Page 27 - Amarillo Senior Link Magazine Summer 2019- Online Magazine

WWII

Later, in Daddy finally had the family he had always wanted.
1943, Paul He stayed in Amarillo the rest of his life because he
volunteered wanted his own family to have the stability he had
for submarine missed while growing up.
service and
was shipped to
the submarine Daddy stayed in the U.S. Naval Reserves and
school located continued to serve our nation from 1941 until he
in New London, retired from the reserves in 1978 as a Senior Chief
CN. Daddy Petty Officer (Electrician). Like most of the Greatest
said he felt Generation, Paul Gusler never lost his love for his
like a “sitting country. I am so proud of his service in World War II
duck” on a and throughout his life and am blessed to call him my
surface craft. father.
“At least you
can hide in a
submarine!” he
reasoned. He
spent the rest of the war in the submarine service
until the war ended in late 1945.

While in the submarine service, he served on the USS
Bonita (V 3) 1943-1944, USS Mackerel (SS 204) 1944-
1945 and the USS Sea Devil (SS 400). During his time
aboard these submarines, their missions varied from
reconnaissance missions to tracking the locations of
the Japanese fleet, sitting on the bottom of the ocean,
listening to the Japanese ships passing overhead . . .
and then surfacing at night, radioing back the ship’s
speed, location and direction to naval operations
in Pearl Harbor. This allowed other submarines
to intercept and attack the Japanese fleets. His
submarines were also instrumental in picking-up/
rescuing downed U.S. Navy pilots at sea.

Paul returned home after the war, only to learn
that his parents had moved from Ft. Sumner, NM
to Amarillo, TX . . . and forgot to tell him. (He also
learned that his father had sold his car and pocketed
the money while he was gone.) Not being one to give
up under difficult circumstances, he simply “started
over”. He met my mother (Mildred Elaine Scroggins
Wilson), and they were married when I was very
young. Three years later, my younger sister (Paula
Elaine Gusler) was born. With a son and daughter,

Amarillo Senior Link 27