Chickenfat: Finding Myself in The Navy

During the Cuba Missile Crisis I joined the Naval Reserve. My two year active duty was from July 10, 1963 to July 9, 1965.

Most of my two years were spent at NAS, Lakehurst, New Jersey, Helicopter Utility Four (HU-4),, but how I ended up there is a long amusing story.

OK, you talked me into it

If you have a short attention span skip over these words and scroll to the pictures.

When I first went on active duty I went to the Navy Yard, Transients, Charleston, South Carolina, to wait on my orders.

There were several hundred other transients also waiting on their orders.

They assigned each of us a unique number. Every morning it was our responsibility By a certain time to stand on a square on a little square that had our special number. They looked us over every morning and assigned work details for the day. It must have been how a slave market was. Over the next ten or twelve days I was assigned cleaning up The base EM Club, Chief's Club, Marines, Club, Officers' Club, paint the deck of Franklin D. Roosevelt's small cabin cruiser, and cleanup the theater.

When cleaning up the theater I impressed my supervisor enough for him to put in a standing chit to report to the theater every day. I doubt if my work impressed him but I think it was my willing to talk about movies, which I knew a good deal about back then. That was one of the easiest jobs I had in the Navy. I did not have to on my square with my number ever again. A new transient friend and I drifted in before 10am, cleaned the theater and empty the "shit cans" (as the Wave typist in the office called them), and as soon as we finished our work we could watch a movie in the theater, just us two, our boss, and sometimes the wave.

Our barracks overlooked the Cooper River, with a huge bridge, great view.
I only left the base one time during my stay as a transient. Outside the front gate the steer that led up to the gate was well lit with neon signs advertising bars and other Navy attractions. I only remember one bar. I was attracted to it because it had the biggest crowd inside. "It must be something!" I told my friend.

We went in and saw that all the attention was centered on a female bartender. I saw what all the excitement was about: After you order your drink she asked do you want it "stirred"? If you say yes, she charges a higher fee. The "stirred" drink was stirred by her finger that just poked the bartender in her private parts. The sailors have been at sea for months. I'm too cheap, we left.

Back on the base a base bus service carried sailors back to their barracks. I remember one passenger and the bus driver got intp a heated argument and the shot tempered bus driver ordered the short tempered passenger off the bus. He refused. It turned out that the passenger was an officer. I never saw a raging man change his tone so quickly and then shut up.

After about 30 days as a transiet I got my orders. I reported to a window like I was told to and a yeoman gave told me I was to report at the ship the USS JK TAUISSIG in Lakehurst, New Jersey.

He gave me my orders, airplane ticket to Philadelphia and a bus ticket from a bus station in Philadelphia to the Naval base at Lakehust, New Jersey. The yeoman told me I was on my own to get from the airport to the bus station.

That's nice, I had less than $15 at the moment.

As it turned out, after the limozine ride I had less than $2 and was about to enter a new world, broke.

On a late Friday night I arrived at the gate of NAS Lakehurst, New Jersey. Behind the gate was a building that was the office of the duty officer of the day. I would soon learn the building also was the security building and barracks for the security personnel.

The bus pulled off with me and my duffel bag standing out front of the Duty Office/Security Building, walked into a room with a counter. Behind it sitting behind at were a duty chief and duty officer. I'm sure the duty driver was there too, I just don't remember him. The chief stood up and asked could he help me. I gave him my orders. He looked at the orders, his eyes widened and he read them again. He walked over to the duty officer, leaned over and showed him my orders and thumped a certain line and chuckled. The duty officer looked at the line that pointed out and let out a chuckle and shook his head.

They both walked over the counter opposite me. I don't remember which one said what, but here is the essence of what they said:

You are assigned to the USS J.K. TAUSSIG? A ship? We are on dry land 20 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. We don't have ships, we have helicopters!

By the way, NAS LAKEHURST is where German's HINDENBURG blew up in 1939.

They called the main barracks and told them to keep me until they could get these orders straighten out, which the earliest will be Monday.

The duty driver carried me to the main barracks and a MA let me in the dark to an empty bunk. I undressed in the dark, crawled in bed (bunk) and went to sleep.

HOWEVER! In the middle I woke up having a realistic dream. I dreamed I was still in the Charleston Navy Yard and we were being bombed by the Russians! I was semi awake. The only thing I could see was a red exit sigh, which I ran to the door under the sign and out it.

I found myself in a hallway (passage way (Navy talk)) in my underwear (skivvies).

Another door opened and two men in civilian clothes walked in, talking. I ran up to them and warned them the Russians are bombing us. They were amused but caught on quickly I was having a bad dream. They spent a while calming me down and convincing me I was having a bad dream.
I went back to my bunk, which was not easy to find in the dark in a strange room. But somehow, I did.

That morning at breakfast I saw the two men I tried to save sitting a few tables away, watching me. We became fiends, even though we were in different units and one time I even rode to North Carolina with them.

I reported to the Personnel office and the could not instantly find why the orders to the J.K. TAUSSIG and how to correct. It might take weeks to fix it. They assigned me to be the janitor of the Duty Office/Security building and I moved into their barracks. I made my own hours.

Either the day before or after Labor Day Weekend I got orders to report to Helicopter Utility Squadron Four (HU-4), which was at NAS Lakehurst.

Me signing up at NAS Atlanta

The Helicopter Squadron's Logo that I belonged to

Hangars in the distance at Sunset. By the way, my first day in HU-4 I had too many beers at the EM Club with my new friend Don Lash. We decided we were going to try to fly a helicopter... slip up, crawl up in it and start pressing buttons. We backed down, and I think we were both relieved.

Aboard the USS NEWPORT NEWS. I don't remember the names except the man in the center. His last name was Poison (or similar). He died recently.

Me aboard the USS NEWPORT NEWS

Ruben Collier aboard the USS NEWPORT NEWS

Eric England. This picture was taken about 2009. It is at the Descendants of John Hunter Reunion. this guy had a Marine had on or something to say he is a retired Marie. He and I are distant cousins and then we just met. I asked him where all was he stationed in the Marines. One of the places he said was THE USS NEWPORT NEWS. When? I asked. 1964-65. I said I was on the same ship in January 1965. He said he was too. Mississippi River and New Orleans? Yep! We spent a month on the same ship and probably ran into each other and didn't know we were related. Small world.

I heard he was one of the leading snappers in the Vietnam War. I googled him and sure 'nuff. He has pages and pages of interviews and studies.

Hangars at NAS Lakehurst, NJ

Theater and GeeDunk from the back

Our supervisor Ltjg Chet.

After Chet retired he moved to Atlanta and started a magazine WHO'S HIRING IN ATLANTA which became successful. Chet stayed with us a couple of weeks looking for a job. One time out on West Peachtree in Atlanta Chet suddenly had the uncontrollable urge for a bowel movement. He couldn't wait. We were in traffic that wasn't moving. Chet jumped out of the car and ran to a Gulf Service Station about a block away. I thought when he was our division officer I thought our relationship would never come to this. He made in time to the Gulf Station.

The main barracks on the base

At the squadron's banquet. Left to right: Dick Day, Nancy Day, unknown, Sam Kasuske, Don Lash, unknown, unknown, and me.

Dick, the captain's yeoman. In civilian life he was a college professor.

Don Lash showing off his black-eye.

We were snowed in. The people on the base could not leave. We could walk up the hill to the EM Club. People were getting restless and short-tempered. A Marie saw Don making fun of him and his buddies mocking their rock and roll movements and punched Don in the face.

Me as Duty Driver (my duty about every 4 days)

Front of our barracks. I took the picture from a tower (see next picture). I told Don to lie down with books scattered all around him. He did. I'm not sure what I was trying to do.

Jim, Dick, and Don on the barracks steps

One of my cube mates Mark.

Joe

Me and Mark in our cubical

Me in a bell helicopter. All the pilots in our squadron had to log in so many hours of flight training. One time our division officer took me up. in a Bell Helicopter. We got very high up and he turned off the engine and smiled. And we began to fall. We fell until the ground was feet away, the the propella began to go around and and around, which built up a wind which caused us to settle down easy. That, I learned is auto-rotation.

Cube mate Ray and the deer's head. Jay,a fellow squadron mate was in a bar between Lakehurst and Toms River when a big bar brawl broke out. Jay grabbed the deer head and ran out. He didn't want it so he gave it to Ray and me.