J.P.D. Hodapp- 91 Years of Living History

J.D.P. Hodapp, Jr. was born in the Sternberg General Hospital (U.S. Army) at Cavite (near Manila) P.I. on 4 February, 1917. His father was the supply officer of the squadron of six destroyers (Nos 1 through 6) assigned to the U.S. Asiatic Fleet. Two months later, upon the United States entering World War I, the squadron was ordered to proceed to Gibraltar for duty in theAtlantic. J.D.’s mother, along with all the dependents of Army, Navy, andMarine personnel on duty overseas, was ordered to return toMainland, USA. She and J.D. soon departed aboard a rusty old German cruise liner that had been interned in Manila Harbor since the first day ofWWI (August 1914), and then taken over by the United States as a prize of war when Germany became the enemy. Normally this ship made about nine knots, but with so many months of neglect its engines continually broke down on the voyage from Manila to Seattle (the trip took over eleven weeks, and the ship arrived in Seattle with only food enough to last for another three days). So, by the time he was less than six months old, J.D. had already spend half his life at sea.

 

This "sea duty" continued for J.D., even through his boyhood. In the "old" Navy (1920s and early '30s) there was often found aboard ship young men under fifteen years of age who were called "Skipper's Pet," the captain being allowed to have his son, or other Navy Juniors, aboard ship for extended periods.As a result, J.D. spent a three week cruise from San Diego to Pearl Harbor aboard a fleet destroyer (The C.O. was a friend of his father's), and then returned to San Diego aboard the destroyer tender (his father's ship), when he was only nine years old. He also spent three months each of his 12th and 13th years aboard the aircraft carrier USS Lexington CV2. So is it any wonder why J.D. entered the Navy at the age of 17, graduated from the U.S.

Naval Academy in June 1939, and eventually became a destroyer skipper in his own rights.

J.D.'s naval career included duty aboard the USS Lexington (where his stateroom was just a

deck below the one he had shared with his father eight years earlier); USS Farragut DD348 (which was moored in Pearl Harbor on 7 December, 1941); USS Abner Read DD526 (which had 85 feet blown off its stern by a Japanese drifting mine, with the loss of 72 men); USS Irwin DD794 (which earned a Navy Unit Commendation when it went alongside the wounded

carrier USS Princeton CVL23, and set a Navy record when it rescued 646 survivors); he served

on many others before he ended his time at sea. He filled numerous and varied shore duties before finally retiring from the N avy in April, 1960. Being only 43 at the time of his Navy retirement, J.D. started a civilian career as Administrative Assistant to the Dean of Saint Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle, Washington. After two and a half years there he returned to

Berkeley, CA, to become the Literary Assistant to Mr. C.S. Forester (author of The African Queen and the "Horatio Hornblower" novels).

In 1943, Mr. Forester had been a passenger on the Abner Read, during which time he and J.D.

became fast friends (Mr. Forester only dedicated two of his forty-seven novels, and J.D. is proud

of the fact that The Good Shepherd - the Book-of-the-Month selection in April, 1955 - is partly

dedicated to himself). When Mr. Forester died in 1966, J.D. went to work as an Underwriter for the California State Automobile Association- Inter Insurance Bureau, finally taking full retirement in April, 1976. J.D did find time for love as well. In 1941, while in Hawaii, he married

Clara A. Freiheit. They had a 33 year marriage that ended in 1974 when she lost her battle with cancer after a five month stay in ICU. Not too long afterward, he was introduced to Russian

born, Alexandra Greico, they fell in love and were married after a whirlwind courtship of 3

weeks. They have now celebrated 33 years together and are still going strong!

They have enjoyed a life in world travel, ending up in Great Falls, MT, where they have resided in a retirement community for the past eight years.