Theodore Warren Wessen was born in May 1925 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His father, uncle and two other men ran an antique furniture shop. Wessen's family didn't suffer through the Great Depression due to the patronage of upper class clients. There was never a lot of food on hand, but Wessen's father managed to help other families put food on the table. Wessen's father died when he was nine. His mother cared for him, an older sister and younger brother. Wessen attended schools in Minneapolis. Wessen enjoyed school baseball and hockey as well as American Legion baseball. A month after graduating from high school in June 1943, Wessen was drafted into the Navy. He was originally selected by the Marine Corps but declined the opportunity to serve in that branch.

Theodore Wessen had the support of his mother when he joined the Navy. There were two siblings still at home with her. Wessen went to boot camp in Farragut, Idaho. He was in good shape while others not physically fit or able to swim had a tough time. After completing that stage of training, he was given leave to return home. Following his leave, he was sent to the Naval Air Station in Memphis, Tennessee. He was selected to be a gunner but could not breathe at high altitudes as a result of his deviated septum. The Navy wanted to operate on him. He declined, ending his possibly of entering the Navy air force. That did not bother him. He was sent instead to the Algiers Naval Station in Louisiana. He was assigned to the USS Wildcat (AW-2) which was being converted from a fresh water carrier to a fuel carrier. He rode the ship to Tampa and then Key West, Florida. At that point, he was reassigned while based at Key West for several months. He then went to the Mine Craft Training Center in Little Creek, Virginia. He learned about minesweepers there. It was similar to a school environment. Some of the minesweepers were wooden hull ships to evade magnetic mines. Wessen's boat was a steel hull ship that had been built in Alabama. In 1944, the ship was commissioned and taken to the Atlantic coast for minesweeping and coastal patrol. It was training, but the ship was armed with torpedoes plus a three inch, 50 caliber gun and antiaircraft protection for combat. The boat manned by Wessen was the Pirate [Annotator's Note: USS Pirate (AM-275)]. It was squadron leader for five minesweepers. It was not ready to participate in the Normandy D-Day landings. Consequently, it was redesignated for the Pacific Theater. Wessen was a seaman when he entered service on the Pirate. He did janitorial type tasks. [Annotator's Note: He laughs.] With extra officers on the ship because of it being the squadron leader, the crew still numbered only about 70. Wessen tired of having to do menial tasks for the officers. Life was good on the ship. Good food was available. Entertainment included movies. Watch included four hours on and eight hours off so the days passed fast. The ship transited the Panama Canal en route to the Pacific. The vessel was small so four of the minesweepers passed through the locks together. The local inhabitants waved at them as they went by them. Refueling in San Diego, the Pirate deployed to Pearl Harbor.

Theodore Wessen and the USS Pirate (AM-275) went to Guam after that island had been recaptured by the United States. The Pacific skies were beautiful. He had no fear during his service but when the mines were cut by his ship, his job was to shoot them so they would sink or blow up. If a mine was caught in the minesweeping gear, it was a precarious event. The stay in Guam was very brief. He met up with an old baseball teammate while on the island. The ship left the island after a few days. The Pirate proceeded to the chain of recaptured islands en route to Okinawa. Wessen's brother-in-law was in a gun turret on a destroyer at Okinawa. His turret was hit by a kamikaze. All the gun crew was killed. His sister's husband got into the Navy despite previously having polio. It was early August [Annotator’s Note: August 1945]. The Pirate swept the inland sea between Japan and Korea. The crew was happy to hear that the bomb [Annotator's Note: the atomic bomb] had been dropped. It prevented a further terrible extent of death. The area the ship was working had been mined by the US Navy to restrict Japanese ship traffic. The Pirate was attempting to clear the American mines out of that location so Allied ships could get in. [Annotator's Note: Wessen laughs.]

Theodore Wessen served on a modern minesweeper [Annotator's Note: USS Pirate (AM-275)] which was fitted with gear to repel magnetic mines. Mines were intended to damage vessels larger than the minesweepers. The Pirate had a large winch mounted on the rear of the ship. Two metal lines would each deploy a paravane that floated on the surface. That enabled the crew to see the spread that was maintained between them. Being the lead ship of the squadron of five ships in the formation, the Pirate was the safest of the sweepers. The five ships covered a path while in formation. When a mine floated to the surface after being cut from its restraining line, Wessen would shoot at it with his rifle. The loose mine had to be destroyed or sunk. A mine would sink if enough holes were shot into it. There were some close calls, but the winch operators and lookouts knew how to react to prevent a problem. It could get noisy at times. Wessen does not remember being frightened while performing his duty.

Theodore Wessen and the USS Pirate (AM-257) performed minesweeping operations off Korea and then went to Sasebo, Japan for occupation duty. While in Japan, he visited the devastated remains of Hiroshima. Nothing was there. It looked like a dump. Many people were killed but President Truman [Annotator's Note: President Harry S. Truman] has to be thanked for making that decision. Otherwise, it would have been a horrible situation to invade Japan. The Pirate spent about a month in and around Japan. The ship went into Shanghai, China for Christmas 1945. Wessen saw little of the local Japanese except for the fishermen who hindered movement by the Pirate. After the war, his return home, and college education, Wessen had business dealings with the Japanese. The salesman from Japan had been in the Japanese Navy. They became buddies for years. At the time, Wessen thought that the atomic bombs were for the best. There would have been far more casualties from an invasion of Japan otherwise. He feels the same today. Japan had done a bad thing at Pearl Harbor. Wessen found out about the attack after church on Sunday, 7 December [Annotator's Note: 7 December 1941]. After Japan, Wessen was in Shanghai. The people were starving there. A guard had to be posted on the pierside garbage cans or the locals would grab the refuse. Several of the crewmen would go into town to get something good to eat. Looking back it seems risky, but they always returned safely to the ship. The populace in Shanghai was friendly. It might be different today. The stay in Shanghai was brief as Wessen left to return to the United States. He had good accommodations on a troop ship with Army, Marines and Navy personnel. They ate and played cards and little else. They returned to the state of Washington. Wessen returned to Minneapolis by train and was discharged. He did not want to make a career of the Navy. He preferred the idea of getting an education. He utilized the G.I. Bill to graduate from the University of Minnesota in 1950. He majored in economics and business history. Wessen worked for a company in Minnesota and worked his way up the ranks for 15 years to reach the position of company director. He changed jobs and was employed by another company for 17 years. The company was put out of business by competition from Japan. He completed his career working for a data card company for eight years.

Theodore Wessen felt the war was a large experience. It provided him with the ability to see many different places. He has subsequently made one trip back to China for business. His wife traveled to Asia with other women several times. Wessen served in the war because he was drafted. He grew up fast because of his service. He likely got his university degree because of his service. His family had no money to provide for that education otherwise. His service in the Navy means a lot to him. He was doing a job for his country. Today's younger generation has largely forgotten the war. Everything is different today. Things go too fast. People do not seem to save money in case they are out of work. Institutions like The National WWII Museum are important. The history of the war needs to be taught to future generations. The loss of the war would have provided far different circumstances than we see today. One of Wessen's closest friends was picked for the Marine Corps. He was not physically strong for his age. He never returned home from the day he left until he was discharged. He served in the Pacific and fought to capture those islands. He returned home but never talked about his experiences. Okinawa was his last battle. He lost so much there. He thought he was lucky but never talked about it. The Marine and his wife joined Wessen and his wife and other couples who played bridge for years. Many of them attended the same church. There was a wonderful minister in that church.