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Saturday, November 22, 2008
HOM: Our New Home Was Guam
We left Vietnam a few months into 1970 when our home port was changed from Cam Ranh Bay to Guam.
When we pulled out of the Bay into the South China Sea, the Khaki Men celebrated and made a ceremony of throwing their boondockers overboard. I guess they preferred the Brown Shoe Navy.
The 88 & most of the crew eventually went back to the river in late July, I didn't.
We touched base at Subic -- and I have forgotten to mention the shoeshine boys outside the base. They didn't pick on groups of sailors, but if one was alone, they'd approach him and offer to sell him a shoe shine. If he accepted, all was well -- if he declined, the boys would smear his white uniform with shoe polish, ruining it.
Going solo there was dumb, even if you made a point of staying on the main drag. I was walking back to the boat alone one evening when a little guy stepped out of an alley and punched me in the face, then went back up the alley. I was just smart enough to not chase him into the off-limits area, I just picked up my hat and glasses and went home.
I have no special memories of this last visit to Subic. Actually, I am not sure how many times I was there! All the trips blur together.
I do remember one other item I didn't mention earlier.
Going ashore in a new port meant standing inspection in dress uniform with all your insignia attached. Out of laziness, and in the absence of seamstresses, a lot of sailors would tape on the patches, so the inspecting officer would test each patch and if it peeled off when he pulled on it, you stayed aboard.
You had to wear a patch on each shoulder with the name of your ship and these were the most often taped-on items and thus most often tested by officers. (Insignia of rank didn't change often, but duty stations did & it was rare for a sailor to have the right tags sewn on all his shirts.)
Ah - another memory! When we hit Japan, I asked Mr. Peters if mustaches would be allowed, since they were a new thing in the Navy and had not been authorized for long -- only since Elmo Zumwalt had been made CNO. I still remember his words; "They'll be allowed as long as they are neatly trimmed -- which yours isn't." I was proud of mine & wanted to keep it so I got busy with mirror & scissors.
After I got done trimming & trying to get the sides even, I went ashore with one of those pencil-line thin moustaches like they wore in the old movies, but at least it was even and neat. I only shaved it off once in the next 40 years, and that was a mistake!
Passing through the Philippines at night, we did get to see an erupting volcano on a distant island. It wasn't nearby, but it was fairly impressive.
This area, even then, was a high risk area for pirates, but I guess they didn't feel like messing with a pint-sized vessel that was as obviously well armed as we were.
It was an interesting trip. We asked permission to detour slightly south & cross the equator, but it was denied. We Pollywogs were quite disappointed, and the Shellbacks were too. Crossing the equator involved quite a ceremony.
Originally the tradition was created as a test for seasoned sailors to ensure their new shipmates were capable of handling long rough times at sea. Sailors who have already crossed the equator are nicknamed (Trusty) Shellbacks, often referred to as Sons of Neptune; those who have not are nicknamed (Slimy) Pollywogs.
TBC
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