Henryetta Dec 31- Written by Kjell Jansson: Today, December 31, 2024, we at The Henryettan had the distinct honor of celebrating the 100th birthday of Billy Gene “Bill” Conatser, a true American hero and cherished member of our community. Born on this day in 1924, Bill’s remarkable life has been a testament to courage, dedication, and service.
As a young man, Bill answered the call of duty during World War II, serving aboard the USS Murray in the Pacific Theater. From braving kamikaze attacks to witnessing pivotal moments like the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima and the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay, his contributions to our nation’s history are immeasurable. He stood shoulder to shoulder with his shipmates, serving not only as a cook who kept the crew nourished but also as a gunner manning 5-inch guns during battles that shaped the course of history.
After the war, Bill returned to Henryetta, trading the high seas for a life of community and hard work as a plumber. Yet, his stories, his spirit, and his unwavering pride in his service have continued to inspire generations in our town.
Today, as friends, family, and neighbors gather to celebrate a century of his life, we at The Henryettan extend our deepest gratitude to Bill Conatser for his sacrifices and his legacy. He represents the best of what it means to serve with honor, both in uniform and as a pillar of our community.
Happy 100th birthday, Bill. Henryetta salutes you!
Henryetta’s best-loved retired plumber – 100-year-young Bill Conatser – lived a life of thrills and excitement before he settled into the more mundane lifestyle of a Henryetta businessman. While few in Henryetta are aware of Mr. Conatser’s wartime adventures, he served with distinction in the Pacific Theater, and certainly saw history being made.
Conatser was born on December 31, 1924, and grew up at his family home at 1621 West Trudgeon Street in Henryetta. When young Billy Gene registered with Selective Service on December 31, 1942 – his eighteenth birthday – he was listed as “unemployed.”
On July 21, 1943, in Tulsa, Conatser enlisted in the United States Navy and was sent to Basic Training in Long Beach, California. Successfully graduated from “boot camp,” he departed the West Coast on October 5, aboard the USS Suamico—an oiler. A week later, he arrived at Pearl Harbor.
In Hawaii, Conatser was assigned as a cook aboard a destroyer—the USS Murray (DD-576). On October 16, he officially joined the crew and served aboard that ship for the remainder of the war.
Just three months after leaving his dull life in Henryetta, Billy Gene Conatser was on the other side of the world, facing months of intense and unceasing combat that would eventually end the threat of Japanese imperialism in the Pacific.
Though Conatser was rated as a cook, don’t let that title fool you. When a naval warship is ordered to battle stations, every crewman takes on an active, combat role. Conatser’s battle post was to serve as a gunner manning 5-inch guns.
Over the next two years, the Murray was heavily involved in America’s great campaign to avenge the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and to erase Japan’s imperial conquests. As a crew member, Conatser was there and saw—and lived—it all.
“I participated in eleven engagements, I shot at so many Japanese planes, and even had a Japanese bomb pass right beneath me,” said Conatser. He revealed that it broke his heart to see kamikaze attacks smash into the decks of the aircraft carriers, because he knew how many men were dying as he watched. It was sad, he said, “But there wasn’t anything I could do about it.”
Perhaps Conatser’s worst moment of the war occurred on March 27, 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa. “I was firing at Japanese aircraft, when I looked and saw a Japanese bomber drop down low, level its wings, and it was coming right at me,” Conatser remembered. The plane dropped a bomb, and Conatser watched the falling bomb approaching the ship. It was clear that the bomb would strike the Murray, directly below Conatser’s feet.
“I saw that bomb coming, and I thought, ‘Well, this is it, I am going now to be with my Lord.’” Miraculously, the bomb did not explode inside the Murray’s hull. Instead, the bomb struck the ship’s hull above the waterline, but its momentum carried the explosive entirely through the Murray’s hull. After exiting the Murray, the bomb exploded over the sea, on the ship’s opposite side. Although the damage was much less than it could have been, the resulting explosion threw shrapnel back into Murray. “One man—the best man on the ship—was killed by that bomb. He came from Knoxville, Tennessee,” said Conatser. “But he was the only one we lost.” Conatser noted that had that bomb exploded inside the hull, they probably would have lost the ship.
As it was, crewmen followed emergency protocol and stuffed mattresses into the breeches in the hull, and the Murray was sent back to Pearl Harbor for repair.
As a cook, Conatser noted with pride that he cooked every day for 300 men, and that he “never received a complaint.” The men got good food and the best variety that the Navy could provide. “One time, we landed in Australia. We brought aboard a whole ox, in a toe sack, along with rabbit, shrimp” and other foods.
During the Tarawa campaign, however, Pacific Fleet logistics was stressed to the breaking point as the whole fleet was engaged across the Pacific Basin. As a result, the Murray ran out of fresh food. “We didn’t have anything to serve at Tarawa. For five days, we ate nothing but beans and cornbread.”
Conatser was present for perhaps the two most famous events during the Pacific War. At Iwo Jima—Conatser became an eye-witness to the famous flag raising over the island. “I picked up the field glasses, and watched as the flag came up.”
And the USS Murray was present in Tokyo Harbor when Japanese Emperor Hirohito signed articles of surrender, thus ending the Pacific War.
“Well, I did my best,” Conatser said, “and we haven’t had any trouble with the Japanese since then.”
USS Murray (DD-576), a brand new Fletcher-class destroyer built in Texas, arrived at Pearl Harbor to join the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet in September 1943. The Murray was assigned to serve as part of Destroyer Squadron 25. Traditionally, the Navy had three classes of large fighting ships—destroyers, cruisers, and battleships—with the destroyer being the smallest and fastest. By the 1940s, these ships were routinely grouped with the new queen of the seas—the aircraft carrier. The destroyer’s primary tasks were to defend against enemy submarines and to shield the carrier and its valuable aircraft from attack.
As part of a carrier task force, Murray engaged in strikes on Wake Island 5–6 October 1943, then sailed to the South Pacific to support the landings at Bougainville on 8–9 November. At Bougainville, the Murray was credited with shooting down three enemy aircraft. Two days later, while covering US 3rd Fleet aircraft carriers in a strike against Rabaul, Murray shot down two out of a force of about 150 enemy aircraft attacking her formation.
From 20 November to 8 December, the Murray was on antisubmarine patrol in the Gilbert Islands—during the occupation of Tarawa and Abemama. For the next month, Murray guarded shipping into the newly acquired islands.
In January 1944, Murray performed fire support missions for the capture of Kwajalein, then screened transports carrying invasion forces to Eniwetok. Two months of escort duty in the western ocean routes followed, until she joined in the bombardment of Kavieng, New Ireland on 20 March.
Murray then joined the 7th Fleet and, on April 23–28, 1944, took part in the assault on Aitape, New Guinea. The Murray downed another enemy aircraft during an aerial torpedo attack. Rejoining the 6th Fleet in June, she screened amphibious craft during the assault on Saipan, then sailed to Guam for close-in fire support and transport screening duty 20–26th July. After patrol and escort duties for the consolidation of the Mariana Islands until late in August, Murray returned to the continuing operations around New Guinea.
On 30 August, Murray bombarded Wewak to cover British minelaying operations, and in September covered the landings on Morotai.
Returning to Hollandia, she prepared for the invasion of the Philippines, sortieing in escort of the transports for Leyte. On 20–21 October, she conducted shore bombardment, moving in as close as reefs would allow to fire over the landing force into enemy installations and at the same time aiding in repelling enemy air attacks.
Departing the Philippines immediately after the landings, Murray overhauled at San Francisco, then in January 1945 escorted a battleship division to Pearl Harbor while en route to join Task Force 58. She screened the aircraft carriers and acted as picket during the first carrier raid on Tokyo 16 February and attacks on Iwo Jima and the Ryukyu Islands 26 February to 1 March, sinking a Japanese picket ship about 200 miles off the coast of Japan on 26 February.
Murray next prepared for the Okinawa operation, during which she screened battleships from submarine attack during the initial preinvasion bombardment. Hit by a Japanese bomb 27 March, she retired to Pearl Harbor for repairs.
While returning to the forward areas by way of Eniwetok, Murray was ordered 2 July to locate, board, and search Japanese hospital ship Takasago Maru, bound for Wake Island and suspected of carrying arms or supplies, contraband for a hospital ship. She located the ship the next day, but search revealed nothing in violation of international law, so the hospital ship was allowed to proceed to Wake to embark sick and wounded Japanese.
Rejoining her force, now Task Force 38, Murray guarded the fast carriers in the raids against Honshū, Hokkaidō, and Kyūshū through the last 2 months of the war. In one of the most daring raids of the war, Murray and others of her squadron penetrated Suruga Bay, Honshū, 30 July to bombard the city of Shimizu, perhaps the deepest penetration of Japanese waters by any surface craft during the war.
One of the initial occupation force, Murray became the first ship in empire waters to bring in a Japanese submarine when the enemy undersea fleet began to surrender. On 27 August, aircraft of TF 38, patrolling off Honshū, located a submarine flying the black flag designated as the surrender signal, and Murray was ordered to intercept and take the craft into Tokyo Bay for internment. Her boarding party received the swords of I-14’s officers that same day, and the submarine was escorted to the mouth of Sagami Bay. Murray was present in Tokyo Bay for the formal Japanese surrender 2 September, then 3 days later sailed for the United States. Inactivated at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Murray decommissioned 27 March 1946, and went into reserve at Charleston, South Carolina.
1943
Sept – USS Murray assigned to Destroyer Squadron 25, based at Pearl Harbor.
Oct 5 – Conatser departs California aboard the oiler – USS Sumiaco.
Oct 12 – Sumiaco and Conatser arrive at Pearl Harbor.
Oct 16 – Conatser officially joins the Murray’s crew.
20 Nov–8 Dec – Antisubmarine patrol in the Gilbert Islands during the occupation of Tarawa and Abemama.
Dec 43–Jan 44 – Murray guards shipping into the newly acquired islands.
1944
Jan – Performed fire support missions for the capture of Kwajalein, then screened transports carrying invasion forces to Eniwetok.
Feb–Mar – Two months of escort duty in the western ocean routes, then joined bombardment of Kavieng, New Ireland on 20 March.
Apr 23–28 – As part of the 7th Fleet, took part in the assault on Aitape, New Guinea. (Downed one aircraft during an aerial torpedo attack.)
June – Rejoined the 6th Fleet, screened amphibious craft during the assault on Saipan, then sailed to Guam.
20–26 July – Engaged in close-in fire support and transport screening duty.
July–late Aug – Performed patrol and escort duties for consolidation of the Marianas Islands, returned to operations around New Guinea.
30 Aug – Murray bombarded Wewak to cover British minelaying operations.
Sep – Covered landings at Morotai, then returned to Hollandia, prepared for the invasion of the Philippines, and sortied in escort of the transports for Leyte.
20–21 Oct – Conducted shore bombardment, moving in close to fire over the landing force into enemy installations and aiding in repelling enemy air attacks.
Departing the Philippines immediately after the landings, Murray overhauled at San Francisco, California.
1945
Jan – Escorted a battleship division to Pearl Harbor, en route to join TF 58.
16 Feb 1945 – Screened the aircraft carriers and acted as picket during the first carrier raid on Tokyo.
26 Feb–1 Mar – Participated in attacks on Iwo Jima and the Ryukyu Islands [sank a Japanese picket ship 200 miles from Japan (26 February)].
Murray next prepared for the Okinawa operation, during which she screened battleships from submarine attack during the initial preinvasion bombardment.
27 March – Struck by Japanese bomb (retired for repairs).
2 July – Murray ordered to locate, board, and search Japanese hospital ship Takasago Maru, bound for Wake Island and suspected of carrying arms or supplies, contraband for a hospital ship.
The hospital ship was located the next day but cleared. Allowed to proceed to Wake. [1]
Rejoining her force, now Task Force 38, Murray guarded the fast carriers in the raids against Honshū, Hokkaidō, and Kyūshū through the last 2 months of the war. In one of the most daring raids of the war, Murray and others of her squadron penetrated Suruga Bay, Honshū, 30 July to bombard the city of Shimizu, perhaps the deepest penetration of Japanese waters by any surface craft during the war.
One of the initial occupation force, Murray became the first ship in empire waters to bring in a Japanese submarine when the enemy undersea fleet began to surrender. On 27 August, aircraft of TF 38, patrolling off Honshū, located a submarine flying the black flag designated as the surrender signal, and Murray was ordered to intercept and take the craft into Tokyo Bay for internment. Her boarding party received the swords of I-14’s officers that same day, and the submarine was escorted to the mouth of Sagami Bay. Murray was present in Tokyo Bay for the formal Japanese surrender 2 September, then 3 days later sailed for the United States. Inactivated at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Murray decommissioned 27 March 1946, and went into reserve at Charleston, South Carolina.