Navy Pier (Cont'd)

One of the sailors in our class was Calvin Larson from Minnesota. He was a strong believer, and invited me one time to come to a gospel service. At the service, the fellow up front pleaded so strongly that I came forward and accepted Jesus as my Savior. I believe this was September 28, 1944. The very next Sunday, I went to downtown Chicago, and attended the biggest church I could find. I sat in the balcony. The minister preached something on politics. Thus it was that I became a "dormant" Christian for the next 19 years.

While in Chicago, I went to hear President Roosevelt give a speech. Everyone went wild (but not me; I wasn't in favor of him). I also attended the Democratic National Convention there in Chicago, and saw Harry Truman nominated to run for Vice President.

On another note, the only time I lost my wallet was at Navy Pier. I had put it in my pillowcase and went to sleep for the night. In the morning it was gone!

One evening they put on an electrical show for us at the theatre at the end of the pier. Some guy sat on a wooden stool, and received a very high d.c. electrical charge, and all his hair stood straight out from his head.

Eventually it was time to graduate. I was promoted to Radio Technician's Mate Second Class. They asked us what kind of duty would we like. Foolish people put things down like "Instructor at 190 North State Street, Chicago (another secondary school like Navy Pier). No one wanted duty on an LST Landing Craft (LST for us stood for "Large Slow Target"). I put down for something I thought I could reasonably hope to get: i.e., a light cruiser. So it happened that I was assigned to the light cruiser CL67, U.S.S. Topeka, which at that point happened to be on a shakedown cruise to I believe Trinidad. So I was sent to the Personnel Receiving Station in Norfolk, Virginia.

While in Virginia I had a chance to take another flying lesson, which I did, again with a Piper Cub out of a rather tiny field in the middle of a woods. While there I also learned a couple of facts. One, at Mail Call time, the letter "N" is just about in the middle of the alphabet. Two, I met a guy on a bus on the base who said he used to be an "A" student, but after suffering a rather severe blow to the head, became a "C" and "D" student.

Now I can't recall if I had delayed orders to Norfolk (I think I did). So I guess I went home first. And everything seemed smaller. And my parents thought I had matured more (but that could be debatable). I remember driving my Dad's car through Ellington with snow chains on it at 60 MPH. I also went over to Simsbury and took a flying lesson in another Piper Cub, but this time it was equipped with skis. Two things I remember about that one lesson. One was that if you come in for a landing and your altitude is too high, you can kill altitude by flying somewhat sideways, I think by banking to the left but holding a right rudder, or vice-versa. Later I learned that this technique can be a setup for you to be flipped over by a gust of wind. The second thing I recall at that time was that the end of the runway was a field full of tent tobacco posts and wires. Definitely not a place where you would want engine failure.

Now I had gone out with a couple of girls in Chicago, but it never amounted to anything. Same thing on my leave back home. I had a date with Joan Hyde of Ellington, a classmate of mine from High School. I was not attracted to her, but just fun on an intellectual plane (she was smart). So I was very relaxed. We had a good time horse back riding on a couple of their horses. Probably that was the very first time I ever had been horse back riding. The other girl was very pretty, a few years younger than I was. She was Marylin Wells, the daughter of Franklin Wells, a well-known farmer from Talcotville. I managed to get enough nerve to call her up and ask for a date to take her to a movie. We went to a movie in Rockville. I was scared to death. When I dropped her off at home that night, she very politely said "I had a nice time", and that was the end of that.

Finally it was time to go up to Boston Navy Yard and report for duty aboard the U.S.S. Topeka. While in Boston, I had the opportunity to look up another old classmate from High School, the top of his class, Alan Backofen. He was in a Doctor of Science degree program at M.I.T., Metallurgy. He told me they were working on Atomic Energy, but couldn't tell me more. Later I learned that both he and his wife became sterile due to radiation and could not have children.

When I first came up to the U.S.S. Topeka, tied up to the dock there in Boston, and looked up at it, I thought to myself: "Is this where I maybe am going to die?"

Finally it became time to ship out. I guess it was "ready or not", because the ship had about a 3 degree list to port. We left Boston at fairly high speed in a fog, using radar, and out at sea, followed a zig-zag course to avoid German submarines. We passed about 200 miles east of Cape Cod, and for years I had a favorite saying that the closest I ever go to Europe was 200 miles east of Cape Cod.

On the way down to the Carabean, we got word that President Roosevelt had died, and Harry Truman was President. What a long time he was President! And I never was for him. He was elected when I was in Third Grade, and here I was in the Navy on a cruiser heading for war.

We headed for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and stayed overnight there. Later we went to Culebra Island in the Virgin Islands for target practice. Ultimately we headed for the Panama Canal.

That was an experience, but it will be for another time. Time to go.