Writing history

Since childhood, Dale Ridgeway has been fascinated by the Asiatic-Pacific Theater of World War II. He knew his father, E.J. Ridgeway, fought in the Navy as a gunner’s mate in the war, but that was all he knew.

As a boy, he doodled Navy vessels shooting down Japanese planes — mimicking images he found in “The Blue Book,” a pictorial history book of the USS Santa Fe, the second vessel his father sailed on from 1942-1946.

Over the years, his father shared bits and pieces of a few stories, but he didn’t find out more about his father’s war record, including 16 battle stars, until his funeral in 2005. 

“The pastor started reading off this list of commendations, awards and certifications Dad had, and it was mind-boggling,” Ridgeway said. “I noticed one of the Navy guys’ eyes got as big as silver dollars when they were reading where Dad had been.”

He knew he had to write a book. “Stalwart: Naval Journeys of E.J. Ridgeway” was published for Kindle by Amazon.com on Oct. 31. Paperbacks are also available.  

“I did this to honor him,” said Ridgeway, 68, who lives in Clay. 

After the war, E.J. Ridgeway married the sister of one his fellow sailors and moved to Birmingham. In the 1960s, the family moved to Decatur, where Ridgeway was a home builder and then later bought Pathway Bookstore in Midfield before he and his son sold it in 1987. He was also an ordained Church of God bishop. But Ridgeway wanted the book to focus on his father’s time in the Pacific. 

“I knew about his business. I knew about his ministry, but I did not know about his Navy experience, and I wanted to know,” Ridgeway said. “If someone is interested in the Pacific, there is some good information and some pertinent new information. There are some things in there from Dad that, over the years, dribbled out.”

Ridgeway started slowly researching his father’s past in 2005, but picked up steam after his retirement from retail management in 2010. He began with “The Blue Book” — his prized possession and “second Bible” — and used countless other books, web researches and trips to the Birmingham Public Library to dig deeper. 

“It grew and grew and grew. I became more and more fascinated of the journey he was on,” Ridgeway said, who holds a B.S. in sociology and a minor in history from Tennessee. “This book isn’t about my father as an individual as much about the journey he took as a sailor.”  

That journey began when the boy from Snead moved to California and enlisted in the Navy in 1940 as a seaman first class. The book chronicles his father’s time on the USS Vincennes, beginning 75 years ago on a secret mission off the coast of South Africa before the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 to the Doolittle Raid, attack on Midway, Guadalcanal campaign and the ship’s sinking. From there, E.J. Ridgeway was reassigned to the USS Santa Fe, where he sailed to the Marshall Islands, Iwo Jima and the Battle of the Philippine Sea. He left the Navy as a gunner’s mate first class.

Ridgeway said it’s rewarding to see the book complete, which he published with Amazon at no cost to him, other than his research costs and paper and ink during the proofing process. His wife, Janice, designed the cover with Homewood-based Banner Digital and Publishing, Inc. 

“The opportunity (to publish a book) is out there for so much more now, but like any opportunity, you’ve got to be willing to work, and it is work,” Ridgeway said.

Dale Ridgeway will have a book signing on Jan. 7 at 10 a.m. at the Clay Public Library.