Among the gifts I received for my 70th birthday was a hangar filled with restored vintage airplanes and one 69,000 ton aircraft carrier. Quite a haul of birthday loot, I must say.
I left the airplanes and the aircraft carrier, the USS Midway,
in the custody of the San Diego Air and Space Museum and the Midway Foundation,
both of which seem to have a proprietary interest in keeping their exhibits right
where they are and might get peevish about outsiders claiming ownership. Since they are doing a swell job of taking
care of my new possessions, I decided to leave the status as quo.
Anyway, neither the vintage airplanes nor the Midway
would easily fit in the carry-on luggage I’d brought to San Diego for
a weeklong visit, courtesy of Don and Karen Simons, and Karen’s mother, Wanda. Besides, the extra baggage fee levied by
Southwest Airlines for a squadron of antique airplanes and one aircraft carrier
on the return flight would have been downright discouraging. Getting through the airport metal detector
would have been problematic too. So my decision
to leave things as they are was not entirely altruistic.
I was also given the historic gold mining town of Julian
in the high desert of eastern San Diego County, but magnanimously left it in
the care of the state which is doing a fine job of keeping the place up.
We also stopped by the former Naval Training Center where
Seaman Apprentice Browne, the recruit Brigade Commander, led a graduation
parade of 2500 newly minted sailors in 1961, which is now a shopping
center name Liberty Station. The asphalt parade ground, called The Grinder, is
now covered with retail enterprises.
But an aluminum and wood mock-up of a destroyer escort,
the USS Recruit, remains landlocked in place and registered as a national historic site. Between 1949 and 1967 an estimated 50,000
sailors annually learned basic shipboard nomenclature and procedures aboard the
Recruit, also called the USS Neversail.
Not one case of seasickness is noted in the ship’s log. Homesickness,
maybe, but I didn’t see the log.
Karen treated me to breakfast with the Oceanside Chapter of
the Old Bold Pilots Association in a Denny’s banquet room. The name is based on the axiom “There are old
pilots and bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots.”
Oh but there are. I was among about 100 of them, mostly
former and retired military pilots, some of whom had flown combat assignments
in three wars; WW2, Korea and Viet Nam.
Even at 70, I was a relative kid among these guys who had more flight
time in training that I did in my entire flying career. Yet there was not an ounce of braggadocio
among them. Just self-deprecating humor
and mild inter-service ribbing. It was a
privilege to be among those people.
An attractive
woman who appeared to be in her 40s appeared during the breakfast, saying her late
father had flown B-17s during WW2 and wondered if she could join us. Of course the gallant old horndogs made a
place for her.
We also visited Point Loma Lighthouse which has been in
continuous operation since 1891. It was
the last sight of America that 17-year-old Seaman Apprentice Browne saw in 1961 when sailing aboard the USS El Dorado
for a new home port in the Philippines. As the El Dorado passed the lighthouse, the morning fog
lifted showing a cobalt sky and a matching sea.
Two dolphins swam inches from the bow of the ship, showing the way.
So, my thanks to the Simons family for the gift
of priceless memories.
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Comments?
Love it Mater-man, you kid you. I was 70 last year. You will love the 70's. Much better than the 1970's! Stay well, and know we love you Mikee. -- Canids
Call me Mikee one more time and I'll cut you off my tomato-prunecake at Xmas list.
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Happy Birthday! Better late than never, eh? -- Lynda
Hell, I'm happy to survive lunch.
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Thank you! I needed to read this. Peach of a fellow, you! Astounding, considering your absolute tomatoness -- Kaanii
Aw shucks. You say that to all the produce
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Love it! After all these years, I can still count on exquisite prose whenever I open a T-man Times! -- Sum
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Wonnderful as always, and a very very Happy if belated Birthday to you. -- Juli
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Such skillful writing! And thinking. They are related. -- Galen
Thanks! I am verklempt!
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Your anecdotes are always welcome. Planes and ships and how we felt the first time seeing them are always with us. A birthday is a good time to reminescence. Happy Birthday to YOU! -- Wht
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How nice to get a piece of mail from you again after a long absence of it. As always, I enjoyed rereading the stuff I'd read before, and the new stuff, too. "Requiem" is one of my favorites. The new one I read with great interest, paralleling, as it often does, with bits of my life as well - especially the people and emotions that make up a hell of a stockpile of memories to keep. Your words ring so true and are so relatable, Mike. -- Zoey
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Happy birthday Mike. My older brothers were in the Navy - 1966 - 1972 - and did their basic training in SD. We attended their graduation ceremonies at that time. My father thought he was on the freeway heading home when he flew by a guard that came running after our 1961 yellow Oldsmobile. My dad looked in the rear view mirror and said, "There's a man running after us". The guard gave my father stern directions how to get out of there and on the right road. Funny memories! -- Dana aka Meemir
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Wow, what a wonderful memory you were given. It's a good thing you wrote it down, because.... No, I won't go for the loss of memory joke. I think you filed away some permanent memories, cemented by your trip, and your wonderful friends, the Simons. -- Beaty
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Thank you for your service! (and writings!). My draft classification was 1-Y. I could only be used in a national emergency, and wasn't called upon. Truly, I was a very conflicted young man. -- Gambatay
So was I. At time I was running away to sea where I thought I would have the least chance of being shot at. I didn't factor in a greater chance of drowning.
