USS Missouri volunteer looks back on Navy career

From the time he was in elementary school, John Fernie held a deep fascination for the military. It was the mid-1950s, and shows such as “Navy Log,” “Air Power,” “Victory at Sea” and “Men of Annapolis” glued him to the TV.

Fernie grew up in Kailua, close to Marine Corps Air Station Kāne‘ohe Bay (now Marine Corps Base Hawai‘i), and many of his friends came from families who were stationed there. He spent hours making models of World War II ships and aircraft, which he hung from the ceiling of his bedroom. His scoutmaster was a World War II veteran who was regarded with such respect and admiration by his young charges, they addressed him by his rank, “Colonel.”

Following his childhood dream, Fernie went on to serve 30 years with the U.S. Navy, both on active duty during the Vietnam War and as a reservist from 1977 to 1995. For the past 19 years, he has been enjoying a second military “career” of sorts, as a tour guide for the Battleship Missouri Memorial in Pearl Harbor.

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The paternal side of Fernie’s family traces back five generations in Hawai‘i. His great-grandfather, Christian Augustus Gertz, Jr., immigrated to O‘ahu from Germany in 1868 at age 15 and became a woodworker. He was hired as a subcontractor to build ‘Iolani Palace’s magnificent Grand Staircase of koa, kamani, walnut and other woods.

An avid history buff, Fernie is proud of that familial tie. He himself has memorable life stories beginning with his training at the United States Naval Academy. He received that coveted appointment thanks to a nomination from Spark Matsunaga, then one of Hawai‘i’s U.S. senators.

Fernie graduated from Kailua High School in May 1965, flew to Baltimore the next month, took a taxi to Annapolis and stayed at a motel with other new midshipmen a few days prior to reporting in. “From then on, my world was turned upside down,” he said. “The four-year Naval Academy program is rigorous and regimented—like boot camp with academics.”

“Plebe summer” went from late June until the academic year began in early September. Upperclassmen put the fledgling recruits through a grueling routine of exercises, marching, weapons training, uniform changes and room inspections. Lights out was at 10 o’clock, and it started all over again with reveille at 6 a.m. every morning except Sundays when church attendance was mandatory. This continued during the academic year, with the addition of classes that were heavy in math and engineering.

“While you’re enrolled at the academy, you’re on active duty,” Fernie said. “Getting accustomed to military life was mentally and physically challenging. We were double timing everywhere—no walking, just running. Very early on—it could’ve been our second day there—we were told, ‘Look to your left and look to your right. One of you three is not going to be at graduation.’ That was dead on; my class started with 1,328 midshipmen and 879 graduated in 1969.”

After Fernie was commissioned as an ensign, he spent half the time between 1969 and 1973 deployed to Vietnam, serving on a destroyer and minesweeper. His assignment for some coastal patrols entailed boarding fishing boats to ensure they weren’t being used by the enemy to transport weapons, supplies, equipment and/or troops to South Vietnam.

“Water routes were used for that purpose as well as the inland Ho Chi Minh Trail,” Fernie said. “We had to prepare for the possibility that the boats were manned by Viet Cong or North Vietnamese. We never knew what we were going to run into, and that was nerve-wracking.”

Signed on January 27, 1973, the Paris Peace Accords marked the end of direct U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War and included a provision for underwater mines placed by the Navy in North Vietnamese waters to be destroyed. Fernie participated in the initial phase of Operation End Sweep, spending 64 straight days aboard a minesweeper in Haiphong Harbor. The U.S. completed that operation in five months, which allowed normal shipping and trade to resume in North Vietnam’s inland and coastal waterways.

Fernie transferred from active duty to reserve duty as a commander in 1977 and parlayed his Navy experience into a civilian job as the general manager for two marine terminals at the Port of Portland, Oregon. He and his wife, Anita, retired in Hawai‘i in 2003.

Three years later, wanting to devote his spare time to something meaningful, Fernie inquired about volunteering with the Battleship Missouri Memorial. Instead, he was offered a paid position as a tour guide, which he did for 14 years. Then COVID hit in 2020, and the attraction closed for nine months beginning in March. When it reopened, Fernie returned as a volunteer.

Today, he puts in two full days a week, leading at least three tours that spotlight Missouri’s notable place in history. Christened in January 1944, she participated in three wars — World War II, the Korean War and the Gulf War — over five decades. World War II officially ended on her deck on September 2, 1945.

Missouri was decommissioned in 1955, recommissioned in 1986 and decommissioned for the second and final time in 1992. She was removed from the Navy’s ship registry in 1995, and the following year, the USS Missouri Memorial Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, assumed responsibility for her care. She opened as a floating museum in 1999; last year, more than 490,000 people from around the world visited the famed battleship.

Fernie peppers his tour narrations with fascinating facts about the “Mighty Mo,” which measures nearly three football fields in length. Up to 17.3 inches of armor shields vital parts of the ship, including the bridge, gun turrets, engineering spaces and ammunition magazines. Her nine 16-inch guns fired 2,700-pound projectiles that could penetrate 30 feet of concrete and land within a target area about the size of a football stadium.

“You might think a football stadium is big, but considering the shells’ 23-mile range, that’s amazing precision,” Fernie said. “Missouri’s guns were gyrostabilized, so they could be fired accurately even if the seas were pitching and rolling the ship.”

The gyro component worked in conjunction with Missouri’s two mechanical analog computers (one each in the forward and aft plotting rooms), which generated the complicated solutions to aim the guns. This World War II technology was so good, the Navy decided to stick with it through the 1990-1991 Gulf War.

Serving in the military taught Fernie many valuable lessons, which he has shared with his two children and four grandchildren.

“Discipline, for sure,” he said. “Also, the value of perseverance, resilience and having a strong moral compass. To succeed, you’ve got to be prepared, be willing to work hard, take responsibility for your actions and don’t give up. I’m grateful I had the opportunity to contribute to something that was bigger than myself—help protect America and the rights and privileges we enjoy as its citizens. It has been an honor.”

End of World War II Commemoration

September 2 marks the 80^th anniversary of the end of World War II. The Battleship Missouri Memorial and the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum will host special events commemorating that historic event from August 30 through September 2.

Highlights include a concert; a formal gala; a commemoration ceremony; film screenings; and the unveiling of a new interactive exhibit aboard Missouri featuring World War II artifacts, archival film footage, and personal stories and belongings of sailors.

Most events are free and open to the public. Reservations for all events (even those that are free) must be received by August 10. For details, visit ussmissouri.org/events/signature-events/end-of-wwii-commemoration.

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