Never too late (WWII vet Campbell, 92, gets honorary promotion to chief)

Star News ^ | Chris Mazzolini

[Dubya]

When the sailors knocked on his front door, 92-year-old Paul Campbell welcomed them with handshakes and a few warbling bars of Anchors Aweigh. "Greetings and salutations," he shouted. "Come in. I'm just an old battleship sailor."

An old battleship sailor with a new promotion. Campbell, a Wilmington resident who served in the South Pacific during World War II, received a surprise visit Monday from the U.S. Navy, which honored Campbell with an honorary promotion to chief petty officer.

Campbell has said for years that he deserved a promotion. The war took Campbell, a radio operator on the USS Wisconsin, from legendary battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, through a deadly typhoon that claimed at least three American ships, and to Tokyo Bay in 1945 when the Japanese surrendered and the war ended. Through it all, Campbell was never promoted above petty officer second class.

"I felt like I should have a bit more honor," he said. "They were stingy about giving out rates in those days. They needed more Indians than chiefs."

It was Campbell's friend, Cmdr. Walter Dinkins, a Navy chaplain from Wilmington serving in Africa, who started asking about an honorary promotion for Campbell. The request went up the chain of command, and the decision was made to make Campbell an honorary chief for the Norfolk-based USS San Antonio.

The honorary promotion was the end of a long road for Campbell, who was building warships in Baltimore when the draft deferments began piling up. He decided to enlist. "My draft board said they were going to draft me, so I said, 'Well, if you can't win the war without me, I'll join,'●" he said.

Campbell served on the Wisconsin in the Pacific from April 1944 until November 1945, participating in numerous attacks on Japanese-controlled islands, including the Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and bombardments on home islands near Tokyo.

Until a recent hip replacement, Campbell had been active, attending history talks and spending time aboard the Battleship North Carolina, said stepson Perry Whitman. His mind is still sharp. Campbell remembers the boom of the ship's guns as they fended off Japanese planes, and enemy torpedoes exploding into the belly of his fellow ships. He rattles off military jargon and the technical details of how the radar systems on his old ship worked. He recalls comrades who have passed on. Four shipmates died in the past year alone, Campbell said. "I'm glad I'm still living to tell the stories in person," he said.

Now Campbell has one more story to tell. On Monday, he stood on his reconstructed hip, his walker pushed aside, while Master Chief Paul King of the San Antonio fixed the golden anchor emblems of a chief petty officer to the collar of his shirt. "Welcome aboard, chief," King said.

Chris Mazzolini: 343-2223 chris.mazzolini@starnewsonline.com

[Dubya]

Master Chief Petty Officer Paul King (right) presents veteran Paul Campbell, 92, with an honorary promotion Monday. Photo | Briana Brough

[fieldmarshaldj]

Congrats to the Chief.

[Natchez Hawk]

Well, congratulations are in order.

[Leg Olam]

How very cool! I wish more such were honored before we lose them.

[GitmoSailor]

Thanks for the Post!!!!....

[DGHoodini]

Gee...Does this mean he’s going to get the back pay for
all the years he should have had a higher rating/pay grade? ;)

[battlegearboat]

He was promoted to Chief Petty Officer, not Master Chief Petty Officer.

Not quite sure why he rates this promotion?

I'm sure he's a swell guy, but what did he do, besides living to age 92, that rates this promotion?

If I make it to that ripe old age, do I get promoted to Chief too for my combat service on river boats in Vietnam?

Anyway, hail to the new CPO!

[Our man in washington]

Doesn’t he have to be a Chief Select for a few months first and get some additional training involving such things as 4 a.m. PT sessions and shining of master chiefs’ boots?

[Dubya]

LOL I don,t know I was in the Marines.

[Lancer_N3502A]

Haze Gray and Underway Chief!

[Little Bill]

In those days, Chief was the second coming of Christ, there was no super rates before 1956. My Old Man was a Chief Petty Officer in the Coast Guard during WW2, enlisted in 1940, he claimed that he would rather be a Chief than an Admiral.

[Coastie]

Welcome aboard Chief!

Paul B. CPO USCG (ret)

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

I like these stories.Good on the Navy for promoting The chief, even if it honorary.

[Izzy Dunne]

if you can't win the war without me, I'll join,

Thanks for your service, Chief. It wouldn't have been the same without you.

[Little Bill]

I have a picture of my Old Man taken in 1943, Boston, with a really Old Line Coast Guard Chief and my Old Man, A First Class PO at the time and Dear Old Ma, the Chief is talking of course.

The one thing that I admire about the US Military is the loser's (sic) that kept my young ass alive over the Centuries of this Republic and lead us to this State where the poor make more than the Grunts.

[Bean Counter]

I’ve still got a recipe for truth serum, a couple of good swigs of which are guaranteed to take that grin right off your lying face, Shipmate...I watched a guy launch a king-sized olive through a cement-block wall after two good shots...

Hail to the Chief...!!!

[hornetguy]

That day they kept on telling me it was the best day of my life. I hated it. Sure was nice to have the anchors after it was done.
Was a few years ago, It’s gone PC now.

[Bean Counter]

yah...we had a really good connection for raw pigs eyes over at the slaughterhouse in Smithfield, Virginia. the Foreman was a former Chief Pety Officer, and he always could be counted on for a gallon of fresh hog’s eyes when initiation time came round...

He used to say that the only theing they wasted was the squeal...