Claude E. Fike World War II Diary

Claude E. Fike, son of Claude Edwin and Rosa Pegram Fike, was born in Delmar, Maryland, on March 31, 1920, and grew up in North Carolina. Shortly after completing his B.A. degree at Duke University in June 1941, Fike enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve's V-7 Officers Training Program. The V-7 program, also called the Midshipman School, was a 90 day intensified indoctrination for college graduates in navigation, military arts and sciences, gunnery, and seamanship. Fike reported to Midshipman School in Chicago on September 1, 1941, and was commissioned Ensign in the United States Naval Reserve in January 1942. He was then ordered to the Fifth Naval District in Norfolk, Virginia and was there assigned to the Officers Duty Pool, to be reassigned as needed. His first duty was aboard the U.S.S. SC-102, a World War I submarine chaser. The SC-102 patrolled the Atlantic coast during the early months of World War II, when German submarines were sinking ships within sight of the beaches. In March 1942, on a dark night, the vessel was accidently rammed by an American destroyer off the Virginia Capes, and subsequently sank.

Fike was then assigned temporary duty on the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter, Rush, which was on constant sea patrol and needed a deck officer. In the fall of 1942 Fike received orders to the U.S.S. APc-2, a small coastal transport being completed at Bristol, Rhode Island. These small wooden ships were designed for multi-purpose use in the upcoming island hopping campaign in the Southwest Pacific. However, prior to the vessel's sailing date of March 11, 1943, Fike received a new assignment as the commanding officer of the U.S.S. APc-5. The APc-5 operated as part of the newly formed Seventh Fleet against the Japanese held New Guinea and adjacent islands. This was General Douglas MacArthur's opening campaign that eventually led to the invasion of the Philippines.

On August 26, 1944, after eighteen months in this theater, Fike was relieved and directed home for thirty days leave and reassignment. While on leave, Fike received orders to report to the Navy Small Craft School at Key West, Florida, as an instructor. Disappointed with these orders, Fike went to the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Washington, D.C. and requested combat duty aboard an attack transport instead. The request was granted and he was assigned to the USS Buckingham, APA-141, then being outfitted on the west coast at San Pedro, California. During the last year of World War II, the Buckingham participated in several operations, notably Okinawa and the Philippines, transporting combat troops and evacuating the wounded. After the war ended, the Buckingham participated in the initial occupation of southern Japan at Wakayama.

Fike was honorably discharged in January 1946 with the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He then decided on an academic career and entered Columbia University, graduating with the masters degree in history in 1947, followed by the Ph.D. in 1950 from the University of Illinois. His first teaching post was instructor of history at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At about the same point in time, Fike married Helen Frances Duke of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and one son was born of the union. In 1952, he accepted a position at the College of Charleston (SC) where he remained as assistant, then associate professor until 1957 when he accepted a position at the University of Southern Mississippi. He was promoted to full professor in 1959 and was named dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in 1961, serving in that post until his resignation in 1976. Thereupon he was appointed director of the newly established William David McCain Library and Archives, a position he held until his retirement in 1986. Dr. Fike died on August 4, 1994, of cancer. He is interred in Roseland Park Cemetery, Hattiesburg, Mississippi.