I spent 4 years in the Navy and never once did I ever step aboard ship. While on Guam waiting for orders back to Nam, I worked in a clinic at the base and did get to ride on a Navy harbor boat to get a Japanese sick sailor off of a Japanese ship. I don't really count that little harbor boat as being on a Navy ship.
Years later, a Navy Destroyer Escort came to the Great Lakes in Detroit and my Dad and I got a tour. He had been on a "DE" during WWII.
Best Friends A lot of great guys. 2nd Lt John Dawson was in the hootch next to mine. Really great officer but sadly he was KIA on Oct. 27, 1967.
Worst Moment Stepped on a Grenade booby trap on Friday the 13th, 1967 on Operation Granite near Quang Tri. That was the only Friday the 13th on my whole tour in Nam. MedEvac to Dong Ha for surgery, then to Da Nang hospital. From there to Cam Ram Bay and then on to Guam Naval Hospital. In April of 1968 they sent me back to Nam with 3rd Shore Party Bn on limited duty (could not leave the base perimeter). It was still hostile Nam, Dah!
