TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

An Old Spark Returns To Rekindle Memories Of The SS American Victory

ADVERTISEMENT

By Steve Otto / The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 20, 2007

Chief Radio Operator Russell Rosene eased into a chair in the officer's mess. It wasn't that easy as the chair is bolted into the floor to keep it from sliding across the room in heavy seas.

We were aboard the SS American Victory and it was not the first time Rosene had squeezed into that chair, although the last time he did was 60-odd years ago when he was 23 years old.

"It hasn't changed," he said, looking at the seasick-yellow painted walls and the green furniture inside the officers' chow hall.

About the only difference was the World War II poster on the wall, of a drowning soldier hanging on to a piece of wreckage under the warning: "SOMEONE TALKED!"

But that was several wars and a lifetime ago.

The American Victory is now safely moored behind The Florida Aquarium in downtown Tampa, and Rosene was free to talk about lots of things, including those extraordinary times aboard that very ship.

Rosene was there on the American Victory's maiden voyage into the hostile waters of the South Pacific in the closing months of the war, and to sit here again would bring back enough memories that they should have given him that poster.

I've always been fascinated with how events, for better or worse, change people's lives.

Rosene grew up outside of Boston then moved to Detroit, where his father found work. When that ended, they moved to California, where there was another job.

Meanwhile, young Rosene was hired by the Walt Disney people in the printing and inking division. "We didn't really draw anything; that was another department. But I did get to do some inking on this film 'Fantasia.'"

Hollywood was in its golden age and you had to believe Rosene was settling into a career in the business. Then came World War II.

Rosene had suffered from polio as a boy and though he could walk, he was never going to make it in the Navy. Which is how he found himself in the Merchant Marine and on a Liberty ship doing convoy operations in the North Atlantic and the Pacific.

The Liberty ships would eventually be replaced by the faster Victory ships and in the spring of 1945, Rosene was hired as the radio officer of the new American Victory.
In Harm's Way

"Our maiden voyage was to the South Pacific. We were faster than the old Liberty ships and did not go in a convoy, which was a little nerve-wracking as the ship made its way to the Philippines with a stop in Okinawa, where one of the deadliest battles of the war was taking place.

"It was in Manila they got the news of the atomic bombing of Japan. Most of the crew was ready for what they knew would be the coming invasion of Japan, and they knew the Victory was going to be a part of what was expected to be a horrific operation."
Word From Sparky

Sparky Rosene ("Every radio operator is called Sparky," he says, "because you could actually see the sparks as you punched the keys and the connections were made on the radio panel") was able to send a message back home describing the celebration in the harbor as word spread that the war was over.

Now he had returned to his old ship that has been so faithfully restored. The Rosenes have a winter home in Brooksville, and he says he will find a way to come back often, to make sure they are taking care of his old ship, once a lifeline for the American military and now a reminder of a time that changed the world.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT