The Hat

By: David ‘Mac’ McAllister

Hello, I’m his hat! I spend my days now sitting on his desk, nothing more than a reminder of glory days gone by. Ah! But it wasn’t always this way; pop the top of a cold one, come along side and let me spin you our yarn.

I remember when I was just a pup, brand new, that would have been when he was initiated as a Chief Petty Officer back in 1974. Man, what a day that was. We had not met yet; however, I watched from afar as he fell in with the other new Chiefs in preparation for the reading of the CPO Creed. He was the only one there in dress blues without a hat.  Standing there, he looked like a sore dick; that is until I was placed squarely upon his head by his sponsor – a gift from his messmates. Atop his head now, with pride, we grew together a quarter inch taller than anyone else in the room.

We got drunk that night, the first of many DrunkEx’s we would share over the years. The next day he was torn as to whether I should be enshrined in a place of honor as a piece of memorabilia or put to use. He decided that the best way to honor those that came before and those who had given me to him was to wear me. So our journey began as Shipmates.

He was never a ball cap person, so I was worn daily. I remember he was asked once “Why don’t you ever wear a piss cutter” to which he replied (to my satisfaction): “If I wanted to wear a fuckin piss cutter I’d either still be in the God Damn Boy Scouts or I’d get a fuckin sex change and be a Wave”. So for the next fourteen years, we were inseparable and I was his prime scraper.

I was proudly decked out with the fouled anchor of a Chief Petty Officer. Later he added the star of a Senior Chief Petty Officer. Then he really screwed with my military mind and placed an Officer’s crest on me. Got to admit that for a while that took some getting used to; I really thought he had lost the load for sure, but it all panned out, in the end.

As I aged I guess the first thing to go was my sweat band. It became brittle, cracked and deteriorated due to being repeatedly wetted and dried out from sweating during long days in the hole. One night he flipped me over and performed surgery on me. With his Buck knife, he clipped out my sweat band and threw it in the shit can. Got to admit it smarted a little but I felt much better afterwards and I sat a little lower and in a much more intimate manner upon his head.

Soon my cover stretch band started leaving rust stains on his white covers. That wouldn’t do, so you guessed it – more surgery. My stretch band was unceremoniously jerked out and joined my sweat band in the shit can. After that, my covers hung limply over my headband and gave me an appearance of a WWII bomber pilots cap with a McHalesk continence that sort of complimented a McArthurian nuance.

The piping on by bill was next to go. I guess I just couldn’t take that constant bill shaping he was always doing trying for that perfectly non-regulation look. Not being one to give up on a garment, he would blacken my exposed cardboard edges with a magic marker and, as in the immortal words of Admiral Butcher, we “Pressed on Regardless”.

My Khaki cover grew stained with oils and sweat; my chin strap lost its golden luster and took on a more verdigris appearance. My headband lost its elasticity and became droopy. With scissors, needle, and thread he performed more shipboard surgery trimming and sewing me back repeatedly to his weird perception of perfection. As the years past I was referred to as salty.

I was autographed by shipmates and became a sort of who’s who muster list: Don O’Shea, Russ Enos, Don Barnett, Gene Gain, you get the idea. Many wore off over time and were replaced with others; all indelible forever within his and my memory.

We steamed the seven seas and visited ports and places that most people don’t even know exist. We saw our way through MTT’s, PEB’s, REFTRA’s, 3M Inspections, Command Inspections and all the other myriad of shore duty shitheads that would come aboard our home and feeder to help us. We put engineering red E’s and Damage Control DC’s on ships stacks and bridge wings and then turned em gold out of spite.

I have sat squarely on his head for inspection, on the back of his head in comfortable go to hell relaxation and at a jaunty give a shit angle when ashore. We have been shot at and missed, shit at and hit and better for it. We’ve stood engineering watches, bridge watches and watched over 5,000 sunrises and sunsets. I have been the center of wanted and unwanted attentions; however, through it all, we remained the best of Shipmates.

I remember one day I was kidnapped by an XO and taken prisoner and held hostage in his stateroom. He showed up demanding my return to which this particular XO said that he was going to throw my scruffy ass over the side. I remember as if yesterday, he slowly closed the XO’s stateroom door and in a very calm voice explained that I had more time at sea than the XO had in the Navy. That we had been shipmates since he had become a CPO and if the XO was dumb enough to throw me over the side the XO had better ensure his rescue swimmers PQS was signed off as he would be going in after me. Needless to say, I was liberated post hence.

In the strictest of confidence, he has told me that when he finally crosses the bar he will be cremated in the same uniform he was born in except he’s taking me along for the ride; our ashes to be scattered together at sea by sailors that never knew us – yet sailors none the less.

Nowadays I live a comfortable existence in retirement. I sit on his desk off to one side much as I used to, when not on his head while we were on active duty. Every once in a while, late at night when the light of the day has faded to darkness and the household is asleep, whisky in hand, he will slip me on, lean back and close his eyes as we sail together once again through those days of a gone by era, with shipmates of yesteryear, across those stormy seas of war and peace.

David “Mac” McAllister a native of California, now resides in the Ozark Mountains of Southwest Mo. Having served in Asia for the majority of his 24-year Navy career, he now divides his time as an over the road trucker, volunteer for local veteran repatriation events and as an Asia Sailor Westpac’rs Association board member and reunion coordinator. In his spare time, he enjoys writing about his experiences in Westpac and sharing them online with his Shipmates.

Shooter

By:  Garland Davis

And Raymond Willoughby

Boy’s playground time in grade school was consumed with fads.  There were touch and flag football in the fall.  Then right before winter, there was a short period when everyone was armed with at least one Yo-Yo.  The more affluent kids were two Yo-Yo slingers.

During the worst of winter, indoor games in the gym became the norm.  Mostly the teachers would force the kids to do calisthenics.  Sometimes they would let the boys play half-court basketball while the girls used the other half of the court for dancing.

Then in early March, the snow melted and things began to thaw out.  You were permitted back out on the playground. Everyone was coming to school armed with kites.  There were fancy colored kites and homemade kites crafted with flour glue and the Sunday Funny Papers. The school yard was full of boys running, lengthening the kite’s tail, shortening the tail and trying to repair the kite after it crashed.  Every so often someone would actually get one aloft.  This would spur the others to greater effort.  This insanity continued until the bell rang, then everyone was insanely winding string, trying to recover it all and not be late back into the classroom.

Suddenly, about the time of the Ides of March, a couple of guys showed up with marbles.  Almost immediately every piece of bare dirt was claimed for shooting marbles.  No field of wildflowers ever looked so beautiful to us as that piece of naked earth. The “pot” was a circle drawn about six feet in diameter with a stick on the valuable real estate.  Each kid “anted” the agreed upon number of marbles which were grouped in the center of the circle. Marble games were played for ‘keeps.” This meant that each shooter was permitted to keep all the marbles he shot out of the pot.

Before the serious shooting started, the boys “lagged” for shooting order.  A line was drawn and each boy brought out his “lagger”, a marble about the size of a ping pong ball. Each boy lagged this special marble toward the line.  The closest to the line without going over, became the first to shoot, the next closest, came second, etc., etc.

Then out came the most special marble each boy owned, the “Shooter.” A boy’s favorite marble was the shooter.  A boy usually chose the most colorful or the gaudiest marble as “his shooter.”  These were often agates, cat’s eyes and even steelies (ball bearings). At the beginning of the game a boy “declared” his shooter. This marble was immune from being claimed by an opponent unless it was agreed that shooters were at risk.  If a boy only brought one marble home at the end of the day, it was his shooter.

The worst possible day came when you had been reduced in serious battle down to your last marble!! This was considered an overwhelming disgrace in marble land. The sheer embarrassment of being down to your shooter, the go to marble, the locus of your bragging rights! What do you do? Standing, head hanging, shamed, with the end of life visions flashing through your consciousness, red with embarrassment, knowing that your standing among the others in the cadre has been diminished. They knew, while you felt as if the blood was slowly leaking from your body, that you were on the ropes.

A badly hurt, barely functioning caricature of your former self. Then you begin to feel anger, how could you be bested by such a lowly example of humanity? He becomes the very object of your ridicule! You glance at the gleeful faces reveling in your defeat, their pockets bulging with your stash of marbles lost on the field of battle.

An idea forms, one shared by all present. Knowing you cannot face the embarrassment of going home with one lowly marble in your pocket. Someone, some kind soul that was well aware of the moment offered the one branch, the face saver of all time!

“Wanna trade your shooter?”

Now comes the time for some serious horse trading. You say, “My favorite Uncle gave this very special shooter to me.  It would take at least twenty-five regular marbles and a steelie to boot.”

“Forget the steelie.  I might give you five common red marbles for that old marble.  I noticed it don’t roll very straight.  I think it might be cattywampus.”

“Tell you what I’ll take twenty marbles as long as ten of them are cat’s eyes.”

“Ten cat’s eyes?  You must think I am crazy.  I’ll give you ten regular marbles and one cat’s eye that you can break in as a shooter.”

“Twelve regulars and the cat’s eye and you got a deal.”

“Done.”

As you surrender your treasure, your pockets are once again flush with bounty and a cat’s eye shooter whose legend is already beginning to take shape your mind, you start for home, head held high.

“Hi, Mom! No, I didn’t shoot marbles today.  Traded my shooter for twelve marbles and a new cat’s eye shooter.”

Damn it felt good to be so wise and on top of the world.  Tomorrow, my awesome new cat’s eye shooter will clean up.

The next day someone notices that the coach has striped the baseball diamond and mounted the bases. The gloves, bats, and balls came out and boys lined up to be chosen for “sides.”

Marbles were no more.  They were forgotten and relegated to toy boxes and glass jars stored under the bed waiting for three weeks in March to come once again.

Then the March comes when marbles just aren’t that important.  There is something about the way Sally Burnett smiles and glances at you…

Bag of Tricks
Hong Kong 1982
USS Coral Sea
VFP-63 Det-2

By Robert “Okie Bob” Layton

We were sitting in a corner outside café down the main gut of Hong Kong. George Scruggs, Jerry Baker, Doug Mattson, Red Jordan, and Myself. It was about 10 in the morning things were relatively quiet as we were having our morning coffee and cake.

Jerry speaks up “What’s that”

Everyone looks up and turns to see what he is pointing at.

Way on down the street, 200-300 yards, you could see some commotions going on. It looked like someone was being chased!

There was a guy hauling ass, coming toward us with what appeared to be several Hong Kong Constabularies in hot pursuit.

The guy was running past trash cans and boxes tipping them over behind his back in an attempt to slow down his pursuers.

George “Is that guy an American?”

Doug “Can’t tell”

Red “We will know in a moment he is headed right at us”

The guy was dodging vendors, foot traffic, and vehicles.

It was a sailors obstacle course!

It appeared he must have run it before, as he was pulling ahead of his chasers!

As he got closer we got a visual ID you could tell he was an American.

“Hell, guys that’s Joe Creapo!!!” I shrieked

“What the Fuck” Red exclaimed

As Joe got within vocal range he made us out and started yelling while on the run “Hey Okie help me out here”

Okie help me out here”

“What do you need us to do” I yelled back

He gave one quick request “Hide me, Fast”

I get up and tell everyone to remain seated. I walk nonchalantly to the corner behind us. As Joe streaks by the others I duck around the corner at the same time Joe turns the corner with me I start off running with Joe. Knowing he has Knowing he has a good 150 yards lead on the short legged Hong Kong cops, I start to remove my Jacket [a blue wind breaker with a coral sea logo on the front] hand it to Joe he puts it on never breaking stride.

We get to the next intersection and round another corner, I reach in my pocket pull out my hotel keys [the kind that had the hotel and room number on the oval plastic tag] and tell Joe “Make your way up to my room I’ll see you there”

I turn and head back to the rest of the guys. As I backtrack I was surprised to see no cops headed down our route. I get back to the corner Café and could see why. All my guys had taken the hint. When I told them to remain seated they did just that, until the Hong Kong Cops got close to them. Then they all jumped up and started pointing to the opposite direction that Joe and I took. You talk about a well-polished Det!! I was proud of them for they had totally stood up for a shipmate.

They were still miss-directing the backup cops as they arrived. We had those little blue blokes doing a classic “Chinese fire drill”

Things settled down, my Hotel was just a block or so away. We all made our way over to it in two separate groups. I get to my room and knock on the door. No answer! I knock again!

Still no answer I fear that Joe has been apprehended. I try again, this time, yelling out “Joe open up its Okie!” The door latches and locks start to click the door opens and there stands Joe grinning like a shit eating possum. I take and shove Joe with both my hands

“What the fuck was all that about, ” I ask

“Now wait a minute Okie” Joe replied

The rest of the group files in, all having had a part in the rescue of Joe, everyone wanted answers!

“Ok what happened?” I ask

“My hooker called the cops on me because I didn’t pay her”

“How and why did that happen?” I ask

“Well you know those little black 2 dollar AWOL bags they were selling on the ship”

“Go ahead”

“Well I bought a bunch, thought I might give them away as gifts back home”

“So”

“Well the first night in I got this really fine Russian/Chinese hooker I take her up to my room we have an all-nighter”

“And”

“Wel, I was low on money she wanted more.”

So I told her “Come on baby do it once more, and I’ll go back to the ship and get some more money”

I said to her “Look I’ll leave my bag here with all my stuff just stay here guard it and wait for me”

“Well did you go back?” I inquired

“Yeah back to the ship”

“Got me another Black AWOL bag, threw some cheap shit in it, came back into town.”

“I got to thinking hell I got a half dozen of them bags; I’ll just get me another hooker and bail out on her Too”

“Go-on”

“It worked a second time– perfect”

“Okie it was a pretty good scam an over-nighter in exchange for a 2 dollar bag” Joe just beams!

“So what happened?”

“Well, this morning my hooker didn’t buy the bag trick. She wanted money now”

“I told her I had some buddies down the hall and I could get money from them”

“She still didn’t believe me so I faked a phone call to a room she started to listen in I said a quick good by then hung up”

“I got dressed real fast and run on down the hall”

“She was right on my heels, once downstairs she calls the cops—that’s when I took off– so here I am”

I proclaim “Joe looks like your liberty in Hong Kong Is up, It’s the Kowloon side for you buddy”

“Yeah I’ll leave my Bag of tricks on the ship this time,” He said

Okie Bob
VFP-63 Det-2
Maint. Chief

June 13th – A Day to Remember

By Captain Jim Barton, US Navy (ret)

I retired from the US Navy in August 1994, one month shy of 30 years since I enlisted in the Navy Reserve back in 1964. I opened a Virginia-based consulting company after several months and soon found myself hired and working in Mclean, VA as a Program Manager for a company for whom I had consulted. In January 1997, I was asked by my boss to set aside the commercial international industrial engineering projects I had been working on to take over a large maritime shipbuilding project for the Navy and DARPA. I soon found myself in office spaces on North Fairfax Drive in Arlington, VA. To my surprise, several of my former Navy buddies were working on this project, either with my company or with our two principal corporate partners. One of these guys was my second commanding officer in USS George K. Mackenzie (DD-836), Captain US Navy (ret) Gordon Monteath. Gordon relieved as Commanding Officer in June 1972. He had big shoes to fill. His predecessor, Captain US Navy (ret) Curt Anderson, was beloved by the crew. While I considered Curt Anderson my mentor, Gordon ten years my senior, proved himself right from the start. I felt extremely comfortable with him in command.

Gordon and I had been in contact off and on again over the years since we served together in Mackenzie in 1972, he as Commanding Officer and me as Operations Officer. Now we were working in close proximity again and telling the stories of our experiences back in the day. I really enjoyed this new environment and camaraderie. Soon after my arrival, Gordon confided in me that he was interested in moving back to San Diego and that he was trying to convince his boss to allow him to relocate. In just a month or so it happened; Gordon was off to the West Coast. I was sorry to see him go but I was happy for him that he would be able to stay with the company and be able to live in the area where he wanted to retire. In April 1997, I received a call from him. He said all was well but he wondered if my business would bring me out to the West Coast in the summer. As several of my sub-contractors were located in the San Diego area and because our corporate headquarters was in La Jolla, I told Gordon that I was sure I would be out there several times that year. He asked me if I could meet him on June 13, 1997, at the Mexican restaurant (Pico de Gallo) we used to frequent in Old Town San Diego. I said I would set my calendar and we arranged to meet.

On June 13th, I drove my rental car to the outskirts of Old Town and parked. I walked inside the Old Town market place and its bustling tourist activity to the agreed upon spot. Commander Jim Hazlett (US Navy – ret), who worked with me in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in the early 1980s and who now worked with me on the project accompanied me. He knew Gordon as well from the work inside our company. Gordon greeted us with big hugs as is his custom and margaritas all around. He is a heck of a guy and was a great Commanding Officer. He remains my good friend to this very day. After we had had our first couple of toasts, Gordon looked at me and asked, “OPS, do you know the significance of this day?” I canvassed my brain before confessing that I did not. He said to think back, 25 years to be exact; and so I thought and it dawned on me – June 13, 1972 – what we called the “Battle of Vinh” and perhaps the scariest engagement of my naval combat experience. I looked at him and said, “How could I have forgotten that horrendous day, just four days short of my 26th birthday; and now four days short of my 51st. Yes, I remember it; the Battle of Vinh”. Gordon responded that I won the prize, and he then stated that there was something which he had been meaning to give me all these years later. He reached below his chair and retrieved a shopping bag which he handed to me. I took it and removed what was inside. And there before me was a wooden plaque on which was mounted, not a ship’s crest as one might think but; a jagged piece of metal. It was fragmentation from one of many collected that day in 1972 of exploded incoming North Vietnamese 130mm artillery ordnance. And on the plaque was mounted a brass plate with a simple inscription that said, “Battle of Vinh June 13, 1972”. I was taken aback and overwhelmed by the gift. And then we recalled together the story of what transpired that day. It went something like this
Backing up a few days before on June 7th, with Gordon Monteath newly in command, a new task unit, 77.1.2 was formed consisting of Newport News, Berkeley and Mackenzie for strikes in the northern SAG area. On the 10th during a night engagement off Vinh, we received considerable incoming hostile fire. I was a bit startled as some of the rounds were landing ahead of Mackenzie. I was steering to avoid them with a weave. I could clearly see the splashes on the port and starboard bows ahead. We were beginning to believe that the North Vietnamese were using radar to guide their fire, but on this occasion, we had no confirmation that they were employing it. On each occasion, we returned fire in the direction of the incoming fire. This pattern was repeated on the following couple of nights. Normally the North Vietnamese gunners would wait until we were on our firing course or egress route before opening up on us. And when that happened our job was to return fire.

On June 12th we rearmed and refueled and returned to the holding area for the next night’s activities. Early on the morning of June 13th Newport News, Berkeley, Stoddert and Mackenzie formed for an attack in the Vinh target area. After completing a single two-hour mission around 0230, we went to GQ again an hour later for another run in at the target area. On the earlier run, we had received no hostile fire. Whether we had received intelligence information or whether we were simply changing things up to do another run so quickly on the heels of another, I don’t recall. But we headed toward the target area at high speed at 0330. Mackenzie was assigned to the north closest to Hon Me Island. It was a clear night. Stars were out as was the moon and we could see the silhouette of the island and shore as we approached. Apart from some small arms fire from the island, we encountered nothing of significance as we approached. There were just the eerie flashes from US aircraft strikes inland which almost looked like lightning.
Our job was counter battery. Newport News with 8-inch turrets was the principal shooter. We finished the mission, made our 90 degree turn to port with the other ships for our egress route on a southeasterly course at 30 knots when it happened. All hell broke loose. At 0400 we saw gun flashes on the starboard beam from what we believed to be Hon Mat Island. All ships began receiving fire and I gave rudder orders to commence our weave. Hon Mat was out of Mackenzie’s gun range; but even if it hadn’t been, the target line was obstructed by Newport News to starboard. I had a bad feeling about this as Electronic Warfare reported the detection of fire control radars to starboard. Almost immediately Mackenzie was bracketed port and starboard by intense incoming. Some of the rounds were impacting in the water with splashes higher than our SPS-40 radar platform. We knew the North Vietnamese gunners were using long range (15 mile) 130mm guns. We were feeling their effect as they were hitting around Mackenzie with deadly accuracy. I ordered all Bridge personnel except the helmsman and myself to hit the deck and take cover. The CO was in an exposed Bridge wing position under cover and ordering counter battery fire at Hon Me and Hon Nhieu Islands from which we were now also receiving fire. The flashes, particularly from the air bursts were bright. One exploded in the air forward of the Bridge and for a moment I thought the windshield had been penetrated. The shock from the explosion had loosened the bolts holding the compass repeater with its bearing circle in front of me, and one of them caught me in the right eyebrow with pretty good force. The compass was dangling on only one support and pretty much useless. For a moment I thought the next round might penetrate the Bridge as they had on several on other ships before. The explosions were erupting everywhere. I was pumped up with adrenalin, trying to keep my mind on the helm and lee helm orders as we kicked Mackenzie up to 35 knots, actually overtaking Newport News for a moment or two. Lieutenant (junior grade) Steve Smith, the Communications Officer, was Tactical Communicator on the Bridge; and it was he who transmitted our status to Newport News. The voice on the other end was an African-American naval officer whose name I do not recall but who I bought a drink (or three) for in Subic later. He had a deep calming and reassuring voice. Their call sign was Thunder. Our call sign was Tempest. As Steve would send out the status crouched in the corner of the Bridge, the voice on the other end would respond, “This is Thunder, Roger, Out”. With all of the explosions going on around us and over us, I feared for the Weapons Officer Lieutenant Jack Hughes and the others, signalmen, and lookouts, on the Signal Bridge. They had virtually no place to take cover. But my job was to get us out of there and try not to get hit.

In the meantime, Newport News engaged the batteries on Hon Mat, cave guns we believed, and reported several secondary explosions. Whether they destroyed the gun installations or whether they discouraged the North Vietnamese from shooting, it was all over by 0446. Roughly 45 minutes of intense combat seeming like hours. We noted in Mackenzie’s Ship Deck Log over 100 rounds of incoming in close proximity to the ship. There were far more than that all around the formation. In the engine room and fire rooms, the crews later maintained they could hear the echo of every one of them. We did an assessment of damage and determined no significant damage. We had several areas of superstructure hit and innumerable amounts of shrapnel which hit the deck but no casualties and no significant hit to the ship. After we secured from General Quarters, Jack Hughes appeared from his position in Weapons Control and reported he had spent most of the engagement on the deck as did everyone else on the Signal Bridge. We went below together, and in the light of the Wardroom he observed the abrasion above my eye and I noted his raincoat riddled by fragmenting rounds. Neither of us was really hurt and we couldn’t believe our good fortune. We were glad to be alive and ready for some sleep. I was scheduled for the 08-12 watch as Officer of the Deck so; my sleep was going to be short.

I went down to my stateroom in After Officer’s Quarters, converted the couch into my rack and I sat there for a minute. And for the first time I shook uncontrollably; and I wondered for a moment if I was going to make it home. These thoughts I quickly set aside, rolled over and fell fast asleep until the Messenger of the Watch awakened me a couple hours later to get ready for the next watch. And so it went.

Snipes

By:  Garland Davis

They were the engineers who made the steam, the electricity, the water, ran the auxiliary machinery and made the ships go.  They were the MM’s, BT’s, EM’s, EN’s, HT’s, IC men, MR’s and some that I have probably forgotten.  They took on the fuel that they turned into the steam that moved the ship and made the electricity.  They inhabited the lower levels of engineering spaces, crawled through bilges and other tight places into which only an idiot would enter… Sweating, joking and cussing the whole time.  They tore clothes, skinned their knuckles and burned themselves with steam and hot water.  Through cold northern seas and the sweltering tropic oceans, they kept the ships moving and the machinery operating.

They were not all greasy apes with an oily rag in one hand and a stolen crescent wrench in the other.  They were intelligent young men with pride in their spaces and the jobs they did.  The brightest of them ended up as doctors, lawyers and college professors.  I knew an ENFN that went on to earn a Ph.D. and was involved with the Space and Shuttle programs at Jet Propulsion Laboratories.

They were usually referred to as Fuckin’ Snipes by their fellow crewmembers. They were Snipes because they wanted to be.

They happily tended the machinery of their hot, noisy world.  They crawled through small nasty places.  They were shocked, pinched and thrown about.  They were wet and cold, wet and hot, wet and oily.  The humidity of their spaces was always at one hundred percent.

They routinely worked around the clock to get a piece of machinery fixed that some officer had just told them would take yard birds and naval engineers to repair.  However, they fixed it anyway and sent a “fuck you” off to the naval engineers.  During these marathons, they lived on “black gang coffee” and baloney sandwiches eaten with greasy hands. They smoked cigarettes only half way down before forgetting or the smokes became too nasty to smoke from the oil on their fingers.

At times, they did their work with the delicate skill of a surgeon and at other times with the force of pry bars and large hammers. They often lifted extremely heavy weights in spaces too small for the number of men needed to do the job safely.  They stuck their hands in places where wayward electrons might be waiting to kill. They were contortionists having to get in the most awkward positions to fix things placed in stupid places by those brilliant naval engineers and yard birds.  “Fuck’em.”

They wore their badge of office with pride. The torn, greasy and acid-eaten dungarees… their hands always black with grease in the pores and cracks of their knuckles.

Shipmates in the “Basement.”

Seven Destroyers Lost at Honda Point

By:  Garland Davis

During the early years of the Viet Nam War, a U.S. destroyer, USS Frank Knox ran aground on Pratas Reef in the South China Sea.  This was attributed to poor navigation and training.

A few years ago, a Pearl Harbor based Guided Missile Cruiser grounded on a reef near the entrance to Pearl harbor.  An investigation attributed the incident to poor training and poor navigation practices.

Not very long ago a U.S. Navy Minesweeper was grounded on a reef in the Philippine Islands and was lost when the vessel had to be dismantled.  The grounding was attributed to navigational errors and over dependence on electronic navigational technology.

Earlier this year, two patrol boats were surrendered to Iranian forces, again, poor training and navigational errors resulted in the boats crossing into Iranian waters.

As any seafarer knows, navigation is an exact science. It is also unforgiving. Poor training, laxity, and inattention to detail will bite you in the ass every time.

These were all incidents that resulted in a single ship being damaged or lost.  The greatest peacetime loss of U.S. Navy ships happened at Honda Point, California (now known as Pedernales Point).  The area is extremely treacherous for central California mariners. It features a series of rocky outcroppings collectively known as Woodbury Rocks.  One is named Destroyer Rock on navigational charts.

Fourteen ships of Destroyer Squadron 11 (DESRON 11) were steaming south from San Francisco to San Diego in the late summer of 1923. The squadron was led by Commodore Edward H. Watson, on the flagship destroyer USS Delphy. All were Clemson-class destroyers, less than five years old. The ships turned east to course 095, supposedly heading into the Santa Barbara Channel, at 21:00. The ships were navigating by dead reckoning, estimating positions from their course and speed, as measured by propeller revolutions per minute. At that time radio navigation aids were new and not completely trusted. The USS Delphy was equipped with a radio navigation receiver, but her navigator and captain ignored its indicated bearings, believing them to be erroneous. No effort was made to take soundings of water depths due to the necessity of slowing the ships down to take the measurements. The ships were performing an exercise that simulated wartime conditions, hence the decision was made not to slow down. In this case, the dead reckoning was wrong, and the mistakes were fatal. Despite the heavy fog, Commodore Watson ordered all ships to travel in close formation and, turning too soon, went aground. Six others followed and sank. Two ships whose captains disobeyed the close-formation order survived, although they also hit the rocks.^[4]

Earlier the same day, the mail steamship SS Cuba ran aground nearby. Some attributed these incidents in the Santa Barbara Channel to unusual currents caused by the Tokyo earthquake of the previous week.

The fourteen Clemson-class destroyers of Destroyer Squadron Eleven were to follow the flagship USS Delphy in column formation from San Francisco, through the Santa Barbara Channel, and finally to San Diego. Destroyer Squadron Eleven was on a twenty-four-hour exercise from northern California to southern California. The flagship was responsible for navigation. As the USS Delphy steamed along the coastline, poor visibility meant the navigators had to go by the age-old technique of dead reckoning. They had to estimate their position based on their speed and heading. The navigators aboard USS Delphy did have radio direction finding (RDF) equipment, which picked up signals from a station at Point Arguello, but RDF was new and the bearings obtained were dismissed as unreliable. Based solely on dead reckoning, Captain Watson ordered the fleet to turn east into the Santa Barbara Channel. However, Delphy was actually several miles northeast of where they thought they were, and the error caused the ships to run aground on Honda Point

The main cause of the navigational errors experienced by the crew of the USS Delphy can be attributed to the earthquake in Japan and the underestimation of the resulting ocean conditions. On September 1, 1923, seven days before the disaster, the Great Kanto Earthquake occurred in Japan. As a result of this earthquake, unusually large swells and strong currents arose off the coast of California and remained for a number of days.^[] Before Destroyer Squadron Eleven even reached Honda Point, a number of ships had encountered navigational problems as a result of the unusual currents.

As DESRON 11 began their exercise run down the California coast, they made their way through these swells and currents. While the squadron was traveling through these swells and currents, their estimations of speed and bearing used for dead reckoning were being affected. The navigator aboard the lead ship USS Delphy did not take into account the effects of the strong currents and large swells in their estimations. Since the navigators in the lead ship USS Delphy did not account for the current and swells in their estimations, the entire squadron was off course and positioned near the treacherous coastline of Honda Point instead of the open ocean of the Santa Barbara Channel. Coupled with darkness and thick fog, the swells and currents caused by the earthquake in Japan made accurate navigation nearly impossible for the USS Delphy. The geography of Honda Point, which is completely exposed to wind and waves, created an extremely deadly environment once the unusually strong swells and currents were added to the coastline.

Once the error in navigation occurred, the weather conditions and ocean conditions sealed the fate of the squadron. The weather surrounding Honda Point at the time of the disaster was windy and foggy while the geography of the area and the earthquake in Japan created strong counter-currents and swells that forced the ships into the rocks once they entered the area

The lost ships were:

• USS Delphy(DD-261) was the flagship in the column. She ran aground on the shore at 20 knots (37 km/h). After running aground, she sounded her siren. The siren alerted some of the later ships in the column, helping them avoid the tragedy. Three men died. Eugene Doorman, a State Department expert on Japan, who survived, was aboard as a guest of Captain Watson, whom he had met in Japan.
• USS  P. Lee(DD-310) was following a few hundred yards behind. She saw the Delphy suddenly stop, and turned to port (left) in response. As a result, she ran aground on the coast.
• USS Young(DD-312) made no move to turn. She tore her hull open on submerged rocks, and the inrush of water capsized her onto her starboard side. Twenty men died.
• USS Woodbury(DD-309) turned to starboard but struck an offshore rock.
• USS Nicholas(DD-311) turned to port and also hit a rock.
• USS Fuller(DD-297) struck next to the Woodbury.
• USS Chauncey(DD-296) made an attempt to rescue sailors from the capsized Young. She ran aground.

Light damage was recorded by:

• USS Farragut(DD-300) ran aground, but was able to extricate herself and was not lost.
• USS Somers(DD-301) was lightly damaged.

The remaining five ships avoided the rocks:

• USS Percival(DD-298)
• USS Kennedy(DD-306)
• USS Paul Hamilton(DD-307)
• USS Stoddert(DD-302)
• USS Thompson(DD-305)

A Character I Knew

By:  Garland Davis

This is the story of a character whom I bumped to from time to time in WestPac.  Many of you know him, but I will not use his name in this story so as not to embarrass his family if one of them should come across it.  As I tell of certain events in this missive, I am sure some of you will know who I am talking about.  I’ll just call him JP for the purpose of this Narrative.

I first met JP at Fiddler’s Green in Sasebo in the early sixties.  A group of us were sitting on an outdoor patio drinking beer and shooting the shit.  I was a brand new PO3 and, if memory serves, JP was a PO2.  We sat there and watched a Japanese Papa-san push his bicycle up the hill to the club. He parked his bike near the patio and took a tool box from its mounting and proceeded into the club.  Probably there to repair something.

JP went in through to the back door to the kitchen and came back with a slab of butter and greased the brake system on Papa-san’s bicycle.  Later after a few more beers, Papa-san came out of the club and remounted his tool box, climbed aboard and started down the hill.  He was moving faster and faster, you could see him gripping the brake handles.  He resembled Evel Knevel as he jumped the benjo ditch at the bottom of the hill.  We were all laughing, JP the hardest.

A few years later JP was in Yokosuka and married to a Japanese girl.  His wife had a friend who was shacked up with a sailor.  The girl became pregnant and the lowlife abandoned her.  JP and his wife agreed to adopt the baby after she gave birth.

The girl was living with JP and his wife just prior to having the baby.  The night she went into labor, he took the pregnant girl and his wife’s ID and checked her into the Yokosuka Naval Hospital as his wife.  She had the baby and as far as the world knows, his wife had that baby.  JP registered him as a foreign American birth.

JP Jr. was a few months old and three or four of us were at JP’s house drinking beer.  Japanese houses, in those days, weren’t heated.  JP had an oil heater in the corner that provided some relief, but people usually stayed bundled up, even indoors.  JP’s wife told him she was going shopping and to watch little JP and left.  Later when JP heard her returning, he said, “Watch this.”

He opened the oven door and put Baby JP’s little carrier into the oven and closed the door. The wife come in looks around and asks, “Where is the baby?”

“He was cold, so I put him in the oven to get warm.”

She let out a scream and tore the oven door open.  Little JP was there smiling at her.  She yelled, “JP, you sonbitch.  Why you do this stuff?”

JP was in stitches laughing.

I went off to San Diego for a tour of shore duty.  I got caught in one of the “No Homesteaders” movements that cropped up from time to time.  I think there was a contingent in the Bureau who thought we were having too much fun.

After leaving San Diego, I was ordered into an old DD homeported in Pearl Harbor as a CS1 and made CSC shortly afterward.  JP was an MMC and leading MM in a DDG in the same squadron as my ship.  A story that I believe is still making the rounds.  JP’s ship was undergoing an Engineering inspection of one kind or another.  He was EEOW when one of the inspection team said to him, “Chief, you have just lost fires in the boilers, what action are you going to take?”

JP replied, “Put on a fresh pot of coffee.”

“What, why?” asked the inspector.

“If we’ve got an engineering casualty, I am going to have a lot of company.  The CO, the XO, the Chief Engineer, the MPA, the Damage Control Officer and every other mother fucking officer who can find their way down here are going to be in the way.  I figure they can have a cup of coffee while they critique my efforts to handle the casualty.

Later in WestPac, the ships were moored at Alava Pier in Subic.  My ship was outboard JP’s ship.  It was about 1400 and a group of we Chiefs was headed to the club.  We crossed to the DDG quarterdeck to find JP as OOD.  We waited for a while shooting the breeze with him until the CPO shuttle came down the pier.  We caught the van and were off.

We were starting our second beer when JP came walking in.  He grabbed a beer and pulled up a chair.  Someone said, “JP, I thought you had the quarterdeck.”

“I do,” he replied, “The shuttle van came along and stopped and I just walked out and caught it.”

We hustled his ass back to the ship.  No one ever knew he was missing.

The last time I saw JP was a couple years later in Pearl.  He came into the CPO club with little JP.  He said he was babysitting.  One of the waitresses was cooing over the kid.  JP said, “You think he is cute.  He is hung like a horse.  Show her your dick Jr.”

A short time after that I finally was able to get orders back to Japan and lost track of JP.

Just one of the many characters spawned by the Seventh Fleet and WestPac.

“Old Ninety-Nine” and Other Notorious Vehicles

By:  Garland Davis

A long time ago when I wore a Seaman’s clothes, before the Military Sealift Command took the Supply Auxiliary’s, you know, when they still had Navy crews who wore red lead and haze gray splattered dungarees.  You remember, when non-rated sailors were paid less than the guy who sweeps the stadium after the ball game.  In those days, non-rates invented creative modes of transportation.  Usually co-op ownership “on its last legs” automotive transportation.

The First Division non-rates on Vesuvius laid claim to a nineteen-fifty or fifty-one Chevrolet.  It was called “The Haze Gray Bomb,” later shortened to “The Bomb.” Someone had brush painted it haze gray. No key was needed to operate it.  The gear shift handle on the steering column was missing and had been replaced by a set of vice grips. “The Bomb” was used for weekend trips to San Francisco or Oakland.  Most days, if it wasn’t on the pier, it could be found parked near the Bank Club in downtown Port Chicago.

Being the ship’s baker and clandestine purveyor of pastries to those deck apes standing the middle watches, I was an honorary member of those invited to cram myself into “The Bomb” with a dozen or so others for one of these excursions.  A ride usually cost fifty cents or a dollar for gasoline. Yeah, gasoline was cheap in those days.

No one knew who actually owned the car, who handled the title, registration, and insurance.  I don’t know if the hood was ever raised, whether the oil or other fluids were ever checked or topped off.  It just ran.  The day I departed the ship for “B” School in San Diego, I was carried to the bus station in Walnut Springs by the Haze Gray Bomb.

I remember once at a Reunion hearing one of the wives ask some others, “Did your husband ever have the duty when the ship returned from a deployment and you ended up having sex in that old gray car after dark?”  There were smiles on their faces as one said, “I think our son, Benjamin, was conceived in that old car.”

In the mid-sixties, there was a Radioman off the “Dicky B.” (USS Richard B. Anderson DD-786) who owned one of the small three-wheeled trucks that were popular in Japan at that time.  He couldn’t bring it on base and paid the Mama-san of a bar near Shiori Station to let him park it in her alley.  Often you would see the three wheeler headed for Yokohama with three sailors crammed into the cab and another half dozen in the bed with a war club of Akadama.  Sometimes early in the morning, you would see it making the return trip to Yokosuka with a bed load of passed out sailors.  Looked as if he was hauling corpses.

Then there was the story of the convertible.  USS Mars was homeported in Yokosuka at the time.  Mars was deploying and one of the Boatswain’s Mates asked a shore duty Boatswains Mate to take care of his car and his girlfriend.  Many of you know him but I will maintain his anonymity in this story to prevent any embarrassment on his part.  As if you could embarrass the asshole!  To make a long story shorter, he moved in with the girlfriend.  One afternoon, we were imbibing a few cool ones and talking about going to the beach when someone mentioned that it would be nice to have a convertible.  Out came the fire axes and off came the top of the car.

There was an awkward moment when the Mars returned.  We were sitting in the PO Club when the BM from the Mars came in and asked the shore duty BM. “How are my girlfriend and my car?”

“Well, I kinda fucked your girlfriend.  But the good news is, you now have a convertible.”

“Damn you, you asshole.  I expected you to fuck my girl.  But you fucked up my car.  I paid a hundred bucks for it.  Oh well, fuck it, buy me a beer and then we’ll go for a ride in my convertible.”

He drove it until the next ‘Beauty Inspection” to renew his on base sticker.

There was a storekeeper who drove one of those VW “Things.”  Of course, he didn’t have a top for it. But, he had a supply of umbrellas for his passengers if it rained.  It wasn’t uncommon to see him driving around in the rain with three or four umbrellas sticking up like mushrooms.

One of the more famous modes of transportation could be seen in Subic Bay.   Charlie Fulfer had an old POS painted haze gray with a black waterline painted along the bottom.  It was seen frequently and provided transportation for many of us to and from the Barrio.

I have a bubblehead buddy who was telling me about an old sixty-two Falcon that belonged to a shipmate in USS Omaha.  It was owned by an “A Ganger.”  When the owner transferred, the car was sold to another member of A Gang.  No one would pay more than ninety-nine dollars for the vehicle and it became known as “Old Ninety-Nine.” He told me he borrowed the car and was going across the island when it started raining.  The car had the old vacuum advance wiper system.  He said that when he turned the wipers on both of them went flying off onto the side of the road.  He was out in the rain locating the wiper blades and reattaching them.  He told me another story about losing the brakes while on a date and driving back to Pearl harbor with only the parking brake to stop the car with.

Mac told me the tale of a 1968 Olds Delta 88 car in Guam.  Another homemade convertible, with no top. The owners decided it would look formidable with a racing stripe. So they used duct tape and created one one right down the center of the vehicle. It started at the front bumper and went down the center of the hood, up the windshield, down the inside of the windshield and dash, across the seats and up over the trunk of the car to the rear bumper. The trunk of the car was compartmented and equipped with awesome speakers.  The other compartment served as a beer cooler.

In the mid-seventies, I transferred to Pearl Harbor and wasn’t expected to get my car for about six weeks.  I was in the CPO Club and asked if anyone knew where I could buy a “beater” cheap that would last six weeks.  Willie Hartford said let’s go see Lippy.  Lippy Espenda had a used car lot.  He was something of a celebrity and had his own TV show.  We drove down and Willie told him what kind of car I was looking for.  He asked, “How much money you got?”

“About two hundred bucks,” I answered.

“I happen to have just da cah for you.” He took us behind the building and pointed out an early model Ford Falcon. “Dis wan exactly two hundred.”

The deal was consummated and I was given the keys.  I asked Lippy if there was any warranty on the car.  He said, “Dis cah guaranteed just so long you can see me waving goodbye in da rearview.”  I drove that car for six years.

I always took it to Lippy for the annual safety inspection. He always said, “You bought da cah heah.  Still like new.”  He just filled out the paperwork.  Hasn’t looked at the car yet.

I never once changed the oil or did any other maintenance.  I gave it to a shipmate in seventy-nine when I transferred back to Japan.  Ran into him later on.  He told me he drove it for four years and passed it on to another sailor.  For all I know, some sailor is still driving it.

Old Salts
Navy PSD
Tinker AFB Oklahoma City
June 2016
By:  Robert “Okie Bob” Layton

I was renewing my Wife’s dependent ID card sitting in the waiting room when a young sailor came up to me pointing to my old faded blue ball cap with USS Oriskany CVA-34 embroidered across the front
He asks “Hey old timer how does one pronounce the name on your cap?”

“O-Risk-Ka-Ney” I phonetically sounded

“What kind of ship was that?” he asks

“An Attack Aircraft Carrier” I proudly proclaimed

“An Attack you say!”

“Yes a WWII Essex class 27 Charlie” I added

“You lost me there mister” He exclaimed

So I began to tell the young sailor all about the old navy ships when it dawned on me, Hell I had been retired longer than this kid had been alive! The Oriskany was decommissioned in 1976 probably about the time his folks were born! It was sunk as a reef in 2006 ten years ago when this kid was just out of kindergarten. I thought, God Damn I’m an old fart.

“Man-O-Man I bet you got some old stories to tell,” he said

“Well a few I suppose”

“What war was the Oriskany in?” He inquired

“Korea and Vietnam”

“Oh yawl I had heard of that name Vietnam, when was that?” He asks

I was just about to go into my Chiefs mode when the ID card Yeoman stepped out in the waiting room and said “Master Chief Layton?”

“Here” I replied

The young Sailor gave a startled look at me. For I must have been a sight, a rotund, white haired old man dressed in Jesus sandals, Cargo shorts, and Hawaiian shirt.

“Are you a Master Chief?” he asks

“Fucking A Bubba” I shot back and departed

It was apparent to me this lad had not been thoroughly indoctrinated into the U S Navy and was in dire need of some old salt guidance.

I think back to when I was first in the Navy a lot of WWII Vets were still in finishing up their careers.
One Torpedoman first class [TM1] was a Chicago son of a German Immigrant who enlisted the Day after Pearl Harbor and was not allowed to serve on the east coast due to his German heritage he spent his WWII duty on submarines out of Pearl.

Another Was a South Carolina farm boy who joined in 1940, as a cook and served on battleships in the Pacific. After broken service, He later switched over to aviation metal smith [AMS1] in the 50’s. His stories of pre WWII battleship service on the east coast was filled with liberty in South America and the Caribbean.

A Senior Chief Aviation machinist mate ADCS who flew on PBY’s in the South Pacific and had his guts shot out on patrol.

An Aviation Ordnance Chief (AOC) shot down, wounded, and rescued over Subic bay in 1944; His tales of liberty in Olongapo in the late 40’s were right out of “South Pacific”

A Retied Aviation machinist mate Chief [ADC] who was retiring for a second time in 1971 from Pratt and Whitney after 20 years. He retired from the Navy in 1951 as a ADRC after 25 years. He had joined the Navy in 1926 and was on the first USS Saratoga CV3 in the 20’s. On Dec 7th 1941, he was a Chief Stationed On Ford Island, attached to a Catalina squadron. When the Japanese attacked he was on the last flight out to Wake Island before it’s fall on 23 Dec 1941. After 45 years of Naval aviation he retired after making a combat cruise on the Oriskany as a Company Jet engine representative in 1971.

Then there was a 4 star 7th fleet Admiral who would have this old Master chief and single chief friends over to his home on weekends and holidays for food and drinks. I can remember how his hazed over failing eyesight would always brighten up and sparkle like blue sea when telling stories of old and listening to our new ones. And you knew, YOU KNEW, you were in the presence of greatness! God bless them old Salts every one

Now I have relayed this little anecdote to tell you that–now we are the old salts! The bearers of the Tradition of the sea, wardens of all mythical description, Keepers of Nautical history, holders of the account, for we are the storyteller’s and current purveyors of Sea Stories!
The narration will live on!
AFCM Robert “Okie Bob” Layton

The Contest

By David “Mac” McAllister

It was one of those lazy warm afternoons in the Philippines; the trades gently cooling the effects of the glaring tropical Sun. I sat at an open air Nepa hut bar on the beach sharing ice cold San Miguel’s and hot sea stories with some local retired sailors I knew. It was just a thatched roof over a four-sided bar surrounding a chest freezer loaded with that infamous brew of which we had consumed quite a few. Far removed from the hustle of Olongapo, life here in the Barrio was not only quiet and reserved but free from the watchful eye and hassles of the shore patrol.  Relaxed in cutoffs, no shirt and enjoying an afternoon beer buzz with pals, who could want more. Across the road at a Sari Sari store I noticed three elderly (to me) women, purchases upon their heads, walking away down the road; their rhythmic sway reminded me of a camel caravan trekking across a faraway desert as one of the old hands remarked something about “being something in their day” thereby breaking the spell. Most of these guys had been here longer than I had been in the Navy. Their life consisted of dragging themselves out of bed and plopping it down here at this little bar every day until paralysis sent in. Collected by some form of significant other in the late afternoon/early evening, the process would start over again tomorrow. I had a strange admiration for these guys that translated into the dread of becoming one of them someday.

Eventually, the Sun, as it can only do in the tropics, dramatically extinguished itself in the atmosphere all the while twilight, in an attempt to extend the day, fought hard against the encroaching darkness. The azure blue of a darkening sky harkened the approaching dusk which, like steeping tea, enveloped and concealed the stark poverty of the Barrio. Night slowly fell and a transformation as sure as a caterpillar to butterfly commenced. As the night lights brought life to the bars, the working girls materialized and the jukeboxes revved up; the Barrio hummed into life with its own kind of primal energy. The buzzing inaudible reverberating din of those on the prowl; all searching, some taking but rarely giving in an unending ebb and flow of human desire. A consuming energy that demanded you replace what you took. A tingling soulful Kundalini energy that radiated from your pelvis to your crown while causing the hair on your arms to stand up, your face to flush and your being to become aware of itself. It was what I referred to as being in liberty mode.

The old hands were fading fast as I bid them farewell for the evening and set off for the nightlife. Bars with the names like D’ Quails Nest, Irish Rose, Charlie’s Angels, D’ Wave, Magic Glow and many more I no longer recall beckoned me. The transformation into liberty mode was complete and I was one with the Barrio. My head cleared from its foggy afternoon lazy existence and my senses were sharply tuned to my surroundings. The sight of a hot pant, halter-topped young lady caught my attention. I fell in behind her as she walked down the dirt road exhibiting more action in those pants than two cub scouts trying to put up a Sears and Roebuck’s pup tent. I was feeling better than I should, thought I was better looking than I was and felt meaner than any other son of a bitch.

I arrived at my first stop, Charlie’s Angles, just as the BMC (ret) owner emerged, like a vampire, from under the bar where he entombed himself by day. First round, vodka for him a beer for me was on the house. As we caught up on the gossip since we had last seen one another, he told me of his latest edition; supposedly a real blowjob artist. Told me if he could find a couple more like her he would be giving Marilyn’s a run for her money. After a brief introduction and bearing witness to her antics, I was convinced that she was what he claimed and was silently glad that I always consumed my beer from the bottle. Making a mental note to never trust the glasses in my good friend’s joint again, I left with him in tow.

Next stop, the Irish Rose where the owner, an ENC (ret), welcomed us to the joint with his usual hair lip grin and jolly “Hey Mac” as the girl behind the bar opened and slid two frosty beers before us. After an update and demonstration of BMC (ret)’s recently acquired XXX rated sex toys, which he rarely left home without, and a briefing of his fledgling BJ task force we eventually settled into shooting pool, reliving days gone by and reminiscing about old shipmates with the help, comfort and company of some of ENC (ret)’s finest fillies. Somebody say food?

We dined at a beach front place across the road and down from the Rose. Fresh lobsters as long as your forearm caught that day, grilled to perfection with fresh veggies and rice; washed down with ice cold bottles of beer followed by vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate and dark rum syrup. An after dinner aperitif, consisting of shots of 151 rum, and we were ready. Topped off on chow and fully armed with Peso-nality, my two retired bar owner partners and I breasted out and commenced some high speed steaming and firing runs on the local watering holes.

The night pressed on through a litany of joints and dives named and unnamed, girls and drinks too many to remember. After a while we ended up at a newly opened place that held girls boxing matches, a phenomenon just catching on at the time. As we watched one particular match between a Mutt and Jeff pair up, whereby neither opponent could be considered contenders by any stretch of the imagination, we knew not what we were about to see.

As the bell sounded and after allot of windmilling and flaying of arms the shorter of the two got a lucky uppercut in on the tall one. Now enraged with a fat lip, Legs commenced pounding on the top of Shorty’s head. With that, Shorty was working over legs midsection. I guess Leg’s stomach and kidneys were weaker than Shorty’s hard head and her poundings subsided. That’s when her feet came into play and the kicking started. Now here Legs clearly had the advantage and she went to work on Shorty with the tenacity of a cross between a Thai kickboxer and a pissed off alley cat. Soon Shorty was swooning but not before she came off with her gloves and bare handed with nails bared went for the hair.

Well, it eventually degenerated from an honorable boxing contest into a full-fledged catfight. Kicking, pulling jerking, ripping, tearing, biting and screaming the blood came in fits and spurts and the clothes came off as they rolled on the deck. Having never been witness to the myth of banshees, I can testify to the fact that they were as close as I ever care to get. Truly possessed by now, I really thought these two Luzon Lady Zenas would, in fact, dismember one another. Frighteningly, I could actually imagine and fantasize them continuing to fight as broken disembodied naked pieces; finger against toe, armpit over butt cheek, head stuffed into the pelvis.

Finally, the so-called referee, a brave man, to say the least, managed to break them up. Wisely pronouncing the contest, a draw, the prize money was split and they were best of friends once more. I have always said that I would rather fight Mohamed Ali than an enraged woman. However, there’s just something about a naked ca fight that causes a guy to cast fate to the wind, check his better judgment at the door and get that bar fine money out.

Later back at the Nepa hut bar on the beach, legs was nursing her fat lip on a cold beer bottle while I sipped on a frost encrusted hurt your hand cold beer from the freezer. While basking in the silver light of a waning gibbous Moon as it soared overhead illuminating the bay and the ebbing carnival atmosphere of the night I thought in reflection: Is everyone living this dream or is it just me? I wonder what the unlucky bastards elsewhere in the world are doing tonight. Never did I imagine, dream or the thought dawn on me, that these glory days would too soon end and become the basis of which unbelievable sea stories would spring.  As time has a habit of doing, the stories eventually became legend and now many of the legends exist only as myths; the likes of which will never be seen again.