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Home Town San Francisco
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Last Known Activity:
Lieutenant Commander
Samuel Robert Sherman, M.C.
Flight Surgeon, USS Franklin CV-13
NAVY CROSS
Excerpts from the oral history of Dr. Sam Sherman:
I joined the Navy the day after Pearl Harbor. Actually, I had been turned down twice before because I had never been in a ROTC [Reserve Officer Training Corps - located at many colleges to train students for officer commissions] reserve unit. Since I had to work my way through college and medical school, I wasn't able to go to summer camp or the monthly week end drills. Instead, I needed to work in order to earn the money to pay my tuition. Therefore, I could never join a ROTC unit.
When most of my classmates were called up prior to Pearl Harbor, I felt quite guilty, and I went to see if I could get into the Army unit. They flunked me. Then I went to the Navy recruiting office and they flunked me for two minor reasons. One was because I had my nose broken a half dozen times while I was boxing. The inside of my nose was so obstructed and the septum was so crooked that the Navy didn't think I could breathe well enough. I also had a partial denture because I had lost some front teeth also while boxing.
But the day after Pearl Harbor, I went back to the Navy and they welcomed me with open arms. They told me I had 10 days to close my office and get commissioned. At that time, I went to Treasure Island, CA [naval station in San Francisco Bay], for indoctrination. After that, I was sent to Alameda Naval Air Station [east of San Francisco, near Oakland CA] where I was put in charge of surgery and clinical services. One day the Team Medical Officer burst into the operating room and said, "When are you going to get through with this operation?" I answered, "In about a half hour." He said, "Well, you better hurry up because I just got orders for you to go to Pensacola to get flight surgeon's training."
Nothing could have been better because airplanes were the love of my life. In fact, both my wife and I were private pilots and I had my own little airfield and two planes. Since I wasn't allowed to be near the planes at Alameda, I had been after the senior medical officer day and night to get me transferred to flight surgeon's training.
I went to [Naval Air Station] Pensacola [Florida] in April 1943 for my flight surgeon training and finished up in August. Initially, I was told that I was going to be shipped out from the East Coast. But the Navy changed its mind and sent me back to the West Coast in late 1943 to wait for Air Group 5 at Alameda Naval Air Station.
continued... see "Oral Histories - Attacks on Japan, 1945" on the right side of this profile page.
Other Comments:
In April 1962, Dr. Sam Sherman was unanimously elected President of the California Medical Association.
In his honor the C.M.A. created the:
Samuel R. Sherman, MD, Meritorious Achievement Award
from The Institute for Medical Quality,
a subsidiary of the California Medical Association.
World War II/American Theater
From Month/Year
December / 1941
To Month/Year
September / 1945
Description The American Theater was a minor area of operations during World War II. This was mainly due to both North and South America's geographical separation from the central theaters of conflict in Europe and Asia. Thus, any threat by the Axis Powers to invade the mainland United States or other areas was considered negligible, allowing for American resources to be deployed in overseas theaters.
This article includes attacks on continental territory, extending 200 miles (320 km) into the ocean, which is today under the sovereignty of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and several other smaller states, but excludes military action involving the Danish territory of Greenland, the Hawaiian Islands, and the Aleutian Islands. The most well known battles in North America during World War II were the Attack on Pearl Harbor (the first attack on US soil since the Battle of Ambos Nogales), the Aleutian Islands Campaign, the Battle of the St. Lawrence, and the attacks on Newfoundland.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
January / 1942
To Month/Year
September / 1945
Last Updated: Dec 24, 2023
Personal Memories
Memories LCDR Samuel Robert Sherman, MC, USNR, was the Flight Surgeon on USS Franklin (CV-13) when it was heavily damaged by a Japanese bomber near the Japanese mainland on 19 March 1945.
