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BAINBRIDGE NAVAL TRAINING CENTER Bainbridge, MD
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BAINBRIDGE NAVAL TRAINING CENTER Bainbridge, MD
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Main Gate
This is where it all began in June of 1946 just prior to the end of WW-II. Here we marched, and learned how to take care of ourselves in any situation we would be presented in the days to come. We learned discipline, cleanliness, and a new sense of "oneness" with our fellow man. Military life is a team effort, and the group is only as strong as the weakest link...so in order to save our own lives, we learned to act and do things instantly. From what I can gather, boot camp today is a far cry from what it was then, in a wartime situatioin.
Bainbridge Naval Training Center Maryland
Recruits or "Boots"
Note the canvas leggings which have to be laced up that give the suggestion that
a person is wearing boots, thus the term "boots". Leggings are only worn
in Recruit training...When you graudate, you are finished with them forever!
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USS
Shannon DM-25 |
USS Shannon DM-25
call sign NUHQ
My first taste of sea duty. Reported on board early January 1947 and
remained a crewmember until my obligated service was up in May 1948. This
was to be my first tour aboard Shannon.
Believe it or not, I was sea sick before we got out of sight of land en route from Charleston, SC to New Orleans and on to Colon, CZ in early 1947. All during both my tours, Shannon served as the flagship of Commander, MinDiv2 flagship
My first permanent job aboard Shannon was as a messcook....known to Beetle Bailey as "kp". In fact, of my first 7 months of naval service after finishing boot camp was....you guessed it...Messcooking. I thought I was never gonna get outa there. Finally I did and was transferred to the Auxilliary Gang...where I was just a warm body, and engine room watch-stander..a "gopher". During this period, we made a trip to Africa via Recife, Brasil to celebrate Liberia's 100th anniversary. We arrived in Monrovia and was amazed that people live in the squalor and filth that most of these people did...At this time, indoor toilet facilities was maybe a hole in the floor, and I am not kidding...At one bar close to the capital building in Monrovia, I witnessed and used this "facility" after drinking a few beers...bottled of course. We drank no water there...only bottled drinks, and believe me, I ate all my meals aboard ship.
We spent a week there and then left for Dakar, Senegal (French West Africa) and spent a few days learning more about Africa.
We returned home to Charleston, and remained in port the remainder of my time aboard. Just before my service ended, I was transferred TAD to USS Fitch DMS-25, who was shorthanded. We went to KeyWest and on to New Orleans for a few days of their Mardi Gras, then overnight we steamed to Mobile Alabama to help them celebrate their Mardi Gras week. While there, I boarded the L&N's Hummingbird and took an overnight trip to Birmingham to visit my Uncle Joe and Aunt Margaret. Sure surprised them...but was only able to stay 4 hours then back on a train to Mobile again. (Who said kids weren't crazy??...but then I was only barely 21). We had a great time in Mobile, and we did put down lots of beer. Then back to Charleston and discharge.
When I left ship upon the completion of my 2 year enlistment, shortened to 20 months for "downsizing", I was still Seaman Apprentice (SA)...the lowest of the lowly.
I went home with my $300 mustering-out pay...happy to be away from making $50 a month for lots of paint chipping, gophering and messcooking...and believe me, all those jobs are HARD, monotonous jobs. Went back to Alabama to spend the summer with my mom and relatives, and just chilled out...doing nothing but drawing my unemployment.
Come September, I went back to enroll in Berea College for my sophomore year, finding my old room-mate Harry Shaw and all my other friends were now Seniors....and also that my girlfriend, Mary Lou Smith was now enthralled with someone else. Not to worry..I was now a world traveler, having been to the bright lights of far-away foreign ports of call...Recife,Brasil, Monrovia Liberia Santos, and
History
USS Shannon, a 2200-ton Robert H. Smith class light minelayer, was built at
Bath, Maine. Begun as a destroyer (designated DD-737), she was converted to a
minelayer while under construction and was commissioned in September 1944.
Shannon was sent to the Pacific in November 1944, following her shakedown.
During 1945, she took part in the Iwo Jima and Okinawa campaigns and assisted
with post-war minesweeping activities before returning to the United States late
in the year. |
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USS Thomas E Fraser DM-24 NAVAL BASE
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Destroyer-Minelayer of Mine
Division 2 based at Naval Mine Base Charleston, SC
Fraser was stationed in Charleston, along with Shannon, Harry F Bauer, and Gwin,
all ships of MineDiv 2,and it was from this ship that I first came in contact
with my wife....as told in the first few chapters of my
book. I served in Fraser from 1953 to mid 1955 when I departed for my
next dury station.
The feelings I had for service life in the Navy blossomed forth aboard this
ship. The camaraderie, the tours to great places and the love of country became
a fire inside me that would never be extinguished. I learned responsibility,
leadership and going to work became fun...cause we all took pride in the work we
did.
The XO of the ship, CDR T. A. Smithey, was a great inspiration to me. He was
much older than me......but listening to him talk of his incredible life
.....from the Death March on Bataan, on to the present really touched me.
He was a certified hero, and I was privileged to serve with him. He was
the driving force in convincing me that I had a future in the US Navy. He was so
right. I did. One other mentor who taught me responsibility and doing the job
right the first time was QM1 Charlie Denman. Charlie was a fine man, a true Navy
man. I will never forget him either.
A brief history of Fraser's exploits following her brilliant Pacific record during WWII
On the 26 December 1945, she
got underway and steamed via the Canal Zone to Norfolk, arriving there on 8
January 1946. Late in March, the destroyer minelayer put in at Charleston for
overhaul and remained in that port until late in the year when she participated
in a reserve training cruise with Wisconsin (BB-64) which continued into January
1947. From February until May, she operated out of various Caribbean ports, then
returned to Norfolk. On the last day of June, she departed Hampton Roads;
steamed to Recife, Brazil then proceeded on to the African port of Monrovia for
a courtesy and good-will visit during Liberia's centennial celebration. After
stopping at Senegal, she returned to the east coast on 16 August.
The destroyer minelayer continued operations off the Atlantic coast ranging as
far north as Argentia and as far south as the Caribbean. On 1 December 1947, she
was immobilized; but she was again back in service by May 1949. Following local
operations out of Guantanamo in July, the ship departed Hampton Roads early in
August and called at Cherbourg, France, before returning to the Caribbean where
she remained until she returned to Charleston in November.
In September 1950, she broke the routine of training operations off the east
coast-with a Mediterranean deployment which continued until 22 January 1951 when
she departed Oran. In June, she was again underway for European ports, this time
on a midshipman cruise which took her to Copenhagen, Plymouth, and Lisbon. In
July, she visited Cuba before returning to the east coast. For the next three
years, she varied exercises off the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean with
brief voyages to Europe.
In February 1955, she engaged in mine planting off Key West in support of a
fleet service mine test program, one of her last assignments. I remember this
well....can recall the letters I got from my future bride while completing this
assignment. Upon our return to Charleston the middle of February, I
re-enlisted for the first time...and went on 30 days leave....heading to
Birmingham to get married....read about it in my book....On
10 June 1955, she was placed in reserve; and, on 12 September, she was
decommissioned and placed in reserve at Portsmouth (N.H.) Naval Shipyard. Her
name was struck from the Navy list on 1 November 1970.
Thomas E. Fraser received three battle stars for World War II service.
For info on joining the USS Fraser Association, click HERE to email Ted Betts (Association Secretary) and he will dispatch you all the pertinent information
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I have the urge to try relating some of the experiences, thoughts, and tribulations that a typical career military family might experience. Most of these stories have been told and shown during many "slide showing" exhibitions during our lifetime, and our kids know most of this by rote. I feel it is important that at least a small portion of this family’s life be put in a form that can be passed on to our heirs. I hope they will someday appreciate what transpired during the early days of our marriage. This is, in the main, a love story. My words are not as smooth and glib as the words one would normally find in one of those steamy "Harlequin" romances you find permeating the book racks in groceries and corner drug stores. Therefore, you may have to look closer and more carefully to detect the great love and respect I have for my wife of 40 plus years. My writing has always been rougher than ‘hickory bark’, but sometimes a lucid idea finds it’s way through all the double negatives, dangling participles, and sometimes incomplete sentences, not to mention double entendres. Also, you will find out later that my writing was and is the cause of all the good luck I have had while living this life. I will forewarn you that there might be times when reading between the lines is in order to better understand the true meaning of some of my convoluted thought patterns. So here I am, sending up another trial balloon, just to see if I can write this book. If it doesn't fly, or if it seems to fizzle out and leave you flat, just chalk it up to a lack of know-how, not love of my family. Albert Sharpton |
Thus started the grand love story of my life...these next pages chronicle the events that led up to and my meeting the woman of my life...It is true and factual down to the last dot. This story will continue on through my entire navy career, so to read it all, you have to visit each of my future duty stations to get the ensuing chapters....;))
The next day, I was
finally able to call my mom. She sounded awfully good to a sad, bedraggled, hung-over
sailor boy who should have known better. Since I had lost all my money when I lost my
wallet, I had to get her to borrow some money in order to bail me out and pay my fine.
Finally, she came up with the money, and I was never more shamefaced before or since. As
Jerry Lewis once said, I was a "bad boy".
When I finally went
before the Judge, he fined me $200, and suspended my privelege to drive in the Great State
of Alabama. That presented me with a quandary. How to get me and my car, not only back to
Cullman, but back to South Carolina? Surely I had to drive because there was no way I was
going to abandon my automobile, and I certainly couldn't walk back to Charleston. So when
I finally left home for my return trip to Charleston, I prayed all the while that no
accident would befall me. It was probably the most circumspect trip I ever made,
especially in Alabama. Once in Georgia, I breathed a small sigh of relief. After an
uneventful trip, I arrived safely in Charleston, not having had an opportunity to tell my
sad story to a Highway Trooper. I began to have
troubling thoughts about the direction my life was taking me. The thought that I was a 27
year old chap without even the money to get out of jail was getting under my skin. That
was bad enough, but the problem that had led me to being in jail in the first place was
becoming a sore spot in my psyche. With nothing to show for my life except a few mental
scars from past experiences and two broken marriages, and with only a beat up Ford
Convertible to call my own, I was a total loss, a loser in other words. Finally, after
much trepidation, I reached the conclusion that I had neither goal nor direction in my
life, that I was knocking myself from pillar to post by my lack of direction.
THE DECISION called
for immediate action. I found myself alone one night sitting in the Navigation Office
aboard the USS Fraser pondering my situation. Thoughts of being alone, of talking to
myself, brought me to the realization that being lonely and alone was the biggest part of
my problem. I had been spending every cent I made, and had not saved even a dollar. I had
enjoyed the so-called "good life", with no thought of the future. More introspection
brought me to the decision that upon embarking on a new life,I needed someone with whom I
could talk and confide, someone with whom to share trust and LOVE, but mainly I needed
someone who would reciprocate that trust and LOVE. I needed someone to share the lonely
nights, dreams and aspirations that came with the territory of any military man who is
away from home for long stretches of time. I needed someone who could turn those lonely
nights into nights of joy and contentment. What I needed could only come from one source.
I needed a WIFE. When God saw how faulty was
man, he tried again and made woman" Remy de Courmont Where could a sailor in Charleston, SC get one of those?? Charleston
was known as a Navy Town and in the 1950's, good girls did not look favorably on sailor's
as marriage prospects. Then, it was not unlikely that you would see signs in
yards..."Sailors and dogs Keep Off". This was not true all over the country,
mainly occurring in old Navy towns such as Norfolk and Charleston. I was bound and determined that I was going to be
heard by someone and soon. Below is the letter I penned while I was in that contemplative
mood after spending a lonely Christmas alone on the ship. Wednesday 28 December The Birmingham News When home on leave I read your column several times
and in one you published a letter from a girl who was interested in writing to service men
either at home or abroad. I am sorry that I don't remember her name or where she was from,
but I am sure you have it on file. It was in an early December edition of the News. I am
very much interested in corresponding with young women from Alabama between the ages of 20
and 27. As you know, mail is one of the things anyone away from home, especially in the
service, desires most of all. And usually, it is one of the hardest things to get. I wrote and
posted the letter to Judy that very night and proceeded to completely forget ever writing
it. I suppose at the time that I had little faith in Judy's ability to help me. My self
esteem was so low that I had plenty of doubts about any thing being able to help me, but
doubt should have never entered my mind. I was to find out shortly that I should have
never doubted the power of the press. In the euphoria of what happened, I overlooked
writing Judy to thank her for the stellar assistance she rendered a lonely sailor. Shortly thereafter, we left
Charleston on our annual "SPRINGBOARD" cruise to the Caribbean. We went down
there to practice war games in a more hospitable climate than was found in the operating
areas adjacent to the US coast during the winter months. We usually made either San Juan
or Charlotte Amalie our home away from home, but we also visited such ports as Fort de
France, Martinique, Port of Spain, Trinidad, the Grenadines, Santo Domingo and other
lovely ports. It was what we called a "working vacation". The trip was uneventful, and after
about five days, we arrived in San Juan, and soon found ourselves passing the old fort and
entering the beautiful harbor, with the city of San Juan on the north side of the harbor,
and the San Juan Airport on the south side. As always, as soon as we moored, the Mail PO
would be one of the first to leave the ship in order to pick up our incoming mail at the
Fleet Post Office (FPO). As soon as he returned and sorted out each divisions mail, the
Bo'sun would pipe MAIL CALL over the 1MC system, "All Mail PO's lay down to the mail
room to draw division's mail". When our division mail PO started passing out the
mail, he kept yelling my name over and over. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! I had
mail, oh, did I have mail! I don't recall how many letters I received that afternoon, but
it was well over 50. I had completely forgotten about that dumb letter I had written to
Judy Brown. After reading the first few letters my recollection of writing THAT letter was
rekindled. Plans to go ashore that night of 8 January to tour the fleshpots of San Juan
were cancelled in favor of reading letters. From the first group of letters was a
seemingly innocent letter dated 5 January from Ann McGraw of Birmingham, Alabama. The die was cast. My letter of
December 28 had brought positive results. I had rolled the dice....I just had to make sure
I didn't roll snake-eyes! Chills still run up and down my spine when I recall the
decisions I started formulating that night as I read those letters. Next day's mail call
brought another 30-40 more letters. That's when I really started thinking about the
problems as to how in the world to answer all these letters. I couldn't afford to answer
all of them, even at the three cents per letter it cost in those days prior to the Post
Office Department becoming the Postal Service. I certainly couldn't answer every one of
them, because I didn't have the time. We were on maneuvers, practicing war like always.
I finally devised a plan to weed
through the letters, picking and choosing the ones which seemed to share common interests,
and were interesting and understanding. That in itself was some task, because of the
quantity of letters. I was faced with a dilemma similar to the little boy in the ice cream
store who had a choice of 37 varieties from which to choose. Of the several hundred or so
received, I kept the thirty letters that touched me the most and seemed the most
compatible to my ideals. I was going to correspond with that many until we could gather
our thoughts and make more meaningful decisions on just which ones to consider
corresponding with on a permanent basis. I was searching for someone who was also
lonesome. I believed that I would be able to choose someone who could and would become
very close to me. Many of the correspondents only wanted to carry on a friendly
correspondence, but that was not what I wanted. I hated to not answer their letters, but I
was on a quest and they didn't fill the bill. Don Herold Day by day, port by
port, the mail filtered in. Ann continued to answer the letters I was writing her. They
were written in answer to my first few sporadic letters. Later, during the latter part of
the cruise, our letters started to cross in the mail very frequently as we became closer.
During the first three weeks of the cruise, I still continued to receive friendly letters
from other girls. I had a CONCRETE goal, and although I appreciated all their letters and
thoughts, I was only interested in CERTAIN letters. I pride myself in an ability to read
between the lines, and to uncover the thoughts behind the written words. I have found out
in my lifetime that many people don't mean exactly what they say, and don't say exactly
what they mean. That's why politicians are so adept at lying to the public. They have
learned the secret of doublespeak and they always have hidden agendas behind their prose
and verbiage. Anyway, many thoughts are left unsaid for a variety of reasons. That is
usually the case in correspondence of this type, and my goal was to ferret out the
correspondent that would help me achieve my goal of getting my life on the right track. So
I read and re-read letters, then went back and re-read some even the third and forth
times. I narrowed
them down to about 20 or so over a period of 2-3 weeks. I kept on reducing the number of
correspondents, until finally after the exchange of 10 or so letters with a girl, I could
usually find out whether we were on the same playing field or not. By February 13th, the
day we arrived back in Key West, I had narrowed my choices to 3 young Alabama ladies. I
was corresponding with these three on a weekly basis, more or less. I fully believed that
one of them would one day become my wife. My life and my future was on the line. Ann was
my Number 1 choice and as I have looked back on my decisions, that is one decision that I
did not f... up. I made a lot of bum decisions during my life, but this was the best
decision I ever made. I had decided, although I hadn't told either of the three, that I
was going to marry one of them very soon. We made a
short stop-over at Key West, Fla. doing some practice mine laying exercises off nearby
Fort Jefferson. Finally, on the 21st day of February, we returned to our home port of
Charleston, South Carolina. I spent about a week running around like a chicken minus it's
head. I had finally decided to make the Navy a career. I had posed that situation to Ann
in several letters, and she was of the mind that if I wanted to remain in the Navy, then
that's what I should do. She had intimated that she would be amenable to being a sailor's
wife. Though I had not asked her, we were already beating around the bush about things of
that nature. So I spent the first week back getting re-enlisted for six (6) more years in
the Navy. I called her
on the phone from the EM club in Charleston early in the morning of 1 March to inform her
I would be in Birmingham that evening and asked her to go out with me. I told her to pick
a nice place to dine and dance so we could get better acquainted. I suggested the night
spot in the Tutwiler Hotel, or any other nice club, but told her she could decide where to
go that first evening. The reason I let her decide where we would spend our first evening
together was because this was a blind date and I wanted Ann to feel completely comfortable
in well-known surroundings. She assured me she would be looking forward to my arrival.
That was the first time I had ever spoken to her, and that was a long distance call from
Charleston. My first real "physical" communication with her. She had, I thought,
a hellacious Southern accent, but I guess now in retrospect, it wasn't all that bad.
Our first encounter was no earth
shaking encounter. It was as if we had known each other for some time. We introduced
ourselves and visited with each other for a few minutes to get our relationship off to a
friendly start. I met and made small talk with her family, and after a short while, we
escaped on our first date. I asked her what she had planned on us doing, since I had left
the decision as to the location of our dinner to her. Did we go to the Tutwiler Hotel or
another one of the more expensive dine and dance spots???? No, we went to a TRUCK STOP out
on the Chattanooga Highway (US 11) on the northeast side of town. That's probably why we
have such an affinity for truck stops even to this day. We'd rather eat at a truckstop
than the Tutwiler any day!! I have to say that truck stops
back in the earlier days were different than the plastic stops of today. They had
booths, a dance floor and good food. We danced and ate hamburgers in a dark booth and got
to know each other. We had a great time. I took Ann home and then we sat up and talked and
talked. I don't know what time I left, but it was very, very late and she had to go to
work the next morning. I shouldn't have kept Ann up so late, but I just couldn't find it
in my heart to say "Good night", and she didn't push me out either!! It seemed
as if we just had so much to say to each other and not enough time. After several nights
like that, with her getting little sleep, her family figured that if I was gonna stay all
night anyway, that I might as well move into the guest room. I had left Motel Birmingham
and moved into the Empire Hotel in downtown Birmingham so I would be near where she worked
at Bromberg's. I moved from a room in the Empire Hotel into their guest room, and into
their daughter's heart. Well, Daddy and Mamma didn't raise
no fool. I deduced that they would not have extended the invitation to move into their
home if their daughter was not interested in me. That told me that Ann was as
interested in me as I was in her. With the passing of each day, we became more enthralled
with each other. She was having to go to work each day, and I would meet her for lunch and
pick her up in the evening after work, then we would go out. I came to the conclusion that
I had reached the end of my quest. There was no need for me to go on to meet any of the
other two women as planned. I stood them up and never looked back. I burned my bridges
because I had found what I wanted and I intended to ask Ann to marry me. I don't remember
the actual circumstances of asking Ann to become my wife, but I must have asked, because
when I finally left her parents guest room, I took their daughter with me! One thing for sure that I want to
make plain to our kids, mamas and dads: We had no sex until after we had been married
legally. Whether that is important or not is up to each individual, I suppose, but our
marriage has lasted since 17 March , and we didn't miss anything by waiting the few days
necessary to do it right in the eyes of God. In fact, except for fondling one breast
through her clothing just for a moment while parked out by the airport, there was never
any heavy petting of any kind before we got married. I don't say we didn't feel like it,
nor will I say we didn't want to...we both did, but we had better sense. We knew that one
day we would have children and we could always look them in the eye and tell them that
when we married each other, we had never violated God's commandment.
I Must Now Re-direct my Life
Today, those cities love the Navy. So, If I was going to search for a
wife, I would have to find a milieu more suitable to my needs. My home state of Alabama
became the target of my search. That posed an immediate problem of how to meet and marry
an Alabama girl while stationed South Carolina? My quick and fertile mind recalled that
while in Alabama, I had read a "lonely hearts" column in the Birmingham News
written by Judy Brown, who was somewhat of an early "Dear Abby". I remembered it
had featured letters from soldier and sailors who were lonely (all sailors and soldiers
are lonely) and wanted letters from home. 
Charleston, SC
Dear Judy Brown,
Sincerely yours,
Albert Sharpton
USS Fraser DM-24
c/o FPO New York, NY
I would gladly raise my voice in
praise of women, only they won't let me raise my voice
"Once a woman has given you her heart you
can never get rid of the rest of her" Jon Vanbrugh
Want to hear the tale of an unbelievable honeymoon??? I was still awfully dumb for a 27 year old sailor, who had sailed the seven seas, and been previously married. But to tell the unvarnished truth, I was still cloddish when it came to knowing how to handle women. I mean, I was DENSE. I was raised so far back in the sticks that it took me about 40 years to get to the point that I knew anything about women, and by then I was too solidly tied to Ann Elizabeth to do anything about it.
I have been digressing to set the
tone for our honeymoon, which was ludicrous in retrospect. Let me get on with this tale of
our Honeymoon. Ann and I had planned to go to Charleston, S. C. taking our three sisters
with us as "chaperons" before we decided to get married. They had made much ado
about the trip, so what could we do? Our hastily drawn plans had included all of us
spending the one night at my brother's house and then returning to Birmingham the next
day.
Our getting married caused Ann and me to re-assess our plans, but since we had
to go to Charleston anyway, (I was about broke and had to go back to the ship
to draw my paycheck), we decided to go ahead and take our sisters along. We
had to rethink our sleeping plans though, because even though we loved our
brothers and sisters, we didn’t need their advice on our so-called
"Honeymoon". Ann and I altered our plans about our staying at Bill’s though
the sisters did stay there.
After arriving in Charleston and spending a decent interval visiting with Bill and Faye, we set out to find honeymoon lodging (cozier accommodations) for us the evening. It was unfortunate for us that a festival of some type was going on in Charleston at the time and rooms were at a premium. After looking all over Charleston, and across the river we finally had to take lodging that wasn’t all that cozy. It was an old historic hotel on Meeting St., and we had to accept a room that had no bath. The only bathroom was at the end of the hallway!! You would never find a room like that in any of today’s plastic hotels/motels, but in those days, a hotel room with bath was somewhat of a luxury. Rooms in the older hotels were mostly void of baths as we know them. Believe me, it wasn’t that big a deal back then. We were lucky to find that one and we looked for over an hour before we finally found it. Remember, this is the second night of the rest of our lives! We finally settled down though and I am sure we enjoyed the sharing of connubial bliss. We have had many a laugh over this honeymoon in our lifetime. The next morning we enjoyed a leisurely Charleston breakfast of those great Charleston grits and ham and went about conducting our business
I boarded USS FRASER DM-24 to draw my pay and to see if anything had come up since I had left on leave. I was informed that I had received orders transferring me to PLOVER MSC(O)-33, a mine sweeper stationed at Panama City, Florida. That was an unexpected pleasure for those small minesweepers were not sea-going vessels.
While aboard, I happily told all my shipmates about my new bride. They knew that I had gone to Alabama to get married, but hadn’t believed me! After a short visit, I left the ship, rejoined Ann, went to pick up our sisters, and headed back to Birmingham. The impending transfer gave us plenty to talk about and discuss on our trip home. The transfer orders tickled hell out of both of us. Here we were on our third day of marriage and things were already looking up. How many other young married couples have the opportunity to start out their marriages in a fun spot such as Panama City, Florida? It was great, and we more or less planned to do our serious honeymooning over there in PC!!
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USS PLOVER MSC(O)-33 US NAVAL MINE DEFENSE LABORATORY
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This was our home port...in Panama City
Florida...Was called the Mine Laboratory
at the time. (Minelab Base). Was
transferred here while on leave getting married to Ann. Was a wonderful place to
honeymoon. Had many a party on the beaches behind the sand dunes. Lots of
hotdogs roasted and fun. Was only a QM3 at the time making very little money...but
we had lotsa love to keep us warm...besides, it was mostly warm in PC
anyway!! And the duty on the Plover was wonderful. Most of the time
we operated within sight of the beaches...but occasionally we would take a
cruise....Went to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, to Key West, and on to Havana, Cuba
(pre-Castro). Havana was a beautiful place to visit then...great
restaurants, beaches and we had a ball. Also visited Mobile. All the
places we visited were great liberty ports.
Specifications: Displacement 350 t.; Length 136'; Beam 24' 6"; Draft 6' 1"; Speed 12 kts; Complement 50; Armament one single 3"/50 gun mount, two 20mm, two dct, two dcp; Propulsion diesel, two shafts, 500hp.
We enjoyed the remainder of my leave in Birmingham. Ann moved into the
"guest" room with me, and we lived for the free moments that she had off from
work. She kept right on working in order to help our finances along in order
to make our establishing a new home easier. We lived an idyllic life for the
remainder of March, and then I had to go
back to Charleston and to work myself.
I returned to pick up my orders and check out of Fraser, which took about two
days or so. I did post Ann a letter while there and here is the stamp and
postmark to prove it!! As soon as possible, I left Fraser for the
last time and bid her and my pals a fond adieu and headed back to Birmingham to
spend a few days more with my bride while en-route to my new duty station aboard the PLOVER.
PLOVER was operating in waters adjacent to Key West at the time, undergoing underway minesweeping training. So after spending another couple of days in Birmingham with my bride, I had to catch a Greyhound bus and make the long, lonesome trip to Key West. Ann continued working at Bromberg’s, and we got back into writing letters once again. I had been in Key West less than two months previous and been single, and now here I was down there again, on the same pier, and married. What goes around seems to come around. I didn’t know just how long the PLOVER would be in Key West before returning to home port of Panama City and the US Mine Defense Lab.
After reporting aboard, I found that it would be 4-6 weeks before we returned to our home port of Panama City, so we whiled away the time, continuing our letter writing. We were still getting to know each other and those letters served as the foundation of our future lives together. Today, rereading those letters still bring tears to my eyes as I reminisce over some of the thoughts contained in them.
Finally, the great day came when we sailed from Key West for Panama City. As soon as we arrived in PC, I took off to Birmingham to retrieve my wife and bring her to PC for a week of house hunting. She had promised Bromberg’s when she gave her notice that she would continue there until 1 June, giving them time to hire another book-keeper. We rented a motel room right across from the Putt-Putt golf course on Hwy 98 not very far east of the bridge. You wouldn’t believe the crying that went on in Birmingham when I tore Ann apart from her mother and grandmother and took her away for a week of whoopee!!. We whoopeed every chance we got! We had some great times in Panama City. We had a beach party during the first weekend. It was almost a disaster though. Ann took off her watch, wrapped it in paper, and somehow lost it in the sand. Luckily, when we went back the next morning (A Sunday morning), we found it, still wrapped up in a Kleenex. We finally got her moved to PC into our first home on 2nd St. in Panama City, Fla., did we start having fun. Her family was still apprehensive, but what the heck! We had lots of fun, just being married. Some of the things we went through were hilarious. I remember that when Ann discovered that she was pregnant, immediately thereafter I couldn’t drink coffee in the mornings on the ship
without heaving my guts out over the side. I still don’t understand that phenomena. Ann said it was sympathetic morning sickness. I don’t know, but I had more of it than she did! (Her mama had told me on her wedding day that she could never have children, because of a problem she had while a teenager. I told Rose not to worry, that I would see she did.)
We lived in the house on 2nd St. from June until August in 1955, but we have memories a batch. One was my breaking the bed down during a slight so-called "temper tantrum". I was peeved at Ann because while we were "swanging" on the front porch, she purportedly got "sea-sick" from the "swanging" so she got up and left me on the front porch with Weena. Since I couldn’t stand to be apart from her, I went in and flounced down on the bed alongside her. When I did, the slats gave way, crashing us to the floor!! Weena must have thought we were having a rough session of Whoopee! I was under the impression that the main reason she was down there. so I thought at the time and still do, by the way, was to make sure I acted civilized and didn’t get overly intimate with Rose’s daughter, Ann E. Anyway, after we picked ourselves up out of the debris of the bedding, and recovered from the surprise, we both broke up. I mean it really broke us up. We were laughing and cutting up and loving each other just like kids.!!! I don’t remember the exact excuse we gave Weena. I do know that Weena wasn’t into "whoopee!" as a recreational sport at that time. We were. It was funny then. It’s even funnier now.
Another memorable time in the house on 2nd St. happened while her mother and step-father, Rose and Paul, were down visiting us. Ann was cooking waffles for supper, and I must have been extremely hungry. I think I ate a minimum of 15 waffles, and quite possibly more. At the time I weighed about 150 soaking wet, and could just about eat my weight at a meal. I think Paul and I were trying to see who could eat the most. I knew then that I had married a good cook because those waffles were outstanding. It must have been the flour!!!. Ann was and is one of the premier cooks in the USA. Never mind about Rose and Paul’s visit. I never let them ever rain on our marriage. When we returned to Panama City on a visit in 1985 and again in 1990, we drove down 2nd Street several times to assure ourselves that our first home was still there, even to the SWING!.
From that large old house, we soon moved to a small converted WWII wash-house (18 Daniels Apts.) much closer to the base, a hop, skip and jump to the Bay Bridge. It was a great one bedroom house with privacy and in a great location, right on the water. The fact that several shipmates and their wives lived there made it even better. There is a University located there now, so we are deprived of re- visiting that site of many good memories again. Ann had some much needed neighbors who were military wives and sisters under the skin. They became close friends while we were at sea. Our closest friends were David and Barbara McAlister, who left the Navy just about the time we left PC. They moved to 115 Haygood St. in Pickens, SC. We heard from them a few times afterwards, but time has a way of ruining good friendships if they are not tended with care and since our paths had parted, our first friendship finally withered away.
Among the goodies we loved to eat in Panama City were the Cuban sandwiches, and huge hamburgers we used to get after a trip to the drive-in movies. On very special occasions (pay-days), we might go to the SHRIMP BOAT, a trendy seafood Restaurant that was built on a pier over the water, and is still a great place to eat. (We checked it out again in 1985!). (Sorry, after checking in 1990, it’s now boarded up). We also became quite proficient at carpet golf, which was located near our home. Beach picnics and parties were also high on our agenda.
The letter reproduced below changed the direction our lives took. After long
and careful evaluation of the career fields in the US Navy, I decided that
learning electronics would open up the path for earlier and more consistent
promotions during the remainder of my career. I needed those promotions in order
to earn the extra money and better take care of our family. I know now that we
made the correct decision when we submitted the ensuing letter.
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30 August 1955 From: SHARPTON, Albert D., 284-28-13, QM3, USN To : Chief of Naval Personnel Via : Commanding Officer, U.S.S. Plover (MSC(O)-33) Subj: Volunteer Program for change of rating to ET & FT by career personnel Ref : (a) BUPERS INSTRUCTION 1440.12 1. I desire to be assigned to training as necessary to qualify for a change in rating to Electronics Technician. 2. I meet requirements in reference (a) as listed below: a. Years of active duty service: Six (6). b. Obligated service: Five (5) years, seven (7) months. c. Test scores: GCT 69; ARI 60 = 129; MK ELECT 50. d. Proficiency in Rate average as Petty Officer: 3.66 Albert D. Sharpton MSC(O)33/ GK:drh /P16-3 Serial: 219 30 August 1955 FIRST ENDORSEMENT From: Commanding Officer, U.S.S. PLOVER (MSC(O)-33) To : Chief of Naval Personnel 1. Forwarded, recommending approval. George Kramer
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In due time, I was accepted into Electronics "A" School at Great Lakes, Illinois. in the meantime, Ann informed me that she was pregnant. On this date, her exact words are lost in the haze of memory overload, but I can assure you that two people were made happy by those words. We were actively seeking to start a family so we certainly had no regrets. At that point we had so many things to be happy about that we could hardly contain ourselves. We had a future to look forward to, and we were finally in the process of starting our family. We had a minimum of things and money, but then we didn’t need lot’s of "things". We had each other. We had a good future looking us in the face, so we were thrilled to be getting on with our lives. We were getting farther away from our families back home, both in distance and in mind. We were becoming a family unit of on our own terms, starting our own traditions that would live forever. WE WERE BECOMING AS ONE!!!
While in Panama City, we found our first dog that would adopt us and love us. He was a small "Heinz 57" type dog that we dearly loved. His name was "Tippy", and he was nothing special, except that like all dogs, he gave us all the love he had. We did our best to reciprocate. But our association was only transitory, because on our transfer to our next duty station, we would be unable to take him with us. We took him to Logan, and left him with Granny Sharpton with instructions to love him and let him have the run of the farm. He did, but when we next came back, he had found someone else, because he was gone from Granny’s home.
We had so few possessions then that we were able to move from Panama City, Florida to Waukegan, Illinois in the trunk and back seat of our car. At the time I had that big old yellow and black Chrysler New Yorker Newport hard top convertible, probably a 1950 model. When I say huge, I mean huge. It had a straight 8 engine that was about a mile long, or so it seemed and it was definitely a touring car. We packed everything we possessed (including Ann’s cedar chest which we still have) into the trunk and back seat of that automobile and away we went. Of course, we stopped in Birmingham, Cullman and Akron on the way. We had to show off our independence and let the parents know that we were not afraid of going off somewhere alone, all by ourselves. We were not alone, we had each other.
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Great Lakes Naval Training Center North Chicago, IL
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ET "A" School, Basic Electronics and Conversion
After long and careful evaluation of the career fields in the US Navy, I decided that learning electronics would open up the path for earlier and more consistent promotions during the remainder of my career.
We had so few possessions then that we were able to move from Panama City, Florida to Waukegan, Illinois in the trunk and back seat of our car. At the time I had that big old yellow and black Chrysler New Yorker Newport hard top convertible, probably a 1950 model. When I say huge, I mean huge. It had a straight 8 engine that was about a mile long, or so it seemed and it was definitely a touring car. We packed everything we possessed (including Ann’s cedar chest which we still have) into the trunk and back seat of that automobile and away we went. Of course, we stopped in Birmingham, Cullman and Akron on the way. We had to show off our independence and let the parents know that we were not afraid of going off somewhere alone, all by ourselves. We were not alone, we had each other.
While in Akron visiting Dad, we made one of the smart decisions we ever made. On November 30, 1955, we opened a checking account by depositing $100 at the First National Bank of Akron. We were to maintain and use it for the next 29 years as our only bank account. In 1984, after 29 years, we finally closed the account. Let me say that it was gutwrenching to do so because they had served us faithfully for so long and we never had a banking problem, no matter where in the world we lived.
Neither of us had ever been to the Chicago or Waukegan area before, so we were eagerly anticipating the adventures and opportunities that would be unfolding for us. We knew that we would have some difficult days ahead, with Ann being pregnant, but that was just another eagerly anticipated event in our future.
We arrived in Waukegan, Illinois in mid November of 1955. We will always remember it as probably the most idyllic Christmas season of all the Christmases we ever spent. Waukegan might have been an old and dirty city to some but to us, it was a Christmas fairyland. It was cold, snowy and beautiful and being so far from home brought us closer together. We rented a walkinback out, one bedroom apartment at 725 McAlister Ave., just a block or so south of Belvedere Street. In the meantime, we made application for base housing. Because of anticipation of getting base housing, we were able to endure the small living quarters for the couple of weeks that we were there. We shared a minibath, with a tub so short that I couldn’t even sit in it. The minuscule bedroom was so narrow that to get into the bed, we had to crawl over the end of the bed. It was definitely cozy, and it was in a nice residential area, close to the city park. While there, we often took walks in the park to watch the ice skaters on the frozen ponds. It was like scenery out of the movies for us. We found the North in the winter time to be what Christmas is all about. There was also a small neighborhood tavern close by that I went to once or twice to soak up the atmosphere. It was very heady for an old country boy to be doing that kind of thing. Wow!!
Shortly before Christmas, our application for onbase housing was approved and we moved again in our car. We moved into 1804V Camp Robert Smalls, just a short drive from school. Camp Robert Smalls was an old WWII "Boot Camp" barracks that had been converted to apartments for married students aboard the Naval Training Center. What euphoria we experienced as we loaded up our car with all of our belongings, including our already decorated Christmas tree, and moved into Navy housing!! When we finally got moved in, we knew that we were finally home. That was probably the second best day of our lives. So much space to roam in (though still one bedroom), and the rent was so much lower. That was very important, because since we were more or less living from hand to mouth. Necessity had forced me to draw some advance pay during the transfer from Panama City in order to be able to pay for living and moving expenses upon arriving in Waukegan. As a result, I was only drawing a total of $8.00 every two weeks. The rest of my pay was being deducted to pay off the dead horse (advance pay). But it wasn’t half as bad as it sounds. We had $137 coming in the first of every month (Ann’s allotment}. All our housing expenses were being deducted so we had about $153 per month to live on. We had no utility nor phone bills, only the car note of $62.76 to Associates Discount of SC, groceries and gasoline. Navy housing furnished a wash room for washing clothes in the building, so we could make it on very little (which was what we had).
I started classes in Electronics "A" School, in class 2325D in Room 217 of Bldg.. 311 as a Quartermaster 3rd Class. I had the intended and reachable goal of changing my rate to Electronics Technician 3rd Class. Since our future in the Navy would depend so heavily on achieving that goal, we would spend many a night burning the midnight oil. Ann was very cooperative in helping me do my homework. She got to the point that she could tell me Ohm’s Law and other quaint electronic terms as easily as I could! She was GREAT!
For entertainment, we had the little hifi that I had bought Ann earlier, and we had ourselves. Week nights were spent studying, and we found inexpensive ways to enjoy the weekends. Besides, Ann was pregnant, so we were making preparations for Laura (LC). We spent many evenings at the dining table painting the "paint by number" pictures in those days prior to TV. We still possess some of those old paintings in our repertoire of fine art and orange crates.
We were content with each other. When you’re long distance from the old home, happiness is being with your loved one in a warm, cozy bed on a cold, snowy night. Ann was like a lighthouse in a storm. She never faltered in her fidelity nor love, and home was always a beacon to me. Through all the years of my life, I could never wait to get home in the afternoon. It was always the best place in the world, no matter what part of the world home happened to be in.
Prior to Christmas, we met the parents of an old shipmate (Del Haas) from the PLOVER back in Panama City. We spent our first Christmas Afternoon with the Johnson and Haas families of Round Lake, Illinois, who treated us like their own children. It was only about 10 miles from Great Lakes. The Johnson’s were Norwegian, and could Mrs. Johnson cook!! You have never eaten until you have tasted some real Scandinavian pastry cooking.
I do recall one bad thing happening while visiting them. One sunny, autumn afternoon while on our way back to our apartment after a drive through the countryside, I fudged and made a rolling stop at a stop sign. I didn’t see a cop, so I just sorta eased on through it, and bingo! He was hiding behind a huge billboard. He nabbed me, and I had to pay a $10 fine to a JP who had his office on his back porch. We took many Sunday drives out into the Illinois countryside to Round Lake, Fox Lake, or maybe down to Chicago to drive around. We ate steaks and danced at Buzzy’s, and sometimes ate a hamburger at one of Ray Kroc’s original McDonalds in North Chicago. This was before he sold his millionth hamburger.
One of the highlights of that fall season was the opportunity to go dancing several times at the EM Club. One such occasion stands out, because Wayne King, the Waltz King, played for our dancing pleasure. It was a very enjoyable evening. Ann was large with child, (three weeks prior to birth) but it didn’t stop us from dancing and having a great time.
Some of our friends and neighbors were Richard and Marge O’Neal and across the hall were Hugh and Pat Benson. Hugh was a corpsman stationed at Great Lakes Naval Hospital. Being able to ask Hugh questions came in mighty handy during Ann’s pregnancy.
Laura was born early on the 31st of January 1956, 10 ½ months after we were married. The evening prior to Laura’s birth was hectic to say the least. I was trying to help Ann but let’s face it, I was all thumbs and toes. I was more of a hindrance than a help to Ann, but at least I was trying. We got her to the hospital the evening of the 30th, and after a short time, I returned home to sleep, because I had to go to school the next morning, baby or no baby. That was in the days when the navy did not look kindly on your taking a day off to be with your wife. If the navy had wanted me to have a baby, they would have issued me one. They didn’t. I went to class.
Since we had no phone in our apartment, I didn’t know what the status of Ann was when I left for school the morning Laura was born. I had been in class a few minutes or so, when they called to tell me that I was the father of a baby girl. It is very fuzzy in my memory as to just what happened that day, or the thoughts I had. I know that the terrific sense of responsibility that assailed me then was of the highest order. To realize that we were responsible for the well being of someone who couldn’t care for themselves was mindboggling. Our FIRST child was precious, and remains so to this day. Our lives started revolving around Laura. We were both inexperienced in child care, and it is a credit to Laura that she is still around today. We made many mistakes, we’re only human. I suspect most parents can look back and see errors. We make no apologies.
While in Great Lakes, we made several trips to Akron to see Dad. He was single at the time, and had a girl friend with whom we could stay. We went as often as we could, but finances precluded our going more often. We would leave Friday afternoons after school, and head down through Chicago’s Lake Front Drive, past Soldier’s Field and on through Gary, Indiana to the Indiana Turnpike, or mostly we took US 6 which meandered through northern Indiana and didn’t cost anything. This is before the interstate highways were even thought of, so you can imagine the traffic on Lake Front Drive at that time of the day.
One incident that is noteworthy occurred while driving through Indiana. Remember, Laura was just a baby, maybe two or three months old. We were in the country late at night heading east on a straight stretch of road running alongside railroad tracks. We came upon a sharp right turn, where the highway suddenly crossed the tracks at a right angle then made another sharp turn to the left and continued alongside the tracks on the other side. Evidently, I was over driving my headlights, because I didn’t see the turn until we were into it. The resultant swerve caused me to scrape the guard rail on my left. The guard rail kinda guided me around the curve, scraping and scratching my car all way. When I finally got stopped, Laura was nowhere to be seen. My first thought was that she had been thrown out of the window on my side, but then I felt something brush my leg. She, and the basket she was riding in had wound up on the floor under my legs, not even crying. We said a small prayer for great favors granted us by God. He was sure good to us, and has continued to be so. The paint job on the left side of our big beautiful Chrysler was ruined, and when I traded it several months later, it was still like that.
One other incident happened in Indiana also. We ran out of gas late one night. Gas stations that stayed open at night in that part of the country were few and far between. We went to a farmer’s house and bought a dollar’s worth of gas out of his tractor supply. Memories are hazy, but times were good and the blood pumped faster and quicker in those days. They were days of fantasy, for certain!!!
I graduated from Electronics Technician School in August 1956 as a brand new ET3. I completed all three phases of the "A" school, Communications, Radar and Sonar. I was with a group of three others who completed all three phases. I graduated No. 1 of 4. Upon completion, I was transferred to USS Bache DDE470 which was stationed in Norfolk. We left Great Lakes, and headed to Norfolk via Alabama to see our folks. Had to show off that brand new baby to them!!!
We headed south out of North Chicago the same afternoon that we graduated. We were still moving in the trunk, but now we also had stuff piled on the top of the car. We headed down the west side of Illinois, crossed into Indiana at Terre Haute and spent the night there along the Wabash River. Morning found us crossing the Ohio River at Paducah, KY. We pulled into Cullman in our Chrysler, in what was to be the last trip we made in it. While in Cullman, we traded it in for a 1954 Dodge Coronet Ram V8 which, by the way, was the first car we owned which had an automatic transmission. We bought it from Ben Holmes in Cullman on 30 October 1956, making a payment of $30.00 with check #243 drawn of The First National Bank of Akron, Ohio. We spent our leave visiting our parents, and then took off for a new adventure in a new city and a new duty station.
USS BACHE DDE-470 at Flank
Speed
USS Bache DDE-470
Tin Can Duty Again
We
were lucky enough to get base housing upon arrival in Norfolk. We had a two
bedroom, downstairs, apartment at 305-A Helmick, in Ben Moreel Housing. It was
located just off Hampton Boulevard about two miles from the main gate at Naval
Operating Base (NOB). It was convenient to all the bases, commissaries and px’s.
It was also convenient to the Ward’s Corner shopping area. In all, we were very
comfortable with our living arrangements, and had a very cozy nest.
Shortly after I reported aboard Bache DDE-470 for duty, I made a big hit (?)
with the Executive
Officer
by submitting a formal request for transfer to shore duty. I had spent about 7
years in the Navy, all at sea. The normal rotation period was three years sea
duty and two years shore duty. Since I had never been station ashore, my turn
was surely at hand. I knew that it was only a matter of time before I would be
leaving Bache after submitting my request.
Pier space at the piers on NOB during the Christmas holidays were at a premium, so since we had a lower priority than others, We were shunted to the C & O Railroad coal piers in Newport News. There we spent the Christmas holidays. In order to get to and fro the ship each day necessitated a ride on the ferry to Newport News, and then a long walk through the coal yard. or else a cold ride on a liberty launch, when they were provided.
It was a terrible way to spend Christmas, but then who can complain when they are able to go home at night, not me. I was lucky, and I realized it. I continued to be lucky enough to spend Christmas with my family throughout my ENTIRE NAVAL CAREER.. To be in the US NAVY and go without missing Christmas at home for 15 years is almost unbelievable.
While there, we had several good and memorable things happen. We celebrated Laura’s first Christmas (1956) there, with Daddy in attendance. Dad had ridden a Greyhound bus from Akron to spend Christmas with us, and while on his way down, had met a lady who captured his fancy. That is another story, but as a result of that trip, he married a lady from Charlottesville, Virginia.
During one of our periods at sea, we were assigned as plane guard for the USS
Bennington off Mayport, Florida. When a carrier is launching or recovering
planes, they have to turn into the wind in order to increase the wind speed
across the deck. This makes it possible for planes to land on
carriers. The Destroyer (which in this case, was us) has to be on the same
course and speed as the carrier in case a plane crashes and the pilot has to be
retrieved from the water (helicopters do that now). While steaming into the wind
like this, Destroyers tend to climb to the top of the swells, then make a fast
run downhill into the troughs, plowing into the water, and come back up,
throwing water over the bow, while climbing to the top of another swell to do it
all over again. To say the least, it is very uncomfortable and rough for the
crew members of the tin-cans.
This particular plane guard assignment happened at the exact time the Fleet-wide Petty Officer advancement exams were scheduled. But this date and time was an auspicious occasion, because I was due to take the examination for Electronics Technician 2nd Class. To earn more money, you have to get promoted. To get promoted requires you score high on the Navy-wide advancement examinations, because you are in competition with a large number of ET3’s for a certain number of ET2 slots. Of course, promotion brings more money and more money brings better jobs for you, and enables you to feed, clothe and house your family better. So, for me, there was a lot at stake.
I was prone to sea-sickness, and everyone knows what destroyers do when heading into the wind (see above). Well, you guessed it. Sitting in that tossing mess hall while taking that test, I became deathly sea-sick! As the ship pitched and rolled and hit bottom and did it over and over again, and as the ship tossed, my stomach was tossing also. I took that test with a slop bucket between my legs. I would answer a few questions, and heave up my guts, then go through the whole routine again. Let me tell you, that was a tough morning. I can still see it in my memories, very vivid. I don’t believe anyone ever took a test with so much riding on it, in such poor conditions. To let you in on a secret...I passed the test and in due time, was promoted!
In early 1956, the Israeli and the Egyptians (Nasser) and other Arabs got into one of their never ending conflicts. After Israel had smashed them in 5 or 6 days, the Bache received orders to conduct patrols in and around the Red Sea. Nasser had got his ass whipped, but as always, proclaimed the Arabs had scored a great victory over the Satan Israeli again.
Just prior to our leaving, I (wrongly) decided that Ann should stay with her mom while I was overseas because she was pregnant with Chuck and I didn’t relish the idea of leaving her alone. At the time I thought it the best thing to do but in retrospect, I screwed up again. She has said many times since then that she would rather have stayed in Norfolk and would have been better off being around other young Navy mothers who were experiencing the same problems. I found out that Ann is a very tough and smart girl and can survive in just about any situation. This has proven to be true throughout our married lives, through rain and shine, and yes, even hurricanes. But not knowing better at the time, I took her to Findlay, Ohio to spend the time with her family while I was cruising around Africa.
We departed Norfolk, heading for the Red Sea via the Cape of Good Hope. I really enjoyed the cruise, especially the trip there. We first made port in Terciera, Canary Islands for a few days, and then on to Freetown, Sierra Leone, on the western bulge of Africa. After a few days in port for refreshment, we departed for Cape Town, Republic of South Africa. After an uneventful though hilarious crossing of the equator, with appropriate ceremonies to pay homage to Davy Jones, we passed under Table Rock and rounded the Cape of Good Hope to moor at the Royal Dockyard at Capetown.
We spent several memorable days in Capetown. Capetown is a wonderful city. I
really enjoyed and found the city and the people very civil, clean and
hospitable. It is so different from the rest of Africa, so clean. It is like no
other African city that I had visited. I have been in Dakar, Senegal; Freetown,
Sierra Leone; Monrovia, Liberia; Mombasa, Kenya; and Massawa, Eritrea. They are
mostly are dirty, with poor plumbing, if any, and abject poverty, brought about
evidently by the
corrupt governments. Anyway, the food and refreshments in Cape Town were well
received, and we enjoyed them to the utmost.
When we departed Cape Town, we set sail up the east coast of Africa, passing
to the west of Madagascar, en route to Mombasa, Kenya. Mombasa is the port city
of Kenya and a jumping off point for safaris into the big game ranges of Africa.
We didn’t get to sightsee in the bush, but we bargained for several small hand
carved trinkets from the Swahili tribesmen on the streets and at their sidewalk
stalls in Mombasa. Some of those carvings are still a part of our "art"
collection. I
purchased
our first 35 mm. camera just prior to entry into Mombasa, so was were able to
get color slides of the city and some of the street vendors.
After a few days in Mombasa, we departed for Aden, which is located on the
tip of the Arabian Peninsula and is now in what is known as Yemen. At the time,
it was a British Crown Colony, but it is now a Communist country. It is reputed
to be one of the hottest spots in the world
and I would not dispute it. During the time we were there, we had to sleep
topside under awnings if we wanted to sleep. All work was done in the early
morning hours and after 1200 hours, we flaked out on our mattresses under the
awnings in order to keep cool. I took plenty of pictures there that will bear
out my tales of Aden.
While in Aden, I received good news on two separate occasions! First, I was
notified I would be transferred to US Naval Air Station, Cecil Field, Florida as
soon as we arrived in Palma, Mallorca. Secondly, I received notification that I
had passed the fleet-wide examination for Petty
Officer 2nd Class, and would be advanced to ET2 on 16 June 1957.
Finally, the Suez Canal was reopened to US shipping interests. We were in the first group of US ships to transit the Canal upon reopening. We could still see burned out tank hulks, leftover from the skirmishes between the Israelis and Egyptians. Upon departing the Suez, we set sail for Palma, Majorca, a Spanish island just south of Spain in the sunny Balaeric islands. On arrival in Palma, I sent the following telegram to Ann. It is reproduced verbatim from the original telegram.
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WESTERN UNION \3\ICT WA311 NL PD=WUX WASHINGTON DC 4= MRS ALBERT D. SHARPTON= 534 CHERRY FINDLAY OHIO= DARLING LEAVING PALMA NOON 5 JUNE VIA AIR HOME THIS WEEKEND IF NO TROUBLE ENCOUNTERED MAKING CONNECTIONS PORT LYAUTEY PLAN FLY FROM WASHINGTON TO AKRON ON ARRIVAL PATUXENT RIVER NAS MARYLAND YOU CAN START PACKING MY LOVE TO YOU AND LAURA= AL USS BACHE=. TELEPHONE # : 6987 TELEPHONED TO: MRS S. TIME : 845A\i
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I spent several days in Palma, sightseeing and waiting on Navy Air
Transportation to Port Lyautey, Morocco. I caught a Navy DC-3, ferrying mail and
supplies throughout the Med, at the Palma, Majorca airport and it deposited me a
short time later at Naval Air Station, Port Lyautey, Morocco. During WWII, Port
Lyautey had been a huge complex that all received and transhipped most of the
materials used in retaking North Africa from the Germans. There, I played cards
by day and attended movies by night while waiting to make the manifest of a
plane headed for Norfolk. After several days, I finally got lucky and was
assigned passage on a plane bound for Norfolk. We made food and fuel stops at
Lajes, Azores and Bermuda, while en-route. It took us 14-16 hours, including the
necessary stopovers. Nowadays, jets make the trip in 5-6 hours. We had followed
the sun all day and finally made it to NAS Norfolk. I took a taxi out to Norfolk
Municipal Airport near Little Creek and made connections on a Capital Airlines
Vickers Viscount prop-jet to Akron’s old airport which was adjacent to the
Rubber Bowl and Goodyear Aircraft Co’s blimp hangar.
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US Naval Air Station Jacksonville, FL |
NAS Cecil Field Florida
After an uneventful flight from Norfolk to Akron, I picked up my car and hurried on to retrieve Ann in Findlay. We spent a few short days getting re-acquainted and packing. At this time, we still had no furniture with the exception of a TV and washing machine. The TV and washer was in storage in Norfolk, so we had to go via Norfolk to get those items shipped to Jacksonville, Fla. While in Norfolk conducting our business, we took the time to visit some old friends. Once we completed arrangements for the navy shipment of our two items, we commenced our trip to Jacksonville and NAS Cecil Field.
It was a terrible trip. We had tire problems all the way to Jax. We had bought four new Phillips 66 tires at a Phillips 66 service station. Those tires were the sorriest tires I ever owned. They had a problem of tread separation in the sidewall. During that one trip, we had three tires go out on us in the two days it took to drive to Jacksonville. In less than six months, I think I had 7 or 8 new tires, and although they were guaranteed, you still had to pay for the tread used, at the regular retail price, not the SALE price I had originally paid. I was going broke replacing tires, so soon after arrival in Jax, I went to a Goodyear tire dealer, bought 4 new Goodyear tires, and had no more problems.
We arrived in Jacksonville sometime in late June, and Chuck was due in August. We rented an apartment and prepared for his coming. The apartment was located at 2785 Forbes St. in Jacksonville 5, Florida. It was in an old home in a beautiful old section of town, We had the entire upstairs portion of the house. Our living room was a converted upstairs porch, and it overlooked a pretty, shaded back yard. The houses in the neighborhood were all huge and old, similar to the old homes that line the gulf front in Biloxi. The neighborhood was very shady from all the huge moss-covered live oaks trees. We lived there until after Chuck's birth.
Weena, Ann's unmarried aunt, came down from Birmingham to help Ann during the few weeks after Chuck was born. Unfortunately, Chuck arrived about 3 weeks later than predicted, and Weena couldn't stay any longer, so she ended up going home immediately after Chuck's birth. At least, she lent Ann some moral support, though not having had any children, she was mainly just company for Ann. NO PROBLEM. Ann always managed. No matter what ever came up, Ann was able to make out, make do, and overcome any adversity.
As soon as Ann was back up to speed after Chuck's birth, we went house hunting. We wanted to get out of the city, so we toured the surrounding countryside, searching for a small house that was large enough and was furnished with enough furniture to keep us comfortable. I had recently been promoted to ET2, so my pay check was getting larger all the time. We found a little 2 bedroom house out on San Juan Road (Route 4 Box 480). It was much nearer to Cecil Field than the apartment. Two weeks after Chuck was born, we moved into it. It was a nice little house and we really enjoyed it. During this period, Charles suffered from colic on a daily basis that caused him to cry continuously from about 4 pm till 6 or 7 pm. This went on for some time. It was very distracting to both Ann and me, and we went through a very trying period.
We moved to Marietta (Jacksonville Route 5 Box 530M), after several months because the owner decided to sell the house we were living in. We spent Christmas in a little duplex with a pot-bellied stove and a fantastically beautiful Christmas tree that was loaded with gifts for our two babies. That was the year I got upset at Laura. We had spent many dollars (at least at that time it was many) on a "Wonder Mare" as her main present. The "Wonder Mare" was a horse mounted with springs to give a realistic ride. On Christmas morning, all Laura wanted to play with was the box that the "Wonder Mare" came in!!! Daddy was some put out. I was just learning a lesson. Money does not count when you are providing toys. Imagination is a more potent part of play than is realism. Charles was only four months old, so he didn't give a darn, so he just ignored most everything that went on. We had a room full of goodies for those children. Like all Christmases at our house, the tree has always contained excessive amounts of toys. That is about the only thing that Ann and I have never agreed on. She always got her way.
While in Marietta, we were able to get the best steaks we ever ate (55› a pound) from the most unlikely source. I don't know what it was about those steaks, but it seemed as if those steaks were the best we ever had. They came from a small Mom and Pop grocery nestled in the trees along US 90 in Marietta, just west of Jacksonville.
Moving on Up
We moved again right after Christmas to a beautiful UNFURNISHED house. It was located in the Hyde Park area near the south end of Cassatt St. It was near the water and just off Blanding Blvd. It was convenient to the commissary and medical facilities located at NAS Jacksonville. Our address was 5456 Appleton, our phone number then was EVergreen 4-6581.
Sears provided us with a sleeper sofa, and a chair for the living room ($148), coffee and end tables, (the blonde ones we now have by our bed $50), a dinette table and chairs, (which we still have $89.95), bedroom suite ($206) with a hard foam mattress ($139.95) and lamps ($25 each) which we still have. We also got our first monthly payments of any size. The mattress is still the best sleeping mattress in the USA. The above, with the exception of our auto, along with the TV and washer we had purchased from Sears in Waukegan, was the extent of our material possessions. We really enjoyed living on Appleton St.
While there, we had out of town guests twice. Jane Howell, Ann's first cousin, and her husband Al visited with us, and we were fortunate to have my Uncle Coy and Aunt Zoda visit with us. The reason I remember those visits, is that during all the time we were in the military, very few of our relatives ever came to visit with us. So those were red-letter days. We also made friends with several neighbors, and became a part of the community. We also started attending church at First Baptist Church of Jacksonville. That occasion was brought on by a joyful occasion that nearly turned into a disaster.
We attended the gala opening of the long awaited PO1/PO2 Club at NAS Cecil. Baby-sitters were provided and we were enjoying the party and the steaks. Unfortunately, the club was featuring drinks for 10› a drink, and to me, that was too good a bargain to turn down, so I filled up. To make a long story short, I got an overload of liquor. To make matters worse, Ann couldn't drive and we had our two children in the car. Well, about halfway home, and it was only about 10 miles of straight country highway, my head and vision started spinning. I pulled over and while getting myself together the best I could, I told God that if he would help me get my family and me home safely, I would not drink that stuff again. We got home safely. We started to church. I quit drinking for many years and even until today, I drink very little. I still see that beautiful moonlit night while we were parked alongside Fla. 228.
Normandy Village
We wanted a home of our own, and under the new GI Bill, we could buy a home cheaper than we could rent (or so we believed). So on July 22, we picked out a home located at 1831 Gabin Road in the new subdivision called Normandy Village. It was out Normandy Blvd (route 228) which was the road heading west from Jacksonville to Cecil Field. It was also near Normandy Drive-In Theater. The house was nothing but a slab when we first saw it. As construction progressed, it turned into a beautiful 3 bedroom home with a built in attic fan and all the goodies of those days. The total cost of the home was $13,150 and we had a range and venetian blinds added to make the total cost of the home $13,465. The total monthly payments were $81.
We had some of the best pinochle parties while living there. Harold and Dorothy Brown, Relle and Val Lyman, (he was my Division Officer), Boyce and Katrina Baker (they would be with us and work with me for the next 7 years), and Leon and Doris Gorchyka, were some of our pinochle playing friends. We would all get together on a Friday or Saturday night to play, eat and drink coffee, cokes, and beer, sometimes all night. In fact Christmas eve , the Lyman's came and damn near stayed all night. That put a crimp in Ann's getting the tree ready. In fact, on Christmas morning, they came back up and if I remember, spent the day with us. You'll hear more of the Lyman's later.
We finally got to the point where we could buy a new car, but our first one led to more grief than enjoyment. I still had lot's to learn in the auto picking and choosing department. We bought a small English Ford, and we decided to make a trip to Akron to see Dad and try out our new car. It was the most frustrating trip we ever took, even worse than the trip with all the bad tires. The car was so under powered that on a hill of any gradient, I would have to shift down into 2nd or 1st, and as you can imagine, that slows you down to creeping very slowly. What do you think those 18 wheelers behind us thought??
Going into Bluefield, West Virginia from the south, you have a climb of probably 10 miles to the summit atop the Blue Ridge. Well, about half way up, that little car got so hot from running in first and second that the radiator just blew it's top. Luckily, it happened at a place where water was coursing out of a spring just above us and we were able to refill the radiator with cool water once the radiator cooled. We were sure got LUCKY there! Eventually, we made the summit and Akron. At the first opportunity an when I could afford to do so, my first priority was to buy a bigger, better automobile.
Driver Education?
One of the most frustrating things I ever tried to do was teach my wife how to drive a
car, and I failed in that endeavor. After I bought that small English Ford, I thought,
"Hm, this is a very small car. She should be able to drive this car." Her only
previous experience driving same while we were still courting and I was the big guy
letting his girl drive. Once, while doing this, she killed 4 or 5 chickens while they were
innocently scratching for worms in the middle of the road in front of Roy Williford's
store in Crane Hill. We didn't stop, I told her to keep on a'gitting it! She later told me
that those chickens had sneaked up on her and deliberately jumped in front of her as she
came round the bend....ha.
To get on to the story. This one weekend in particular stands out in my memory. It was on
a Sunday afternoon, and after an hour or so of instructions and several demonstration
rides, I deemed that she was ready to solo. The one bad thing about that little English
Ford was that it had a stick shift with an un-synchronized transmission. With that type of
transmission, which you can't find now but was common long ago, you had to hit that clutch
just right or you would really GRIND those gears.. That, in combination with Ann's
inability to coordinate her hands, feet and legs at the same time, spelled trouble with a
capital "T" for Ann. To re-iterate, that little car had two bad features that
Sunday afternoon:
(1): the
un-synchronized transmission,
(2): the un-coordinated girl under the wheel.
I finally coerced her into the car, and sent her around the block. It was as if she had
started on an around the world voyage. Now mind you, this was just a short block, in a
quiet neighborhood with no traffic whatsoever. There might have been some neighbors in the
yards, but nothing also to hinder a nice drive around a block. She departed on the
circumnavigation of the block. You could hear her progress as she down-shifted and
up-shifted getting around the corners. The weather was hot, and so was the girl! She was
not mechanically inclined and she was never able to get that car to shift without
neighbors from 4 blocks away hearing that awful screech when she shifted! She never
completed the trip back into our driveway. She got back to the vicinity of our home....to
within 20 or 30 yards of our driveway, when the car went dead because of a "popped
clutch" that stalled the engine. It was probably the fourth or fifth time during the
trip that she had stalled the engine (a heavy foot), and had to re-start. Anyway, this
time she simply gave up, got out, abandoned our car and walked to the house and told me I
could have it. It was to be several years before my darling learned how to drive an
automobile, and I was not the teacher. In fact, I wasn't even in the country!
In early 1959, we were installing some new cables in the control tower communications system, and due to operational commitments, we were having to do the installation at night. One morning about 1000 hours, Relle (my division officer) called and since I was in bed, Ann answered. He wanted to speak with me. Ann told him I had been working all night (which he knew), and was in bed sleeping. Relle told her to wake me up, that I would be glad to hear what he had to say. Well, the gist of it is, he told me that I had passed the navy-wide test for ET1 and was going to be promoted! I couldn't go back to sleep all day, I was so excited. I guess civilians might not get excited about something like that, but in the navy, Rate Has It's Priveleges (RHIP), and that was the most important milestone I had accomplished to that date. I said it then, and I still say it now. I owed much of the credit to Ann. She was always there when I needed her. I had the world on a string!!!
My shore duty tour was coming to an end and we received orders transferring us to Electronics Technician "B" school in San Francisco, California. The promotion made it possible for us to finally get rid of that small English Ford, and buy a regular car with automatic transmission. On September 5, 1959, we took delivery of a brand new 1959 Ford Custom 300 2 door 6 cylinder Fordomatic and Deluxe Trim from Lynch-Davidson Motors, 724 Hogan St. Jacksonville, Fla.. The car cost us $2540.80, taxes $11.78 and tag $10. It was a beautiful Wedgewood Blue, and it was the best auto we ever owned. In November of 1959, we gave our house away (no, it cost us over $2,000 later on, but that's another story) and moved to California for the first time.
We left Jacksonville in our brand new 1959 Ford Custom 300 headed for points west! As we started on our trip to California, guess where our first stop would be? If you guessed Birmingham or Cullman, Ala., you were 100% correct. Let me digress from the trip to California and talk about our parents for a bit. We always had to make our obligatory side trip to Alabama and Ohio to see our parents and show off our children. I don't know if our parents realize all the problems we encountered in having to split up our visits. But it took a travel agent to plan the trips to the different grandmas and grandpas. It wasn't like that when I grew up. All my grandparents lived within a radius of a mile, and they never had a divorce amongst them, so there were only two sets of grandparents, not four, like we had to contend with. It has been a continuing problem to allocate the proper time spent at each in order not to slight one or the other.
We always looked forward to the trips, and enjoyed them immensely, but we all know that we could have enjoyed our families much more had both sets of parents been able to resolve all those difficulties that made them do the things they did. One thing I can say, I've never blamed my parents, neither has Ann, but we are sorry that their marriages didn't work out as good as ours did. I wonder what our lives would have been like had they not had those problems. Of course, we might not have been married either. That's what you get into when you start pondering the imponderables. Since Ann got to know her dad in 1987, she understands more of what happened during her childhood. But that's the background of another story. In fact, she has had it worse than I have, because her Daddy didn't so much as acknowledge his grand-children's presence during their growing up years, and to this day, Wayne is the only one of the four that has met him. As in all problems affecting people, neither of the sides is without blame. When you stop to think, parents are only humans just as we are, only older. We found that there were underlying factors, caused by events which occurred during the time her parents lived together, that prompted his attitude towards her. Why he held it against Ann, I will never know. Between her, her mother and her father, she's the only innocent one there. But then, there was something good about her Dad's not accepting us. We didn't have to visit four sets of grandparents.
My mother, God bless her, was most jealous when it came to visits. Any slight deviation might get a "you never spend long with me" or words to that effect. I always tried to overlook such outbursts, because she is my mother and also I didn't want to antagonize her. I have overlooked worse from Ann's family, who frankly, have never thought very highly of me. I don't know why, because I have always treated their daughter with love and respect, and 36 years of marriage should attest to that. I have never had to tie her down to keep her home. No other siblings in either of her parents families can attest to a record like ours, that's for sure.I was always glad that I married Ann instead of her family!!
We always taught our kids to love and respect their grandparents. We are saddened that they never really got to spend enough time with them, so as to be able to experience the love and affection only grandparents can give. I wanted them to know something of how I felt towards my "Granny". I felt like I owned my Grandma Sharpton's house. I loved her more than I did my parents, I think. Of course, living in the same vicinity was a big factor in that.
Back to the trip. We had received a letter from my brother Bill, who was a sailor stationed in San Diego, written the 19th of September 1959 giving us five pages of tips and hints on the routes and how to conquer the desert. I had my own ideas about the routes I wanted to take and what I wanted to see. I had worked up an itinerary so that my co-pilot would simply have to read it off the list to make sure I took the right turns at the right places.. Ann has always accused me of taking the back roads, and this trip was no exception. I had the love of exploration in my blood so after a week of visiting around and taking scads of photos, we departed, destined for San Francisco via San Diego and points in between. Texarkana, Texas was to be our first stop. Remember, this trip was made prior to the time the interstate road system was anywhere near being finished. Only a few miles had been constructed by that date. Our Original Itinerary is reproduced below for future generations.
The reason for an itinerary such as this was that in the days prior to Interstate highways, there was no one main road that took you on a straight course from one point to another,
