USGI sea stories

[LUBEDUDE]

THat sounds like alongapo city at Subic bay. That was how they dealt with the thieves that prayed on service men. The rest of the Philipines was different.

Interesting, thank you.

If my bother told me exactly where I don’t remember, it was over 35 years ago when he told me.

[lefty o]

Interesting, thank you.

If my bother told me exactly where I don’t remember, it was over 35 years ago when he told me.

what happens in olongapo stays in olongapo!

[Todd N.]

I could tell you about things I experienced, but it gives me endless pride to tell you about my uncle, Abraham "Sonny" Nelson.

Uncle Sonny was a very comical guy as I was growing up. Heck, I never even knew he was in the service, unlike my father who served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War.

I was in my early 20's when Uncle Sonny passed away. I flew from California to the East Coast to attend his funeral, and I was stunned to see men attending in Coast Guard dress uniforms. When I asked my aunt why there were there, she explained that Uncle Sonny not only served in the Coast Guard, he served during WW2, and then she dropped the biggest bomb...

Uncle Sonny drove landing craft delivering American troops onto the beach at Normandy during the D-Day invasion!

According to what my father told me later, Uncle Sonny was part of an all-volunteer of 14 Coast Guard Chiefs and Master Chiefs who were stationed at Cape May, New Jersey training boat drivers. He volunteered into a combat role, something completely removed from his normal job.

On June 6, 1944, my uncle took the wheel of an LCVP "Higgins" boat and started delivering 30-40 troops at a time through a nonstop barrage of German gun and rocket fire onto Omaha beach. This went on around the clock with no more than 4 hours of sleep a day. During the first 6 hours, his boat was hit by machine gun fire which caused a fire and then explosion in a Jeep he had on the deck. Despite suffering 2nd degree burns, Sonny stayed onboard long enough to make certain all of his crew and the troops were off the boat and safe. He stayed aboard long enough to open the seacocks and lower the loading ramp so that the landing craft would flood and sink quickly. He and the others were quickly rescued by another LCVP that was returning from delivering troops ashore.

After returning to a Navy ship for medical treatment, Uncle Sonny snuck out of Sickbay and arranged a ride back to another ship where he got assigned another LCVP and continued working despite the severity of his injuries. Troops, vehicles, ammo, food and medical supplies were some of the things he carried from ships to the shore during the invasion. Before the beach landing phase was completed, he suffered 2nd degree burns to his chest and arm and hands, lost 1 boat, saw hundreds of men injured and killed, and wanted nothing more than to "Do What He could To Help".

My uncle never spoke of this. My dad, a Navy veteran from the Korean and Vietnam Wars, said it was many years later that his brother told him about the whole story. Some of my cousins knew that he was in the Coast Guard before they were born. In the 1950's, 60's and 70's as they all grew up with him, it was easy to view him as the Coastie who saves people from sailboat mishaps at the beach, not ever guessing that he was a hero.

And that is truly how one describes him and others of his generation- and all of the men and women who serve- who gave much, sometimes everything, and asked nothing in return- not even recognition or praise. They are our friends, neighbors, co-workers, family.

They are heroes.

[MrWolf]

Nicely said. Thanks.

[jonp]

And that is truly how one describes him and others of his generation- and all of the men and women who serve- who gave much, sometimes everything, and asked nothing in return- not even recognition or praise. They are our friends, neighbors, co-workers, family.

They are heroes.

Well said and a great story. I can't help but compare our greatest generation to todays of the same age whining about how tough life is.

[Todd N.]

And that is truly how one describes him and others of his generation- and all of the men and women who serve- who gave much, sometimes everything, and asked nothing in return- not even recognition or praise. They are our friends, neighbors, co-workers, family.

They are heroes.

Well said and a great story. I can't help but compare our greatest generation to todays of the same age whining about how tough life is.

Yes, there is a reason we call them "The Greatest Generation".

They came home from a war that raged at a magnitude that we today cannot even comprehend, with a "Can Do" attitude about life. They didn't talk about the war, they didn't whine about anything- they embraced life.

[Winger Ed.]

Stories abound of new guys being sent out to go get prop wash, flight line, etc.

One time we had a guy check in wearing LCpl chevrons that looked about 16 years old.
He wasn't 16.
He was a Viet Nam vet who had gotten out, then a few years later, came back in, but lost a couple of stripes in the process.

While checking in, he'd always worn utilities so no one had seen him in a dress uniform with 3-4 rows of ribbons.

Looking so young, and at such a low rank, he was a prime candidate for sending out on 'new kid' errands.
His new boss told him to go scrounge up several yards of flight line---- 'and don't come back without it'.

Two days later, he still wasn't back. His new boss sent a couple guys out to look for him.
They him found at the boats docks in shorts and a T shirt, fishing.

After going back to work, and listening to all the blah, blah, blah, he told 'em,
"Hey, you told me not to come back without it".

[Winger Ed.]

Had a Crew Chief in the Squadron while I was on Okinawa that was a retread who looked like a teenager.

One of his favorite sea stories was when in 1974, he came back in and was stationed at Santa Anna, Calif.
He also had lost a couple stripes when he came back in.
He had Duty NCO one night, and the Duty Officer of the Day came through.

He's there wearing a ribbon block on his chest about the size of a shoe box lid, and Combat Air Crew Wings above it.
The OD, a young 2ndLt. who had been in the Marine Corps since about last Wednesday asked him,
"Lance Corporal, where did you get all those service ribbons and Combat Air Crew wings"?
"At the PX sir".

"Really..... Does your Commanding Officer know you have, and wear all those"?
"I'm not sure sir".

The OD, "Let's call him and find out".
"Lt. its awful late,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I don't think we should bother him".

"Make the call".
He did, and gave the phone over to the young Lt.
Shortly, the Lt came to attention, then, "No sir, I didn't I didn't know that. No sir, he didn't say anything about that".

Finally, after all the blood had drained from his face, the Lt. handed the phone back and said, "Here, its for you".

Him and the CO had flown together in Viet Nam, been shot down & crashed together, and had a very good working relationship.
The Commanding Officer, in closing, said, "If you knew how hard it was being a 2nd Lt. you wouldn't tease them so much".

[LUBEDUDE]

Those last two gave me my only laughs today, thanks Ed!

[Catshooter]

That was damn funny Ed!! Thanks.


Cat

[Winger Ed.]

First: I want to thank everyone for making this thread so great, and letting it become what it is.

A late addition to the thread about Midway USA reminded me of a story from a friend.
He was a USMC vet, and went to work as a civilian in Iraq during Desert Storm as a welder/Plumber doing work for the Army.

One of his tasks was replacing the big water storage tanks on fire bases after they'd been shot up.
They'd order a new one, wait several days or a few weeks for one to come in, install it, and call to have it refilled.

He was home one time, and telling me about the tanks, and I asked why they didn't just plug the holes.
It hadn't occurred to anyone, or they didn't have anything to do it with.

I had a couple little kits of Marine-Tex and a small Brownell's accra-glass kit I sent back with him.

It worked. They'd drain the water level below the lowest hole,
then slap the epoxy & a piece of fiberglass cloth over a bullet or mortar fragment holes,
It was dry/set before a tanker truck could get back to re-fill the storage tank.

For repeat customers- they'd leave some kits with the Grunts on the base, and they'd patch the tanks them selves.

Him, the Army, and his company were Brownell's biggest customer for a year or so-
just from buying thousands of those small size epoxy patch kits.

They're a little pricey- but still cheaper than a endless stream of new water tanks.

I thought that was pretty cool.

[sniper]

My favorite Uncle was a private, went ashore on D-Day, and fought through into Germany. He was just an unschooled cowboy, but one day, we were relaxing, and he started to talk about the atrocities he saw that were committed by the Germans on other Germans...mothers shot, covering their babies with their bodies, and then the infants shot, too. I had never before seen such pain on a human's face as he recounted his experience, and seldom since. He just did it once, and never talked about it again that I knew of.

[sniper]

When I was stationed at Keesler AFB in Electronics Tech School, one day there was an airman who decided to cross the street to the PX, and made the mistake of crossing where he made a Colonel slow his car slightly. The Colonel hopped out of his car, and stood the Airman tall, commenting on his parentage and intelligence. This was in the days before name tags became mandatory for enlisted personnel. Slowing slightly, the Colonel yelled "What's your name, boy?" "Maus, Michael E. Sir " the Airman replied. Satisfied, the Colonel went on his way.

[MT Gianni]

When I was stationed at Keesler AFB in Electronics Tech School, one day there was an airman who decided to cross the street to the PX, and made the mistake of crossing where he made a Colonel slow his car slightly. The Colonel hopped out of his car, and stood the Airman tall, commenting on his parentage and intelligence. This was in the days before name tags became mandatory for enlisted personnel. Slowing slightly, the Colonel yelled "What's your name, boy?" "Maus, Michael E. Sir " the Airman replied. Satisfied, the Colonel went on his way.

Don't get it?

[Winger Ed.]

Worked with a guy that for the least little thing, he'd go all crazy.
He'd scream at a junior trooper, pitch a fit, and cuss a blue streak at them.

He got ahold of me one day, everyone in the office was trying to look invisible, duck under a desk, etc.
I listened awhile, and said, "Hey, I'd like to hang out and chat, but I really need to get back to the shop", and left.

Whew !! That made him worse...

One of the guys told me later doing something like that would get me in a lot trouble.

I told him,
"When a Master Sergeant in the Marine Corps calls you a *******, ****** mother ****er,,,, you aren't the one in trouble".

[jreidthompson1]

Don't get it?

Maus, Michael E = Mickey Mouse

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[Winger Ed.]

Years ago, I knew a guy who had been a USMC issue ground Officer during the early to late 1960's
and had served a couple of combat tours in Viet Nam.

He told a story of when a couple of his neighbors were over watching a football game and grilling, not too long after he got out.

He was in his kitchen cutting up chickens to go on the grill.
One neighbor was watching, and asked, "What the heck kind of knife is that"?

He told them it was a Marine Corps K-Bar he'd been issued in Viet Nam, as were all the Grunts over there,
and had been issued to ground troops since WWI.

The neighbor asked, "Did you ever kill anybody with it"?
It was a question he really didn't want to answer, but told him that, yes,,,, he had.

The neighbor rolled that around in his head for a moment, and said, "Don't fix me any chicken".

[jsizemore]

what happens in olongapo stays in olongapo!

Some stuff did leave and if you were lucky a shot of antibiotic would take care of it.

[samari46]

We made our Westpac Cruise roughly mid June '66 to early '67 and Olongapo was our favorite liberty post. Used to have division parties on Grande Island out in the bay.The old fort on the hill had two 10" disappearing guns still in their mounts. The sobering part was the lines of bullet scars on the walls inside the fort. Olongapo never had sewers back then and all sewage went into the ditches along side of the roads. One of my buddies got wasted one night and fell into one of the ditches. After he climbed out shore patrol tells us, well since he's one of yours make sure he gets back to the ship. Coxswain told him back of the boat on the 40' liberty launches. Officers up in the bow. Man did he ever reek. Frank

[Winger Ed.]

Some stuff did leave and if you were lucky a shot of antibiotic would take care of it.

Had a buddy that was there with the Grunts around 1990 or so-- whenever that big volcano blew up.
He was in a bar, felt a bump on his backside.
He felt back there and discovered a bar girl was trying to shake hands with his wallet.

One thing led to another, and he punched her out. He figured that was a good time to leave.
As he was headed out, the Police got after him.
To effect his escape, he jumped in and swam across **** River.

Back in the barracks, his buddies called their Fleet Corpsman.
After he'd spent about 30 minutes in the shower scrubbing down,
the Corpsman came over and gave him 9 shots.

We got shots over there for everything, and even diseases ya never heard of, or may have read about in the Bible.
On top of those, he got 9 more.