I wrote this as part of a discussion of beers in the various places I have lived. Jax in Baton Rouge, Lone Star in Austin, San Miguel in Olongapo etc.
The ship went into the yards in Washington for overhaul. We got a new Captain in Japan. Odd, as captains are usually assigned months before deployment, and we were ending our WestPac deployment. Why became known when we learned he was going to run for Senator in Washington.
After being in the yards for two months, our division was told our workspace and berthing area would be gutted for renovation. It would be normal to just move us to a barracks somewhere. Perhaps because our Captain was involved with his campaign and was in a good mood, normal went out the window. Our only instruction was to show up for roll call once a month.
Four of us rented a small house on the rural Hood Canal. We moved our clothes in, and right after dark, there was a knock at the door. I opened it and saw a gal who looked like Cybill Shepherd. She said, "I am Mary Buechel, and I wanted to welcome you to The Canal". I said nothing, just drooled. I think Frank bailed me out. Mary was a summer waitress at the restaurant below our house. The old Greek who owned the restaurant was our landlord.
Mary knew everyone her age on The Canal, and we were fresh meat. Bacall had a thin book titled How to be a Perpetual Virgin. Things like not knowing his last name, being out of town, etc., protected your maidenhood. In the Fall, girls would be back in college, and we would be gone, so it was going to be quite the summer for all of us.
We had 20-30 people at the house every Friday and Saturday. A very few friends from the ship. Plus two or three single junior officers. It was beneficial for us to get our bosses laid. The rest were single women from The Canal.
3.2 Olympia beer in undecorated cardboard boxes was sold at the PX for $2.64 a case. (10 cents a bottle) Mary’s father had a flatbed truck with wood side rails. We would fill it up to the top rail with beer. I don’t know how many cases fit in the truck, but it was just enough to get us through a weekend.
What a summer.
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We stopped by this place in 2013 - Union, Washington. The house we rented had been torn down.
Mary's family's place was now a craft store. In 1965, it was a general store, office for the phone company and a garage. He owned the phone company. Maybe 200 customers. This was back when you could not buy a phone; you rented them.
He rebuilt the transmission on my Austin Healy
As we were leaving the area, through Bremerton, Bacall asked if 64 was the hull number of the carrier I served on. There it was in mothballs. Full circle.
Small world as they say, while I did not serve on the USS Constellation, I did spend one day aboard on Yankee Station. I was stationed in Subic Bay when I re-enlisted and the Commander of where I worked arranged for me to fly out to the ship and then back, giving me my re-enlistment bonus tax free ($7,700.00) in July 1967. Years late, I was stationed on the USS Ranger that also went to Bremerton for an overhaul, (my dad was able to come along for the trip from San Diego to Bremmerton) while I was there the USS Kitty Hawk was just getting ready for a WestPac cruise and left Bremerton, and a guy on it wanted to stay in Bremerton (his family was still there) so I swaped duty. Later, after I had my 20 years in, they were planning a forth cartrier for me, I retired. Sadly, the USS Constellation was broken up for scrap in 2015.
ReplyDeleteI had no affinity for the Connie or the Navy. Day by day, I despised the Navy. Overall, it was OK, punctuated by this summer of fun. it was The picture of her was taken in 2013. I was driving and my wife just happened to see her.
DeleteHow was the cat shot?
Was actually my third. When I was on the USS Midway, I was able to make two trip on the COD to Vietnam, once to Danang, and once to Saigon. They were all fun. My wife did me one better, she did a highline between two ships at sea. I missed that experience.
ReplyDeleteI was volunteered for two months TDY and made the flight to Danang. Also, I did the high line to a DD to observe drills in CIC. [They dunked me as was the custom. Guessing she was spared]
DeleteIt was a moderate sea. Sea state 4. I was accustomed to the slow rolls of the carrier. Nothing slow about a DD. So glad I was assigned to the carrier with planes launched one level above my bunk.
On the Midway, I slept under the arresting gear, on the Ranger, like you, under the catapults. Learned to sleep through anything, once a plane came in low during the Ranger's carrier Quals and schered off the landing gear slid down the deck into the catwalk and exploded. Slept through it all.
DeleteThe noise of air ops the first day or two after months of being in port was shocking, then you slept through it.
DeleteOnce I did a VIP cruise on the USS Francis Hammond (DE-1067/FF-1067) from Bangkok to Pattaya Beach Thailand (a resort area that carrier groups and other navy ships visited) The VIP's were Thai Admirals and Generals who all took off their wedding rings and said "tempory batchelor". On the way, my Captain took me to a stateroom and told me that the ship received a message that my dad had died and then he left me alone for a while, I was surprised that it had hit me so hard. When we got to Pattaya, A friend had his driver take me back to Bangkok to pack, the embassy sent a car to take me to the embassy where they had all my paperwork ready. There just happen to be a plane full of Midwestern governors in that last leg of an Asian junket that was headed back to the states and I was put on it and it flew non stop to Chicago, where I lived and I actually got there faster than my DAD who was in San Diego when he died, running to catch a bus.
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