A Veteran's Journey

Trivia Questions (Answers @ end)

1. Who said, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I may remember. Involve me and I learn.”?
2. Who said (and what TV show), “Can it, numbnuts!”?
3. What song (and who first sang it) did we hear the following?
   When a man loves a woman
   Can’t keep his mind on nothin’ else
   He’d trade the world
   For the good thing he’s found

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Thanks to those who commented on my previous blog, #116—“A Veteran’s Bond.” Several comments were spot on and reminded me of things I’d forgotten. Here’s a few more shared “memories:”

• “Amen, brother. We’re all bonded together, no matter.”
• “We veterans certainly have a love for our respective branches. But I have endless respect for veterans of all branches for doing what they did for our country. I have friends in all branches, and we do jokingly refer to other branches, but WE ARE ALL BROTHERS.”
• “I remember when we were just young kids out of high school and some from college, and we went to fight for OUR COUNTRY. Many met with scorn and many with lost loves when returned. But we are bonded as Veterans forever! God Bless the American Serviceman & woman and many Veterans! Thank you ALL for your service to Our Beloved Country!”
• “Agreed! I was in Vegas over the weekend and there were a lot of us wearing our veteran baseball caps. Was nice to get and give random handshakes, first bumps and welcome home! Even had an older Korean vet across from me in a casino… just a nod and raised our beer to each other.”
• “We are family. It’s expected that we all pick on each other.”

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Back in the day—for me, 1973–1975—“Mail Call!” were some of the most cherished words one would hear during the day.

I served two duty stations: NAS Agana, Guam (Crash & Rescue) and USS Kitty Hawk, CV-63 (V-1 Division/Crash & Yellow Shirt). Three, if you count the year in the Bremerton Shipyards (1976).

NAS Agana, Guam—Mail Call

While on Guam, mail came regularly every day; the section leaders would pass it out during morning muster. I wrote a lot of letters home to my parents, my sister, and my girlfriends. While I didn’t have a girl in every port, but when I was at Florida State University, I had many female friends. I thought it was great to write letters back home, because when you’re in the military and you write to girls, they usually wrote back.

There is something romantic about writing a serviceman or servicewoman, even today though most people now use email.

I received several letters a week, many with a slight hint of perfume.

The letter writing from my girlfriends didn’t last too long, though. I guess they found other guys or other things more important than writing to a lonely serviceman. It didn’t really both me though, since I received regular mail from my family. I tried to write home once or twice a week, too.

USS Kitty Hawk—Mail Call

Mail call on the ship was daily when close to a port like San Diego, Hawaii, or the Philippines.

The Navy would fly a COD (Carrier On-board Delivery) plane out to us. In the 70s aboard Kitty Hawk, the COD was a C-1 gasoline-powered twin engine propeller plane. Once on board, it took a couple of hours for the mail to be sorted and one of the most wonderful things to hear over the ship’s 1MC was, “Mail Call! Mail Call!” At that point, our division Yeoman, John Tubao, would head down to the ship’s post office, pick up the bag of mail for everyone in the division, and pass it out to us.

My mom would write a letter almost every week, usually anywhere from five to ten pages on a yellow legal pad. She would start writing on a Sunday and finish up the next Friday and get it into the mail. She would tell me about everything happening in Gainesville, talk about my dad (he was a lawyer), my sister, and my friends. Now and then my dad would add a paragraph or two, which made it that much more special.

I wish I had kept those letters, especially now. But I didn’t have room in my locker to keep too many letters. After a while, I would have to toss them to make room for a new batch.

These days, most ships have email capabilities—that didn’t exist when I was in the Navy.

Letter writing has definitely taken a back seat in correspondence these days and I guess I can’t complain. After all, hearing that you are a new dad a few minutes after a baby’s birth with attached photos or even a video is much better than waiting two weeks to get a letter and photos.

Then again, I continuously remind the “newbies…” you can’t smell perfume in an email.”

By the way… I still have all the letters I wrote home during those four years (actually, also from that first year in college). They’re in a box somewhere in a closet.

And… I also have all the letters my dad wrote home to his parents, too. Those are some of the most prized possessions I have from Pop. Periodically, I’ll pull the letters when I’m doing a WWII presentation or when researching for a WWII article—they provide quite a contrast to the actual events of the day he experienced during the war while on the front lines in Europe.

Packages from Home

There’s an unwritten rule somewhere, whether it’s in the Army Field Manual or the Navy Bluejacket Manual, I don’t know. But it basically states, “thou shalt share goodies from home.”

During WWII, my dad received packages from home every month or so. Some were filled with extra cigarettes and socks, but they all contained sweets. His mom was a superb cook and often shipped cakes and cookies. Though he once confided in me that while they tasted good, many times it took weeks to ship and “find” his unit—they were at war with Germany—the cookies would be rock hard.

And believe it or not, he once told me that some men in his unit received a “can of fried chicken.” I can’t imagine…

Still, he’d share the goodies with everyone in his unit. Sometimes, they ate a little too much. When you’ve been eating C-rations for a few days, the sweets may cause a little “discomfort,” which is not the best thing when you’re under artillery fire… in a foxhole… with nowhere “to go.”

During my time in Guam and aboard Kitty Hawk, we’d do the same. We’d share goodies with everyone around—sometimes they’d last longer than others, depending on what we received and how long it took to arrive. But it was still a welcomed sight and gave us all a little “taste of the real world.”

Sisters…

One day while in Guam, I received a package from my sister. I was in the Division Officer’s office just shooting the bull with the section Crash Chief while I opened the package. It was a cracker and cheese type package. You know… the kind of gift you buy at the mall right before Christmas when you either can’t think of anything else to get your relatives or you forgot and needed something at the last minute?

Yeah… that one!

Anne sent me this wonderful package, and it even had a small sample bottle of wine in its own little box. I opened it up and was talking “big time” about the wine I had while on duty when I noticed a little something extra. I knew immediately what it was, but I quickly closed the box up and told the chief I would put it away until after duty.

That little something extra was a marijuana joint.

Talk about a surprise—and from my own sister, no less. I had certainly seen my share of joints on the base, even though I had never taken a drag or smoked one. I told her about it years later and while I appreciated the gesture, I am so glad I didn’t share this particular package from home. That was a close call, to say the least. I ended up giving the joint to another guy in our section since I knew he smoked.

My Daughter’s College “Orientation”

Our daughter is our oldest child and the first to leave the nest. She’s a professor now at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. I like to brag about our kids. But there was that time, not that long ago…

She began her academic “career” as a freshman at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, eighteen years old and straight out of high school. Talk about a change of weather from Florida…

Becky accompanied her to the 2-day orientation, get familiar with the lay of the land, and make sure our daughter settled in comfortably.

During the orientation presentation, the college dean’s opening remarks included something like the following…

“We know this initial separation between parent and child is something that many parents face. You want your child to become independent and excel. But on the other hand, you also want them to stay in touch and let you know how they’re doing. You may want to pick up that phone and call every day… or not.

“Let me give you a piece of advice. Instead of calling, perhaps put a brief note in the mail, or a card. End the note by saying, ‘The enclosed check is for a little something extra to treat yourself and your roommate for a nice dinner.’

“But don’t include a check. I guarantee you’ll receive a phone call within a few days.”

Set the Mail Buoy Watch

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the “mail buoy watch.”

The military is well-known for sending FNGs on certain “errands.” This is probably one of the more common gags onboard a Navy ship.

The important point here is the “build up.”

Since the ship’s crew expects mail (letters from home, care packages, etc.), a plane would fly overhead, following the same course as the ship, and drop the mail buoy. It had to be retrieved, otherwise the ship would have to turn around and make another pass.

We’d dress the FNG seaman assigned to the “mail buoy watch” in hardhat, foul weather gear, sound-powered headphones, lifejacket, lifeline, and a gaff to catch the mail bag on the buoy. He’d be posted on the forecastle and instructed to keep his eyes peeled for the buoy. After 20-30 minutes, the Boatswain’s Mate would cuss him out for missing it.

Until we meet again,
Andy

Answers

1. Benjamin Franklin.
2. R. Lee Ermey (Mail Call).
3. When a Man Loves a Woman (1966), Percy Sledge; written by Calvin Houston Lewis, Andrew James Wright.

Previous posts mentioned in this blog:

• #116—A Veteran’s Bond
• #53—You Always Remember Your First
• #68—Flight Ops: Another Find Day in the Navy!
• #30—USS Kitty Hawk @ Bremerton Shipyards, Part 1
• #76—Set the Mail Buoy Watch… FNG Tasks