George...one of my fondest memories is of the '78 Yankees comeback and our daily meeting to discuss the previous night's game.
Fun to remember that we had no live TV in Iceland then. The daily sports broadcast on AFRTS radio came during the morning brief so you couldn't hear it.
I was detailed to monitor the broadcast and report to you after the brief.
Your posting on listening to baseball on AFRTS while in Iceland reminds me of sitting in the living room at the Karasjok site in late May with the sun streaming into the large picture window at 1 AM listening to AFRTS, my only connection to the outside world other than the BBC. Outside, the snow was finally below the top of the meter-high fence that surrounded the compound and the ice on the river had finally "gone out" a week earlier.
That year, Ron Smith relieved me in early June after it had snowed the first four days of the month. It then got
really hot (86-88 degree) but we could not open the windows because of the mosquitos. With continuous sunlight, the building began to "cook."
I sent a message to the embassy in Oslo requesting an air-conditioner be sent north. Two days after I left, the temperature dropped to 34 and didn't get above 60 for the rest of the "summer.". Fortunately the ac was never sent.
Although I was there parts of several winters, it never got below -35F. On 29 January 1999, after the site was closed, it went to -60 officially and -65 unofficially. Water pipes buried 5m (17 feet) down froze.
Yes Nick - for some bizarre reason i still have that scrapbook with all of the box scores of that July - Sept comeback. They were clipped out of the Stars & Stripes paper.
I think the oldest items I still have are a Zippo lighter with the Argentia crest on it and dated 1970, and a coffee cup with OT2 Scott on it. I have given several things away....gave my son my sword on his 30th birthday, my mounted medals to a grandson who loves anything military and will give my shadowbox to my oldest grandson when he graduates from high school in 2015.
Memories... Of being with, working with the greatest group of people I've ever known. Though my time in the Navy was short, it make a huge impact on my life.
Nick -
I think you deserve a few kudos for asking such a provoking question - and to read the many responses it has generated.
I forgot one thing that I still have (and will bring it to the 60th IUSS Reunion....if I can get this 75 year old brain to remember it):
It is a Zippo lighter from NavFac Pacific Beach (ca: 1960) with the station seal engraved on it, which I designed in late 1959 as part of a contest to design the logo. It underwent at least one modification, but the 4 points of the original "COMPASS DESIGN" still remain.
I have a truck load of "stuff" but my best is my Flat Hat, my set of tailor made Hong Kong 13 button blues with jumper with a zipper in the side.
Who else has their flat hat? Smokey, George?
Well, I "sort of" still have my flat hat. I gave it to my youngest sister (many, many moons ago) - but kept the U.S. NAVY ribbon from it, which is in a document protector in one of 4 volumes which I have of my Navy mementos.
She put her own ribbon on it and wore it, off and on, for a number of years as a teenager and young adult. Not sure if she still has it - will have to ask her at our annual family Christmas dinner. She is now 68 years old.
Like you, I still have my tailored 13 button blues, and still have my Pea Coat (somewhere in a box in my basement) - as well as my CPO Kahki's.
How about a complete file of "Z-Grams" from 1970 - 1972. I found them recently in a box of old navy files I've been weeding out for disposal. I think I'll hold onto them. Kind of interesting to read through the actual messages leading us into that touchy - feely era.
Lots of Stuff, probably too much. However my CPO Initiation Binder with every page of my "Charge Book", (some signatures readable some not)and numerous pictures of the two day event at US Naval Facility Eleuthera, 1979 remain my most prized position. Oh yea did I mention my Exam profile sheet which I needed 91.50 to make Chief and I had 91.50!!!!!!!
C. E. Cable
CPO USN Ret.
Yep.....still have mine. I actually wore it once. I buddy of mine and I wore dress canvass to the 1961 Thanksgiving Hoquiam/Aberdeen football game and we decided on wearing the flathat that day. After the game we frequented a few of the watering holes in Hoquiam, and never had to pay for a pitcher all evening.
