Got mine at the 20th celebration of the battle of the Coral Sea on the Coral Sea 1963, and crossed into the Domain of the Golden Dragon in 1964 & 65 on the USS Lofberg DD759 and a pineapple rust bucket being towed to Nah Be support base on the Song River Delta.
We ran plane guard with the Midway in the sixties at the yatch club.
I was on the Midway in July of this year.
Emerald Shellback USS Spiegel Grove LSD 32 1961
First of many Golden Dragon and Order of the Ditch USS Wrangell AE12 1965 USS St Louis LKA 116 1970.
Order of the Blue Nose USS Fort Mandan LSD 21 1958
Plank Owner USS Raleigh LPD 1, USS St Louis LKA 116
Shellback 1972 South of Singapore, Golden Dragon 1972, 1973,1974, 1976, 1980 Golden Shellback (Equator at the Dateline), Golden Dragon 1983, 1986 1988, 1990 1991. I spent 16 of 21 years in the Navy on sea duty.
Blue Nose, October 1957 USS BOSTON, CAG1. Many times across the Equator, but with PanAm, flying between JFK & EZE, RIO, and other points south, including Nairobi, Jo'burg, Kinshasa. Practicing "Toilet" navigation, trying to see if the water does swirl in the opposite direction in the Southern Hemisphere...it didn't..at least it didn't at 39,000'....
Alas, I am but a pitiful, filthy pollywog. The Belleau Wood did not cross it when I was aboard.
I salute all you shellbacks.
Fair winds and following seas.
I'm trying to remember exactly, but I'm not sure, but was in 1990. Out of Pearl Harbor. I was in the Corps stationed at Kaneohe Bay. Obviously you were on her when I was.
I can remember watching a refueling from an Australian Navy ship I believe. The shooting of a line over, etc.
1990 would have been when Belleau Wood took over as Cinc Pac Afloat Ship for 6 months out of Pearl. Did you make the trip to Acapulco with us? I was the AIMD Quality Assurance Officer at that time.
I cruised on gater Freighters, Aircraft Carriers, Destroyers, Frigates (Destroyer Escorts) Cruisers (including the Long Beach and the Chicago) Even an old Deisel Sub for training.
My uncle Don (USN 56-76 I think) was a sub man from the diesel electric days and did a tour on a riverboat in Vietnam.
Here's a photo I took from the deck of the Belleau Wood during that refueling. I used to keep a cheap 35 mm Kodak brand camera in the cargo pocket of my cammies all the time. Bought it at the PX and I knew a Marine in brigade supply who used to provide me with endless rolls of 35 mm film. I'd buy him 6-packs of Budweiser.
I know refueling stuff like that is old hat for you salty dogs, but that was the first time and only time aboard ship for this Marine and seeing that was pretty cool.
Us old sailors with a lot of sea time get to where we take for granted the evolutions of everyday life at sea, where the people who only embark for a few months at a time find it amazing and entertaining. I never did lose the entertainment factor. I worked on and flew in Helicopters as my job in the Navy, Part of that time it was my job to keep the looki loo's away from the Flightdeck, often they just wanted to see something new, sometimes they wanted to take pictures. Often I tried to give them an opportunity to see and take pictures from a safe place so they could send the helicopter ops pictures home to their families and friends. Then there was that one Gunny who decided to light up his cigar sitting in the pilots seat of my helicopter while I was busy refueling it. His light Colonel ripped him a new sphincter when he tried to get me busted for threatening him with bodily injury. And yes the Gunny was a Grunt.
She is now sitting at the bottom of the ocean. The used her for Bomb and Missile testing. They filmed a scene from Heartbreak Ridge on her. All the LHA's were named after famous Marine Battles. I still have the Zippo Lighter they gave me when I retired.
Never quite made it across the equator. We were in Manila and scheduled to go to Australia on CVA-43 (USS Coral Sea) in 1960 when something kicked up in the Gulf of Tonkin and we ended up going North instead of South.
However, I did cross the dateline Golden Dragon) several times and also picked up the Order of the Blue Nose (Arctic Circle) the following year while on the USS Yorktown (CVS-10).
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