Oklahoma WWII

Jim Norick remembers that everybody was surprised when they learned of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  He figured sooner or later the United States was going to be involved in World War II, but it still came as a shock.  Norick says he and his wife, Madalynne, were watching a movie at the Criterion Theater in downtown Oklahoma City when they stopped the movie, and announced the Japanese attack.  “I figured, well, I’m going to have to be going, I guess,” Norick said.  “Next day, at the office, everybody was talking about it.  We didn’t know what was going to happen next.”

(above) Jim Norick’s family business in downtown Oklahoma City.

Norick was working at the family’s business, Norick Brothers Printing, in Oklahoma City.  He and Madalynne had a son, Ron, who was less than a year old.  But, by the summer of 1942, Norick figured he was going into the military soon.  So, with two Naval Bases in Norman, he entered the Navy on September 1, 1942 as a storekeeper, working in the pay office.  The work was similar to what he had been doing at Norick Brothers.

“When the base first opened on the first of September,” Norick told me recently, “they didn’t have uniforms for us for a month - we just wore civilian clothes.  They didn’t have a place for us to sleep, so I rode the Interurban back and forth from Oklahoma City to Norman.  When they finally got housing down there, then of course I had to stay on-base.”

The Naval Air Technical Training Center was built in record time - four and a half months.   It was a city of more than 19,000 with enlisted men, marines, WAVES with a ship’s company of about 2,000, and was divided into two bases, North and South.  Three separate schools fell under one command, providing training for Aviation Machinists, Metalsmiths, and Ordnancemen.  Pilots received training at the North Base.

In addition to his work in the payroll office, Jim Norick played alto saxophone and clarinet in one of the two base bands.  He recalls that it was a special thrill to play under the base’s famous band director, Tex Beneke, saxophonist and conductor in the Glenn Miller Band.  Norick says Beneke had a hearing problem, so he stayed stateside during the war, providing entertainment for those on-base and their dates from surrrounding communities.

(above) Jim Norick is second from left in front row in this picture of one of the bands at the Norman Naval Air Training Technical Center.

Norick says the bands played at the Naval hospital and, every Sunday afternoon, in Building 92, the base’s large auditorium.  “It was a morale builder,” Norick said, “yes, very much.”

(above)  Dancing was a popular pasttime at the Norman Naval Air Training Technical Center’s Building 92. 

Jim Norick was at the South Base for 16 months, but left his wife and son on December 1, 1944, to go to Charleston, South Carolina for the pre-commissioning of a sea-going tug.  By April, he was aboard the tug, with floating drydock attached, heading to the South Pacific.   

It took 18 days to go from the Panama Canal to Hawaii, then it was on to Enewitok, where they dropped off the floating drydock.  Norick and his shipmates thought they were going back to Hawaii, but instead they were sent to join the invasion forces at Guam and Saipan.  He remembers that the fighting was intense.  “They (the Japanese) were beginning to fear that they might not win,” Norick told me, “the guys having to go on the beach, you’d just pray for them, because so many of them did not come back.”

Norick went on to serve in the invasions of the Leyte Gulf and the Lingayen Gulf.  During invasions, he says everyone played a part.  It was during the fighting in the Leyte Gulf that he had a chance to turn hero, by shooting down a Japanese Betty bomber.  ”First, I was the loader, putting the bullets on that needed to be fired,” he said.  “But, the guy that was on the gun was a little trigger-happy, so they shifted me and put me on a gun and put him on the loader.  So, that’s how I became a shooter.”  Norick was on a 20-millimeter gun when he spotted the Japanese bomber, traced it down and blasted it from the sky.  He had never been trained on the 20-millimeter, but he knew how to shoot.  “Prior to that I had done a little shooting, hunting quail with my dad,” he said, “but that was a little different.”

(above) Madalynne Norick with son, Ron.

While Jim was away, Madalynne kept in touch through “V-Mails” and did her part by working in the Executive Lobby at the Douglas Aircraft Plant in Oklahoma City.  “You couldn’t survive without mail,” she said.  “You needed to know that your husband was still over there, and he was working for our country and you were trying to help the little way that you could.  It was a serious time.”  

Norick was part of the invasion force waiting about a hundred miles away from the Japanese mainland when the war ended.  He thinks the invasion would have started within a week, had the United States not dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Norick returned to his family in Oklahoma in early December, 1945.  He went back to the printing business and became involved in community and public service.  He served on the City Council and was elected Oklahoma City Mayor in 1959.  He served two terms as mayor, winning a second term in 1967.   Son Ron followed him as mayor in 1987 and held the position for 11 years. 

(above) Madalynne and Jim Norick today.

Jim Norick remains involved in family business and still plays the clarinet.  He plays each week in the Nichols Hills Concert Band and has a 6-piece combo that plays at nursing homes in the Oklahoma City area.

He also tries to remain in touch with his friends who proudly stepped up and served in what he calls, WW-Deuce.  “I think the biggest majority of the American people were mad,” Norick said, “and (said) let’s get this over with, and they did what they had to do…willingly.”

Until next time, Dick Pryor

(Jim Norick was profiled on the Oklahoma News Report on October 24, 2007.  To see the story, click on “Videos” on this website and go to “OETA’s Dick Pryor interviews Oklahoma WWII veterans.)

Posted in The War, OETA, Oklahoma News Report, Douglas Aircraft Plant, Hawaii, Saipan, World War II, South Pacific, Navy, The Oklahoman | 1 Comment »