My grandfather, Leo Burns, had always wanted to serve in the U.S. Navy and was ready to enlist when he turned 17. This was before World War II had started, but his mother Rose would not sign for him as a minor. Life went on and he eventually married my grandmother, Dorothy. They would go on to live in their native city of New York and have four children, Eileen, Geraldine, Linda and Leo Jr. When the United States entered WWII after Pearl Harbor, it was not practical for him to enlist with a wife and (then) two children at home. As the war progressed and the nation needed more fighting men, Leo received an induction notice from his local draft board. He was soon after inducted in 1944, and shipped to Great Lakes, Ill., for six weeks of Navy boot camp. After graduating, he was assigned to USS Kennebec Ao-36 as a non-rated seaman. He was aboard Kennebec for about five months and made one convoy to Casablanca. He was also aboard for the capture of U-505. From there he was reassigned to USS Kretchmer DE-329. He was pleased with this transfer, as he wanted to be assigned to a combat ship. His general quarters station was first on the K gun, an antisubmarine weapon and then as a pointer on a Bofors 40 mm antiaircraft gun. As a Seaman 1st Class aboard DE-329, he escorted convoys between Europe and the United States. Their primary function, as part of Escort Division 57, was to defend the convoys against German submarines. He told me of one occasion when they had picked up a contact and fired depth charges against it. After V-E Day, Kretchmer was transferred to duty in the Pacific. While in the Pacific, they conducted escort operations and were preparing to serve as a picket ship during the invasion of Japan when hostilities ended. Still, they were tasked with one more dangerous mission. They were to pick up prisoners from Kiirun, Formosa. As they sailed through the narrow gauntlet of Japanese gun emplacements, along with one other DE, the die-hard Japanese harbor pilot tried to lead them into a mine field. Luckily, the captain was wise enough to know better. For this action, Kretchmer was awarded a letter of citation. With the war now over, he was discharged from service in December 1945. My grandfather died a proud World War II veteran on 30 August 2006.