My father was a boatswain's mate-pipefitter seaman aboard the U.S.S. Hyman DD-732, a Sumner Class Destroyer. The ship was stationed largely in the Pacific Theater for much of World War II. My father remembers hearing stories of a Japanese Kamikaze plane crashing into one of the ship's smokestacks. During his service on the Hyman Robert Grey Reynolds Sr. worked as a pipefitter seaman, having learned welding as a teenager in the shipyard in Wilmington, NC. He found this trade enjoyable and worthwhile on the destroyer.