July 1972- May 1976 Even though I was 20 years old, I had only seen Chicago and St. Louis. When I joined the Navy in West Memphis things changed. Ronnie Irons and myself received single rooms at the Hotel Peabody without a party. I wasnt allowed to take the oath in Memphis because I was resident of Arkansas. A Greyhound to Little Rock to take the oath. Then my first airplane ride, a prop jet Texas International Airline, that seated 12 from Little Rock to Memphis in 30 minutes. I remember Thomas Foy driving Mr. Truitts Judge from West Memphis to Little Rock in a hour. I had my first jet ride, Delta DC-7 from Memphis to Atlanta. I discovered that I like riding behind the wings. There was a dip on takeoff and I love this today. My first trip to Florida to bootcamp in Orlando, home of Disney World which I did visit in September 1972. After bootcamp, stopped in WM for a couple of weeks. I headed to California for the first time. I remember flying over LA for the first time. I had never seen nothing like this before in my life. Then we headed to San Diego for Storekeeper A school for eight weeks. After that back to WM for two weeks, then it was off to Vallejo California, home of ConFunkShun. They were honing their skills at Mare Island Naval Base. This also was a submarine base and my ship USS Proteus AS-19 was a submarine tender but she had left for Guam when I got there. I turned 21 in Guam, the first of two birthdays spent outside the USA. I spent 14 months in Guam. I returned back to the world as veterans in the Pacific would say. I spent about 3 weeks in WM in March 1974 before going to Concord California abroad the USS Flint AE-32. This was a ammo ship so we were station at Concord Weapon Station near Port Chicago. Port Chicago had an explosion during WW II that where Blacks sailors was court marshall. Now I am 22 years old and four years removed from WM and I had begun to smell my piss as the old folks would say to us guys who was moving to fast and you couldnt tell them anything. At that time, I found out that there was more females than guys in the Bay Area. Believe me this was nothing like WM. I had filled out, a little taller, my broken front tooth had been fixed and I was no longer shy and had plenty of confidence in myself. I had learned to chase all type of babes. I caught more than those got away. Even had a new nickname, Memphis Slim. I was full of myself but the ladies loved me. The Bay Area strengthed from San Jose to Concord and I had a 1969 Roadrunner to get around in. Oakland was my favorite town in the Bay. Before I got out, I got a 1971 Thunderbird when I returned to WM. I lasted that summer in WM before heading to Jonesboro in September 1976. After 5 years in Jonesboro, I moved to Dallas still chasing ladies. Now I am like Ole Yellow, sitting on the porch, barking but not chasing. I am very thankful for my life. I believe that if I had started out in Oakland, I might not be here today. The only thing that I miss about those days is the Pacific Ocean. I rode the USS Flint from Concord California to Japan and many countries in between. I went to Hawaii so many times that I didnt like it anymore. God has been good to me but my start was in WM and I am thankful for that.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 02:18:01 +0000