Tuesday, April 15, 2003

 

"On The Town" with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra just ended on my local PBS TV station. well, actually, I was watching it from a tape, so it ended just now in real time. I recorded it last Sunday and only just this evening after the toons ended on the Cartton Network What a movie! Only one problem, the uniforms are lacking in detail, no piping and no rating badges, and if my leading Chief had seen me with my cover tilted back that far and rolled like that, he'd have had be back down below to change in a snap. However, technicalities aside, the movie is the story of a day in New York City for 3 sailors on liberty. I've been there. Wll, not in New York, but other places onthe west coast, San Francisco, Seattle, and San Diego. I joined the Navy in 1968. I had a choice, be drafted or enlist, so i choose to enlist. At least if I enlisted, I would have some choice in what it was I would be doing in the service. So, I signed the papers for a 120 day delay program on the 1st Monday after the 1st of the year in 1968 with a reporting date on the 1st of May. My draft notice came a week after I signed the papers. I cut it close. I was an enlisted man, not an officer, which could be a distinct advantage. I went to boot camp in San Diego. From there, I went to Machinist Mate "A" school in Great Lakes, Illinois. My first was the Uss Mckean, DD-784, homeported in Long Beach, California. And this is where my story of liberty starts. The McKean was a "frem converted, gearing class, destroyer." I was fortunate to be placed in the Auxiliary Division instead of the Machinery Division, so I had the run of the whole ship for my duties instead of just the engineroom. The McKean was involved with research and developmnet involving surface ship sonar systems so we went in and out of port frequently. The trips we made also meant we went to various ports. It was in these ports that I had the chance to go on liberty just as these 3 in the movie did. The times were different than they are now. Today, a sailor can carry civilian clothes onboard and can depart on liberty in civilian clothes. Not so in 1969 when I arrived on the McKean. I was paygrade E-3 when I got there and you had to be E-5 or above to have civilian clothes onboard, which meant being in uniform to go on liberty. I never saw this as a problem, but a number of other sailors did, and I found out through them, what a locker club was all about. There used to be locker clubs, where a sailor could rent a locker and keep civilian clothes. They also had laundry facilities and showers available, and practically anything else one might need, even tailor services and civilian made uniforms, which fit so much better than the stock uniforms we were issued. One of the first things I did, was engage tailoring and had 3 complete sets of dress uniforms made. So, the way it worked was, wear the uniform off the ship, go to the locker club, shower to get the oil smell off somewhat, pick up the civilian clothes and change, drop the uniform off in the laundry, and hit the beach. On the way back, do the same, pick up the clean uniform, and drop off the civies in the laundry. This service cost a fee, of course, but was cheap at the price for the most part. What was really neat about it all was the turnaround time on the laundry was only a couple of hours at the most. I had a more of less premanent locker in Long Beach while I was stationed there. After a time, we went for an extended stay in San Diego, and of course, I got a locker there for the duration. The locker clubs in San Diego were better than Long Beach as there were many more sailors. All of the clubs had lists of other clubs in other ports so that when it came time to hit another port, you could get your things sent on ahead and have them all ready upon arrival. This even went os far as to include ports overseas! I never had the chance to go overseas on the McKean, but I did later when I got to a submarine, but by that time, I could carry civies and no longer needed to rent a locker, but I still used the showers and laundry facilities for my uniforms. This period of time, when I had a locker and made use of the clubs was among the best of times I spent when I was onboard a ship. I have a lot of good memories of that time, and seeing this movie brought all of this flooding back into my mind. One other thing came back, about uniforms. The Navy used to use Melton Wool. You can't get this material anymore. When the Navy was changing from wool to gabardine, my mother convinced me to buy a couple of the wool uniform jumpers. She cut them up the front and put in a zipper and each of my 2 younger sisters got a rather unique jacket as a result. At the same time, she put a zipper in my jumpers to replace the seam under the left arm down the side. Pulling on a jumper was a chore if it was tailored to fit around the chest and my mom figured out a zipper would help, and it did. I was able to have tailored jumpers which fit well and I could put on easily. Of course, some of the other men onboard noticed my new zippers and wondered where they could get it done and my mom volunteered to assist. There are at least dozen other jumpers out there belonging to several men I sailed with who benefitted. Like me, they didn't have the cash to use the tailor services at the clubs to get this done. The clubs wanted way too much. You could buy a whole new uniform for the price they wanted to install a zipper under the arm on just one jumper, so my mom came to the rescue. Thanks, Mom! So, anyway, I watched a nice movie, and I relived some nice memories of what it was like to be in the Navy at a time when locker clubs were in vogue and it was good. I just noticed that this movie was made the year after I was born, in 1949. Strange, that it holds so much that is similar to things I expereinced in Long Beach and San Diego over 20 years later.

Posted by: Rowlfe - at: 4/15/2003 02:31:00 AM

Comments: Post a Comment