Salty Dog!

[nastygunz]

 The kids were digging through the military archives today and found this picture of my second ship and a map with a trail marked by lines where we went on a cruise.  Made me think back to that and remember how long I spent at sea and didn't see my family or land or women or booze or anything!  And this was back before the Internet, cell phones, email, texting, and instant messaging. Back when it was iron men on steel ships 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[nastygunz]

[nastygunz]

I earned the The Order of the Bluenose and Shellback on that War ship:

[remrogers]

Hopefully some good memories. Thank you for your service.

[nastygunz]

It was an amazing experience!

[JohnP]

I spent twenty-two miserable days crossing the Pacific (USS Barrett) from Korea to San Francisco.  Was standing on the deck one evening and said to the sailor standing next to me "man that's a lot of water."  He replied "Sure is and that's only the top of it."

[Okanagan]

I earned the The Order of the Bluenose and Shellback on that War ship:

Like many military awards, those simple shields convey a huge depth of life and service.  Thank you.

[nastygunz]

Pretty funny😂😂😂😂.  We had a load of army guys on board for one trip heading to Honduras and they sure looked out of place out on that ship.


"USS Nassau unloads U.S. troops in Honduras

PUERTO CORTES, Honduras -- The U.S. Navy assault ship Nassau anchored off Honduras Thursday and began unloading military equipment and troops taking part in U.S.-Honduran war games.

The six-month air, sea and land maneuvers, called Big Pine , will involve up to 10,000 troops, including 4,000 Americans and 6,000 Honduran troops."

I spent twenty-two miserable days crossing the Pacific (USS Barrett) from Korea to San Francisco.  Was standing on the deck one evening and said to the sailor standing next to me "man that's a lot of water."  He replied "Sure is and that's only the top of it."

[FinsnFur]

Those treasure maps though 

[nastygunz]

 I was on the ship as part of a huge NATO winter warfare exercise in Northern Norway to keep the Evil Empire on its toes.  This was during the Cold War. It was the most brutal cold I ever felt in my life and I am from northern Vermont.  During the course of the exercise a Navy seal was doing covert surveillance of a small Norwegian village and an elderly gentleman spotted him and thought he was a peeping Tom and took a shot at him with a small caliber rifle and hit him in the nut sack, a through and through.  For months afterwords while eating on the mess decks  somebody would yell out hey Potter show these newbies where you got shot!

And NCO navy seal potter would jump up on a chair drop his pants and underwear and whip the plums out and show everybody where he got shot, funniest thing I ever saw in my life 😂😂😂

[coyote101]

Nasty,

Did you get one of these to go along with your Shellback award? I got this at a yard sale several years ago rolled up in a piece of bamboo inside an old sea chest:



It reads, in part:

"Know ye: That on this seventh day of June, 1943 in Latitude 00000 and Longitude 146° 23' W there appeared within Our Royal Domain the S.S. Young America bound south for the Equator and for Australia, New Guinea, and the South Pacific War Area"

Mr. Morgan obviously survived the war and brought this home with him. God bless the Greatest Generation.

Pat

[nastygunz]

 I did get something like that but not as fancy.  Also got a small wallet card.  We also had to go through a pretty intense hazing ceremony     During the ceremony we got a large blue stripe from an indelible marker down our noses 

[nastygunz]

"The ship you are looking for is the SS Young America.
Historical information on this ship was hard to come by but in fact I was able to discover it under the United States Merchant Marine web site.
Their web site is usmm.org.
You will have to "click" in a number of categories to find info on the ship, but at least it would be a start for your search. It saw service in the Pacific and was awarded a Battle Star and at one point was straffed by enemy gun fire.
You will also find it interesting that as of 1999 the ship is still in commission as the SS Wright T-AVB3 Aviation Logistic Ship. It was converted from the SS Young America in 1986 and is utilized as an aviation maintenance support ship for the US Marines. It is assigned to the Military Sealift Command. This info came from a US Navy web site."