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Joe Enloe (on the left) and Gordon Burke (on the right) both served
aboard the USS BUSH from its date of commissioning on May 10, 1943 until she was
lost on April 6, 1945. At the time of the sinking, both Joe and Gordon were
Machinist Mates 1st Class (MM1c). The man standing behind Joe and Gordon is
M. H. Jeter, a life time friend of Joe's.
Gordon recalled, "I begged my Father to sign for me since I was 17 at the time, and you had to be 18 to enlist. He finally signed and I was on my way to serve my country. Little did I know then what I would experience before I came home." A niece of Joe's recalls her grandparent's story of Gordon helping Joe survive the sinking of the USS BUSH. She related, "They were good friends. When they abandoned ship they secured themselves together with rope. As the night wore on Joe begged Burke to cut him loose and save himself, but Burke would not do it and they were rescued. Our family has been forever grateful to Gordon Burke for saving the life of my Uncle." |
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To the left is an earlier picture of Joe Enloe, who was assigned to the battleship USS NEVADA at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. |