VIGNETTES #2
LARRY TAYLOR'S TRIP: Larry Taylor relates details of his trip on the Barrett to Subic Bay in the fall of 1955 and provides some interesting information on life in the Philippines during that time. Larry was twelve years old at the time so, chances are, he will recognize some of us if he finds this site. Larry said on his site that the Barrett was the only one that was air conditioned. If he meant the only transport that was running to the Philippines, I think he was right but the Barrett had two sister ships, the USNS Upshur and the USNS Geiger, both of which were air conditioned. More on these two ships when I get the history page completed. The Barrett was my only sea duty so I have nothing to compare it with but I can readily imagine how uncomfortable ship travel in that area would have been without air conditioning. Bill Silver, one of my shipmates on the Barrett, had done some time on some of the other transports operating in this area and he told me how miserable it was on board much of the time with the crew sprawled out topside at night trying to get some sleep. The Barrett was quite confortable in those hot, humid tropics. This is the immense value of this new age of information. We can find people we didn't even know existed and we can preserve memories and history for everyone to see. Larry's story is at http://www.gdhs.org/treasure/memories/50s.htm. This is on the links page now.
RAY R. BURDEOS, HIS TRIP TO AMERICA ON THE BARRETT, AND THE CAPTAIN'S DAUGHTER: What incredible crossroads one can encounter in life. Frequently you meet someone there that you ran into at another crossroad miles back and years ago. Ray tells us of his trip to America from the Philippines on the Barrett in October of 1955, his Coast Guard experience, and the captain's daughter! He was just four months older than me when he made that trip. My military "career" was coming to an end. His was just beginning. I think I made one more trip on the Barrett before getting discharged in early April of 1956. I remember when his group came aboard for that trip. Chances are very good that he will remember some of us from our photos. I contacted him some months back by email when I first ran across his story. He was as surprised to hear from me as I was to run across his story. From the little bit of the story that he has posted, I think he won the heart of the Captain's daughter. Way to go, Ray. But I don't think it was quite the happy, "love conquers all" ending that we would like to have seen. See his story at http://members.tripod.com/philusnavy/burdeos1.htm. Ray has written a book that looks like interesting reading especially for those of us who experienced some of life under that little white hat. Check out his site at http://www.homestead.com/rayburdeos. This is on the links page now. We had quite a few Filipinos on board that trip. We had four or five of our Military Department that were from the Philippines including Connie and Maryanne who were corpsmen. Seven and a half years after our trip on the Barrett together, Ray was the steward to the Coast Guard's Group Commander in New York City and I was graduating from Boalt Hall School of Law at UC Berkeley!
There was frequently a lot of boredom on board so you never knew what would come to mind to the MilDep. There was a small chaplain's office on the troop deck in the forward part of the ship. One evening on the trip that Ray was aboard the chaplain and I were nosing around in there to see what was there. The chaplain had stuff stashed everywhere. Even he didn't know everything that he had. Anyway, we ran across several boxes of inexpensive plastic rosaries. So we thought that we would hand those out to a few of the troops. The office was tiny and the door was one of those that was split horizontally so that you could close the bottom part and leave the top part open. Word spread "quickly", almost instantly, and we were suddenly mobbed by what seemed like hundreds of people with their hands outstretched wanting rosaries. Our apprehension level rose meteorically and we handed out and tossed out rosaries like our lives depended on it. We hoped the little door would withstand the crush of people and not give way or we would have been goners. Suddenly we ran out and we shouted "We're out! That's all! They're all gone!" And the crowd melted away as quickly as it had swelled. To calm our nerves we went aft to the soda fountain and made ourselves something spectacular. We laughed nervously about that incident for the rest of our lives. I asked Ray if he remembered that incident but he said that he did not. More later on the chaplain's stores and some of the MilDep's raids on them.
We know something of the subsequent lives of many of the people from that time. Me, Ray, Silver, Johnson, the Padre. I always wonder what became of the others.
Ray's mention of the Coast Guard shield reminds me of another story that I recently heard. I have played tennis once or twice a week with a group of guys from Ventura for more than 25 years. One of the "old salts" that I have played with has been Bob Swanson who served on the USS PARCHE in WWII. Bob has his name inscribed on some sort of placque somewhere in Hawaii. Bob and I are the only two left who still play out of the original group. Bob was temporarily drydocked with a knee problem but is back in service now.. Another more recent player is Ron Williams. Ron served with the Coast Guard. He told me that in the late 40's or early 50's (I can't remember now) he was in Japan with the Coast Guard. (Coast Guard in Japan? When their navigator retired he went to work for the "Skipper" on Gilligan's Island. He must have been another "Wrong Way Corrigan".) Ron said that the sailors had told all the Japanese girls to stay away from the sailors that had that little white shield on their sleeve because those were the sailors that had venereal disease! I just couldn't believe that the Navy would do such a thing to our Coast Guard shipmates. Ron and I didn't get our names inscribed on anything as far as we know!
I have now received and read Ray's book. Order it. You will enjoy it. From a raw recruit from the Philippines who was not even as U.S. citizen, Ray started out as a steward but became a HMC! Quite an achievement all by itself. But he achieved even more. Read about it.
THE BARRETT AND INFAMY: One would not expect to find the Barrett in the annals of infamy but, through no fault of its own or its crew, it lives on in the Warren Commission Report! In some very small way, it figured in the history leading up to the assassination of President Kennedy. "How?", you may ask. Well, Lee Harvey Oswald, as a young marine already in trouble with the Corps, came home from Yokosuka, Japan on the Barrett. He left Japan on November 2, 1958 and arrived in San Francisco thirteen days later for his ultimate rendezvous with history. Even though John Kennedy, then a Senator from Massachusetts, was becoming better known nationally as a result of the 1956 Democratic convention, and even though Oswald seemed to be taking a greater and greater interest in national and world politics, it could very well be that Oswald had no idea who Kennedy was at the time of his return on the Barrett. You can read about it at http://www.jfk-assassination.de/WCR/app13.html. This is on the links page now.
There is an awful lot of material on that page so scroll down to the larger heading that says something like "The Marines" or use your browser's search capability and look for the Barrett.
JAMES HINKLE'S STORY:
From an interview with James Hinkle, born June 27, 1925:
Question: When were you transferred to the USNS Barrett, and what kinds of things did you do onboard?
Answer: June, or thereabouts, of '52. Well, the USNS Barrett was a brand new ship. It was making its maiden voyage to Germany, and the purpose of the ship was to take soldiers, fifteen hundred soldiers, to Europe, and we had four hundred fifty cabin, what we call cabin class passengers, dependents, and wives, and officers, and stuff like that.
My job on the Barrett, I was the senior petty officer in the outfit, was to manifest these people. I got a manifest of who was supposed to come onboard and their cabin number. I took care of the cabin class people; somebody else took care of the troops. And, if you had to switch cabins, or blah, blah, blah, or something, so that was my job, and take care of the administrative workload, and we'd
take them over to Germany and get them off, and stay in Germany for three days and load up, and come back to the States with the same basic number of people, or troops, and I did that for a year.
I liked it because it was the first time that, see in administration the paperwork is never done. Well, in this case the paperwork was done each trip because of the nature of what we were doing. So, once you got them off, you were done, and once you got them on and got them off in the States, you were done.
In the wintertime, it took us nine days to go from Staton Island, New York, to Bremerhaven, Germany, and the same nine days coming back in the winter, and in the summertime it was seven days. We would take the northern route in the summertime, and the southern route across the ocean in the wintertime to minimize the rough seas, and storms, and things.
I don't know where James Hinkle is today. Sounds like James had the same job that Paul David Johnson had when I was aboard and that Bob Grib had in 1964-1966. It's interesting to note that all of them pretty much describe this job in the same way. James would be approaching 79 years old now (June 2004). I didn't find his name in the Social Security Death Index. I did finally find a workable URL for this entire interview. It's on the links page under James Hinkle. James had quite an interesting Navy career. He retired in 1967. I'll bet there are thousands of stories involving the BARRETT. If only we could find them and have the time to read them!
ROMANCE: Well, I guess there was some romance on board but it sure wasn't The Love Boat! The opportunity was very slim if you were a Troop Deck denizen (but, even then, not impossible). However even in the cabin country the ship became a very small ship when you were involved in something as "shocking" as romance. (We were much more easily shocked in those days, weren't we?) When I get the time I'll write what I know from first hand knowledge and from what I have been told. What I know first hand is not very much!
(7 APR 07): OK, since I know so little I'll record it. I think that Bill Silver told me that one of the ship's servicemen was romantically involved with the nurse before I came aboard and we strongly suspected that one of the WAVE corpsmen was romantically involved with another of the MILDEP guys who was either a corpsman or a ship's serviceman while I was on board. We strongly suspect that Doc Sigal was romantically involved with at least six ladies on each leg of the passage but we never really knew. And there were accouts of various officers who were wandering about the ship's cabin areas at all hours of the night such that a Master at Arms had to be dispatched to get them back to their room with orders to stay there until breakfast! One trip Johnson and I got to know a couple of the wives that were traveling to Guam. I was 18 or 19 and Paul was about a year older. The ladies were about that age or maybe a year or two older. They were very attractive and friendly. One was four or five months pregnant. They were both married to Navy pilots who were on Guam. We spent a lot of time together just laughing, talking and having fun on the way to Guam like we had been old high school chums. We didn't have many places to do this so we got together in the Chaplain's office that was on the Promenade deck at the rear of the ship right next to the XO's office. NOTHING untoward or improper happened although Paul and I were crazy about them. They were very nice girls. We missed them when we put them ashore at Guam. I sure hope that they had happy lives. Wouldn't it be great if I heard from them? It could happen. I don't even remember their names and we took no photos. Maybe that's why I almost always wear my BARRETT hat when I am out and occasionally even wear my BARRETT shirt. (See my hat and shirt on my LINKS page on flickr.com/photos/jonsan. I also have WWW.USNSBARRETT.COM in four inch Navy Blue letters on the back of my super Toyota Avalon Touring Car that show up quite well against the pearly white finish. They would have to be around 71 years old now if they are still around but I'd bet I'd still be crazy about them. I fear that Paul Johnson is dead now. I never hear from him and none of the ways that I have to reach him work anymore.
At the end of one trip into SF I got to know (slightly) another very young attractive gal who seemed to be traveling alone. I don't remember her name, if I ever even knew it; whether she was a wife, daughter, or what; where she had gotten on; or where she was going when she got there. She seemed to be about my age. She wanted me to stay with her in town for a few days to show her around. It was very tempting but I was heading for the Greyhound depot and a bus that would have me home in about five hours to be with my family, my high school sweetheart, and all of my friends. The Greyhound depot was at 7th & Market. While I was waiting for my bus I wandered into a little coffee shop on Market near 7th and...you guessed it! She was there. Alone! I had never been in there before and never again thereafter. We spoke for ten or 15 minutes and then I was off to catch the bus to the San Luis Obispo area. Talk about Kismet! That was a tempting decision but I still believe I made the right decision to get on home where people were waiting for me. But I still wonder, like the poet, what my life would have been had I taken that road not traveled. After I got out of the Navy, which was soon after this event, my high school ssweethear and I decided that we liked each other but that we didn't want to spend the rest of our lives together. I hope that the gal from the ship went on to live a long and happy life. My high school sweetheart didn't. I have spent many, many miles and hours of my life on that 101 freeway between San Francisco and San Luis Obispo County.
HAROLD E. GERREN'S TRIP: On September 28, 2004 I heard from Harold concerning his trip on the BARRETT: Here is his account:
Saw your "In Search of" in the Legion Magazine and it struck a nerve, so I thought I would send you a little note and tell you how it stirred up some old memories. Actually if I wrote the whole story little would not be the correct adjective.
December 19, 1952 my Air Force unit sailed out of Pier 11, New York Harbor bound for Bermerhaven Germany on the Barrett. We were given Compartment 1-A right in the Bow of the ship. It was a very cloudy day and New York was a memory in no time. I was given a bunk almost on the deck. They were stacked up as I recall four high.
The next morning as I leaned over to tie my brogans I was suddenly hit by a funny feeling and ran for the head. I spent the next nine days with that funny feeling. We were in twenty five foot seas and it never got any better. That is a ride I will never forget. We were told that the ship had no ballast and was going to somewhere to get it. I only know that we thought the ship was going to capsize at one point.
I remember being in the mess hall watching the sky out of a porthole then seconds later seeing nothing but water. We had to hold our trays and watch the water pitchers slide back and forth on the tables. We were made to go up on deck and catch the spray while watching the ship roll from side to side and pitch up and down as we went down into holes in the water then feel as if we were on top of a hill looking at the horizon.
We had an old Master Sergeant in charge of us who, as we settled in at port, told us to take care of our wallets. Hours later, he said "Has anyone seen my wallet". Well, it was never seen again. He also had a quaint phrase for us to live by "The quicker we get this place cleaned up, the quicker we'll get this place cleaned up."
Going through the English Channel was also something I will never forget. It was dark and a little foggy. We could hear fisherman talking and through the mist could see the masts of sunken ships looking like monuments for the dead. It was a quieting sight.
We arrived in Bermerhaven December 28, 1952, I was never go glad to put my feet on sold ground.
I told Harold to check out A.T. POLAND Jr.'s WILD RIDE story on the LINK page of the website. A.T. in his account said that the sister ship of the Geiger was the Brantner but the "Brantner" that A.T. mentions was really the BARRETT. Check out that story for yourself.
After Harold read A.T.'s account, he wrote again:
That was great......except he got to lay in his bunk, they would not let us do that. Our 'wise' old Master Sgt. said it would make us feel worse. I did not mention in my note to you that on that first morning he told us not to think about being sick, "It's all in your head". Well like the wallet, later that day he was is the head.
There were at least 132 of us, USAF, in that bow the rest of the ship carried ground pounders. Thirty or so of us were sent to a vehicle rebuild depot in France.
I have been reading the items on your site and it is so interesting. I am sooooo glad we were on the southern route I can't imagine what the other one would have been like. I guess I did not realize that the Barrett was a new ship then. And I guess the story about the ballast was bunk.
I am in North Canton, Ohio, I retired from The University of Akron. Project leader, Computer Programmer, Systems Analyst, what ever you want to call it. I also put sixteen years at Goodyear Areospace and did work on the Mace Missile and then the Subroc Missile, made a few trips out your way to Seal Beach.
We have a double wide camper near Loudonville, Ohio where we spend a lot of time during the summer. It has been so wet and cold this year that it has cramped our style a little. We sometimes go to FL or AL for a month during the winter and the last two years have driven to Tucson, which I dearly love. I have a long lost cousin out there that we found via genealogy research. (Thats another long story.)
Thanks for all your efforts.
Harold E. Gerren
844 Oakridge St SW
North Canton, Ohio 330-499-6109
ggerren@neo.rr.com
1953 TRANSOCEAN AIRLINES CRASH OF THEIR "ROYAL HAWAIIAN":
Bill Butler was aboard in 1953 and sent me a copy of the Guam Daily News from July 15, 1953 that tells of this tragic event. (As I recall now (SEP 07), Bill was not on board during the trip when the crashed but Ed Glover was! See below for some photos of the search and recovery!) As nearly as I can tell a TransOcean Airlines flight called the "Royal Hawaiian" (a DC-6B) departed from Guam on Sunday, July 12th bound for Hawaii. There were 58 people on board. It crashed sometime later about 350 miles west of Wake Island. About 0830 the 13th the BARRETT was diverted to the crash site and arrived on scene about eight hours later about 1630 hours. I'm not yet sure where the BARRETT was or was bound for when it was diverted but I think it was bound for Guam. Given the BARRETT's speed, it could not have been more than about 160 nautical miles away when it was diverted. The USS TOMAHAWK was also on the scene at the same time. There was no sign of the airplane and no survivors but they did recover 14 bodies (or parts thereof) and there were five inflated life rafts. The TOMAHAWK recovered three of the bodies and transferred them to the BARRETT. I believe the BARRETT then made for Guam with the bodies on board. Medical reports state that the bodies were scorched and some "mutilated", whatever that means. There were large great white sharks that were attacking the bodies. There is some indication that three bodies were sighted that were not recovered due to shark activity and a concern for the safety of the crew that was out in lifeboats trying to recover the bodies. C. O. Hicks was the Master of the BARRETT at that time.
I found some other information on this crash on other websites but didn't learn anything new. I'll keep looking and see what I can find. I'm curious to know how they knew the plane was down, how they knew where (or approximately where), whether there was any radio transmission from the plane, what they think the cause of the crash was, what the weather at the time was, and how there could be five inflated life rafts with bodies in the water but nobody in the rafts. I'll also review this newspaper article some more to see if I can make more sense out of the facts. All fourteen bodies were identified. At least two of the bodies were children: one boy, one girl.
31 DEC 05: I used some different search words and came up with a lot of new information. But you do have to sort of read between the lines to put the details together. The tail number of the plane was N90806 and the flight number was #512. The plane had departed from Wake Island, having arrived from Guam. One site even gave the plane's manufacturer's serial number. The crash occurred at night, I think. No part of the plane was ever recovered but from what evidence was recovered, the cause seems to be a high altitude and unexpected explosion with bits of the plane and its contents spread over a large area. One site says there was a large naval task force on the scene to try to recover survivors and the Coast Guard had helicopters and surface craft from Wake Island on site to aid in the search. I don't think there was any radio report from the airplane about any trouble. I'm not sure how they knew the plane was down. There may have been radar coverage in that area but I doubt it. I think the plane was radioing in position reports along the way and when they did not hear from it and could not make radio contact, they properly assumed that it was down. The plane's last reported position was about 300 miles east of Wake Island. I don't know exactly what the airspeed of a DC6 is but it's pretty fast. Judging from where it went down, I would guess that it had departed Wake Island somewhere between one and two hours before the explosion and was probably flying at or above 20,000 feet at the time of the explosion. They probably estimated the location of the crash from the plane's last known position, its flight plan, its airspeed and the amount of time between the last radio contact and the time at which they could no longer make radio contact. Hopefully, all passengers were killed immediately and did not have to experience the terror of falling out of the sky. If they could have found this plane and determined the cause, they might have prevented that fuel tank explosion of the airliner over on the east coast a few years back. But, there might also have been a bomb aboard. People were doing those things in those days. Remember that crash where some guy many years ago had put a bomb aboard in his mother's luggage to kill her for the insurance money? What a world! This explosion scenario might also explain the inflated life rafts. The explosion might have "loosed" the life rafts that fluttered to the ocean surface with everything else. They might have then been automatically inflated when ejected or inflated when they came into contact with salt water. A lot of this is conjecture and deduction on my part so if anybody knows of any other information or explanation, let me know.
SEP 07: Some months back I heard from Ed Glover who was a PN2 on the MilDep crew on the voyage when the crash occurred! Bill had the job that I subsequently had when I was aboard. See the "LINKS" page for the link to Ed Glover's Photos! Somewhat gruesome!
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