It was July 19, 1941, when Earl Dawson Pugh Sr. entered the U.S. Navy, bound for the Second Great War. He was assigned to the commissioning crew of the USS Missouri, launched and commissioned in 1944. The battleship would travel across the world and engage in war against the Japanese empire, leading to the Sept. 2, 1945 armistice and the final peace conference that took place at Tokyo Bay. Sept. 2, 2015 marked the 70^th anniversary of the armistice.

Before the war, Pugh Sr. was a lifetime fisherman and spent most of his time on small craft in the waters of Hyde County, according to son Earl D. Pugh Jr., his only child. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy about six months prior to the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese and wed Virginia Mooney prior to being stationed in Charleston, South Carolina. As a 36-year-old man, much older than most of the enlisted men at that time, he was considered an “old man” among his fellow servicemen, Pugh Jr. said.

Pugh Sr. would be assigned to the newly built USS Missouri BB-63, which weighed 57,000 tons and held a crew of 134 officers and approximately 2,400 enlisted men. He was promoted to coxswain, a step above Seaman 1st Class, on Feb. 1, 1942.

“I reckon he saw the chance to join the Navy,” Pugh Jr. said. “He was a commercial fisherman at Gull Rock (Hyde). He was considered an old man. He was going to war with men half his age.”

Pugh Sr. made his way up the East Coast as servicemen prepared to head out to war, according to Hyde County researcher E. Roy Clarke, who has compiled files for around 600 servicemen from Hyde County. From Charleston to Southport, North Carolina, to Norfolk, Virginia, and finally, up to New York, Pugh Sr. was on his way to serve in WWII against the Japanese.

Pugh Sr. traveled through Panama to the Pacific Ocean and visited the Philippines, Guam and numerous Japanese territories, according to Pugh Sr.’s personal records. He also documented battle, including invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Clarke said Pugh Sr. personal records kept from the war are the best personal documentation kept by a serviceman in Hyde County that he has ever seen. Among the documents Pugh Sr. saved from his time serving in the war are his service diary, full of photos and documentation of the places and dates he visited; issues of the Missourian, a small publication printed aboard the battleship that reported on news of the ship and its servicemen; various papers and photos commemorating the surrender of the Japanese and the armistice signed on Sept. 2, 1945, at which Pugh Sr. was present; and various newspaper clippings that reported on the war. The vast collection is kept by Pugh Jr. today.

Pugh Sr.’s story is one of Clarke’s veteran stories in his WWII collection titled, “They Came From Hyde,” a collection documenting the 600-or-more men that left Hyde County to serve in the war.

The USS Missouri was the first ship that stood 30 miles offshore from Japanese cities and territories, shelling major cities throughout the empire. Pugh Sr. manned a small gun onboard.

The signing of the armistice and final peace conference of WWII was held on the deck of the USS Missouri, at which Pugh Sr. and the other men who served on the ship were present, according to Pugh Sr.’s records and Clarke’s research. Men who served aboard the ship were issued a card commemorating the peace treaty, and Pugh Sr.’s card is part of his personal collection.

“He talked about that (event),” Pugh Jr. said. “I think it was the focal point of his entire career, being there in Tokyo Bay at that time. It was a momentous moment.”

“No other ship that was in Tokyo Bay and no other men received (the card),” Clarke added.

Pugh Sr. was honorably discharged as a boatswain’s mate 1st Class after the war and returned to Hyde County. He and his wife bought a store in the Nebraska community in Hyde County, which they ran until the mid-1970s. There, he sold seafood and other goods, according to Pugh Jr.

Clarke started compiling records of WWII veterans from Hyde County in 1998 after he retired, he said. His father was a serviceman in the U.S. Navy and Clarke’s family moved all around the country, sparking his interest in military history and memorabilia. Having known Pugh Sr., Pugh Sr.’s father and his son, Pugh Jr., all his life, Clarke has been working on compiling records from Pugh’s story for the past seven to eight years, involving Pugh Jr. in the research, Clarke said.

 

“I spend a lot of time on this stuff,” Clarke said. “I get very enthused on some of these stories, as I always have.”

For servicemen that were commissioned aboard the USS Missouri or local natives that have a story to share from service during World War II, contact E. Royden Clarke at 252-925-2581.