Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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I call this series "Just Vignettes" because that's what they are, just short snapshots of things that have happened to me or have been told to me. I can vouch the stories you read here are mostly true. The USS San Jose had tall hydraulic rams with wheels, cable guides, and wire rope, all heavily greased with black, sticky grease. This grease could entrap unfortunate birds who come in contact with it. Steaming off the coast of Oman near Masirah Island, the stiff westerlies carried a little owl to...
I call this series "Just Vignettes" because that's what they are, just short snapshots of things that have happened to me or have been told to me. I can vouch the stories you read here are mostly true. The Japanese city, Kagoshima, is often described by travel writers as the Naples of the Eastern World. However, the day the USS Kirk anchored near the Sakurajima volcano, the city seemed rather gray, dreary, and windy. At breakfast, the executive officer described a dream he had the night before....
I call this series "Just Vignettes" because that's what they are, just short snapshots of things that have happened to me or have been told to me. I can vouch the stories you read here are mostly true. It was cold in Pusan. Surprisingly cold. At least to me, the chill was bone-chilling. This was my first time experiencing a Korean winter. Our ship arrived in Pusan for a visit, and officers and crew were granted liberty soon after. Walking away from the pier, my friends and I quickly hailed a...
I call this series “Just Vignettes” because that’s what they are, just short snapshots of things that have happened to me or have been told to me. I can vouch the stories you read here are mostly true. Once you join the Navy, among the stacks of paper to fill out is one that asks you to declare your religion. This question would sometimes come up and cause many in conversation to ponder why the government wants or needs to know our religious preferences. Like many of my cohorts, I ticked the ...
I call this series “Just Vignettes” because that’s what they are, just short snapshots of things that have happened to me or have been told to me. I can vouch the stories you read here are mostly true. Since the Kirk was homeported in Japan, she made frequent calls to the port of Sasebo on the southern island of Kyushu. Besides being a bustling port for commerce, it also contained a U.S. Navy base and a Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force base. Sasebo is considered one of the safest ports during a typhoon in Southeast Asia because high, tree-...
I call this series "Just Vignettes" because that's what they are, just short snapshots of things that have happened to me or have been told to me. I can vouch the stories you read here are mostly true. On a warm Ford Island evening in Pearl Harbor, a maintenance man using a firehose cleaned the beams over the exterior passageways. Little Popo was carried by the force of the water from her nursery, falling to the teak deck below. Someone found her in a puddle and picked her up, naked and wet but...
I call this series "Just Vignettes" because that's what they are, just short snapshots of things that have happened to me or have been told to me. I can vouch the stories you read here are mostly true. One of my Navy friends in Japan had recently acquired a Japanese girlfriend. Through her, he was picking up little tidbits about Japanese society which may have escaped me. Returning to the Navy base late one night, my friend asked me, "Did you ever wonder why pachinko parlors seem to be packed wi...
I call this series "Just Vignettes" because that's what they are, just short snapshots of things that have happened to me or have been told to me. I can vouch the stories you read here are mostly true. A cluster of workers and volunteers were standing around under the Missouri Memorial's brow during a slack period, clustered in the small spot of shade to escape the Hawaiian sun. They were mostly young tour guides, most in their early twenties, filling their idle time with persiflage. Somehow the...
I call this series “Just Vignettes” because that’s what they are, just short snapshots of things that have happened to me or have been told to me. I can vouch the stories you read here are mostly true. The Bahrain night of January 16, 1991, was cold and crisp. Our captain, who commanded the USS San Jose, had offered to buy dinner for most of the officers not on duty at a restaurant in the city of Manama. President George H. W. Bush’s ultimatum to Saddam Hussein to withdraw from Kuwait was set to expire in about six hours. All indications were t...
I call this series “Just Vignettes” because that’s what they are, just short snapshots of things that have happened to me or have been told to me. I can vouch the stories you read here are mostly true. The officers of the USS Missouri were in a fit of excitement and activity. In preparation for the arrival of a distinguished visitor, the quarterdeck was to be laid with a red carpet, a normal adornment for such occasions. Now, unbelievably, the carpet was missing from the Bosun’s locker. Why would anyone purloin the red carpet? What could they p...
What will follow is a story which appeared as filler in the Naval Institute "Proceedings," If I recall correctly. It was just a brief, little blurb, but I have never forgotten it. In the summer of 1942, during the early days of WWII, the United States struggled to get the upper hand in the war with Japan. A series of intense naval battles mainly occurred at night in the South Pacific near Guadalcanal. Some of these battles involved ships firing guns at each other at near point-blank range in...
I call this series “Just Vignettes” because that’s what they are, just short snapshots of things that have happened to me or have been told to me. I can vouch that the stories you read here are mostly true. Most of my childhood was spent in Richland, Washington, just downstream on the Columbia River from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. I imagine growing up there was like growing up anywhere else. Still, I can point to at least one difference. For part of fourth grade, I attended Jefferson Elementary school in Richland. I remember only about...
A long time ago, the frigate I was aboard slid over the glassy water of Japan’s Inland Sea with only a soft hiss. In the dawn, patchy fog drifted over the water, turning rose-colored as the sun began to climb in the sky. Small wooden motorized skiffs scurried about tending their oyster beds, constantly crisscrossing in front of the frigate. The idyllic scene contrasted the tension on the frigate’s bridge as the watch struggled to navigate the unfamiliar waters in low visibility. This marked my arrival for my only visit to Kure, Japan. Once the...
