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04-09-2012, 03:07 PM
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Old Battleship Sailor
Hey all. Last week I was at our local Walmart picking up a prescription for my wife. While I was waiting, a little old gentleman who was sitting next to me, noticed that I was wearing a Navy cap, and asked if I had served. I told him I had. He then smiled and said that he to had served in the Navy from 1932 to 1938, and that he was a gunners mate aboard the battleship Pennsylvania. We sat and talked for over an hour. he talked about going ashore with a landing party in Nicaragua with the Marines. He also talked about some of the liberty ports he visited, and what life was like aboard a battleship before WWII. The gentleman told me that he was 98 years old, and that he had walked over from the assisted living center across the street. The man is a walking reference book for people building prewar capital ships. I plan to make visits to continue our conversations.
------------Members' Signature------------
Ralph Y.
Clinton, UT, Great Salt Lake Ship Modeling And Research Society, Nautical Research Guild Northern Utah Scale Modelers Association, Northern Utah N-Scale Modeling Society Hostlers Model Railroad Club National Model Railroad Association 'Where there's a whip, There's a way.' |
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04-09-2012, 07:04 PM
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Re: Old Battleship Sailor
Ralph
What great luck bumping in to the old gentleman. Keep his stories coming. Bill
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......the shipyard is open
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04-14-2012, 07:12 AM
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Re: Old Battleship Sailor
Ralph.
How interesting. I am about old enough to remember, before the last war, what we called, in this country, "Navy days". The Royal Navy dockyard at Chatham, in Kent, was open to the public for a week.My father, who served in the RN in the first war, would explain in detail, the workings of the various ships. Some you could not go aboard because they had "secrets" which I now realise was probably Radar. Keep the stories coming. All the best. Jonathan. |
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