[Annotator's Note: The video is glitchy in this segment] Walter Louis Beyer was born in Savannah, Georgia in March 1918. During the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States], his father was a painter. Beyer did not know how poor they were because everyone else around him was in the same situation. He attended public school and had dedicated teachers, even though there were limited resources. Beyer eventually studied theology and became a permanent deacon in the Catholic Church. He reads 50 to 60 books a year. Beyer was listing to the radio at home when he first learned about the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He was shocked by the event, and being single at the time, he went down to New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana] the next morning and volunteered for the Navy. Before Christmas 1941 [Annotator's Note: 25 December 1941], he was then sent to Corpus Christi, Texas where he spent over two years doing salvage and rescue work. He became a quartermaster [Annotator's Note: watch assistant to Officer of the Deck and Navigator; perform ship control, navigation, and watch duties]. He enjoyed learning from his instructors who taught him navigation and visual signaling. Beyer chose the Navy because he enjoyed the water and was inclined to be a sailor. His boot camp training was not difficult, and it lasted six weeks, and then was transferred to search and rescue. He was amazed at how many planes crashed during training. There were six plane crashes in one day. When the planes crashed in the water, his team would go out in a boat to rescue them, and if they crashed on the land they would get in a jeep. As a quartermaster, he was in the navigation department, which included the signaling and the maintenance of the navigation equipment and charts.

[Annotator's Note: The video is glitchy in this segment] After the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], Walter Louis Beyer was eager to enlist into the Navy so he could fight the Japanese. The Navy sent him to Corpus Christi [Annotator's Note: Corpus Christi, Texas] as part of the search and rescue team for downed aviators. While there he became part of a legal lawsuit in the Navy which detained him from being transferred for a while. After two years, he eventually applied to be a quartermaster [Annotator's Note: watch assistant to Officer of the Deck and Navigator; perform ship control, navigation, and watch duties] on a submarine and was approved. He was sent to submarine school in Connecticut and then sent to Mare Island Navy Yard [Annotator's Note: Vallejo, California]. He was assigned to the Bowfin [Annotator's Note: USS Bowfin (SS-287)] as quartermaster and headed out to the Pacific [Annotator's Note: in December 1944] after she had been overhauled. He went out on three war patrols, and on his fourth patrol the war came to an end. Beyer learned at submarine school that everyone on the vessel needs to know what everyone else is doing, or something could go wrong. He also received training as a quartermaster and how to escape from the submarine if they needed to evacuate. His submarine training lasted about five months. The Bowfin had been installed with new equipment. It was a primitive kind of sonar that could detect mines [Annotator's Note: stationary explosive device triggered by physical contact]. The equipment put off an awful, screechy sound when it encountered a mine. The Bowfin went through four minefields [Annotator's Note: areas where mines, stationary explosive devices triggered by physical contact are buried or under the water] during his deployment. After the Bowfin left Mare Island [Annotator's Note: Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California], they stopped at Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] shortly before Christmas 1944 [Annotator's Note: 25 December 1944]. While in Hawaii, Admiral Lockwood [Annotator's Note: US Navy Vice Admiral Charles Andrews Lockwood] came out to the Bowfin to check on the new equipment. There was not much entertainment on a submarine, but there was lots of work to do. Most stood watches eight hours a day and then had their normal duties the other eight hours. Beyer had to make sure all the navigation equipment was set right. When they made contact, the men on board went to battle stations. Most contacts with the enemy last two to three hours. The submarine was crowded with equipment and the crew. The crew, which was made up of 36 men, slept in a small cylinder-shaped room. The officers and chiefs had their own quarters. The food on the submarine was great. They were allowed to eat anytime they wanted.

[Annotator's Note: The video is glitchy in this segment] Walter Louis Beyer served in the Pacific Theater in World War 2 as a quartermaster [Annotator's Note: watch assistant to Officer of the Deck and Navigator; performs ship control, navigation, and watch duties, assigned to the USS Bowfin (SS-287)]. The Bowfin carried 24 torpedoes and had six torpedo tubes in the aft. They had lots of problems with the torpedoes and were ineffective frequently. The torpedoes would go too deep, or curved, or circled around. The Bowfin also carried the secret, cutie torpedoes [Annotator's Note: Mark 27 acoustic torpedo]. As a quartermaster he helped with the steering of the submarine and was often stationed in the control room. On his first patrol on the Bowfin, but the seventh patrol for the submarine, they came across their first target in February 1945. They sunk a Japanese destroyer. There was a second Japanese destroyer but were not able to sink it, due to torpedo failure. The Bowfin survived the depth charges [Annotator's Note: also called a depth bomb; an anti-submarine explosive munition resembling a metal barrel or drum] that the second destroyer used to attack them. It can be scary when they are attacked by depth charges because there is a lot of motion and noise, and the lights often go out. Near the end of the Bowfins' patrol, they were attacked and one of the crewmen was injured in the leg. The injured crewman was transferred another submarine to be taken back to Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. The Bowfin rescued two airmen after they crashed into the ocean. The two men were cold and wet from just a few minutes in that water, but otherwise safe and sound. In late March 1945, Bowfin ended her patrol and went to Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands]. Beyer and the crewmen stayed in a camp for two weeks. They relaxed, drank beer, swam in the ocean, and played softball. There were still some Japanese on the island, so when they played outfield, the sailors often looked over their shoulders.

[Annotator's Note: The video is glitchy in this segment] Walter Louis Beyer served in the Pacific Theater in World War 2 as a quartermaster [Annotator's Note: watch assistant to Officer of the Deck and Navigator; performs ship control, navigation, and watch duties, assigned to the USS Bowfin (SS-287)]. The Bowfin went out on her eight patrol, Beyer's second patrol, in late April 1945. On 1 May [Annotator's Note: 1 May 1945], they sunk a Japanese transport. The Bowfin had a close call and almost received a direct hit from a depth charge [Annotator's Note: also called a depth bomb; an anti-submarine explosive munition resembling a metal barrel or drum] but was able to escape. It was a very scary experience. A week later the Bowfin attacked and sank a Japanese freighter. The Americans had an advantage because they had radar in their submarines. The Bowman's eighth patrol ended abruptly and was requested they return to Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands] for intense training. The Bowfin rescued a pilot whose fighter had crashed. At the beginning of June 1945, Beyer went on his third patrol, the Bowfin's ninth patrol, toward the Sea of Japan with eight other submarines. They carefully treaded through the mine belt [Annotator's Note: areas where mines, stationary explosive devices triggered by physical contact are buried or under the water] in the Tsushima Strait [Annotator's Note: between Japan and Korea] using mine-detecting sonar. The Bowfin was able to sink two vessels during this patrol. The Bowfin left the Sea of Japan through La Perouse Strait [Annotator's Note: between Sakhalin, Russia and Hokkaidō, Japan] with no resistance and headed for Hawaii. The Bowfin reached Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] on 4 July 1945 and began preparation for their next patrol.

[Annotator's Note: The video is glitchy in this segment] Walter Louis Beyer served in the Pacific Theater in World War 2 as a quartermaster [Annotator's Note: watch assistant to Officer of the Deck and Navigator; performs ship control, navigation, and watch duties, assigned to the USS Bowfin (SS-287)]. Early in August [Annotator's Note: 1945], the Bowfin sailed for the Marianas [Annotator's Note: Mariana Islands], her staging point for her tenth war patrol. However, while en route, she received word of Japan's surrender. As a result, she reversed course and returned to Hawaii. She then headed for the Panama Canal on her way to the east coast of the United States at Staten Island [Annotator's Notes: Staten Island is one of the five boroughs in New York, New York]. Beyer was expecting the surrender because the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] were dropped before they left Hawaii. While at Staten Island, he was given the royal treatment by the citizens [Annotator's Note: Interviewer breaks video from 1:02:000 to 1:02:17.00]. He was sent back to New Orleans [Annotator's New Orleans, Louisiana] and discharged in December 1945 as a quartermaster, First Class. Beyer's crew had very good morale and his captain and crew received military decorations. Some of the hazards of being on the submarine was being sunk by the enemy or a crewman making an error which would cause them to sink. Being on the submarine was very casual. He did not have to salute everyone, and it was more of a family atmosphere. The Bowfin carried 10 officers and 85 enlisted men. The depth charges [Annotator's Note: also called a depth bomb; an anti-submarine explosive munition resembling a metal barrel or drum] scariest moments were hearing the click sound before the big boom sound. After he was discharged, he married and did not take advantage of 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]. Serving four years in the Navy was a good character-building time for him. He matured during his service. He began a career in the painting industry after the war. There should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and they should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations.