Ernest M. Nicholas
US Navy
1951-1955
Ernie was drafted in 1951 and chose the Navy. He was trained at Great Lakes Naval Base in Chicago and then joined the USS Iowa BB61 in San Diego. He served on the Iowa for his whole enlistment, except for the last few months when he did Shore Patrol in Norfolk VA.
Ernie grew up at Boys Town, an orphanage in Nebraska, so he didn’t have much contact with family. There were other Boys Town kids serving on the ship, and one of them helped him get on as a machinist in the after-steering engine room. They were in charge of the ship’s anchor, the bells and whistles, mast structures and the refrigeration system. Over the years he moved up in rank.
The ship became like a family to Ernie. Some of the men he served with became lifelong friends. His time in the Navy gave him a chance to go places and see things he never would have otherwise. He crossed the equator and the Panama Canal. He saw Hawaii and the carnage that Pearl Harbor had produced. He visited Japan and took a tour of temples during cherry blossom time. What he remembered from Japan was the redbud trees, and all his life he loved them. Wherever he lived, he had a redbud tree and carried the seeds around in his pocket. There are redbuds growing in ditches all over Johnson County that Ernie planted. In England, Nick and his friends met a retired officer from the British Navy who escorted them all around the city. Ernie remembered the good food in pubs. The crew was invited to tea with the Lord Mayor of London. In France, Nick took his saved-up leave, rented a bike, and rode to Paris. He spent several days wandering around the Louvre, drinking in the artworks. In Spain, he took a boat to Gibraltar and then on to Morocco where he saw people living in tents filled with beautiful rugs.
Ernie was proud to serve on the USS Iowa, and was a lifelong member of the USS Iowa Veteran’s Association. The ship was de-commissioned after Korea, and then re-commissioned in 1984 for service in the Middle East. We attended the re-commissioning and were allowed to tour the ship. After the ship was put in mothballs at Norfolk for the last time, the Vets Association was instrumental in getting it towed to California where it eventually was refurbished and became part of the historic ships museum at San Diego. Nick had hoped to attend the opening of the restored ship in July of 1913, but he passed away that May.
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