Henry A. Tacket was an amateur radio operator in his youth. His friends coaxed him into joining the Navy's V3 program for radio operators in 1939. During the group's meetings in downtown Fort Worth, individuals built their own equipment. From there, they set up communications with other V3 units across the region. When offered one year of active service, he opted to accept the opportunity. Tacket had worked at multiple radio shops previously but, with the bad times during the Depression, active duty seemed like a good proposition. He felt the Navy experience would help him acquire civilian work afterward. He was called up quickly after he joined the reserve. He was sent to Pensacola and made a Seaman 2nd Class. He knew Morse code and took to the training so well that he became an instructor for aviation cadets. Later, he was transferred to advanced cadet training school at Chevalier Field in Pensacola. The training was accomplished using aged aircraft. Communications equipment was scarce. The radios had to be switched from one plane to the next one being utilized as a trainer. That effort took much of Tacket's time during that period. He did get in flying time and the accompanying pay when he operated the gear for the squadron. His squadron moved to another nearby airfield called Ellison Field. The war in Europe was escalating. Many British pilots were trained at the field. The attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into the war. Tacket's main work involved equipment installation in planes, boats, and vehicles. With the beginning of the war, newer equipment became available. Training for Tacket changed as he became a passenger in fighter planes. Four months after Pearl Harbor, he was taken out of aviation and put into sea duty as a Petty Officer 2nd Class. Tacket had turned out to be the nominal head of the Ellison Field radio communications operation even though he had a Chief over him. He was assigned to train on a PC [Annotator's Note: patrol craft] boat under construction in New York. The boats were anti-submarine vessels used against the Germans who were hounding ships on the East Coast. His boat was USS PC-600. He was sent to Florida for further training, experience and education about the boat's radio equipment. Returning to New York, he participated in sea trials of the PC boats prior to government acceptance of each vessel. PC-600 went to the Aleutian Islands, but prior to that, Tacket was assigned to a convoy on the boat. Tacket witnessed a submarine attack on a Mexican ship off Pensacola. The Mexican government declared war on Germany as a result. The PC boats practiced runs against submarines at a training base at Key West. Afterward, the PC headed to the Panama Canal. En route, the sounding equipment went bad. After repairs, the PC sailed toward the Canal but the equipment failed again. It took an inexperienced repair man in San Diego to eliminate the problem with the gear. The boat then headed to Seattle for further training.

Henry A. Tacket and his boat, the USS PC-600 [Annotator's Note: a patrol craft] were assigned duty as escort for a troopship departing from Seattle bound for Kodiak, Alaska. It was a stormy area with such rough seas that the troopship was invisible to the small boat. They lost contact with each other and the troopship outran the PC-600. The smaller vessel arrived days after the troopship. The PC-600 was then assigned to escort a merchant ship back to Seattle. The small boat was then assigned escort duty back to Alaska. It encountered heavy weather that virtually tore the vessel apart. The aft depth charge racks were swept off the deck. Flooding started below decks and the boat's food supply was ruined except for a can of asparagus. The cook managed to make soup with the canned vegetable. Tacket has loved asparagus ever since. After a few days, the storm abated and the PC reached Kodiak. After repairs, it was sent to the Aleutian chain of islands. This was during the Midway Battle when the Japanese attacked Kiska and Attu. PC-600 and an aged destroyer worked patrol duty around the area. In the dark of night, they collided and the bow was ripped off the small PC boat. Tacket had just previously been in the area. The boat was routed to Kodiak to rebuild its bow. The little boat fought storms all the way back. Most civilian inhabitants had been evacuated from the region. Tacket was ordered to a receiving station in Seattle for reassignment. That voyage was fraught with storms. Upon reaching Seattle, Tacket was ordered to a destroyer being built in San Francisco [Annotator's Note: USS Heermann (DD-532)]. He was granted leave to return home for a brief visit. He had his orders stolen while he was en route home whereupon he was incarcerated for not having orders. Tacket had to phone the West Coast to get another copy of his orders. His brother assisted him by delivering the orders to the brig. Tacket was released and returned to Treasure Island where the crew of the new destroyer was being organized.

Henry A. Tacket began training at Treasure Island in San Francisco for his assignment to a new destroyer. That was interrupted after he was redesignated as a communications equipment operator for a blimp station near Moffett Field. He worked there for several months until his destroyer neared completion. The new ship was the USS Heermann (DD-532). He was initially part of the watch during the installation of the classified equipment onboard the destroyer. That took several months before the ship was ready for commission. After commissioning, the ship went through several months of shakedown and crew training for them to learn to operate the vessel. The Heermann was then sent to Pearl Harbor for further training.

Henry A. Tacket and the USS Heermann (DD-532) were assigned to the invasion of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands. The operation was almost a disaster. Tides were wrong. Reefs obstructed the landing crafts. The Heermann was operating as a screen to the invasion troops but went too close to shore and ripped off all its underwater sounding equipment. Because the ship could not operate against submarines, it was sent to the lagoon to provide fire support for the Marines. The ship was provided navigation assistance by an ex-British guide who knew the island. Heermann provided six days of offshore fire support for the ground troops until they secured the island. Virtually, all the ammunition on the ship was expended as the Marines wiped out the Japanese. The ship had to return to Pearl Harbor to repair the propellers, underwater structure, and sound equipment. After repair, Heermann sailed to Kwajalein to serve as backup for the invasion. The services of the destroyer were not called upon. Heermann's next job was to rescue the crew of a downed four engine aircraft during a storm. It was perilous but successful. Heermann next was directed to protect aircraft carriers from submarine attacks. After Kwajalein was secure, the fleet assigned to attack Eniwetok pulled out and headed to the bloody conflict at that atoll. The Heermann along with four other destroyers anchored in the lagoon and were secured to allow broadsides in support of the Marines. The Marines had many casualties but the Japanese fought to the last man. It was very bad.

Henry A. Tacket was aboard the USS Heermann (DD-532) after the Battle of Eniwetok when the fleet was sent to a natural harbor south of the area of conflict. The Japanese had never used the atoll that seemed like an excellent anchorage location. The Heermann was composited with other vessels that had previously never worked together as a squadron. They were sent to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. Heermann encountered a series of large ships while underway. They could not be reached via the normal communication frequency. The captain assumed them to be enemy vessels. When Tacket altered the radio frequency, communications were established with the ships. They were American vessels performing a clandestine mission. They responded hesitantly until the Heermann and the other destroyers threatened a torpedo run on them. That represented nine ships with ten torpedoes each. Identification was verified by the stealthy fleet to circumvent the threat of 90 incoming torpedoes. The Heermann reached Guadalcanal after the major fighting had ended there. She spent months helping capture other islands, raiding Japanese convoys and transporting troops. She also escorted aircraft carriers as a plane guard during the New Guinea campaign. MacArthur [Annotator's Note: US Army General Douglas MacArthur] was moving north toward the Philippines. The Heermann and its squadron were advancing west toward the Philippines. A huge anchorage was established on the way. It even included large dry-docks. The squadron was involved in the capture of several islands prior to the invasion of the Philippines. The Heermann was part of the protective force for the jeep aircraft carriers [Annotator's Note: jeep aircraft carriers were small, slow escort carriers designated as CVEs that were used to support amphibious invasions] that supported the Marines. The invasion of Angaur Island was very costly for the Marines. They were dominating the fighting but at a heavy cost.

Henry A. Tacket was aboard the USS Heermann (DD-532) when the invasion of the Philippines started. The initial landings occurred before the end of the fighting on Angaur. There were 18 jeep carriers [Annotator's Note: jeep aircraft carriers were small, slow escort carriers designated as CVEs that were used to provide air cover for advancing troops after amphibious landings] assisting the invasion. The Heermann and other destroyers stood guard to help protect the escort carriers off the coast of Samar. The jeep carriers were positioned north to south in three groups of six each near the landings sites. The Japanese fleet attempted a counterattack but was defeated by old Pearl Harbor battleships at the Surigao Strait. Another enemy fleet came down through the islands and Heermann was part of the fight against them. A third Japanese fleet suckered Halsey [Annotator's Note: US Navy Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey] out of position to support the landing forces. Halsey pursued that enemy threat too far away to provide protection for the amphibious forces. The Heermann was defending the northernmost of the three groups of six escort carriers each. The destroyer collided with the enemy fleet during the battle off Samar. Breakfast had just ended. Rain squalls produced low visibility. American planes aloft spotted the approaching large Japanese surface fleet. The fleet included three or four battleships led by the huge ship Yamato. There were numerous cruisers and destroyers shepherding those capital ships. The Americans were lightly armed to fight such a force. The small carriers launched their planes in defense. The destroyers and destroyer escorts provided smoke screens. The Americans could fire on the enemy using their radar; however, the shielding smoke hindered visual sightings by the fire controllers on the Japanese vessels. As the smoke screens drifted away, rain squalls further handicapped the enemy gunners. That saved many lives on the smaller American ships. Two of the three American destroyers were sunk while making torpedo runs on their adversary. Heermann managed to evade destruction during its torpedo runs. The escort carriers fled south during the action. One, the Gambier Bay [Annotator's Note: USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73)] was sunk. It was the only aircraft carrier sunk by gunfire in World War 2. Soon, the suicide planes appeared. Heermann shot one kamikaze down but another penetrated the deck of the St. Lo [Annotator's Note: USS St. Lo (CVE-63)]. That was a disaster as the ship sunk within ten minutes. Most of the men below decks had no chance of surviving. Heermann attempted to rescue as many sailors from St. Lo as she could. There were combat deaths aboard the Heermann during the action. There was a commendation for the skipper for his evasive maneuvering which saved the Heermann. Some enemy ships were left dead in the water. They were sunk by American aircraft which arrived following the action. The other groups of jeep carriers had their own problems with submarines and kamikazes. The Japanese ultimately retreated from the battle site and the Yamato was sunk later off of Okinawa while the Heermann was escorting other carriers.

Henry A. Tacket and the USS Heermann (DD-532) returned to the United States after the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The ship needed repairs so the crew was given leave during that time. Afterward, the ship was deployed to the Central Pacific Fleet. The Heermann was no longer under MacArthur [Annotator's Note: US Army General Douglas MacArthur] as it had been during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. It was now in the Third Fleet under Halsey [Annotator's Note: US Navy Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey]. It operated that way for the rest of the war. The fleet was subdivided into main groups. Each main group in the fleet had four to six large aircraft carriers along with four battleships, eight cruisers, and about 20 destroyers. Each of the multiple groups was supported by vast numbers of auxiliary vessels in the rear. It was so efficient that mail would arrive from home nine days after being posted. The war would be won in that configuration as the fleet helped win the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The conflict finally saw the Heermann off the coast of Japan serving "tomcat duty." That entailed the destroyer placing itself between the fleet carriers and Japan's home islands. Using its radar, Heermann dispatched fighters to intercept any oncoming Japanese aircraft at the proper vector and altitude. After the war ended on the morning of 15 August [Annotator's Note: 15 August 1945], Heermann shot down one of three enemy planes that refused to heed the surrender. Those were the final shoot downs of the war. It was a happy day when the war ended. Heermann was assigned to assist in recovery of American prisoners of war. She was to provide submarine protection against any errant enemy refusing to capitulate. One American ship recovering POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war] hit a mine and was sunk. A man from Tacket's neighborhood was aboard the stricken ship. He had been captured in the Philippines and was rescued by a ship like Tacket's. Tacket saw him after the war.

Henry A. Tacket was a Radioman 1st Class aboard the USS Heermann (DD-532). He was a 1st Class Petty Officer. He would be promoted to Chief Petty Officer later. During the Battle of Leyte Gulf, off of Samar, the Heermann discovered the Japanese after the crew manned the ship at daybreak. Hearing gunfire in the distance, it was assumed enemy aircraft were being fired upon. Rain squalls prevented visual sighting of any enemy ships. Friendly aircraft observed the oncoming enemy, and that set off the action. The squalls kept the Japanese from seeing the American ships. Their radar gave the small American ships an edge in the two and half hour fight. It was the longest sea battle in history. Tacket manned the radio room sending messages requesting help. The captain's radioman was killed in the action. There were many casualties on the ship, but it survived. There were heavy hits requiring return to the United States for repair after enemy retreated. En route stateside, the ship was dry-docked and the exterior examined. Damage was not as extensive as anticipated. There had been considerable flooding from the enemy strikes. The Heermann did manage to maintain high speed attempting to launch its torpedoes at the cruisers. The five inch guns fired continuously during the fight. One gun was jammed momentarily but was freed and became operational. The ship's aft gun hit a bulkhead on the Heermann. Reports of Japanese battleships caused concern and requests for immediate support. The antenna on the Heermann was shot away before Tacket could communicate the warnings about the enemy's capital ships. The five inch gunners on the destroyers were aiming for the bridge of the battleships as one of its few vulnerable spots. Heermann fired on the bridge for 20 minutes prior to a response from the battleship. When it came, the fire director felt doomed. A round came close, but it was a near miss. The director survived. The ship was never disabled. Some ships were sunk and the crewmen had to suffer on rafts for days. There were sharks nearby. The destroyers had to fight much larger ships but were aided by the squalls and smoke screens preventing sighting by the Japanese. Torpedo runs were made against cruisers by the destroyers. Heermann made two torpedo runs while the other two destroyers made only one run each before being shot up. Of the nine ships of the squadron, only one was not hit. Tacket did not see the other ships that were hit. The DEs [Annotator's Note: destroyer escorts] even fired torpedoes to help in the fight. Tacket was inside the radio room and could not see the battle as it unfolded. He was manning the TBS radio which was the manufacturer name. The radio was also known as "talk between ships" communication equipment.

Henry A. Tacket was aboard the USS Heermann (DD-532) during the Battle off Samar. Battle damage examination afterward showed multiple hits on the ship. Incoming fire could have been from enemy destroyers or cruisers. Tacket's background as an amateur radio operator enabled him to repair his communication equipment better than anyone else onboard. After returning to the United States for repairs, Tacket was granted two weeks leave. The ship was made sound and redeployed for the amphibious landings on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The primary mission for the Heermann was to guard the large aircraft carriers. A few suicide planes managed to get through the picket lines and hit the aircraft carriers. One got by the Heermann and hit an old carrier. The Heermann had boiler problems during this time. The issues were corrected by a crewman who had been a boilermaker in civilian life. Multiple steam tubes were repaired while the ship was in the battle zone. The repair team worked day and night to successfully get Heermann back to full power. The captain commended the boilermaker team in their records. Others who were responsible for such repairs commented that they would never attempt to perform that work under battle conditions. The men were heroes who were never heard about. During the Okinawa campaign, Heermann picked up soundings from an enemy submarine. She persistently pursued the submarine and expended all her depth charges and hedgehog rockets off the bow of the ship without success. It took four more destroyers before the submarine was ultimately sunk. The enemy submarine was the large type which could carry an airplane or a midget submarine.

Henry A. Tacket and the USS Heermann (DD-532) performed picket duty after the war ended. His destroyer was on watch to assure that no errant Japanese pilots attempted kamikaze attacks on the fleet. They shot down one enemy plane headed that way. The Heermann also aided in protecting ships rescuing American POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war] freed after the war. Tacket and the Heermann were assigned to Tokyo Bay and the surrender ceremony. Notification came that he could return home. He opted to pass on the ceremony to head stateside. The risk of hitting a mine weighed in his decision. The destroyer had a rifle squad that shot the mines to detonate them. One explosion knocked Tacket from his bunk. Tacket hated to leave his friends on the Heermann, as he did his earlier ship [Annotator's Note: the USS PC-600]. He made his way back by various ships to the West Coast. En route, he was transferred to the Wasp [Annotator's Note: USS Wasp (CV-18)] via cargo net. He and others hung on to the bottom of the net for a perilous ride to the carrier. The carrier was a massive ship. Tacket made Chief [Annotator's Note: Chief Radioman] about a year before the war ended. The money, food and accommodations were better. He was discharged on 4 October 1945 in Norman, Oklahoma. He did not stay in the reserves but went to Texas Tech on the G.I. Bill. He made straight A's all the way through. He could not have made it through school without the G.I. Bill. It was a good adjustment for the veterans. He had a bit of difficulty transitioning from the service after discharge. He helped build a new radio station using his electronics background. It was a good job. He was assistant chief engineer for the station. He kept the transmitter running while he did his school work. He moved to Oklahoma and later Texas pursuing his career. He ultimately built high powered radio transmitters all over the world. Some of the foreign travel was not too enjoyable.

Henry A. Tacket remembered harsh storms in Alaskan waters and a plane crash in Florida as his most memorable occurrences in World War 2. He was born in August 1920. He grew up in Fort Worth and attended high school there. He was in Pensacola when he heard over the radio about the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was not happy about it. He went to town to find out more information. He kept the special edition newspaper he purchased that day.

Henry A. Tacket lost several jobs during the Depression because positions were limited for amateur radio operators. A friend talked him into becoming part of the Navy's civilian training program. Tacket learned much about communications that served him well on active duty. He became an instructor for aviation cadets. He thought he would be selected to be a gunner on an airplane since they operated the radio equipment. He was transferred before that happened. Tacket had been patrolling Kiska Harbor in Alaskan waters when the bow of his ship [Annotator's Note: the USS PC-600] was knocked off. Going ashore following an amphibious invasion was horrible. The dead would be laying there for weeks. The smell was terrible. It was depressing. Tacket collected a Japanese bullet off the island of Eniwetok. He still has the souvenir. The smell of the battlefield was barely discernible aboard the ship. On the island, the smell was horrendous. Combat survivors were quickly removed from the combat zone after the fighting so they did not have to experience the horror of the aftermath. Tacket discusses his observations of task force operations in the later months of the war. Logistics and operations were systematically organized. Island invasions such as Iwo Jima were murderous. Some the experiences are good to remember particularly related to his friends. Some memories are better forgotten. Reunions transpired for years across the country, but they have been curtailed because of lack of surviving veterans.