I spent twenty three years in the Navy. I began at Great Lakes Naval Recruit Training Station which is actually in North Chicago, Illinois. This photo was taken by a long forgotten pal from those days. I can guess the date of the photo around spring time of 1958.
My Navy life was enjoyable. I met many friends and some of them are still in touch with me today. Good guys; weird guys, edgy guys, some heroic. I often think of them and they inspire my writing in various dimensions. Some of them died while still young and still enlisted. Most by accident and a few died at sea under tragic circumstances. I want to write about an incident that happened to me after I left Great Lakes and transferred to Norfolk, Virginia. Does anyone remember the sign by the highway that announced, “Welcome to Norfolk. Gateway from Pines to Palms.”? I saw it from the bus I rode on from New York into the Tidewater area.
The bus took the ferry from Cape Charles to Cape Henry for the last leg. The Hampton Bay Bridge Tunnel was not built for another few years so there was a wait to board the ferry until it showed up on its rounds. Norfolk is the largest Navy facility in the world. The city itself is large but mostly populated by sailors and service industries in support of all the military in that area.
I was so young then. I had traveled with my mother and my brother when I was younger. But this was different. I was on my own and I’d had a few successes surviving training schools and I was eager to get to do what I wanted within the limits set by my new environment. I was quite eager to learn and to find my path in life. These were heady days and not much could curb my enthusiasm.
Here is a story that illustrates my mental condition and general attitude of those days. I hope you like it and I hope your day is as terrific as mine is today.
TROPICAL WORKING HOURS
I was new in the Navy. Well, sort of anyway. I joined about a year and half ago and this was a great place to be stationed. Norfolk! Norfolk is a Navy town and in the late fifties it was filled with sailors and ships of all sorts. Plus there were Navy Air Bases! Two of them! I loved watching the fighter jets flying low overhead. What a great place!
I was a member of the crew of the submarine Sirago. What a neat boat! I was so proud of being on a submarine and I was doing well getting to know my way around Norfolk and I could easily ride the city bus system most anywhere. Mostly I just rode the bus from the D&E piers, that stands for something but I’m not sure what exactly, down Hampton Boulevard to the city of Norfolk and I’d walk around looking at things. I was a seaman with an electronics technician rating badge on one arm and on the other arm on top where the shoulder is I had the USS SIRAGO patch. I really looked great and I felt great! I wasn’t qualified in submarines so I couldn’t wear the silver dolphins over my left pocket yet. But just the same I was on a submarine and I was 20 years old and full of piss and vinegar!
It was summer time so the ships in Norfolk were on tropical working hours. That means we started work at six in the morning and worked through until one in the afternoon. It was too hot to work that time of day so we had the afternoon off. I loved tropical working hours! My boss Webster took good care of me and I got plenty of time off because I kept the electronic equipment in good working order. He was a great guy! I could hardly understand him though because he was from Kentucky and talked like Muskie on Deputy Dawg or one of those southern characters on television cartoons. Anyway, on this day I was downtown Norfolk having fun walking around.
After a few hours of looking at things and going into stores I got bored and decided to get back to the boat so I could eat dinner on board. Chow on a submarine is the best food in the world. I loved eating on board. I went to the bus stop and waited about fifteen minutes for the bus to the piers where my submarine was tied up with the rest of them. The bus was running a little late because it was quitting time for many people who worked in the city. I got on and there was one seat open about half way down and to the right side of the bus. I headed for it and noticed a pretty lady sitting there. She saw me coming and she picked up her handbag and made room for me. She was really nice!
I sat next to her and I was looking out the window past her face to watch the stuff going by and she caught my eye and smiled a real friendly smile. I liked her a lot! She struck up a conversation about what I was doing in the Navy and asked where I lived and stuff like that. Soon she was pointing at stuff on my uniform and asking questions about all of the stuff and I was really proud to tell her all that I knew. A few times she would touch something on the uniform and I would get a little tickle kind of feeling and then I would blush, I think. She was laughing sometimes and I would sit up straighter and pretend I was an old hand at this stuff. She sure was pretty and I liked her a lot!
We sat like that for about fifteen minutes and she told me she was going home and that she would be resting in the cool of her house because it was so hot that day. I agreed that would be a good thing to do. Then we were getting close to her stop and she explained she would like me to ring the buzzer to get off and I said sure. When she told me I reached up over her and pulled the cord that signaled the driver that it was a stop coming. She smelled really nice.
I pulled the cord and moved out of the seat by standing up. She brushed passed me with a really nice smile and headed down the aisle to the front of the bus. I sat back down and felt all good and happy inside. I watched her as the bus was slowing for her stop. When the bus stopped she moved a bit toward the doorway and turned. She caught my eye again and she got a real funny mad look on her face. I didn’t know what was wrong. She gave me a little bit of a dirty look and then she got off the bus. As the bus pulled away from the curb I looked out the window to see what was up but she was not looking at the windows. She was looking straight ahead and he expression was not very happy.
I have often replayed this little scene over and over and to this day I’m not sure what I did wrong.
G. M Goodwin
15 September 2015
Playing Fair and Being Kind 