Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Tristan Lotz | 210129-N-ME396-1009 GROTON, Conn. (Jan, 29, 2021) Information Systems Technician...... read more read more
GROTON, Conn. – A Sailor assigned to the Historic Ship Nautilus Submarine Force Library and Museum boasts a family history that predates the very founding of the United States.
Information Systems Technician 2nd Class Maynard James Krull belongs to the Building Division of the Submarine Force Library and Museum and Historic Ship Nautilus tending to maintenance jobs for the museum and submarine as well as serving as the site security manager as well. A native of Gaffney, South Carolina, Krull was stationed aboard USS Nebraska (SSBN 739) before reporting to Nautilus.
Krull said he dreamed of joining the military from a young age and chose the Navy because his favorite book as a child was ‘Treasure Island.’ Krull said serving in the Navy has been a one-of-a-kind experience for him.
“At times it feels like it’s harder than it needs to be, but it’s a satisfying job to do,” said Krull. “It definitely takes a special breed. I’ve met some of the strangest individuals, who are also the smartest individuals I’ve ever met. It’s definitely different from any other job I can think of.”
Krull said his family has a long tradition of military service, reaching all the way back to World War I. “Starting with my father, he was in the Air Force in Vietnam,” said Krull. “He decided to enlist so he wouldn’t be drafted. He was a mechanic. He worked on Tomcats, as well as C-130s and various other aircraft. He got out as an E-5, but earned the master technician patch while he was in. He still works to this day as a welder. He loves welding and that’s something he’ll always do.”
Krull said his grandfather served in the Army Air Forces during World War II. Krull’s grandfather, like his son and grandson, attained the E-5 paygrade and worked a technical specialty. Krull’s grandfather was also, according to some reports, involved on some of the first direct assaults on Japanese territory.
“He was a belly gunner on a B-17 and then he was the tailgunner for a Mitchell,” said Krull. “He flew 16 sorties and I believe one of them was during the Doolittle Raids. The records are a little hard to find, but I do have records that he worked as an engineer on the Norton Bomb Site Mk. 15, which was a site developed for the Flying Fortress. He was a mechanic before the war so he brought his experience with him. He was able to make the Flying Fortress better.”
Reaching back to the late 19th century was Krull’s great grandfather, whose family first arrived in the United States from the Netherlands. As an adult, he would find himself back in the old country during the “war to end all wars.”
“He was born in 1884 and came here in 1895,” said Krull of his great grandfather. “When he was 33 he was drafted for the First World War. I couldn’t imagine being in those foxholes. World War I was a different kind of war.”
Krull explained that every man in his family has one of two names: Maynard James Krull, or James Maynard Krull, and the two names alternate every generation. Krull said he was able to trace this tradition all the way back to the early 18th century.
“My father’s name is mine reversed,” said Krull. “He is James Maynard, my grandfather’s is mine—Maynard James—and my great grandfather James Maynard and we can track that all the way back to 1740.”
A brief skim of historic literature such as the Declaration of Independence or the works of William Shakespeare will reveal language and spellings change over time. Krull said reading over the old family records allowed him to watch the gradual development of his own name as it was passed down the generations, from early modern Dutch to contemporary English.
“It was weird digging up my history because I watched my name evolve from old language which spelled it Meindert Jons Jackenkruyl,” said Krull. “They lost the ‘Jacken’, kept the Kruyl, dropped the ‘Y’, used an ‘O’ for a while and added a second ‘L’. The original names in 1715 were Jons Jons Jackenkruyl and something that eventually evolved into either Jocelyn or Jacqueline. She was Jacqueline Meindert. They named their first son Jons and her maiden name. Eventually Meindert Jons Jackenkruyl evolved into Maynard James Krull.”
After looking back three centuries, Krull took a moment to share his plans going forward. He says he marvels at the fact three generations of his family served in the armed forces and similar specialty and he hopes to achieve more.
“I intend to serve 20 years,” said Krull. “My father got out after 13 and said it’s one of the biggest regrets of his life. I never really got to know my grandfather, he died when I was one. I do like the uncanniness that all three of us were E-5 technicians in our own right. I’m glad to be in the service, but I’m hoping to break the chain of E-5’s this coming spring.”
Krull compared the unity of military service and the submarine force to that of a tightly-knit family. He praised the loyalty and dedication that wearing the uniform produces and said he is proud to have many friends he thinks of as blood relatives.
“I believe that military is a sense of brotherhood,” said Krull. “No matter what rate or branch you are, you will find someone you consider a lifelong friend. I am fortunate to have several people I consider that. I could not talk to them for a year, then meet them again and pick up like we never left off. It’s a weird sense of familial feelings with them.”
From the windmills and polders of the Netherlands, to balmy South Carolina, to the skies above Tokyo and Vietnam, to the shores of Connecticut, ITS2 Maynard James Krull follows in a long line of Maynard’s James’s, sharing bonds of both blood and bonds of brotherhood-in-arms.
| Date Taken: | 01.29.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 02.11.2021 13:34 |
| Story ID: | 388895 |
| Location: | GROTON, CONNECTICUT, US |
| Web Views: | 84 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Family Tradition: The Tale of ITS2 Krull, by PO2 Tristan Lotz, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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