I joined the Navy when I was eighteen years old. Eventually, my three brothers did likewise. I had graduated from Central High School, Sioux City, Iowa, in June of 1951. I worked for a place called the Wincharger Corporation in Sioux City. I ran a machine that stamped serial numbers and voltage numbers on electric motor armatures. After working there for about seven months, I decided to join the Army. My Uncle had been a Colonel in the Field Artillery during World War 2, and I wanted to follow in his footsteps. I went down to the Federal building where the Recruiting Offices were located. The Army Recruiting Office was closed, and while I was standing in the hallway, looking at some of the recruiting posters, I heard someone ask what I was looking for. I turned around, and a 1st Class Boatswain’s Mate was standing behind me. He had come out of the Navy Recruiting Office. I told him I wanted to talk to the Army recruiters. He asked me to come into his office and talk to him about the advantages of joining the Navy. He told me I would be guaranteed any school the Navy had to offer. I told him that, as a young kid, I used to go down to the Great Northern Railroad yards and watch a friend’s brother-in-law who was a railroad telegrapher. I was always fascinated by the way they could send messages that way. The Recruiter told me that he would guarantee that I would be able to go to the Naval Class A Radio School at the Naval Training Center in San Diego, so I forgot about the Army and joined the Navy.  I was sworn in on March 10, 1952.

  After going through twelve weeks of Boot Camp, I began eight weeks of schooling at the Class A Radio Operator’s School. That was an interesting experience. We took classes on theory, message composition, electrical safety (the transmitters were very high voltage) etc. Also, those of us who didn’t know how to type had to take typing classes. I had never had any experience with a typewriter at all. I was surprised at how easy it was to learn to type. We used telegraphic typewriters which differ from standard typewriters in that they have all capital letters, the zero has a slash through it, and the number row is different. There is no number one, because you use the capital I for the number one also, so the numbers are all one key to the left. The typewriter itself had plain white blank keys. There was a big chart on the wall showing the position of the keys on a typewriter keyboard. The instructor would play music, and we would keep time to it as we were typing. If we had a problem remembering which key to hit, we could look at the chart. It was a very effective way to teach us to type. After doing this for two weeks, I could type as accurately and as fast as I do today. Also, we listened to the morse code day after day. They taught us that so well that I remember it to this day.  

  When I graduated from Radio School, I was assigned to the USS George Clymer APA-27. I went aboard in August 1952. I served on the Clymer from August 1952 until July 1957. During that time, we deployed to WestPac three times. We transported a lot of the First Marine Division to Korea, and we held many exercises in various places. We went to such places as Hawaii, Okinawa, Philippines, Iwo Jima, Korea, Formosa (Taiwan), Hong Kong, and many ports in Japan. Our homeport overseas was Yokosuka, Japan. We had many memorable experiences during our travels. One thing that I remember, I had always wanted to go to Australia. Our ship was scheduled to go there on R&R (rest and relaxation). We were to leave Yokosuka for Australia on July 27, 1953. That’s the day the Korean Armistice was signed, so our trip to Australia was cancelled, and we had to transport Marines. We went to Inchon, Korea, and took on a lot of troops. We left Korea and transported those troops to Hawaii. Then, we went back to Yokosuka, Japan, for about a week. After that, we went back to Inchon and loaded more troops and took them back to San Francisco. We never did make it to Australia.

  I remember a rather frightening incident at sea. One night, we were in very stormy seas. My bunk in the Communications living compartment was one on top. In that particular section, the bunks were four high. I always liked sleeping there, because you weren’t bothered by guys coming back from liberty at all hours and stepping  up on your bunk to get to their own. Anyway, when the seas were real rough, I’d use a wide belt we had to strap into the bunk, so we wouldn’t roll out. On this particular night, the seas were especially rough. We were pitching and rolling around a lot. All of a sudden, we “lost the load”. In other words, we lost all power. It was pitch black, and the ship started to broach.  Swing around broadside to the wind. There were very heavy swells. Soon, everything got as still as if I’d lost my hearing and all feeling. No machinery was running, and not a person made a sound. It felt as if we were going to roll over. The ship rolled quite a bit, and then, it just seemed to hang there. I imagine it didn’t last more than a minute or two, but it seemed like an eternity. Then, all of a sudden, the lights came back on, the machinery started up, and we headed back into the swells. That was the best feeling in the world. What a relief! The next day, we were told that the ship had actually rolled a couple of degrees more than it had been designed to roll. We were a fortunate and thankful crew. The Good Lord was definitely watching over us that night.

  Another rather exciting experience we had took place in Long Beach harbor. We were in the shipyard in Long Beach, and we were just going out on a shakedown cruise. We had just passed the breakwater, and there was a loud noise, and the ship shook. I was in radio one on the NavDeck. I ran outside to see what had happened. I thought we had hit something. There was a huge cloud of black smoke going up from the stack. One of the boilers had exploded. There was a lot of damage, but fortunately, no one was badly injured. I went down to the boiler room later that day, and there were fire bricks and debris scattered all over. We went back to the shipyard. A couple of engineers came out from Washington D.C. to inspect the damage. They said that those burners in the boilers were some sort of burner that would let the flame “wander away” from the nozzle, and there would be a buildup of fuel and a sudden ignition. One of those engineers said that you couldn’t pay him to ride on the ship with those boilers. So, we stayed in the shipyard a couple of more months while the boilers were rebuilt and newer style burners were installed.

  I think I’d have to say that Hong Kong was my favorite overseas liberty port. I really enjoyed all of our ports of call, but there was so much to see and do in Hong Kong. They had many good restaurants, shops, and places of interest to visit.

  I didn’t care to fish, but many of the Clymer’s crewmembers did. We went to the area around Okinawa many times. The water was crystal clear. At night, some of the guys would hang a big light that was a couple of feet in diameter off the fantail. The sea was usually very calm, and if you’d put that light down within a couple of inches of the surface of the water, so you weren’t bothered by the reflection, you could see fish far below the surface. I liked to watch them do this. I noticed one thing. When the guys would lower their baited hooks into the water, the fish closest to the hook would just sit there watching it. I never did see one of them go after the bait. Then, all of a sudden, a fish would come real fast out of the dark background and grab the hook on the way by. After catching some fish, they’d take them down to the galley and get the cooks to cook them. I imagine they’d share their catch with the cooks for doing this.

  Our homeport in the States was San Diego. We spent most of our time there, but sometimes, we’d go to other West Coast ports. As I said, we were in the shipyard at Long Beach a couple of times, and we spent two or three months in the shipyard at Vallejo, California, north of San Francisco. In San Diego, there were many things to do on liberty, and I spent many happy hours at the Balboa Zoo. There was a nice beach near there too, Mission Beach, where we liked to go. Once in awhile, we’d go down to Tijuana, Mexico, which is just south of San Diego. There were two or three locker clubs in San Diego called the Seven Seas Locker Club. Most of us would rent a locker there, by the month, and we’d keep our civilian clothes in it. You could also get your uniform repaired or cleaned there while you were on liberty. In Vallejo, I liked to go to the roller skating rink. I spent a lot of time there.

  One evening, we were at the Seamen’s Club on the Naval Base in Vallejo. Several of us were playing pool. Some officers came in and were watching us. I didn’t notice him at first, but when I took a second look at the officers, I recognized one of them. It was Richard Nixon. He was Vice President at the time, and he also held the rank of Commander in the Naval Reserve. He and his group were on an inspection trip to some of the West Coast Naval Installations. When we saw who it was, we all jumped to attention and saluted. He told us to stand at ease. Then, he came around and shook all our hands and stayed there talking to us for quite awhile. He seemed like a very nice guy.

  Finally, after being on the Clymer for five years, I requested overseas shore duty. I received orders to go to the NATO Base in Naples, Italy. One evening, after I received my orders to Naples, I was standing in Radio One on the Clymer reading some messages that were coming in on the teletype. The orders for my replacement came in, and I received quite a shock. My replacement was to be my brother, Dick, who had joined the Navy and requested duty with me on the George Clymer. We were together just one week before I was shipped out. I served at ComStrikForceSouth in Naples for twenty six months. The NATO base was actually in a suburb of Naples named Bagnoli. We worked in a big communications office. We didn’t use the morse code there, although we did have the equipment to do so if necessary. Everything we transmitted or received was over the teletype. At the NATO base, there were military personnel, Navy, Army, and Air Force, from six countries. The United States, Great Britain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and France. Each nationality had their own barracks or living quarters. In the American Barracks, I had three Navy roommates. In the Naval Communications Center, over a period of nine days, we stood three day watches from 8:00am to 4:00pm, three evening watches from 4:00pm to midnight, and three mid watches from midnight to 8:00am. We usually wore our uniforms only during the time we stood our watches. That was required. We could wear them whenever we wanted to, but everyone would rather wear civilian clothes during our free time. After we stood our series of watches, we had three days off. We could do whatever we pleased. There were no personnel inspections held there, and there were no other duties. Our time was completely our own until it was time to start our next series of watches. We could come and go as we pleased. Some of the guys would even go up to Rome or other places. You just had to make sure you were back in time to stand your next watch. They took a dim view of it if you didn’t show up.

  When I left Italy, I went home on a thirty day leave. Then, I went aboard a Radar Picket Ship, the USS Camp DER-251, for the remainder of my service time. The Camp was a very small ship. A destroyer escort that was fitted out with lots of radar and radio equipment. We were homeported in Newport, Rhode Island. There were four radar picket stations between Newfoundland and the Azores. When it was time to go on picket duty, we’d leave Newport and steam to St. John’s, Newfoundland. We’d dock at St. John’s overnight, and then, we’d head for station one. We would stay on each station for a week. If the seas were calm, we’d just keep underway enough to counteract the drift of the ship. If the seas were rough, which they usually were in the North Atlantic, we’d steam in big circles. It did get a bit monotonous, but it really wasn’t bad duty. When the next ship that had left Newport a week behind us arrived on station, we would steam on to station two and relieve the ship ahead of us, and so on, through the four stations. The last station was very near the Azores. When we were relieved on station four, we’d steam back to Newport. By the time we got back to Newport, we had been at sea for thirty four days with no sight of land. We were always happy to arrive back in Newport, because by then, we were out of fresh food and had been eating mostly canned food, powdered milk, and powdered eggs for quite some time.

  The time I served in the Navy was a very happy and rewarding part of my life. I actually intended to get discharged on the East Coast, come home for a couple of months, and then, go on to the West Coast and re-enlist. As long as you re-enlisted within three months of your discharge date, you would be able to keep your rate. At this time, I was an RM2. However, before I had time to go on to the West Coast, I met my wife to be. That ended my adventures in the Navy. After my discharge, I went to mechanic school. Then, I worked as a truck mechanic and later, as a service writer for a Ford dealership. After working there for eighteen years, I got a job with the Plymouth County Highway Department, first running a road grader for a year and a half, and then, as a mechanic and parts department manager in the County shop. I worked for the County for nineteen years before retiring. My wife and I have been happily married for forty three years, and we have two sons.