Veteran of 7 Battles He Didn’t See Admits He’s “Fed Up” with Naval War
But Fireman Karl Dahl, Visiting Here, Says He’ll Fight Again
A veteran of seven major engagements in the Pacific and a survivor of the United States destroyer Gwin, sunk in the Gulf of Kula, Karl Dahl, fireman first class, spending part of a 30-day leave with his brother, Claude Dahl, 2323 S. Glass Street.
He is a native Sioux Cityan, attended schools here and is a son of Mrs. Petra O. Dahl, now of Waterloo. He plans to visit her on conclusion of his stay here.
Fireman Dahl enlisted in February, 1942, received his basic training in San Diego and was assigned to the Gwin for duty in the Pacific. The action included the battle of the Coral Sea; that of Midway, where Gwin was in convoy with the Yorktown, and Guadalcanal, where the ship participated in the first landing and in a later engagement during which the boat was crippled but repaired in less than a day’s time and returned to action.
Aid Munda Landings
The crew of the Gwin helped land troops at Rendova and at Munda and engaged the enemy in the Gulf of Kula, where an enemy torpedo found the ship.
The Sioux Cityan was aboard for six hours after the hit. The water crept up to the bulkhead on the other side of the compartment where he was, he recalls.
The engineer’s force was among the last to abandon ship.
Taken off by another destroyer, survivors were transferred to a casual camp on an island. There they met survivors whom the Gwin had rescued a short time before from another ship.
Admits He’s Fed Up
Fireman Dahl speaks freely of the way he and his buddies feel about the war. He admits he is “scared and jumpy” until he “gets mad.”
After that things happen, he says, for one remembers that if he fails to do his job, he may cost the lives of others. A battle, to the fireman who serves below deck and who does not see the action, is times of feverish action, interrupted by the shocks that the firing of his ships guns never fail to produce, he added.
The Sioux Cityan is grateful for his leave and for a visit with his relatives. He admits he is “kinda fed up” for the time being. But he expects to be ready and eager for assignment to a new ship when his leave is over.
Source: The Sioux City Journal, Sept. 10, 1945 (photo included)
Discharged Service Couple Visit Here—Mr. and Mrs. Karl C. Dahl, both recently discharged from the Navy, are Thanksgiving visitors in the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Ericson, 1516 24th Street, and his mother, Mrs. Petra Dahl, 1205 ½ Jones Street and other relatives and friends. After the Christmas holidays Mr. and Mrs. Dahl will make their home in Bellingham, Washington.
Source: The Sioux City Journal, November 22, 1945 (photo included)
