John "Jack" Schneller, West Valley City, Utah: an interview by Becky B. Lloyd, July 2, 2004: Saving the Legacy tape no. 676

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JOHN . (JA K) HNELLER J 2 200 BEC: That was your job too? JAC: Yes. We made cookies. Hey, we did all that good stuff. I was a pretty good baker. Now my buddy, old Roy, he was a cook. We'd have all those troops on the ship. They didn't know it but Roy and I had bought a hotplate. Roy would get a couple of nice big juicy steaks. He and I would go clear down into the bottom and plug that old hot plate in and sit down and eat these steaks. These steaks were for the officers. They weren't for the crew (laughs). He and I sit and talk about that all the time. As a matter of fact, I've got to give him a call. He sold his ranch and bought a great big motor home. He and his wife live in it. I couldn't do that. BEC: I couldn't do that either. JAC: After I spent a week or two up in that, I'd go crazy. Now there's two (cannon) shells right there [pointing to shells]. I got them off the ship. BEC: Boy, I'll say. JAC: This one here is a forty millimeter. I had this inscribed on it. BEC: That's nice. It says, "USS General M B. Stewart AP-140, World War II." JAC: Yes, that's a forty millimeter and this is a twenty millimeter. It's de-militarized. BEC: Yes. JAC: [Unscrews shell] See, there's nothing in it. It's as empty as my head. I have these set up there with some other stuff, my Navy bell and that. But I took them down, figuring maybe you'd like to look at them. BEC: Oh, yes, absolutely. Boy, that's cool. JAC: It's good brass. But I have a lot of fun. Someone comes in here looking and I go, "Look out!" [banging shell] They don't know there isn't powder in them (laughs). 33