I began my sojourn with the U.S. Navy at the age of 17 while still a junior in high school.  The military draft was still in effect and I very much did not wish to become a foot soldier and several of my older friends were reservists.  The recruiter’s office was on the second floor of the post office in the county seat and the tag line of his radio public service announcement rang in my ears:  “When the flag is out, the Chief is in.”  I skipped school one day.  The flag was out and I went in.

It wasn’t long before I received three sets of dress whites, two sets of dress blues, a set of dungarees (which I never wore during my entire tour), a raincoat, peacoat, flat hat, three white hats, neckerchief, belt, socks, underwear and shoes.  It was like going to Sears but not needing any money.  My service began the following weekend at NAS Columbus, Ohio.  Reservists in the Navy serve one weekend a month and two weeks during the summer.  My duties mostly included staying out of the way of the permanent station keepers at the base.

Following graduation I, like most other kids eager to leave the farm, went to work at the casket factory in the next town.  Come the middle of January I was wet sanding a metal coffin in an unheated room and the sander’s water line froze solid.  I quit and went on active duty the next day.

I boarded a train for the Philadelphia Receiving Station where I received some dental care, turned my head and coughed (ex-servicemen will understand) and underwent a shortarm inspection.  I applied for and got orders to Class A Yeoman School in Bainbridge, Maryland.  By this time I had attained the rating of E-3 Seaman/Yeoman-striker.  Seven weeks later I was eligible to take the exam for Petty Officer Third Class which I passed making me a non-commissioned officer and allowing me to avoid the dreaded boot camp ordeal.  That also meant I didn’t know squat about the Navy.  I had read the Blue Jacket’s Manual and the Uniform Code Of Military Justice but that’s it.  I didn’t know a square knot from a poop deck.

After serving 14 months at Cecil Field Naval Air Station near Jacksonville, Florida, I received orders for sea duty aboard the USS Glacier AGB4, then in dry dock at the Boston Naval Shipyards.  Whoopee.  She was scheduled to leave in five months for a 10-month stay at McMurdo Sound in Antarctica.  I was not looking forward to that.