T-L Photo/ ROBERT A. DEFRANK Todd Witchey, right, is recognized as Veteran of the Month by the St. Clairsville American Legion Commander Larry Barnes. They are holding a picture of Witchey standing next to the center gun, which has a 16-inch gun barrel.
ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Todd Witchey is grateful for his opportunity to serve.
Named the St. Clairsville American Legion’s Veteran of the Month for May, he was a crew member of a unique ship in the U.S. Navy from 1980-84.
He said he joined for the prospect of adventure.
“There was a sign in Blaine that said ‘Join the Navy and see the world.’ I had graduated high school in 1980, and I went right in the military,” he said. “You know how immature you are in high school. … A year in and I was ready to light the world on fire.”
He said his family history provided some inspiration.
“My dad was in the Army. He was one of those spotter plane pilots in Korea. They actually had him in at the end of World War II and then they pulled him back in for Korea,” he said.
He served his first two year in Guam, aboard the U.S.S. Proteus. While aboard the Proteus, he also visited the island of Diego Garcia where he helped to work on a malfunctioning air conditioner on the destroyer HMC Sheffield. The Sheffield was later sunk at the Falkland Islands.
“In 1982 I put in for this ship the New Jersey because it was a piece of history, one of the four Iowa-class battleships built during World War II,” he said.
The other ships were the U.S.S. Iowa, the U.S.S. Wisconsin, and the U.S.S. Missouri, which hosted the official surrender of the Japanese Empire at the end of World War II.
“There were six of them to be built, but they only built four of them,” Witchey said. “I put in for this ship but I was denied, and I was going to go to submarine school, and then they gave me my choice…I took the battleship.”
Witchey was a machinist mate.
“I worked in the forward diesel, my duties were I was on air compressors and evaporators,” he said.
“Going through the Panama Canal on that ship, they had to cut the gutters off the side of the ship, because the ship was so wide,” he said.
Witchey was in service during the truck bomb attacks on U.S. servicemen during the Lebanese Civil War, and the response that followed.
“I was off Beirut, Lebanon when they blew up the Marine barracks back in 1983. It was a police action, that’s why I got the Navy Expeditionary Medal, which allows me to be a member of the (Veterans of Foreign Wars) out here,” he said.
“It was called a police action, but it was recognize with the Navy Expeditionary Medal,” Witchey said, adding that more than 200 Marines were killed and one chief petty officer in the barracks at the time.
He said all four ships have since been converted to museums, with the Missouri at Pearl Harbor.
“The New Jersey is in Camden, New Jersey, right across the river from Philadelphia,” he said, adding he has visited the ship since. “They treated me like gold. They took me anywhere I wanted to go, so I went and got to see my rack where I slept there for two years and where I worked…my general quarters station was in the Number 3 engine room, which was the main control,” he said.
“It was my privilege to be a part of that and be on that piece of history with that battleship,” he said.
His service also took him to the Philippines, Australia, and Thailand.
Witchey was originally from St. Clairsville and is still a resident, he now works as a funeral director at Toothman Funeral Home.
Like other veterans, Witchey is contemplating Memorial Day and honoring those lost.
“Our United States is free because of the veterans and their service, and that’s what that is, it’s a day to remember The Who have served, and some have given the ultimate sacrifice,” Witchey said. “I go places where people thank me for being a veteran, but I should be saying I want to thank the military for letting me serve.”
Today's breaking news and more in your inbox
MARTINS FERRY — Students at St. Mary Central School in Martins Ferry recently collected donations to support Safe ...
Today's breaking news and more in your inbox
Copyright © The Times Leader | https://www.timesleaderonline.com | 200 S. Fourth St., Martins Ferry, OH 43935 | 740-633-1131 | Ogden Newspapers | The Nutting Company