 |
| King Street Station in Seattle during WWII |
To my dying day, I will swear that I had no advance knowledge of the plan Cason and Cramer cooked up.
In
January of 1944, we lost Cason and Cramer as our roommates. They were both from Butte, Montana and both
had girlfriends over there. Regular
weekend liberty did not allow enough time to make it to Butte by Sunday
evening. They were unable to get any
special leave and decided to go AWOL to have at least one night with their
girlfriends.
To
my dying day, I will swear that I had no advance knowledge of the plan Cason
and Cramer cooked up. They had to leave
by Thursday night to have enough time so they needed someone to answer for them
at house muster on Friday morning. That
muster was very informal. We did not
fall into ranks but simply gathered informally in the Beta house entry. People would be scattered all over including
up the staircase and would answer up when the roll was called by the CPO. I usually answered from the door to our
little suite. That Friday morning someone
answered for Cason and Cramer. All I
knew was that they had not been in the bunk room when I woke just before muster.
I
have no knowledge of how Cason and Cramer got found out unless the chief
smelled a rat and checked. At any rate,
when the two of them got off the train from Montana that Sunday evening the
Shore Patrol was waiting on the platform and took them into custody.
There
was an investigation held in the office of Captain Barr, the V-12 commanding
officer at the UW. Both Brosy and I were
called in since we were roommates of the miscreants. They called Brosy in first while I waited in
the anteroom. After a few minutes Brosy
came out of the office, his face stony.
Obviously on instruction he walked straight past me without a word, but as
he passed my chair I caught the faint flicker of a smile and an almost noticeable
shake of his head.
When
I was called in I was facing the Captain, the executive officer, and one
officer I did not recognize. I was not
invited to sit down but stood at attention.
Captain Barr opened the interrogation by saying “Well, Frieze, you might
as well be honest and tell everything you know.
Brosy has just done that so all we need is confirmation as to how our
two AWOLs planned their little junket and who answered for them at muster. Was it you?”
I
knew full well that Brosy would not have said that we did overhear some conversation
that indicated what Cason and Cramer were going to do. I kept my face grave and said, “No, Captain,
it was not me that answered.”
“But
you know who did.” It was not a question;
it was a statement.
“No,
Sir. I did not know of their plan and
was not aware that they were gone until word came that they had been
arrested. I was in Vancouver on a
liberty pass signed by you, sir, until Sunday evening.”
“You
mean to stand there and tell me that roommates made such a plan and, living
with them, you did not at least overhear their talk about it?!”
“That
is correct, Sir. When we are in our
quarters we are studying—“ (I could have added, ‘or I am wrting to and thinking
about my girlfriend’ but I did not)”and when I concentrate I pay no attention
to conversations around me. If they
talked about it, I did not hear them.” I
gambled, looked directly at the captain, and smiled wryly. “Try me some time when I am reading the
Sunday comics, Captain. I concentrate
the same unless it’s an air raid alarm or a Jap attack!”
“You
do know the penalties for perjury, do
you not?”
“Captain,
I am a fleet sailor and I have been in the Navy for nearly four years. You will find that I have never even been to
a Captain’s Mast. My record is
clean. I was leading first class petty
officer before I got involved in the V-12 program.”
There
were more questions from the other members of the investigating panel but they got
the same answers—that I knew mothering of Cason and Cramer’s plan and had not
aided them in any way. It quickly became
obvious that Barr’s opening comment about what Brosy had said was all
bluff. Brosy and I came off with a clean
slate—as we should have. Cason and
Cramer were not fleet sailors, but had recruited directly into the V-12 program. They were sent to boot camp in Farragut,
Idaho, and went to sea on destroyers.
(They both survived the war. In
later years, Cramer was a smoke jumper for forest fires and Cason worked for
the telephone company in Butte.)
