By CAPT. TOM DANAHER, USN (ret.)
For Veterans Life
BREMERTON — Bremerton resident Frank Mattausch, a Pearl Harbor survivor and local golf luminary, celebrated his 97th birthday Jan. 30 with a round of golf at Kitsap Golf and Country Club.
Mattausch (pronounced Ma-tosh) is one of the longest-tenured active members of the club and spends a couple of days a week practicing his game there. Born in 1918, Mattausch’s actual birthday was Jan. 29, and he has been a member at Kitsap for more than 63 years. He was out on the course playing on Jan. 30.
“Frank is here nearly every day chipping and putting”, said Al Patterson, Kitsap’s club professional. “He is still pretty spry and is proud of his lifespan. He also has lots of interesting stories and a keen memory.”
Mattausch was a member of the U.S. Army Air Corps at Wheeler Army Base in central Oahu when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. He recalls that U.S. forces were on alert a few weeks before the disaster, but a visit to Hawaii by a high-ranking Japanese dignitary eased tensions and the alert was cancelled.
“We were in the barracks about 7:30 in the morning when we saw some planes fly over Wheeler headed toward Pearl Harbor,” Mattausch said. “We identified them as Japanese planes. One broke off from the formation and bombed our runway. I think that was the first bomb dropped in that attack.”
When asked about his passion for golf, Mattausch quickly numbers off a list of local tournament victories that he has garnered. In one Kitsap Men’s Championship, he recalled, he posted a score of 69 and felt pretty good about a possible win, until he found he was four strokes behind competitor Lloyd Waaga.
Widowed now, Mattausch said the golf course is a daily destination for him. “There are a lot of nice people at Kitsap,” he said.
One longtime member of Kitsap said, “Watching Frank play was really something. He would walk up to his ball while taking out his club, move right into his stance and make the swing, all seemingly in one smooth motion. He was really a good player.”
Mattausch moved to Bremerton in 1952 from Wisconsin with his wife Jean and went to work as a planner at the shipyard. He worked there for 28 years. He joined Kitsap Golf and Country Club in 1952 and, just a few days into his 98th year, he was out on the course for an abbreviated round of golf with a friend.
Swing it smooth, Frank.
— Capt. Tom Danaher, USN (ret.) served 32 years in the Navy, and is a veteran of the Vietnam War and the Beirut Multinational Peacekeeping Force.
He served as executive officer and as commanding officer of USS Fairfax County (LST 1183). He retired as Naval Base Kitsap’s public affairs officer in May 2014. He lives in, and is active in, Bremerton.
