From the interview with Edward G. Weed of Poulsbo, WA conducted by John Clise on April 17, 2004 at the Fort Worden History Center. Mr. Weed was a member of the US Army 248th Coast Artillery F Battery from 1941 to 1943. Here he discusses some of his duties:

“They had gun emplacements up on the hill. I was on the three inch guns. Those were the smallest ones. They went up to 12. They towed targets for us, clear out on the far side of the Straits. We could tell where our projectiles hit because there would be a sheet of water go uo in the air, especially on the big guns. Three inch range wasn’t that far.

I played on the baseball team and I was never shipped out. I went to Col. McMorris and I asked him, ‘How come I don’t go overseas like the rest of them/’ He said, ‘Because you’re an athlete.’ That was the only answer he gave me. I was a pitcher on the team. We played everybody and beat most everybody, it was just the Army, it wasn’t outside of that.

I was also an engineer on one of the boats and I guess I ran every boat there. We had quite a fleet of boats. This was after being on the guns. Sometimes I was coxswain, but if the Captain wanted to go on leave or something, I was the next guy up who ran the boat. The Colonel Willard was a big one that went to Seattle and took soldiers on recreation, I didn’t run that. I was strictly on one of those 50 footers, they were open, had a six cylinder diesel engine. They weren’t very fast boats, but they got you there and back.

About an encounter with the CO:
I met General Cunningham one time. F Battery had the smallest gun battery up on the hill, three inch. There was a trail that went down to the beach, so this one time I started slipping out for a walk and I no more than got started on it when I met that damn General. He had two black spaniel dogs. One of them grabbed my pants leg and ripped it. I kicked at that little devil and he beat me out. I never touched him. The General didn’t say one grunt. I went right past him. I saluted him but he never returned it. There was nothing ever said about it.”