Sherrill Poulnot, Interview by Jack Bass, 21 October 2008
Description
Poulnot was born on August 2, 1922, and was a member of The Citadel class of 1944. While most of his classmates went into the Army after their junior year, Poulnot decided to join the Navy in the fall of 1942. After his two years at The Citadel, he knew how to march and was appointed commander of his boot camp company. After boot camp in Virginia, he was sent to Quartermaster School in Newport, RI, he served three years in the Navy including combat tours in the Pacific.
Poulnot reflects on mine sweeping operations at Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Saipan, and Tinian. Afterwards assigned to a destroyer, he took part in the battles for the Philippines and Okinawa. As a quartermaster, Poulnot was in charge of steering the ship to dodge incoming Japanese kamikazes. "You knew these guys were shooting at you and you knew they were trying to light on you like mosquitoes, and the name of the game was ‘stay the hell from under them,' which we did successfully."
After the war, Poulnot enrolled in the College of Charleston, but he decided to apprentice as a Charleston Harbor pilot instead of getting a degree. He worked as a harbor pilot for forty-two years before retiring in 1987.
This interview is a part of the "Citadel WWII Alumni History Project." With generous support from the Humanities Council of South Carolina (http://www.schumanities.org/), the Citadel Oral History Program collected thirty interviews with Citadel alumni regarding their experiences during WWII. Journalist and historian Jack Bass conducted the interviews during the Fall of 2008.They serve as a powerful testament to the veterans' experiences and their critical contributions to the war effort. The digital recordings and transcripts are part of The Citadel Oral History Program Collection at The Citadel Archives & Museum.
Transcript Note
Interview transcriptions are intended to reflect the words and sounds of the audio recordings as closely as possible. Even the best transcriptions, however, are imperfect representations of the recordings. For a full discussion of The Citadel Oral History Program's transcription guidelines, consult the program's website.
Digital resource copyright 2011, The Citadel Archives & Museum. All rights reserved. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, Charleston, SC, 29409.
audio available