“Soon after returning home from my mission, I went up to Salt Lake City to see my former mission president, Nicholas G. Smith. President Smith was called in January 1942 to be an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.”… “During my visit with President Smith he got up from his chair, placed his hands upon my head and gave me a blessing. He told me I would soon be called into the service of my country, and if I would live the gospel, stay sweet and clean, and continue to be a missionary, while in the Service, I would be able to perform all tasks assigned to me, and return home unharmed. This blessing was a great source of comfort to me as I faced many challenges, and a number of dangerous situations while in the Service.”…
“I finished school at Treasure Island in February 1943, but waited for about a month before being assigned to the USS Kalk DD 611. She was a fine Destroyer of the 1650 ton class. When I came on board at Mare Island Navy Yard, near San Francisco, I learned I was to be the only Radio Technician aboard. This was a big surprise, and I was very apprehensive to be responsible for the proper functioning of all the radio, radar, and sonar equipment aboard the ship.... I prayed that I would be able to handle this big responsibility. I had no practical experience in maintaining and adjusting this equipment, only a short eight months course in electricity, radio, radar, sonar, and some lab work. The Lord greatly blessed me to be able to handle this responsibility.”…
“We worked with General MacArthur, and his forces in making successful landings... along the New Guinea coast…. We were now assisting the Army by bombarding certain targets they would designate to us by radio communications. In order to do this effectively we had to be very close to the shore. While thus engaged an enemy plane came in very low from over the land, and dropped a bomb right between our stacks. It was impossible to pick him up with our radar, because at this close proximity to land the plane target merged into the landmass. There were only a few bursts fired from the 20 mm guns, before the bomb hit, but our gunners had the presence of mind to stay on the plane and bring it down.”
“The General Quarters alarm was sounded only seconds before the bomb hit the ship, because of our not sighting the plane until it was almost upon us. My GQ station was in the radar transmitter room, and when the alarm sounded I was lying in my hammock... It was so hot in the South Pacific that some of us would string our hammocks in an area where we could get some sea breezes. My first reaction upon hearing the alarm was to remain my hammock a little longer. After all I was only about 25 steps from my battle station, and it might be a false alarm.”
It was then he received the distinct impression that he needed to get out of there, fast.
“It was as if someone literally tipped my hammock upside down, and I lit running. I had only taken three or four steps involved yet, but I was close enough toward the center of the ship that the ship's forward stack protected me from the bursting shrapnel. I didn't receive any hits, but my hammock, being on the starboard side of the ship, was literally destroyed.”
“This was a fulfillment of the blessing President Nicholas G. Smith had given me, before leaving home, that if I would live my religion, set a good example to others, and continue to be a missionary, while in the Service, I would return home unharmed. I had tried to do these things to the best of my ability, and had been blessed to baptize two fine young men, and the Lord had blessed me by preserving my life. This was a principal with a promised for obedience, similar to the promise given by obedience to law, as stated in Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21.”…
“The day we took the bomb was June 12, 1944.”…
“When the bomb hit it destroyed the forward engine room and boilers, severely damaging our evaporators, made a huge hole through the deck, and caused a fire in the near vicinity of the torpedo tubes.” …
The ship was badly damaged and had to be towed to Hollandia, New Guinea for repairs.
“The worst tragedy of this attack was that 30 of my good friends and shipmates were killed, and at least that many more were wounded.”…
“This was a pretty sad crew on the Kalk as we were being towed back to Hollandia. That evening, after sundown, we held burial services at sea for 30 of our friends and shipmates.”
-- Excerpts taken from Marvin E. Sabin's personal history in family possession.
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