|
CONTRIBUTORS Click on a name and this takes you to the article. At end of some article, click on "Back to Table of Contents" to return to top of page. On others, click Return to Contributors Page.
CONTRIBUTORS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER.Just click on any link name and that subject will come to top of the page.
|
|
Subject: USS ANTHONY
FORWARD TO U.S.S. ANTHONY DD515
To whom it may concern and to my fellow shipmates. This brief narrative is
taken from a diary, kept by an 18-year-old writer during the dates noted. It
is as originally written, with only some spelling errors corrected.
***** Back to Table of Contents
Subject: Once I Was A Navy Man!
I thought maybe some of you "old salts" might appreciate this one -- some of you probably more than I. I just received
it from retired Senior Chief Yeoman, Don Harribine. Even though all I did was fulfill my draft obligation in the Navy instead
of in the army, I can still identify with just about everything that's said in this little essay.
I hope all is well with all of you, and, as Don Harribine always says, I wish you "Fair Winds with Following Seas"
Al Trudeau
I like the Navy. I like standing on deck on a long voyage with the sea in my face and ocean winds whipping in from
everywhere -- the feel of the giant steel ship beneath me, it's engine driving against the sea.
I like the Navy. I like the clang of steel, the ringing of the bell, the foghorns and strong laughter of Navy men
at work. I like the ships of the Navy -- nervous darting destroyers, sleek cruisers, majestic battleships and
steady solid carriers.
I like the names of the Navy ships: Midway, Hornet, Enterprise, Sea Wolf, Iwo Jima, Wasp, Shangri-La, and
Constitution, Providence -- majestic ships of the line.
I like the bounce of Navy music and the tempo of a Navy Band, "Liberty Whites" and the spice scent of a foreign
port. I like shipmates I've sailed with . . . the kid from the Iowa cornfield, a pal from New York's Eastside, an Irishman
from Boston, the boogie boarders of California, and of course a drawling friendly Texan. From all parts of the land they
came -- farms of the Midwest, small towns of New England -- from the cities, the mountains and the prairies. All
Americans, all are comrades in arms. All are men of the sea.
I like the adventure in my heart when the ship puts out to sea, and I like the electric thrill of sailing home again, with the
waving hands of welcome from family and friends waiting on shore. The work is hard, the going rough at times, but there's
the companionship of robust Navy laughter, the devil-may-care philosophy of the sea.
And after a day of hard duty, there is a serenity of the sea at dusk, as white caps dance on the ocean waves. The sea
at night is mysterious. I like the lights of the Navy in darkness -- the masthead lights, and red and green sidelights, and
stern light. They cut through the night and look like a mirror of stars in darkness. There are quiet nights and the quiet of
the mid-watch when the ghosts of all the sailors of the world stand with you. And there is the aroma of fresh coffee from
the galley.
I like the legends of the Navy and the men who made them. like the proud names of Navy heroes: Halsey, Nimitz,
Perry, Farragut, and John Paul Jones. A man can find much in the Navy -- comrades in arms, pride in a country. A
man can find himself.
In years to come, when the sailor is home from the sea, he will still remember with fondness the ocean spray on his
face when the sea is angry. There will still come a faint aroma of fresh paint in his nostrils, the echo of hearty laughter of
the seafaring men who once were close companions.
Locked on land, he will grow wistful of his Navy days, when the seas belonged to him and a new port of call was
always over the horizon. Remembering this, he will stand taller and say, "ONCE I WAS A NAVY MAN."
(Courtesy of RADM Kenneth G. Haynes, USN(Ret)
Note:Added to "Trivia/Poems/Info Page" linked from DesRon45 Ships Page.
|