Art:
I had a brother-in-law who served in the USN during WWII (he was at Pearl Harbor on 12/7/41). Other than him, I have no family heritage of the sea.
However, my father worked as a "yard bird" (carpenter) at Terminal Island Naval Base during my "younger years", and every year during "open house" at the terminal, we would go and visit every ship that allowed visitors.
I remember reading Navy training manuals for "fun" as a teenager, and always had a desire to "join the Navy" at the first opportunity (I wanted to be a Gunner's Mate).
So, I quit High School at 17yrs. old and enlisted. The Navy wouldn't let me be a Gunner's Mate, they sent me to sonar school, and I delibrately "bilged" it (failed) so I could go to sea as a "Sailor Man" (Boatswain's Mate). I served on numerous types of Amphibious vessels for 6yrs as "deck crew", working with small boats, handling cargo, standing watches at the helm, etc.
I loved sea duty, but intensely disliked being "ordered around" by my "so called superiors" (teenage angst). If I could have had permanent sea duty, I would have been a "lifer"; But it was not to be, so I wound up a civilian again. I have no love for the "military life", but I still wish I could go back to sea.
From time to time I go to the Oregon coast and just sit for hours and watch, and listen to, the surf pound the rocks, and look at the horizon searching for ships wishing I was out there.
Gary and Jim's poems sum it up for me quite nicely, and far better than I could ever say it. Thanks Guys.
I was just the opposite of Jim, I loved storms at sea, and "going aloft" to the mast head, swinging back and forth with the ship's roll and pitch. However, I DO NOT like typhoons (hurricanes in the Western Pacific); The most frightening night of my life!
I just had a birthday (64yrs)
, and hope I have enough time left to finish the three
kits I have in the closet, so I leave something behind that shows my love of ships and the sea. I guess I still have "salt water" in my blood.
Jim: I seem to be another one that "babbles on" about this subject. Please pardon my long response.
