....that was not always the case. Lieutenant Edward R. Murphy, Jr., was a naval officer and I was an enlisted sailor. He's since become a figure in Navy history as the former executive officer of the USS Pueblo, the spy ship captured by North Korea in 1968. The other night I happened see a televised interview of him on YouTube:
Citizen Soldier: The Ongoing Story Of USS Pueblo, With Executive Officer Edward R. Murphy, Jr. - YouTube
Citizen Soldier: The Ongoing Story Of USS Pueblo, With Executive Officer Edward R. Murphy, Jr. - YouTube
Six years earlier we had both been stationed at the Subic Bay naval base in the Philippines. I was an 18-year-old
high school dropout, he was the base education officer and a
tyrant about it. He did not tolerate diploma-less sailors under his jurisdiction running around loose, so he restricted me to the base until I passed a high school
G.E.D. test -- which I did with all deliberate speed.
Fast forward to 1967. I'm
a radio reporter at small station on California's north coast, working two jobs
and attending college full time. Busy boy. Anyway, I learned that my former
education officer was stationed at a nearby naval facility. Seems that he and
another officer were being awarded the Navy - Marine Corps medal for lifesaving. They'd
swum through 100 yards of cold surf with a bad undertow to rescue two stranded fishermen
clinging to a rock. So we had a reunion at an awards ceremony on the county fairgrounds.
We occasionally chatted over the next few months. Then he told me he was being transferred to a small ship in Japan, saying it was about the size of the coastal transports we had in the Philippines. But it was no mere coastal coastal transport. It was the spy ship Pueblo.
We occasionally chatted over the next few months. Then he told me he was being transferred to a small ship in Japan, saying it was about the size of the coastal transports we had in the Philippines. But it was no mere coastal coastal transport. It was the spy ship Pueblo.
A year had elapsed by the next time I
saw him, not long after his release from a North Korean prison. Although only
in his late 30s his formerly black hair had turned completely white, presumably from trauma, and he'd resigned
his commission. When we met he was being interviewed by a reporter for a series of articles published in the Christian Science Monitor about his Pueblo experience. He later collaborated on a book in a similar vein:
https://www.amazon.com/Second-Command-Uncensored-Account-Capture/dp/0030850754.
I now live in San Diego, which is also Mr. Murphy's home town, and yes, we've reconnected. While we are both civilians now, and well into our Medicare years, the former Lieutenant Edward R. Murphy, Jr., USN, will always be Mr. Murphy to me, an exemplary officer who had put the lives of others before his own, but also one quick to yank the liberty card of a recalcitrant sailor whose education needed improving.
Consider yourself saluted, sir.
I now live in San Diego, which is also Mr. Murphy's home town, and yes, we've reconnected. While we are both civilians now, and well into our Medicare years, the former Lieutenant Edward R. Murphy, Jr., USN, will always be Mr. Murphy to me, an exemplary officer who had put the lives of others before his own, but also one quick to yank the liberty card of a recalcitrant sailor whose education needed improving.
Consider yourself saluted, sir.
-oOo-
Send corrections, critiques and lavish praise to tomatomike@aol.com.
Thinking of people who made a mark on our lives is like a dose of thankfulness. A lot of life is laid out to make us search for the light at the end of the tunnel, but memories of shared experiences, pieces of stories that make us evaluate our own good luck, that's all a gift. It's nice, too, to touch base with those people we once knew and couldn't have thought we'd see again. I'm glad you got that chance again with Edward Murphy. Be well, Mike. And keep 'em comin' -- Zoey
Thinking of people who made a mark on our lives is like a dose of thankfulness. A lot of life is laid out to make us search for the light at the end of the tunnel, but memories of shared experiences, pieces of stories that make us evaluate our own good luck, that's all a gift. It's nice, too, to touch base with those people we once knew and couldn't have thought we'd see again. I'm glad you got that chance again with Edward Murphy. Be well, Mike. And keep 'em comin' -- Zoey
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Wonderful! ! As always. -- Juli
Thank you. -- MB
Sorry for the delay. I had to locate my magnifier. I can't read 1 point type anymore. But as always, it was worth the fetching. I love that story and that you've reconnected. You have more stories in you then you are writing. Please, keep me in the loop. -- Beaty
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Sorry for the delay. I had to locate my magnifier. I can't read 1 point type anymore. But as always, it was worth the fetching. I love that story and that you've reconnected. You have more stories in you then you are writing. Please, keep me in the loop. -- Beaty
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Really
enjoyed this. It's great that you've reconnected with your former XO.
– Shannon
Shannon's dad is a retired Navy cap'n. – MB
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One wonders if the current crop of officers have the same concern for their men to have basic educational necessities. Or want to put that sort of discipline and effort into their jobs. -- Wht
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One wonders if the current crop of officers have the same concern for their men to have basic educational necessities. Or want to put that sort of discipline and effort into their jobs. -- Wht
I think so. Our now all-volunteer military has become so technically complex that a high school dropout would probably not be allowed to enlist. Even when I joined in 1961, the Navy had the motto "Stay In School" in its recruiting campaign to discourage potential dropouts from running away to sea. But those were also the days when judges often gave the choice of jail or the military to juvenile offenders of draft age, diploma or not. -- MB
