my life site

7/30/2019 My Life Site

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MY LIFE (SO FAR)

The beginning

I came upon the scene February 18, 1930, in the big city of Walla Walla, Washington. You know, the townso good they had to name it twice. I dont remember much about the occasion of my arrival, (I was quite youngat the time) but being February, I bet it was cold.

Rowland Gerald Jimmy Yeend. age 2 .Grandpa McEvoy said Rowland was too big a name for a little boy; Ill call him Jimmy. Grandpa was boss,so that was my name up to the time I went in the Navy.I dont know where we lived in my beginning, but at some point in time we went to live in a cabin on someacreage that belonged to Grandpa Yeend. I dont remember much about him either, except I think he had ahairstyle similar to what mine is now. My hair brush has more hair on it than I have on my head.

The cabin was located at a place seven miles out of town called Valley Grove. I have no idea why it even had aname the only thing there was a one-room schoolhouse and a couple farms nearby.The cabin was a two-room mansion with a kitchen stove in one room and a bed in the other.We did, however, have one modern convenience that most farmhouses didnt. We had indoor plumbing (wateronly.)Dad had cut a hole in the floor of the kitchen and had driven a well point into the ground below. He mounted apitcher pump

on a stand next to a basin that served as the kitchen sink.The water drained onto the ground outside.

As I recall, Fred Yeend (cousin), who had a farm just up the lane past the cemetery, didnt have indoor water,but they did have an indoor bathtub. You had to carry water from the well (outside) into the kitchen, warm it onthe stove then pour the water into the tub. When you finished bathing you pulled the plug and the water wentonto the ground out back.

Our place had another feature better than Freds. Our outhouse was a two-holer.

Theirs was only one.

Theirs did, however, have a door. Ours was open front looking out into the grove and a big red-ant hill just afew feet away.

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This was depression times and there wasnt much work. When Dad did work he had to walk to town (WallaWalla, 7 miles away) because we didnt have a car. In getting ready for work of course Dad had to shave butthere was little money for such things as razor blades and I remember Dad honing his blades inside a drinkingglass to sharpen them enough to shave.

I remember being at Freds place at milking time. Fred would sit on his three legged stool with his head pushedagainst the cows flank and a bucket between his legs (no electric milking machines then (no electricity). Therewas always a swarm of cats around at milking time. Every once in a while Fred would squirt milk in their face. I

also got in the act, I would get my tin cup down off the wall and Fred would squirt it full of milk. I liked warmwhole milk then, I dont think I could drink it now.When he finished milking cow(s), we carried the milk up to the house to run it through the separator. Aseparator is a machine to separate out the cream from the milk. It used A spinning drum started by a hand crank,then maintained by a heavy flywheel. I tried to run the separator, but I couldnt get it started.

The separator shared the back porch with Beulahs (Freds wife) washing machine. That was a pretty modernconvenience then. A one-cylinder gas engine drove the machine and the exhaust was carried outside through aflexible metal hose. The Maytag man wouldnt have gotten much rest around that thing.

That schoolhouse I mentioned was a one-room building with a stable out back for the horses that some kidsrode to school and separate outhouses for boys and girls. There was a fence around the school grounds with agate and a stile out front so the kids (and others) could get in and out without opening the gate.

The school must have been the center of activity for the area. I remember they held dances there occasionally.The students desks were mounted on wooden runners, with several desks per set of runners. This made itpossible to easily move them off to the side of the room to make room for dancing.They spread some kind of powder on the floor and during a break in the dancing us kids would run out onto thefloor and see how far we could slide across the room.

Connie went to this school for a few years (how many Sis?). I was to young.

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I didnt have a bicycle, but you don't have to peddle a pig. I probably didnt have many shoes either. But Iguess I didnt need them, the bottom of my feet must have been like leather. I was told that I would walkbarefoot through stubble fields (whats left after the wheat has been harvested) without any problem.

In later years I worked on Fred's farm, one of my jobs was plowing fence rows with a single bottom plow pulledby an old nag of a horse.

I wasn't the strongest kid around and walking behind that plow, trying to keep it upright and as close to thefence as possible, was a real chore for me. Sometimes the plow would hit a buried rock and send the plow andme flying through the air. When that would happen, the horse would stop and turn her head toward me as if tosay well kid, are you going to get up? I swear that field was a hundred miles around.Another of my jobs at Fred's was helping in the hay fields. We cut the hay with horse drawn cycle mower thenwith a hay rake bring it up in windrows to let the hay dry then fork the windrows into shocks. Well about thetime it got dry enough it would rain. Then after the rain stopped and the hay had time to dry again we had toturn all the shocks over so they could dry the bottom. Finally after a few rounds of dry, turn,dry,turn... we couldthrow the hay up onto the horse drawn wagon that is Fred threw it up into the wagon I helped but with avery small fork load of hay while Fred would pick up an entire shock at once and pitch it up on the wagon. That

was miserable work in the hot summer with hay going down your neck and sweating like crazy.

Wheat harvest was quite an operation, the combine in those days was far different than the one man combinethey have now. It was a large outfit pulled by a Caterpillar (crawler) tractor (it had been pulled by mules), thattook several men to operate. Wheel tractors didn't work on the hills that comprised the typical farm out west.If you look closely at the picture on the right, you can see a mule team pulling that combine.

These pictures don't show the whole crew. There was of course the cat skinner (tractor driver), header tender,who kept the header (mower) angled to the hill while keeping the combine deck level. There were two baggersthat stitched the gunny sacks closed and put them on the slide which laid the sacks of wheat on the ground forthe truck crew to pick up to take to the storage shed.

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Dutch Garver was another farmer I worked for. He probably was the richest farmer in the area. When I workedfor him it was pea harvest time. A buddy of mine and I got a job driving truck hauling peas from the harvesterto the side of the field where prisoners from the state prison worked the 'viners', viners were large machines thatremoved the pea pods from the fines. Boy did those pea vines stink. The men were obviously trustees, althoughI don't know how far I would trust them. But for the most part they seemed like OK guys.The reason for the prisoners was the shortage of men because of the war (WWII). They brought some of theirhandy-work with them from the 'hill'. Really nice jewelry that they offered for sale.

Ronnie Hallmarks cousin from the east came out for a visit and was amazed to see cows walking on the side ofa hill yet standing up straight. Ronnie told her that they were western cows that had legs on one side shorterthan the other and they always had to walk around the hill in the same direction. I don't know if she swallowedthat or not.

I dont know what this was all about, but it is obvious I wasnt too happy about it.The lady in the picture is my cousin Donna (Freds daughter). The costumes look like another display ofmothers sewing ability.

I believe when I was about 5 years old, we moved into town to live with grandma McEvoy. Her house was onthe west end of town (the other side of the tracks), and wasn't much different than the farm in some ways. Shehad chickens and a cow and fruit trees and obviously a calf. I guess her home was somewhat different than thefarm, it had indoor plumbing and electricity. All the modern conveniences.

I guess you can take the boy off the farm, but .

After we moved to town, I liked going to Fred's farm and went there often. Once when my cousin Joan fromSeattle came to visit, we went out to the farm.Fred kept a shotgun in a shed down by the creek and I often used to hunt in the woods.I got the gun out and offered it to Joan to shoot but she was afraid it would knock her over. I said OK then leadagainst the tree then you won't fall. That was not a good idea.

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She shot the gun and I thought she had broken her shoulder. She ended up with a huge bruise.

Grandma's chickens provided us with all the eggs we needed, and also some pretty good fried chicken.Grandma would kill the chickens by grabbing them by the neck and spinning them until their head came off.They would flop around the back yard for a while then she would dump them in a pot of boiling water to loosenup their feathers.Later I got the job of tending the chickens, including removing their heads. I used a hatchet and chopping blockfor the job.

Grandma would send me to the feed mill to get chicken feed. We got a very large bag of wheat for twenty-fivecents. That bag sure was heavy.

The modern heating system was a barrel stove in the living room It was actually two barrels one inside theother. The inner one was the fire box and the outer one had a folding lid on top to put in wood. Sometimes thething would get a back draft and blow the lid into the air along with lots of ashes. But it did heat the front part ofthe house pretty well. The kitchen had a wood (or coal) burning cook stove with water coils in the firebox forheating water in the tank along side the stove. As I remember she later got a new stove, I think it was a gasstove.

Mrs. Jones and her drunken son Andy lived next door to Grandma. She was pretty nice old lady. I would visit

her sometimes and we would play a game she called Cootie. It was played with a pair of dice and pencil andpaper. The object was to draw a picture of a cootie. Each player would roll the dice and draw various parts ofthis insect depending on what number you got on the dice. A certain number for the body, another number forthe head and other numbers for the feelers and legs and the had to be drawn in order, body, head, feelers(one ata time), and legs one at a time. Whoever got all the parts of their bug first won.Its amazing the dumb things we remember when we get old. I can't remember what I did yesterday.

Andy was a big help to Grandma (when he was sober). He had some surgical instruments and he operated onGrandmas feet. She had corns that really bothered her when she walked so when they got bad Andy would trimthem.

Often, when Andy would come home drunk, Mrs. Jones would call mother and ask her to come over to help gethim to bed. Andy would say Ah Deanie you cant take my cloths off, youre a girl. Mrs. Jones would say Its a dern shitten shame he has to do this, as she spit tobacco juice into her tin can.Deanie (sic) was what people called mother, her name was Geraldine.

Mrs. Jones had a nice goldfish pond in her back yard. One time I swiped some of them and put them in a washtub. I got in a bit of trouble over that stunt.Speaking of stunts, Mrs Jones had a grandson who was a stunt pilot for air shows and movies and sometimes hewould fly into town to see her. Then when he was leaving he would fly over our house so his grandma couldsee him from her house.He would fly so low I was sure he was going to land in our front yard.

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Washington school

Grades 1 through 8 = 9 years for me.I liked the 4th grade teacher so I stayed with her for two years.

One day after school my cousin Bobby and I were wrestling in the school yard, just playing, but Mrs Harris the

school principle saw us and thought we were fighting. She leaned out the window of her office (behind thethree windows above the entrance) and while beating the side of the building with her large paddle, yelled for usto come to her office NOW. We had no choice but to go up there she would have nailed us sometime.She was very good with that paddle and had a strong arm. That sure did hurt.

Another time while in the seventh grade Donovan Harvey and I were taken to the hall by Mrs Thomas for thatsame treatment. Donovan was to go first. She told him to lean over and lean on the sink while she administeredthe punishment. She lit into him and ignited some wooden matches he had in his back pocket. While he wasdancing up and down trying to get the matches out of his pocket she and I got to laughing so hard that sheforgot to whip me. Donovan didn't thing it was so funny.

On a lighter side of schoolhouse time, I played a trombone in the band along side another kid also playingtrombone. He was a small kid and had a little problem with that instrument. On a slide trombone the notes areplayed with the slide at various positions, from one to seven. Well this kid couldn't reach the 7th position, so hewould push the slide down and catch it with his foot and then flick it back and catch it an go on playing. Hewas a pretty good player too.

I finely made it to high school (Wa-Hi, Walla Walla High School)for a short time anyway. I took only theclasses I was interested in such as: band, math, photography, agriculture. Also one I didn't really want but had totake English. The teacher in that class kept threatening me that if I didn't straighten up she would make mecome up and sit on her lap. Well I took that as long as I could and finely the next time she said that, I walkedup to her desk and plopped down on her lap. The class got a big laugh out of that stunt but she didn't.

After I quit school I got a job working at a gas station near home. It would be called a convenience store now,we had groceries and gas. It was owned by a man who needed something for his playboy son-in-law to do. Theplayboy hired me so he could run around the neighborhood trying to put the make on all the women. He wasn'tin the station very much, so I pretty much ran the place. Twelve hours a day seven days a week.But the pay was lousy too, $10.00 per week.You couldn't run a place like that these days. I would gas up a car check the oil and wash the windshield, thengo in and slice cold cuts for a customer.

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That job did give me the money to buy my first car a 1921 Franklin. A really great car.The engine was 6 cylinders, air cooled (but the cooling fan didn't work) with a electric starter/generator that alsodidn't work. That meant I had to hand crank the thing to start it up. Usually the thing would back-fire and slammy hand into the frame. It's a wonder my hand wasn't broken, it sure was bruised. Oh yes, and the fuel systemdidn't work either. It had a vacuum fuel system that was supposed to draw gas from the rear mounted tank upto a small surge tank mounted on the firewall. But of course the vacuum system didn't work so I had to carry acan of gas in the car and fill the surge tank and go a ways, fill the surge tank, go a ways, etc. etc. Really highclass transportation.

FlyingOne day Ronnie Hallmark and I were out riding our bikes and decided to go out to the airport. The airport wasowned by a man named Buss Brown, who had been a schoolmate of our folks. Watching the planes landing andtaking off looked like a lot of fun. We asked Buss what it cost to learn to fly. He told us the cheapest route wasin a plane called Ercoupe. This plane had a steering wheel and no foot pedals, while the other planes had stickand pedal control. That made the Ercoupe easier to fly so it didn't take as many hours of instruction to get alicense and the hourly rates were less than the others. Both of us signed up for lessons, not knowing how wewould pay for it. We both had jobs but the pay wasn't enough to cover the costs. Buss had an idea how wemight make up the cost, he offered to hire us on a part time basis to earn flying time. That seemed great to uswithout knowing what we would be doing. It turned out the majority of the work was washing the planes,

mostly the belly where oil from the engine made a real mess. So that is what I did. Laying on my back underthe planes wiping the oil off with solvent, then washing the plane with soap and water. I would have donealmost anything to be able to fly. I really enjoyed flying.

This is the type plane I flew.

My flying ended when Fred (Duke) Wilson and I joined the Navy.We thought we were going to see the world, but it didn't work out quite that way.We boarded a train for Seattle, where the Navy induction center was located. After being stripped, poked,stabbed with needles and other indignities, we were sworn in and sent on our way by train to San Diego,California, to serve our term in boot camp. What fun that was. In boot camp we learned how to tie knots, fight

fires, march, fire am M1 rifle and salute and say 'yes sir' to anything that moved. The saying was If it moves,'salute it'. If it doesnt move 'paint it'.Duke and I were separated when he got sick and was in sick bay for a few weeks. That set him back severalcompanies and we lost track of each other.When we finished boot camp, I was sent across town to the destroyer base/receiving station for a two year tour.So much for seeing the world. At the time I didn't know where Duke was sent, I later found out he was sent toPensacola Florida for aircraft mechanic school.

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I served several jobs while at the Receiving Station, first I was a mess cook, which is not a cook but a bus-boy,then I worked in the officer separation center then the photo lab, after that I was assigned to be the XO's driver.About this time I met who would soon be my first wife, Mildred. That union brought on a fine fellow by thename of William Dale Yeend.

I was in Hawaii when he was born. It took a while to get a leave and bum a ride on flight on a military plane tothe states. (Hawaii was not yet a state, so the term 'going to the states'. After they became a state they got a littlehot if we said something like that and let us know in no uncertain terms 'WE ARE THE STATES.)The house in the background we rented for $25 per month. The landlord owned all the housed on that blockand would only rent to service people and for no more than $25.Our landlord also had scrapyard where he lived. He invited Mildred and me to come to his house. When wegot to his scrapyard we couldn't see any house, but we were taken to an area of the yard where there was a hugepile of junk. There was a door in the pile which looked like more of the scrap in the pile. However when heopened the door it showed a large room in the pile. We went in to find a luxuriousliving area like we had never seen before. There were actually several rooms just like a home, living room,

kitchen, bath and bedroom. The bedroom held another surprise, in a bed built into the wall was a woman. Reallyit was a store dummy, but it looked alive. He said this is his wife.The entire home was constructed and furnished of scrap he had collected over time.

Finally after my two year hitch at the destroyer base I was assigned to the USS Sproston DDE 577. She wasWWII ship which was put into mothball storage after WWII and was now being recommissioned and refittedfor electronic submarine warfare for service in the Korean War.These are two pictures of Sproston.

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When I reported aboard for duty she was in dry-dock being readied for sea duty. When they were finished dry-dock type work on the ship, they started to flood the dry-dock. As the water rose and the ship started comingoff the blocks, she began to list to port. The more she cleared the blocks the more she listed.I thought; fine the first ship I get on and we're going to capsize the damn thing.

But shortly over the PA came the word 'ALL HANDS MAN THE STARBOARD RAIL 'ALL, HANDS MANTHE STARBOARD RAIL'. Well that helped and the fitters were frantically pumping water and oil from theport tanks to the starboard tanks. They finely got the ship righted and finished flooding the dock so we couldpull out and go alongside the pier to do what else needed to rig us for sea duty.

Finally we put to sea for sea trials to see if the old boat would hang together.Well we put her through some pretty rough tests: High speed forward, high speed astern, high speed turns,(again damn near capsized the thing), then stop and drop a depth charge over the fantail to explode under theship. You can believe that will 'shiver your timbers'.But the old girl took it all in stride and was accepted for sea duty.

It was common for military men to have civilian cloths stashed in a locker club. I used a club in down townDiego, and one day as I came out of the club I saw a sailor walking going up the way, and even from the back Iknew it was my buddy Duke. I yelled 'hey Duke' and he stopped and turned around and his jaw dropped and hestarted to cry. It was the first time I had seen him since leaving boot camp and the last time I ever saw him.

Now we see the worldHawaii

Pearl Harbor Hawaii was now our home port. What a boring place, just one beautiful day after another.

Our first assignment came through. We were told to join a task force at sea to stand by for the return of amanned space capsule from space flight. To prepare for this, we were told to report to San Francisco shipyards

to be fitted with a special hoist which was for the retrieval of the capsule if it landed near us. Unfortunately thecapsule landed near the aircraft carrier in the task force, and we were sent back to remove the hoist and be fittedfor the next job. We were fitted with the latest sonar and radar systems to make us ready to escort the shipcarrying several A-Bombs to Eniwetok Atoll for a series of tests.

This photo is of the worlds first hydrogen device that we fired, that shot was at Eniwetok on one of the islandsof the atoll, that island no longer exists, there is a very large depression in the floor of the ocean. I call this a'device' because this particular device could never be a 'bomb', the whole thing would fill most of the floor of a

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basketball court. It of course has been refined considerably now, such that several thermonuclear bombs can becarried in bombers.

They shot four atomic devices while we sailed around the atoll scanning for unfriendly subs or planes snoopingon our activities.That was interesting seeing the power of those weapons. When they were fired we could actually see the shockwave coming across the water and when it hit it nearly knocked you over.

We got through that firecracker display without setting the atmosphere on fire.

Now back to Hawaii and more training. Then orders sending us off to Japan. Well we finely get to see anothercountry.In Japan we were under the command of King General Douglas MacArthur (he was an egotistical jerk) as partof the Japan occupational forces.

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We got a ribbon for being part of the occupational forces after WW2, All I did was sight-see and drink beer.Japan is a very interesting place to see, being a very different culture. At that time they had not becomewesternized, still very Japanese, with kimonos and wooden 'shoes' and bowing when we meet, being the norm.I wish I had had a camera for my many port visits in the far east, there were some really fantastic sights.One place I went to see in Japan was a Buddha shrine. That was amazing, the statue must have been 50 feet tall,and nearly as wide with Buddha's very large belly.

Another experience I had was when I was invited to a Japanese family's home for diner. The main course was a

large plate of raw fish. I had a real hard time getting that down.

Hong Kong was another good liberty port. Again with the Oriental culture.I took a cable car ride up the side of a mountain to see a shrine on top. The Oriental shrines are very beautiful.

Looking down on the city and the bay. When I was there there was only one 'tall' building, a hotel of a towering10 stories.

PhilippinesAlso the Philippines was not one of my favorite places. Altho when I was there on the Sproston it wasn't bad.We were sent there off the firing line in Korea for R&R. They sent some of us to a camp up in the mountainswhere the Air Force kept a very nice resort. When we hit the sack at night, we put our cloths at the foot of thebed and when we got up the next morning our clothes were cleaned and pressed and our shoes were shined like

a new dollar. The uncomfortable part of the trip there was the ride in a deuce and a half truck, armed with M1rifles. They said there were still some gooks in the hills that didn't like Americans. Fortunately we didn'tencounter any.

KoreaThe Koreans can keep Korea. I didn't like it at all. Of course we were fighting a war there at the time whichdidn't help.Because of the war Truman extended the enlistments of everyone.But I fooled him, I reenlisted for six more years so I could get the re-up bonus.

We entered the war as part of Seventh Fleet, Task Force 77.

Sonar scanning of the area of the fleet and shore bombardment was our main tasks as well as sailing planeguard for the carriers. That job is to trail along closely behind the carriers while planes are launching orlanding for the purpose of retrieving the pilot in the event he went into the water. Of course the pilot was notalways there for us to retrieve. On one occasion all we were able to get was the pilots helmet and the wing tiptank.

Speaking of carriers, the destroyers often needed to refuel and rather than leave the fleet and return to port forfuel, we took on oil from the fuel ships or a carrier. One time while refueling from a carrier in rather rough seas,

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we kind of bumped into the side of the carrier. The Captain of the carrier sent a message to our skipper If youtouch me again, ill scream.

Then back to the job of more shore bombardment. But first we were dispatched to meet the battleship Missouriand escort her to the fleet.

What a beautiful ship USS Missouri BB63

On the way to the task force we detected a Russian submarine. We knew we didn't have any subs in the area,and we were close to Vladivostok where the Russian sub pens are, so it was most likely theirs. Missourireleased us from escort duty and ordered us to pursue the sub. Our skipper was an ex sub captain so he knewjust about every maneuver the sub captain might try. We hovered over the tail of that sub for almost 24 hours ashe headed back to Vladivostok. They must have been getting very uncomfortable since it was a diesel run suband they have to surface every 24 hours to recharge batteries and get fresh air. But as we approachedVladivostok we had to break off the fun, we didn't want to take on the entire Russian sub fleet.

We got back to the fleet just about as the Missouri was being dispatched to shore bombardment. She requestedSproston go in with her to go inboard to draw fire while she sat out 15 miles and fired her 16in shells over ourhead. We could actually see those shells going over.We had earlier been firing at a railroad tunnel on the coast with out much success with our 5in guns so the Mofired a round that landed right in the mouth of the tunnel. Dirt and rocks and debris flew out the other end of

that tunnel like buckshot from a shotgun.For the rest of our tour the Mo took Sproston everywhere she went.Once while doing shore bombardment with Missouri we received a message from task force that we were firinginto our own lines. I don't know how bad it was with those 16 shells from Mo falling on them, we never heardif there were casualties.One job we were assigned alone was to sail to the west coast of Korea to try to save a pilot who was shot downthere. But when we got there a group of marines had pulled him out of the river, so we returned to the east sideof the peninsula.

Another exciting event we were involved in was riding out a typhoon. It was so strong, the waves were going

over the mast. We heard some sailors on the carrier were making bets whether we would come back up aftergoing down in deep trough. We suffered damage to our superstructure with a split in the bulkhead from the 01deck down to the main deck. This sent us back to Japan for repairs then back to the fleet only to get there intime to get hit with another typhoon and splitting in the same place. So back in for repairs.

After finishing our six month duty in Korea and Japan, we returned to Pearl for six months, then back again tothe far east and duty with the Task Force for another six months.

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Transfer to USS Dixie AD 14On returning to Pearl, I had an opportunity to transfer to USS Dixie AD14 which was a destroyer tender.I was a torpedo-man 3rd and that ship had a large torpedo repair shop, so that gave me a chance to learn the innerworkings of the torpedo and so advance my rating which I did eventually reaching the rate of torpedo-man 1stclass.The torpedoes that the Navy was using were old model steam driven type, but the Dixie torpedo shop was in theprocess of being updated to include capability to maintain new electronic, sonar guided torpedoes so I withthree other men was sent to special weapons school in Key West Florida to get qualified in high tech electronic

torpedoes, with that training I probably could have made Chief, but I thought I would rather leave the Navy andset the world on fire on the outside. (ha ha, it ain't burning yet).So I sat out seven months right through the hot summer months in Key West Florida. When it rains in Key Westit really rains. The island is very flat and low, the highest in the island is 7 feet where I think someone piled upclam shells. During one rain, sailors were going down Truman street in rubber rafts going from bar to bar. Inone bar the guys were sitting at the bar with there shoes and socks sitting on the bar and their feet dangling inwater. Nothing will keep a sailor from a cold beer.I did some skin diving while there. At first I didn't know how strong the sun was down there and I ended up insick bay with large water blisters on my back and legs. Once while swimming along a reef I came to a placewhere the reef dropped down for several feet then continued on. As I approached the opening a shark swam outthrough and on out to sea. I guess he didn't see me. Ill bet if he had seen me I could walk on water faster than he

could swim.

When I got out of school and headed back to San Diego, the ship had already gone back to Subic Bay, so I had along miserable ride back to the Philippines on a Navy Constellation plane.

I met a little redhead in San Diego (Mildred and I had separated long before this time) and didn't make it backto the ship for five days.. For that the skipper busted me to 2nd class. But what could have been a good thing,wasn't. When the punishment report came back from Squadron Commander it was disapproved because of mycritical rating (special weapons) The bad part is when the disapproval came back from Squad Comm I wasagain with the redhead and got back to the ship a few hours late. Again I was called before the skipper for alittle talk. He said By God Ill make it stick this time. So I was busted to 2nd class again.

He then asked me if I planned to reenlist. I said no sir. He said thank God.

This is Dixie with destroyers along side to beThis is USS Dixie AD14 serviced by the tender.

We typically would spend six months swinging around the hook in San Diago and the next six doing the samething in Subic Bay Philippines.

Then back to San DiegoThen back to Philippines

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Then back to San DiegoEnough of this I'm getting out. So I ended my 9 year Naval career.Back to Civilian life

Las VegasWhen I was discharged I went to Las Vegas to visit my sister Connie and also Mother and Marilee who werenow living there. That was a long visit, it lasted about 12 years.Joe (Connie's husband) knew I was into electronics and he knew a foreman at EG&G (Edgerton, Germeshousen

& Grier) and arranged an interview with him which went well, and I was offered a job.EG&G was a prime contractor to the Atomic Energy Commission and as such did all controls, photography,timing and firing of the atomic devices.Doing work for the AEC required top secret clearance. In order to get that clearance the FBI checks out yourentire life and maybe farther back. They talk to everyone who ever knew you or about you. Some of thosepeople wondered what I had gotten into now. The FBI wouldn't tell them anything. Ma'am, please just answerthe questions.

I worked in the detector group. We were responsible for calibrating the detectors and mounting them on andaround the atomic device for the purpose of measuring the yield of the bomb.

These pictures are of two of the gadgets (the term we used rather than bomb) . These two photos were shotsfired at Nevada Test Site. We also had operations at Eniwetok and Bikini atolls far out in the Pacific ocean.

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In addition to the weapons program, I worked on project Rover. Rover was a program to develop a nuclearrocket engine.I dont know if that thing would have ever worked, but we were de-funded before we could find out. We finelydid get the reactor to run and provide a small amount of thrust, but not nearly enough to push a rocketanywhere.

Two views of the reactor. Loyd Davis and Me(closer guy) adjusting the recorders inpreparation for a reactor run.

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And some miscellaneous pics

My race car with one of the girls at the wheel. Get out of my way, Tommy. Tommy's commentMom really wanted to drive the car, but of course you broke my racing carshe didn't have a NASCAR license

Grandma Mary Elizabeth (Cummings) & Hi Mom, your looking good.Grandpa George J McEvoy My mother, a really great1883-11-25 (Marriage date) lady. I don't know the date of

this picture or her age at the time

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17/23

Me with my pride and joy, my 1954 Cadillac Coupe DeVille Mom and Dad and their car.I told Joe (Connie's husband) that I had promised myselfthat some day I would have a Cadillac so he got one of hisfriends to find one for me. This is what he found in Lubbock,Texas and had it brought up to Vegas for me. Good old Joe.Dutch (Mom's husband) said 'with a little sheet-metal workthis thing would make a pretty good looking pick-up truck'.

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18/23

For anyone who wants to check their genealogy, this is a list of our ancestors.

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19/23

The love of my life and the old man.One time Carole and I went to the hospital with her folks tosee her grandpa (Carole's Mom's Dad). Her grandpa calledher mother over and quietly asked her who's that old manwith Carole?, he was about 90 at the time.

My kids and Me

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20/23

A card from sisters Marilee and Connie with Marilee's artwork. I think the kids got talent.

No doubt the backbone of IPC.

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21/23

Japanese architecture, really beautiful

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23/23

Operation Castle BIG BOOMWith all these gadgets I've worked on and all the Xrays & MRIs & CATscans I've had, I shouldglow in the dark.

my life site

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