Plains man signs book

Plains own Robert Williamson was signing books of his signature manuscript on Friday at the Rocky Mountain book. The book’s name “A destroyer’s diary” covers the life of the Destroyer U.S.S. Cogswell from 1943-1945.

Williamson was stationed on the ship during World War II where he served as Seamen first class, first joining at the tender age of 17.

Williamson says he has been working on the book for close to 60 years. All that time he has been checking dates and facts, and the result is 38 pages of “pure dynamite,” says Williamson with a chuckle.

This is the second go around for Williamson in the book signing process. His first attempt came last year when they unknowingly set a date for the signing at the library during the first day of the fair.

Due to the intense competition for the attention of the townspeople the book signing did not go over as well as hoped. Therefore, he tried again in a different location and an empty date.

Williamson’s first book lives up to its title. It is in fact a diary of the Cogswell and lacks human involvement. However, Williamson is currently working on his second work that brings more “human interest” to his days in the Navy. The new book that he hopes to finish by the beginning of the next year will focus on the crewmembers, their struggles aboard the ship and the acts of heroism during WWII.

Although, the book only covers the life of the ship and not of the crew or Williamson himself, the book still contains page-turning excitement. In one section Williamson writes of the Kamikaze pilots who would dive-bomb their planes into Navy ships day and night.

“The Navy lost more men during that time than the Marines and Army combined,” says Williamson.

He goes on to explain that the pilots had several different tactics to take out the navy ships. They may come flying directly in the sun as they approach the ship, so crewmembers would be blind to them. Or they would skim the surface of the water ramming into ships low and hard. Also, they would try to join up with friendly airplanes and peel off from the group at the last second.

As much as this tactic was applied to the Cogswell, Williamson says luckily they were never hit by one plane.

“A destoyer’s diary” was published in 2008 by Randy’s Printing in Plains. It is available for $15, although Williamson’s John Hancock is free of charge.