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You’re in the Navy~Part 9

25 Sep

A Slice of Life

Bill LItes

Navy

 

Back on the Hector, the ship headed west, and after an uneventful week at sea, our first stop on the way to Japan was Honolulu, Hawaii, to refuel the ship and to spend a few days enjoying that beautiful tropical paradise.  1Honolulu was everything the travel brochures advertise it to be.  That was a marvelous time, with swimming, snorkeling, surfing, touring, and an occasional wonderful and delicious evening luau, with lots of pretty hula dancers.

 Then it was another week at sea before we arrived at our destination, Sasebo, Japan, where, for the next six months, we were scheduled to swing around a buoy in the harbor, servicing any Pacific fleet Navy ship needing2 the type of repairs not extensive enough to require a shipyard.  The USS Jason (AR-8), the sister ship we were relieving, had her steam up and was ready to head back to California when we arrived.  There was a brief “Changing of the Guard” ceremony, then the Jason was gone, and we began the work for which the ship had been designed.

My duty on the Hector, while it was on station in Japan, was as a diesel engine mechanic.  This task kept me busy repairing and overhauling the 3many boat engines used by the ship, as well as boat duty.  Since we were tied up to a buoy in Sasebo harbor, anyone needing to leave the ship to go anywhere (ship to ship, or ship to shore) had to go by boat.  There was the Captain’s Gig, used by the Captain and the other ship’s officers, and the Liberty Launches, used to transport the ship’s enlisted personnel and for every other task know to man.  The three-man crew for each boat consisted of a Boatswain’s mate, a Quartermaster and an Engineman.  This meant the ship had to supply enough three-man crews to man all the boats the ship might have in the water at any one time, and still maintain adequate shipboard operations.

When ships would tie up alongside the Hector for repairs, our ship’s boats would normally provide transportation for their personnel, as well as our own.  Since the four-ship destroyer squadrons usually traveled together, we could sometimes have as many as eight ships tied up alongside at one time.  As might be expected, this kept us very busy with boat runs, transporting people, equipment and supplies to and from the ship and the base, 24/7.  One big surprise at Sasebo, during our stay there, was the day the Fleet Tug USS Tawasa (ATF-92) came along side the Hector, and there was my high school friend, Jim, from Albuquerque.  We had a great visit and both remarked what a small world it was, that we should run into each other on the other side of the world from where we had first become friends.

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                                                            —–To Be Continued—–

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You’re in The Navy Now Part~8

18 Sep

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Navy

 

My transfer finally came through, and my orders took me to the U.S. Naval 1Base in San Diego, and assignment to the fleet repair ship, USS Hector (AR-7).  The Hector was one of three sister ships stationed in the Far East, to service the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s ships.  The three ships usually rotated their operations between the U.S. west coast and Japan.  The Commodore, who headed the Navy’s Pacific fleet repair organization, maintained his headquarters on board each of the three ships as they rotated through the San Diego Naval Base, about every six months or so.  Soon after I reported aboard, I learned, as an Engineman Specialist, I qualified for the vacant position as the Commodore’s driver.  What a cushy job that was!  I spent most of my duty hours cleaning his Navy staff car, running errands for him, and driving him to and from his many meetings ashore, as well as, to and from his home in town.

My family had friends living near San Diego, who stopped to see them in Albuquerque during their vacation.  DiVoran wangled a ride with them, as1 wedding they returned to San Diego area so she could visit me.  As she was leaving on that trip, her mother, Dora, had told her, “Now don’t do anything foolish while you are there.”  Of course, once she got there, we decided it would be a good time to get married.  Our mothers hurried out to California, made all the arrangements, and we did the deed on Labor Day weekend in La Mesa, California.  DiVoran and I spent the next four months in marital bliss in our little one-room Balboa Park bungalow, located just five minutes from my work at the naval base. 

It was during this time, when we had our first disagreement about automobiles.  When I first got to San Diego, I had bought a “Street Legal” 31932 Ford five-window coupe hotrod, and was in the process of restoring it in my spare time.  The car had been chopped, channeled, and gutted for use as a dragster before I bought it, and had only one wooden bucket seat for the driver, bolted to the frame.  Hey, it worked for me!  The rear end had been locked, so when you went around a corner, the inside wheel burned rubber.  DiVoran couldn’t reach the peddles, and complained, “This was not the kind of car she had expected her new husband to ask her to ride around in.”  That was mainly because there was no seat for a passenger, and she had to ride on the plywood floorboard, with no backrest and no seatbelt.  Also, she didn’t like having to ride the bus to get to work at the diner where she was waitressing,        

As it turned out, one of my shipmates had his eye on my hot rod, and I was able to swing a deal with him to trade my “Beloved ‘32” for his 1950 4pngMercury sedan.  DiVoran could drive that car, and life was much more peaceful in our little love nest after that.  When it was time for the Hector to leave for its six-month tour of duty in Japan, I took DiVoran and everything we owned, in that Mercury, back to Albuquerque, so she could stay with her parents, and attend beauty school while I was gone.

                        

                                                                                                  

                                   

 

                                                 —–To Be Continued—–

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You’re In The Navy Now~Part 7

11 Sep

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Navy

Then it was north again to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, WA and back into our winter blues.  That shipyard and what went on there was absolutely amazing!  The ship had hardly been tied off to the dock, before the “yard birds” started clambering aboard.  There was a brief decommissioning ceremony, after which the ship’s company was informed of their light duty tasks, and told to stay out of the way of the shipyard workers.  It took over a month for the Navy to process transfers for all of the 1500 sailors who had brought the ship from the east coast around to the west coast.  In the mean time, we had lots of time to watch what was going on with the ship, and as much liberty as our paychecks would allow.

1As we watched, one of the first things the “yard birds” did, was to cut openings in the bulkheads, below decks, down both sides of the ship from the bow, all the way to the stern, to provide access to the anti-torpedo armor plate attach studs and nuts.  The armor plates ran the length of the ship, and were about 20’x 20’ and 7½ inches thick.  It looked like, under normal conditions at sea, that at least  half or more of the plate would extend below the water line.  It took days for them to cut the welds off each plate, and install lifting pad eyes.  While that was going on outside, inside the ship, another group was cutting off the watertight closures over the studs and nuts, and removing the nuts.  Once all was in readiness for plate removal, a huge crane on a barge would attempt to lift the plate, while workers inside were pounding on the studs coming through the ship’s hull with air driven jack hammers, trying to push the plate away from the ship’s side.

2  Between each plate and the hull was a layer of black gooey preservative that caused tremendous surface tension when trying to remove the plate.  I was amazed to see the removal of each plate cause this huge ship to list one degree.  And then, when the plate was stacked on 12”x12” beams on another barge, its edges almost cut the beams in half.

I spent hours exploring the many parts of the ship I had never had the opportunity to see during the six months I had been on board.  One of the most memorable finds was, when I discovered the hatch to one of the ship’s fresh water tanks.  Since the ship was using shore supplied water and electricity now, the water tank had been drained, and was dry.  It was located on the side of the ship and must have been 20’ wide by 100’ long, by 40’ high, with a ladder running down to the bottom from the hatch.  When I looked inside, there was a giant ball float arrangement, used to indicate the water level, just like what is used in a toilet tank.  What a sight that was!3

 

 

                                   

 

 

 

                                                            —–To Be Continued—–

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You’re In The Navy Now~Part 6

4 Sep

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Navy

Our first stop was in Santos, Brazil where, at that time, the people had never seen an American warship in their harbor before.  Because many of our crew would have to return to the east coast after we left the Coral Sea in its west coast shipyard, those crew members had been allowed to take their private cars aboard the ship for their return trip.  It caused quite a 

1stir when the people in Santos saw all those cars on the ship.  No telling what they must have thought we were doing with them, especially since there were no American cars in Santos at that time.  Moreover, because they exported most of their country’s coffee, the coffee they served there was very strong and served in tiny cups.  I had to fill the cup half full with cream in order to drink it, and then, of course, all the locals laughed at me.

                                   

2Because the ship was too wide to pass through the Panama Canal locks, we had to sail completely around the tip of South America.  As we traveled south, we were forced to change back into our winter blues as we neared and rounded Cape Horn.  The winds and waves in that area were constantly pounding the ship, and I was glad to be able to stay inside, out of the gale force winds and the freezing sea spray.

As we headed north, up the western side of South America, our next stop 3was Valparaiso, Chile, where we enjoyed experiencing much of South America’s ancient culture up close.  Nicknamed “The Jewel of the Pacific”, the city of Valparaíso is a vibrant center of Chilean culture.  We didn’t get to stay long there, but much of what we saw was breathtaking.

 4UntitledContinuing north, it was back into our summer whites, as we crossed the Equator again, and stopped at Balboa, Canal Zone in Panama.  It was there that we learned all about the history of the canal, it’s locks, and how they are used to move ships from one ocean  to the other, and how many days and miles of travel we would have saved, not having to go around Cape Horn, if only the Coral Sea had not been too wide to fit through those huge locks.

After leaving Panama, our next stop was at the Alameda Naval Air Station, in San Francisco, where I enjoyed some of the best fried oysters I have ever eaten.  As it turned out, this would not be the last time I was to visit San Francisco with the Navy.  More than a year later I would end my two-year active duty time with the Navy, and be processed back into Naval Reserve status at the Treasure Island Naval Station, there in San Francisco.  Yummm! More delicious fried oysters and other seafood delights

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                                             —–To Be Continued—–

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You’re in the Navy Now~Part 5

28 Aug

A Slice of Life

Bill LItes

 

Sailor Bill

 

Besides France, the ship continued on its designated cruise with stops at ports in Italy, Turkey, Spain, and Gibraltar, where I enjoyed visiting and experiencing the unique beauty and culture of the countries where we stopped.  It was sometime during this period that the Suez crisis broke out, and the Coral Sea was rushed to that area to patrol and provide air support until the crisis was resolved.  After things calmed down in the Suez area, we returned to Rota, Spain for several days, for our ship to take part in a fleet conference, and then to be relieved by our sister ship, the aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42).  I had never seen so many ships in one place before. The area was absolutely jammed with ships of all shapes and sizes.1

                                               

While waiting for the conference to be over, our captain treated the ship’s company to a beach party on the Naval Station.  That party really helped relieve much of the tension everyone had experienced during the Suez 2Canal crisis.  Once the conference was over and we had been officially relieved, we headed for the U.S. and Norfolk, VA.  As luck would have it, we ran into a huge north Atlantic storm that lasted most of the trip, and pounded the ship with giant waves, some of which even broke over the flight deck of the ship.

                                     

In Norfolk, we off loaded the air group, with all their planes, personnel,

USS Coral Seas

USS Coral Seas

fuel and weapons, and all other ship’s company (non-essential) personnel, leaving us with a 1500 man skeleton crew, to man the ship.  What was left of the ship’s company worked around the clock for three days to off-load all the remaining non-essential equipment, and then we headed south.  The Coral Sea was scheduled for a two-year long refit and conversion, and the east coast shipyards were full.

Dressed in our winter blues when we left Norfolk, it wasn’t long before we were crossing the Equator and having to change into our summer whites.  As we crossed the Equator, all us Pollywogs (first timers/land lubbers) were introduced to the “Mysteries of the Deep” which is ruled by King Neptune and his court.  In a ceremony that I will never forget, the Shellbacks (previously indoctrinated crew members who have crossed the Equator) of the ship’s company aided “King Neptunus Rex and his Royal Court” in initiating us “Slimy Pollywogs” sufficiently to qualify us as new Shellbacks.  But, that ceremony is another story for another blog.  Suffice it to say, it was uniquely Navy and memorable.

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                                                            —–To Be Continued—–

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You’re in the Navy~Part 4

21 Aug

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill

My orders, following my two-weeks leave, had me reporting to Norfolk, VA for assignment to the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea (CVA-43), which at the time was on patrol in the Mediterranean.  To get to the ship, I was flown from Norfolk, to Cannes, France (On the French Riviera!) with stops or layovers in Gander, Newfoundland, the Azores, and French Morocco, North Africa.1

I arrived in Cannes, France on Christmas Eve (Aw, shucks, it was cold in Cannes, and there were no girls on that famous French beach).  When I got my first up close look at the Coral Sea, I couldn’t believe how big it was.  I 2reported aboard and was directed to follow a Seaman to the compartment where I would live for the next six months.  I followed him thru one hatch and down one ladder and I was lost.  That ship was so massive, it took me a good month to find my way from my bunk, to anywhere but my duty station and to the mess deck.  Even though the ship was huge, every compartment had its use, and berthing quarters, for the 3500 enlisted personnel, were very crowded, and consisted of small clothes lockers and fold-down beds stacked four high.

 One of the first things I had to do, after being assigned watch schedules for my work/duty stations, was my turn at KP duty (welcome aboard you newbie).  The enlisted mess deck on the Coral Sea was run by a First Class Machinist Mate who, the rumor had it, had almost blown up one of the main ship’s boilers years before, and for punishment, was restricted from going anywhere on the ship below the mess deck level.  He was a very angry and mean person, and also demanded perfection from everyone working on 3his mess deck.  He was so hated, that he slept in a chain link wire cage, located right there in the corner of the mess deck, to protect himself from harm from the many people he had poured out his wrath upon.  The story goes, that years before, someone had thrown a string of firecrackers into his cage, in the middle of the night, and he almost killed himself trying to get out.  You can just imagine what kind of retribution he had been dishing out, on anyone assigned to his mess deck after that little prank.

After I was released from my tour of 16-hours a day “Mess Deck Hell”, I spent the rest of my tour of duty on the Coral Sea working below decks as an Engineman Specialist, monitoring and servicing the hydraulic equipment used to operate the ship’s deck-edge elevator.  This elevator was one of three elevators on the ship, used to move the air group’s aircraft between the hanger deck storage area, and the flight deck, whenever flight operations were required.

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—–To Be Continued—–

 

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You’re in The Navy Now~Part 3

15 Aug

A Slice of life

 Bill Lites

Bill

Did I mention it was already winter in the northern U.S. and that it snowed the day I arrived at Great Lakes?  Well, it was, and it did.  Burrrr!  I was greeted at the Great Lakes Naval Recruit Training Center as if I had never 1been in the Navy before.  My time and training at reserve meetings and my two cruises didn’t seem to count for anything. I was rushed through the uniform collection, building and bunk assignment, haircut, and medical inspection just like all the other new recruits (known as skinheads).  I tried to tell the medical assistants that I had just finished receiving my full course of shots, but they didn’t pay any attention to me, and I got the whole batch of shots all over again.

This boot camp experience was much like the one in San Diego, 2except longer, harder and colder.  Here, we were introduced to the wonderful world of KP duty.  What a miserable week that was.  That was where we discovered that the SPAM, and some of the other canned foods the Navy was feeding us was left over from WWII.  I couldn’t believe it!  But, the way the cooks disguised it with other things, it tasted pretty good and nobody got sick from it that I know of.

After a couple of weeks, and having had time to read over my service jacket, 3our drill instructor saw that I had some reserve time and previous basic training, and he made me the company platoon leader.  That didn’t necessarily make things any easier for me, but at least he wasn’t constantly yelling at me like was he was the rest of the company.

I qualified for the company drill team, which required many hours of special rifle with bayonet maneuvers training.  My aunt Jessie came to Great Lakes for my final boot camp graduation, and I was rewarded by being allowed to be a part of the special company drill team parade, during the final graduation ceremony.  I have to admit, after that 13 weeks of basic training, I left there feeling a little more like a real sailor than when I got there.4

Upon completion of boot camp, I had two weeks leave, which I spent in Albuquerque with DiVoran and my family.  This is when I asked DiVoran to marry me, gave her an engagement ring, and announced our engagement.  We had a great time as I regaled them with my boot camp adventures.   I spent many hours at the local drive-in, with DiVoran, eating hamburgers and drinking sodas, and at the movies, as well as, renewing many high school friendships.5

    —–To Be Continued—–

 

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Your Old Men Shall Dream Dreams

7 Aug

Your Old Men Shall Dream Dreams

2004

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Sometime in 2004 I had a dream that started in a small building about the size of the church we were attending at the time.  A few people (some of which I knew) were scattered around the room.  One good friend walked up and handed me a lapel mike and asked me who was going to lead the meeting.  I said I guessed I could get it started by having everyone tell us his or her name.  As I started around the room, many more people were coming in and I realized I couldn’t name them all.  So, I just looked around and asked them to meet and greet each other.  As people kept streaming in, the room kept expanding until there were thousands of people in a huge outdoor coliseum.  Even though I was completely out of my element, I could feel the people’s love for me and for one another.  I was moved by their openness and asked them to pray that Jesus would visit us in Spirit and Truth.  I was filled with the most wonderful feeling of love and acceptance, and couldn’t stop sharing with them the love that Jesus had for all of us.

 

Then I started sharing with the people how Jesus must be hurting, and how we had all hurt Him at one time or another.  I told Him how sorry I was for how I had hurt Him and immediately felt His warm love and forgiveness.  Everyone was open and receptive to what I had to say, except for one heckler right on the isle next to me.  He was not mean, just disruptive and I finally looked at him and said, “Be quiet mister.” And, he immediately disappeared!

 

The sky above us was constantly moving and filled with every color in the rainbow (like Alice in Wonderland).  At some time during the gathering, it became very dark all around the outside of the coliseum and started to rain, but not on us.  The open sky above us remained bright and filled with moving color.  It was a very scary position to be in, but as thousands of people kept coming in, I found myself filled with an ever-increasing desire to share the love of God with them.  It was the ultimate worship experience!

 

When I woke up, I felt cool and calm, not hot and sweaty like when I wake up from most dreams.  My first thought was “I don’t ever want to find myself in front of that many people, in that kind of a position!”  I immediately repented and told the Lord I was willing to do whatever He wanted me to do.  Then I thanked Him for giving me the experience and felt that I should write it all down.  I wasn’t sure why I felt like I should write it down, because I have never done that before, especially in the middle of the night, but it just seemed like the kind of dream that I wanted to share with others.

 

 

Acts 2:17

                                               

 

 

 

                                               

 

 

 

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You’re in The Navy Now~Part 2

31 Jul

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill

Back home in Albuquerque, I discovered Boot Camp, the “Summer Cruise” I had just endured was actually going to be credited to my 1956 record, and I was now eligible to go for my 1957 “Summer Cruise” if I so elected.  Since I f1elt like having to go to boot camp had cheated me out of a cruise on a “real ship,” and I was bored with those reserve meetings, I ask my company commander for orders to go on a “real summer cruise” and he reluctantly agreed.  This time I was assigned to the destroyer USS Gurke (DD-783) out of San Diego.

At first sight, tied up alongside the pier, I thought the Gurke was a small ship, but it didn’t take me long to find out that it was plenty big enough, especially, when it came to swabbing decks and painting bulkheads.  The 2regular Navy sailors looked down on us Reserve pukes, so it was no big revelation to learn that was why we got so many of the grunt jobs.

The ship’s regular routine while I was onboard, was five days of maneuvers training at sea and back to port for the weekend.  I was surprised to find that this landlubber got his “sea legs” right away and didn’t get seasick like many of the other reservists, but I actually enjoyed the rolling/pitching motion of the ship.  That is, until on liberty that first weekend, while walking through San Diego, the streets were 3rolling/pitching like the ship had been doing all week.  Then, when I stopped in a tattoo parlor with a friend, and almost lost my dinner because of the sights/smells and the moving room.

I discovered that in the Navy, the smaller the ship the better the food, because there are fewer men to cook for.  The food on the Gurke was great, and I looked forward to every meal.  However, that wasn’t the case with some of the other reservists.  I thought we were lucky during this cruise, because the areas of the ocean we did our maneuvers in were 4relatively calm most of the time.  But, there were others who were sea sick from the moment we left the dock, and never did get over it until they were back on dry land.

After the two-week cruise on the USS Gurke, it was back to Albuquerque and those boring monthly reserve meetings, where I finally realized I was just going to have to bite the bullet and get this Navy thing over with.  The contract I had signed up for was two years of active service and four years of reserve service.  So I went to my company commander and requested orders for active service.  He said NO!  What was this?  Weren’t we in the same Navy?  Then I realized he probably got points or something, for each person in his unit.  But, I was determined, and went several levels over his head, and wrote to the Commandant of what was then the 11th Naval District, and requested active service.  Would you believe, I had my orders for active service within two weeks, and boy, was my company commander mad!  However, to get this “trouble maker” out of his district, the Commandant had cut my orders to report to the Great Lakes Naval Recruit Training Center in Illinois, outside Chicago.  The next thing I knew, I was on a train headed East.

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—–To Be Continued—–

 

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You’re in the Navy Now~Part 1

24 Jul


A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

No. 7 Blogger

No. 7 Blogger

1When I was a senior in high school my best friend Bud talked me into joining the U.S. Navy Reserve.  The idea behind this brilliant move was to get the attention of girls.  You see, we lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico where there were two U.S. Air Force bases and we had grown up seeing guys in Air Force uniforms everywhere we went.So, we figured, what better way to attract the attention of girls than to be able to drive up and down Central Avenue dressed up in those unusual Navy uniforms once a month.  Of course, once we joined up and got those uniforms, things didn’t actually turn out the way we planned.

Back then there was none of this “I don’t like this, I want out” business.  Once you 2signed up, you were in for the duration.  The worse thing was, by the time we got out of our evening meetings and got to the drive-in, most of the girls had already been picked up by some Air Force guy, or gone home to do their homework.

The first few monthly meetings were a real adjustment for me.  Each meeting 3started with us having to report to the reserve unit doctor for a series of shots.  We were inoculated against every disease known to man, so the Navy could send us anywhere in the world and we would be protected.  I couldn’t believe how many shots that entailed.

While we were still stinging from the shots, it was “All personnel report to the parade ground for close order 4drill.”  That was the “grinder” where they taught how to salute every officer we ever encountered, how to handle our M1 rifle, march in straight lines, all the while looking smart so our company commander would look good to any big shots during divisional presentations.

Each year all reservists were required to participate in a “Summer Cruise.”  That sounded like fun, until I discovered the Summer Cruise for all first time reservists was “Boot Camp” at the U.S. Naval Training Center in San Diego.  I don’t think the drill instructors were very happy to see us by the way they treated us, but I was glad to see reservists from other states there, and to know I wasn’t the only one having to go through all this degrading punishment.

Even though I had worked at various jobs since I was fourteen, nothing of those 5had prepared me for the challenges of boot camp.  We did learn some interesting things while at boot camp, like how to tie every knot the Navy had used since the beginning of time, and survival swimming, a must for use after the ship you are on is torpedoed at sea and sinks, and all you have left to make a float with is your trousers.

Then there was how to properly fight those scary shipboard compartment fires with nothing but water, and the one I disliked the most, the gas mask training.  6They have you put on a gas mask, walk you into a building full of tear gas, and let you stand there to see how effective the mask is.  Then, they tell you to remove your mask.  Of 7course, you hold your breath as long as you can, but you don’t think to close your eyes.  The next thing you know, your eyes are burning like crazy and you have to breath, and that’s when you get the full force of what that gas can do to a person.  Let me tell you, that episode made a real believer out of me, because that tear gas they use is really nasty stuff.

But, mostly it was a 24-hour test to see if you could keep up with marching 8everywhere we went, exercising with our rifles until we thought our arms would fall off, drill until we thought we would wear the soles off our shoes, clean the barrack until a bug wouldn’t dare show it’s face in the place, and learn how to wash our clothes by hand with a bar of Ivory soap.

Luckily it only lasted two weeks.  Then, when it was over, I actually felt cheated that the only ship I had been on through all that, was the USS Recruit (TDE-1), which turned out to be a giant “ship simulator” sitting in the middle of one of the training center parade grounds.

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—–To Be Continued—–

 

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