From Hobart to Japan and Back
11 July 2016 From Hobart to Japan and Back
Warren Shaddock 46, P75, GP09 was a senior at Brighton High School in Rochester, N.Y. when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred on Dec. 7, 1941. Early in his freshman year at Hobart, Shaddock enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was called to active duty when the Navy V-12 Program was established on July 1, 1943.
For Shaddock, enrolling in the Navy V-12 gave him the opportunity to stay at Hobart for another year and complete three semesters. Aside from taking a full course load to satisfy the requirements for his chemistry and biology double major, Shaddock says that when he wasnt hitting the books, his days were filled with Navy training. He remembers reporting for early morning muster and exercises before heading to classes and reporting back for inspection in front of Coxe Hall to make sure our shoes were shined and uniforms neat. In addition to daily training, Shaddock recalls being marched to the YMCA where they learned how to abandon ship by jumping off the high tower into the pool.
There wasnt time for running around the town or things like that, it was a very serious thing, he recalls.
After completing his training at Hobart, Shaddock was sent to midshipman school at Columbia University, and then to Harvard University for communications school, where he was trained to use a top secret machine called an electronic coding machine that was used to decode confidential messages. After Harvard, Shaddock received orders to Pearl Harbor where he was assigned to the USS Calvert APA-32. From there he traveled to the Philippines to transportArmy 10th Corpsfor the occupation, to Kure, Japan, the site of a large Japanese Naval Base, located inthe Inland Sea of Japan.
We were anchored about seven miles from Hiroshima so out of curiosity, a group of us took one of our landing crafts over to Hiroshima, Shaddock remembers. I believe we were some of the first Americans to see what it looked like after the dropping of the bomb. It was miles and miles of utter destruction. We found stacks of dishes that had been fused together by the heat of the bomb, and gravel that had been fused to a porcelain pitcher.
After leaving Japan, Shaddock received orders to return to Pearl Harbor at the command post of the amphibious forces until he earned enough points to return to civilian life. He later returned to Hobart, completing a final semester before heading to University of Buffalo School of Dentistry.
He married the late Gloris Mulford Shaddock 49 in 1950. Shaddock earned his D.D.S. in 1951 and practiced dentistry in Fairport, N.Y. for 42 years.
Hobart has been a big part of my life; my oldest son and my grandson are both graduates of Hobart. It feels wonderful to know that the College had such a big impact on all three of our lives, he says.