Local Pearl Harbor vet was 'tough old man'

Dick Shumate was asleep, below deck in the living quarters of the USS Phelps, when the bombs started falling.

Brett Shumate said his father told him the story:

"Everybody was called to their stations. He jumped up and went to work. He was still in his underwear for about two days because he never had time to put his clothes on.

"They were able to fire up and steam out and they survived the initial attack. He said he really didn't see much because he was below deck the whole time. He said it was just pretty crazy."

Kay Shumate said her father told her he was below the ship's deck for about three months after that.

"He never saw the sun," she said. "He slept on top of the boiler. He said it took them several days before they found out what was going on. The commander of the ship just told them to get out of there and so they did."

What was going on, 75 years ago today, was the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

So this is a good day to remember Richard "Dick" Shumate, who spent most of his life in Clovis and Portales, could fix anything, treated others with respect, loved to tease and worked hard his whole life.

He died at age 78 in 1997 from lung cancer.

Shumate shared his Pearl Harbor memories with a newspaper reporter in 1971.

He said the initial reaction for the crew of about 150 "was to get mad."

"We were scared, too," he said, "and any man that says he wasn't is a fool.

"We were scared, but we were mad enough that the fright didn't matter."

Shumate said the USS Phelps was docked near the USS Oklahoma, one of the ships destroyed in the attack.

But there were no casualties on the Phelps.

"There were a few injuries," Shumate told the reporter, "but they were all self-inflicted as we scrambled around trying to put out to sea."

The USS Phelps is credited with shooting down one enemy plane early that Sunday morning.

Shumate spent nine years in the Navy, mostly working in ship boiler rooms. After his military service he became a printer, first for the Clovis News-Journal in 1945, then for Bishop Printing in Portales from 1959 to 1992.

Kay Shumate, who still lives in Portales, said her dad knew everybody in town and loved to joke around.

"He was very funny," she said.

And, like most from the Greatest Generation, he understood the value of hard work.

"He was a pretty tough old man," his son Brett remembers.

"He expected you to do your job. One time he had a subordinate who didn't want to get back down in the boiler room when he was supposed to, so my dad picked up a hammer and chased him down.

"I can see him doing that," Brett laughed, "since he picked stuff up and chased me a time or two."

But Brett Shumate, who lives in Lubbock now, said his father also cared deeply about people.

"He was tough, but he taught me how to treat others like I wanted to be treated. We played golf together, we fished together, we worked together.

"He was my best friend."

RIP Dick Shumate. Thank you for your service.

David Stevens is editor for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at: [email protected]