By Frank Sinatra, AAP Editor

With the kids off from school for the NJEA Conference, we decided to take advantage of one of the Pennsauken Free Public Library’s museum passes and headed off to Camden to tour the Battleship New Jersey. While we were there, we met Elwood “Woody” Freeman, a docent at the battleship. It turns out the Woody grew up in Merchantville, lived in Pennsauken; he was gracious enough to share some of his stories about growing up in our community and serving in the Navy during World War II.

Woody had a pretty standard childhood in Merchantville. But on May 6, 1937, while playing that afternoon, he looked up and saw an amazing sight: the famous Hindenburg airship, just hours before its ill-fated and tragic landing attempt later that day.

“They were flying around because of the electrical storms. They were afraid of static electricity,” explains Freeman. “They flew so low, we could wave to them. It wasn’t until later that evening that we heard about the disaster on the radio.”

As Woody prepared to graduate from Merchantville High School in 1945, he knew that with the country at war, he would be also be preparing for military service. “They were drafting men out of high school and I didn’t want to join the Army. I didn’t want to sleep in the dirt,” joked Freeman. So I enlisted in the Navy after graduation.”

Immediately after basic training, Woody was assigned first to the USS U.S. Grant, a transport ship that saw service in the Pacific. In addition to being a troop transport, the ship also contained a ’41 Mercury station wagon in the hold. “When we pulled into San Francisco, I got the job of driving the officers nightclubbing and going to get the mail.” From there he was assigned to the USS Panamint, an amphibious force flagship that served as a floating command post with advanced communications equipment and extensive combat information spaces to be used by the amphibious forces commander and landing force commander during large-scale operations. The Panamint also served as the flagship of Rear Admiral Lawrence F. Reifsnider, much to the chagrin of Freeman and his crewmates.

“He would have inspections all the time,” explained Woody. “He would open up your locker and make sure that your shoes were shined.”

Overall, Freeman served in the Navy for 18 months before World War II ended. “I tell people that the Japanese really didn’t have good intelligence. It took them six months to realize I was in the Navy. Then they surrendered,” he joked. From there, he came back home, got married to his wife Irene, and lived in Pennsauken for 12 years before moving to Cherry Hill. After working in the printing industry and being an instructor at the Philadelphia Lithographic Institute, Woody, now retired, was looking for something to do. “You’ve got to keep active,” explained Freeman. When his wife saw that the Battleship New Jersey was looking for docents, she convinced her husband to take the classes. That was 13 years ago; Freeman spends most of his time there at the Admiral and Captain’s Cabins, explaining the rooms to visitors.

“I like being in the Captain’s cabin at the Battleship. Sometimes over 100 people come through,” explains Woody. “I meet people from all over the world. I tried to get a young couple to pay my parking ticket in Heidelberg Germany. They laughed at me.

“I also talk to a lot of serviceman and get a lot of information from them. Some of them have been in Korea and Vietnam; the USS New Jersey supported them with its 16 inch shells, going up and down the coast. I meet these guys that know the battleship and heard the shells going over supporting them.”

Freeman went on to explain that he bumped into a fellow bunkmate who served on the USS Panamint at the same time he did. “Charlie was a buddy that I met in the service. It had been so long, I didn’t even recognize him.”

As I interviewed Woody right before Veterans Day, I asked him to reflect on the importance of the day and what it means to him. “It’s a great day to honor the men and women who have served and willingly protected their families and country. They guard our freedoms.”

To find out more about the Battleship New Jersey, click here. For more on the free museum passes offered to Pennsauken Free Public Library card holders, click here.