Vietnam War Veteran
John Hodurski
1944 - 2019

Interviewed by:

Micheal Vaughan and Nathan Campbell

"Our company commander sat down and said,

' you will have a lot of acquaintances but you'll have very few friends.'"

• ~ John A. Hodurski

John Hodurski's Story:

John Hodurski was born in Naik New York on November 6, 1944. He came from what he described a "typical American family at the time." He had three younger siblings; two brothers and a sister. As a young lad, he was a Boy Scout as well as a Sea Scout which prepared him for his career later on in life. When he joined the Sea Scouts at age fourteen, the level of experience he had obtained, aided him through boot camp and Navy training. Prior to joining the Navy, he had a general idea of what he wanted to do. After watching every submarine movie known to man and after his father telling him stories of WWII, John knew he wanted to join the Navy.

He joined the Navy with three men who he met during a "buddy program" which paired you up with some men that you would go through training with; It was not guaranteed that they would all be on the same ship though. One of his best memories from boot camp is when he sat down with his commanding officer and he said to John, "you’ll have a lot of acquaintances but you’ll have very few friends". There were about twenty men in his rate (Job) and still to this day, about a half a dozen of them still visit each other and tell stories of their days of service. Johns' rate was an Interior Communications Electrician, which is the highest ranking he earned while in service. He was the Senior Petty officer in his shop which he watched over the three non-rate men working for him. What they did was basically take care of alarm and indicating systems. His job was to maintain equipment and make sure they work properly.

During the interview we asked " What did you miss while at sea?" and his response was "My wife". He explained how she was the only thing he missed besides his family. Even though, his happiest day was joining the Navy, as well as leaving. But now he looks back, he thinks it is foolish of himself for leaving the Navy. But he did it for his wife because she didn't like not seeing him, while he was out at sea. He talks about how nowadays if he was to take apart a newer ship, he couldn't begin to tell you how to use it or fix it because they all use printed circuit boards. Back in his service, it was all soldered components. Looking back, John knows he shouldn't have left the Navy, he explained how he could be picking up a pension and would have been set for life if he stayed. But he didn't want to withstand his wife's opinion. He would have talked to her about it more instead of just quitting right away. His wife realized being out at sea was what he really loved so she agreed to let John go back into service. He joined the Army as a cook as well as the coast guard for Chatham. He says it wasn't like the Navy but was the closest he could get.

John Hodurski was born to be out on the sea and to be in the military. It is what he loved most because of the structure and he always had something to do. He is now living in Dennis Massachusetts working for a church in Brewster as a handyman, as well as a committee member for the Boy Scouts.