred to as a Pollywog. After crossing the equator, a mock ceremony would often be conducted where Pollywogs were raised to the status of Shellbacks. This is an old ribald nautical custom.] Assignments took the boat to Kanton Island where a coastal artillery battalion was stationed to defend against Japanese attack. Nothing really happened there, but the crew would play softball with the battalion members. After Zeringer became captain, one engine broke down. It had to be replaced with one from the states. With only one operable engine, the SC-1011 would tow targets for the Marine pilots out of Kaneohe Air Station to practice firing on. The pilots flew the best aircraft built which was the bent wing Vought F4U Corsair. Some of the wild shots by the pilots came perilously close to Zeringer's boat. The target being towed was made of bedspring type material because the pilots had to use radar to find the target at nighttime. With machine gun bullets flying and bombs being dropped, it was a dangerous scenario for the sub chaser. The day after the target practice, Zeringer would return to Kaneohe to see how well the pilots did. Zeringer would argue with the Marines. He would tell them to not shoot at his ship. It was a great time at Kaneohe. After the first few days, the pilots and Zeringer got along well. On 1 April 1944, Zeringer was named captain of the SC-1011. As the captain, Zeringer continued traveling the Hawaiian Islands. The duty involved escorting all types of vessels around the islands. With few Japanese in the Pacific, the main concern became German submarines in the area. SC-1011's job became to signal amphibious landings where the proper route was to hit designated beaches. The boat stood offshore to signal the landing craft. Since they had to be stationary, they were subject to enemy coastal fire. On a training exercise off Maui, there was a submarine contact made. The SC-1011 chased the submarine for a day and a half toward Mexico. They had to break off the chase because of low fuel. There was never any other opportunity to drop their depth charges on the enemy. There were many one ship escort assignments. Zeringer's ability to navigate well meant that the ships always got to their destination as required.

Harold Zeringer had a great ship with the Submarine Chaser 1011 [Annotator's Note: USS SC-1011 was a SC-497 class submarine chaser]. It was not much of a warship, but it did have a 40mm gun on the bow and 20mm guns at various points on the ship. It was armed well for short distance fighting but not for long distance firing. It had a great crew of 24 enlisted and three officers. There was a black steward's mate instead of a Filipino like normally was found aboard ships. The black man had good humor and large yellow eyes. His name was Willie Lee Davis. He was named for Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis even though he was black. Davis was an excellent lookout and did everything right. Black guys were limited to what they did in the Navy at that time. Davis became accepted as a 20mm gunner and lookout. He was a bit of a kleptomaniac and was threatened to be tossed over the side. Zeringer told his bosun's mate to not let anything happen to Davis. Davis would never go ashore unless he had a complete shakedown. Everyone grew to like Davis. He was a character who got along with the rest of the crew. He was able to see over the horizon and was an excellent gunner. Not a tall man, Davis was very strong. He was a happy soul. It was rewarding to see how all the crew became friends long before integration. It was a good example of how well integration could work. Zeringer was relieved in December 1944 as captain of the submarine chaser. He returned to New Orleans for a 30 day leave. Most all his friends were on duty elsewhere. When he returned to Tulane, nearly all the young men on the campus were enlisted personnel so there were continuous salutes for Zeringer as an officer. His mother was happy to see him back but both of them were concerned because Zeringer would return to duty as captain of the 466 [Annotator's Note: the patrol craft USS PC-466].

Harold Zeringer joined the 466 [Annotator's Note: USS PC-466] which was a warship of the first magnitude. Zeringer had a hard time finding 466 because she was in the South Pacific when he returned to Pearl Harbor from leave. She had served in the South Atlantic and Mediterranean prior to her Pacific duty. The 466 was a steel hull ship about 173 feet long. About half the size of a fleet destroyer, she was built at George Lawley and Sons in Boston. She was a Yankee ship. Her entire crew had been members of a Boston Naval Reserve unit before the war. It was built with some of the best materials available. There were 80 men with eight officers. It was a big change from 24 men and three officers on the submarine chaser. The men were from Boston but the officers were from across the country. There were men from Yale, Harvard, MIT [Annotator's Note: Massachusetts Institute of Technology], Princeton and other prestigious institutions. They looked skeptically at Zeringer as he was the only Confederate in the crew. When first assigned to the PC-466 as its captain, Zeringer could not locate the ship when he arrived at Pearl Harbor. He then was given a temporary assignment at Pearl. He was in charge of the anti-submarine gates at the harbor. It was good because he saw virtually all the ships that entered or exited the harbor. The PC-466 turned out to be in the Caribbean and South Atlantic where there were real submarine worries. In her route to the Pacific, she was picked up several times as a control ship by various admirals. This was the same duty that the 1011 [Annotator's Note: Zeringer's previous vessel, USS SC-1011] performed while Zeringer was her captain. Zeringer heard that PC-466 was headed to Saipan and boarded a vessel bound for that area. At Saipan, Zeringer observed a ship in drydock with the numbers 466 on her transom. He climbed a ladder to get on the ship which was having a new starboard propeller shaft installed. He joined PC-466 just in time to participate in the invasion of Okinawa. Okinawa would be where he really got into the fight.

Harold Zeringer was a participant in the assault to take the Japanese held island of Okinawa. The invasion took place on Easter Sunday in 1945 [Annotator's Note: 1 April 1945]. Serving as the captain of USS PC-466, his ship help set up the line of departure for the landing craft taking invasion troops to the beachhead. There were several close calls from enemy fire but PC-466 was never hit. Standing on his bridge, his ship battled it out with an enemy shore battery until the 466 finally silenced the gun. The fighting for Okinawa was particularly hard because that island was a part of the Japanese islands and not some remote fortress away from Japan. Zeringer had relieved the Bostonian, Dave Cook [Annotator's Note: LT(j.g.) D. T. Cook, USNR], who had been the prior captain of the PC-466. Cook had made several improvements to the 466 prior to being relieved by Zeringer. The ship was a good ship made from the best of materials since it originally was being built for the Mayor of Boston. Everything on the ship was first class. Weaponry on the vessel included a forward 3 inch 50 caliber deck gun and an aft twin 40mm cannon mount plus additional 20mm cannons at midship. The hand loading of the forward gun was cumbersome and involved a tough operation for the gun crew. The smaller guns were easier to operate. It was a feisty ship. The Okinawa fight that started on April Fool's Day and ran through July was tough with daytime fights with enemy shore batteries and night time defense against Kamikaze attacks. The Japanese air force was decimated at this time so the desperation of the enemy led to the strategy of sending relatively untrained young pilots to attack Allied vessels. It was a one way suicide trip to crash their aircraft into the invasion ships and take as many lives with them as possible. No matter how shot up the Kamikaze attackers were, many still managed to get through to their targets. The PC-466 was fortunate not to be hit. Although never hit, shrapnel would fall on 466 everyday. Some of the shrapnel was from the fire of other friendly ships bursting overhead. Every night was a fight. The ship was never hit or damaged. Others nearby were badly damaged or sunk. One small ship that had been badly damaged was escorted by PC-466 to a small island off the coast of Okinawa where damaged ships were brought. [Annotator's Note: The name of the island is not discernible in the interview but Zeringer is most likely referring to Kerama Reto.] After getting the ship anchored and the crew ashore, it was night time and the 466 was not allowed to exit the harbor. Japanese swimmers were in the harbor attempting to plant plastic explosives on the Allied ships. The 466 slowly traversed the harbor. Several of its crew was armed with old World War 1 Springfield rifles watching for enemy swimmers and firing on them when they approached the ship. Several swimmers were successful in planting bombs on moored ships. The 466's crew did manage to get several of the enemy swimmers. In fact, Zeringer picked up a rifle and fired on one of the swimmers and hit him in the head. The suicide attacker sank to the bottom. That was the only confirmed kill that Zeringer knew definitely that he had. Zeringer was involved in other fire fights including the silencing of the enemy coastal battery that had the gun duel with the 466 off Okinawa. Shooting the swimmer was the most personal aspect of the war for Zeringer. The times off Okinawa were very hectic. The 466 was off Okinawa until near the end of the war. The ship had to go to the massive naval base at Ulithi for refit and resupply. While at Ulithi, it was discovered that the starboard propeller shaft was damaged. The ship had been in nearly constant service. The after strut was out of alignment so that repair was performed and the 466 returned to Okinawa. At that point, the island was secured. The Japanese had exhausted everything they had there. It was obvious that the enemy troops were being pulled back to the home islands for a last fight. PC-466 received orders to sail for Panay in the Philippines.

Harold Zeringer and his ship went to the Philippines to take on troops and practice making assault landings. [Annotator's Note: Zeringer was captain of the USS PC-466.] This was done for a few weeks in preparation for the invasion of the Japanese home islands. The atom bombs were dropped and the fighting ceased. Zeringer was very glad the fighting was over. His ship had been sent to Subic Bay to join a convoy in preparation for the invasion of Japan. That was before the bombs were dropped. The troops were members of a California National Guard division. Some of the convoy was assigned to carry troops and other to transport their supplies. The convoy sailed to Tokyo Bay and arrived during the signing of the surrender onboard the Missouri [Annotator's Note: USS Missouri (BB-63)]. PC-466 was lead ship in the convoy as it entered Tokyo Bay. It was designated so because it was the most expendable of all the ships involved. The convoy continued on to Yokohama. Zeringer considered continuing with his Navy career because of his service under Admiral Wilkinson [Annotator's Note: Vice Admiral Theodore Stark Wilkinson] who was second in command in the Pacific to General MacArthur [Annotator's Note: US Army General Douglas MacArthur]. Wilkinson was commander of amphibious forces in the Pacific. The Admiral needed a small ship to ferry him around Tokyo Bay and PC-466 was selected. The first meeting between Wilkinson and Zeringer was very favorable. They hit it off and worked well together. For awhile, the PC-466 became the flagship of the Chief of Amphibious Forces in the Pacific. Zeringer would take Wilkinson to Tokyo to have lunch with Douglas MacArthur. PC-466 remained a flagship through the last months of 1945 and the beginning of 1946. It was good duty carrying the Admiral all around Tokyo Bay. Zeringer and the Admiral grew very close. Zeringer gave consideration to becoming a career naval officer. It became time to transfer the 466 back to San Francisco to be overhauled then put back in service. It returned to Mare Island for overhaul in December 1945. The ship was dry docked for quite awhile. One propeller needed a significant bit of work. The ship was repaired and repainted. There was reluctance to paint large numbers on the 466, but Zeringer insisted, and it happened. All the original 466 Bostonian crew was sent back home because they had not received leave since their assignment to the ship. The Bostonians were replaced with an all new crew. A new skipper named Lieutenant Patrick J. Miller replaced Zeringer as commander of the ship. The new skipper had a brand new crew. Zeringer returned to New Orleans. Prior to that time, Zeringer seriously considered staying in the Navy. He had a good route to promotion with Admiral Wilkerson. It appeared Wilkerson was going to be Chief of Naval Operations, but the day the PC-466 left Tokyo for San Francisco, the Admiral was killed in an automobile accident. [Annotator's Note: Zeringer is noticeably affected by the memory of the shock of this loss.] Wilkerson had won the Medal of Honor in 1914. Zeringer's time with the Admiral was a positive experience. They got along fine. The Admiral had wanted Zeringer to stay in the Navy. He would have had rapid promotion with Wilkerson had he done so. With Wilkerson's death, Zeringer made the decision to accept discharge. He had a girl waiting for him so he returned to New Orleans and married her in 1948. That began his next career, a career in law.

Harold Zeringer returned to New Orleans in March 1946 and embarked on a concentrated law school effort. He took three years of class work in two years. He worked night and day. The classes were very rushed. Fellow veterans in the class felt they were behind the others because of their time in service. Zeringer graduated from Tulane University in June 1948. Although he had a scholarship for his undergraduate work, he used the G.I. Bill for Law School. He was happy in the Navy, but he was also happy in New Orleans practicing law. Zeringer had no negative feelings about the Japanese people. Their concepts of things are very traditional but different from those in the United States. He did not speak Japanese nor did many Japanese speak English at that time. Nevertheless, Zeringer's contact with civilians in Japan was not bad. When he would ferry the Admiral [Annotator's Note: Vice Admiral Theodore Stark Wilkinson] around Tokyo Bay, the ship would tie-up on a pier with the Japanese civilians watching them. Since the Americans passed out food and other things, it seemed the relationships were good. Both sides were polite to the other. There are still American ships in the base at Yokosuka, Japan. There were good times in Japan during occupation. At this time there was very little knowledge of the mistreatment of Allied prisoners by the Japanese. Only a few of the total population participated in those atrocities. Zeringer credited his survival in the war to the dropping of the atomic bombs. After the fighting, when Zeringer and his convoy entered the bays of Japan leading into Tokyo Bay, he observed the dozen or so 18 inch naval artillery emplacements on the hillsides. Those positions would have devastated the Allied assault troops had the invasion of the Japanese home islands been required. Multiple waves of assault troops would have been catastrophically shelled. At the time, Zeringer did not think the dropping of the atomic bombs would end the war. He felt the Japanese would continue on despite the fact that eventually they would run out of resources and have to capitulate. The last gasp of the enemy was indicated with the Kamikaze aircraft. Once all those airplanes were destroyed, there was not much the Japanese could do to prolong the war except to battle the invasion and make it tough to get ashore. It would have been bloody, but it would have been successful [Annotator's Note: for the Allies]. The Japanese military was tough and there were some bad actors. Not all the military was bad but there were some. The Philippines was an example of the harshness of the treatment of American prisoners. Nevertheless, there was a tendency in the press to exaggerate those stories.

Harold Zeringer could not keep up with the European War because he devoted his attention to the war in the Pacific. The war fighters in the Pacific knew the war in Europe was winding down, but they did not keep up with the details. It was only when Zeringer was home on leave in December 1944 that he heard of the Battle of the Bulge. If the Germans had succeeded in reaching Antwerp, as they had planned, the war would have been prolonged. They were fighting with their final efforts. They had exhausted everything they had. The battle of Bastogne and the Battle of the Bulge was an effort of desperation. That would have been similar to Japanese efforts had the invasion of the Japanese home islands been required. The Nazi concentration camps were due to Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] and his thugs, not proper Germans. The Japanese internment camps in America were not justifiable. There was no excuse for them. The people in charge made bad decisions in that regard. There was significant panic in the country in the beginning of the war because of the fear of a Japanese invasion. People of Asiatic ancestry were not looked on favorably at the time even if they were Chinese. It was difficult to determine the difference in the two nationalities. The Japanese internment camps were not largely known about during the war. A memorable occurrence in the war was when Zeringer was on his ship in Tokyo Bay waiting for the Admiral [Annotator's Note: Vice Admiral Theodore Stark Wilkinson] to return from lunch with Douglas MacArthur. A large, burly individual came aboard his ship and demanded to see the captain and was speaking quite harshly. It turned out to be a Russian who said that the Americans were in a Russian area and that Zeringer and his ship was under his authority. At that point, Zeringer told him in no uncertain terms to get off his ship or he would throw him overboard. The individual grumbled but immediately left. Zeringer was never going to let the Russians take over his ship. The Russians are close to people in New Orleans. The white people are called Caucasians but the Caucasus is in Russia. Another memorable event was Zeringer's last trip into Pearl Harbor. Zeringer fought in the war because he, along with America, was being attacked by the enemy. The war changed his life because of the years he lost. He was 19 years old when he graduated from Tulane University. He enjoyed his time in the Navy. Life would have been different had he made the Navy his career. His family was raised in New Orleans instead of across the world. His children are spread through the country. The National WWII Museum is needed to continue the story of the events of the war. Zeringer has visited the museum and is a supporter. Future generations should continue to be taught about the Second World War. It was a major factor in this country's development. Zeringer, like President Franklin Roosevelt, hated war, but he enjoyed his time in the Navy even though he was frightened at times. He seriously considered making a career of Navy service.