David Kroenlein, Military Memories

David Kroenlein on Graduation from U.S. Navy Supply Corps School

My introduction to military service was an ultimate democratic event – standing in line in my skivvies at the Whitehall Street induction center (as in “Alice’s Restaurant” fame and the 1968 and1969 bombings) in May 1967 along with males of every size, shape, hairiness, color, language, economic background, education, body odor, etc., that can only be described as New York City.  As I approached law school graduation, I was aware that the next step in my life was going to go through the Selective Service draft, so off I went to apply to the U.S. Navy’s Officer Candidate School, with the first stop a basic physical at Whitehall Street.  If that wasn’t enough of an introduction to the military, the doctors at Whitehall Street found some medical issues that might disqualify me from OCS but not from the jungles of Vietnam, so now off I went to the U.S. Naval Hospital in St. Albans, Queens, for waivers or clearance.  An eye opening experience.  As I waited for my series of appointments, I sat in the hallways and watched many very young men who were going up and around – paraplegics and quadriplegics, all from action in Vietnam.  I was very fortunate to receive all waivers and clearances and know the hardship and loss that many suffered in Southeast Asia.  Clearly, serving as a U.S. Navy officer on board a ship was a much safer direction. 

After completing OCS and U.S. Navy Supply Corps School, I was assigned to become the Supply Officer of the USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (DD-850), a destroyer homeported in Newport, RI (I discovered many years later that John Van Slyke was stationed on a sister ship in Newport,and today we exchange stories about those experiences).  As the sole supply officer on the ship, I was responsible for maintaining the inventory of repair parts and supplies except fuel and weapons; feeding the crew and officers; disbursing moneys for payroll and supplies in foreign ports; and providing services to the crew such as laundry, ship’s store, and haircuts.  

Fortunately, the U.S. Navy has great enlisted leadership that supports young officers such as Ensign Kroenlein.  This was the best education of my life, and a great preparation for my legal career as I learned how to manage complex situations and manage/get along with people who were much different than I in education, background and motivation.  We spent time in a Charlestown, MA shipyard undergoing retrofitting, in Guantanamo Bay in training, and in the Mediterranean in interactions with Soviet ships and other Soviet watercraft, violent storms at sea, and great down time in Mediterranean ports.  Minimal threats to my personal safety, which was a far cry from the lives of those serving in Vietnam.  I had shipmates who had harrowing experiences in Vietnam, including two who were awarded Silver Stars for gallantry in Vietnam, but otherwise I was separated from the realities of Vietnam. 

I finished my Naval career as the Budget and Planning Officer, Commander Cruiser-Destroyer Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, in Newport, RI, responsible for developing the budget for all of the cruisers, destroyers and related craft in the Atlantic.  Heady stuff, and likely a good stepping-stone for a successful career in the U.S. Navy, but not where I wanted to go with my law degree or my life.  Apart from the budget and accounting, accomplished with paper and pencil and with Marchant electromechanical calculating machines, every few weeks I became the overnight duty officer for the command, reading intelligence situation reports on the positions of Soviet and U.S. naval vessels in the Atlantic.  On those nights it occurred to me that I could have been a young officer who was on duty in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, reading situation reports. 

Fortunately, I can now recall many of the most enduring memories from shipboard times by taking my grandchildren to visit my ship, the USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., now a museum at Battleship Cove, Fall River, MA.

Below: David Kroenlein’s youngest granddaughter grants him permission to come aboard on the quarterdeck of the USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (DD-850).