He was a sailor aboard the Fleet Oiler USS Neches AO47. The ship participated in every major invasion in the Pacific (Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo, Okinowa, etc.) and became the most decorated Oiler of the war, including 9 battle stars. They were in Nagasaki a week after the bomb and the Neches was the 14 major vessel into Tokyo Bay. She was tied up a couple of berths away from the Mighty Mo on Sept 2.
While the fleet oilers and other support auxiliaries did not receive the attention and glamor of the warships they supported, those warships would have had a difficult time of it without the fuel, supplies, and repairs that the support vessels provided.
Fleet tanker Neches conducts an underway replenishment for the battleship Wisconsin and an unidentified Essex-class carrier.