IUSSCAA Message Board


UNCLASSIFIED, NON-POLITICAL, and  NON-SENSITIVE POSTS ONLY
IUSSCAA Posting Guidelines


IUSSCAA Wallpapers
Ocean Night 1280x1024 1024X768 800X600
Mid-Watch   1280x1024 1024X768 800X600



IUSSCAA Message Board
Start a New Topic 
Author
Comment
View Entire Thread
Re: My first Thanksgiving Day in SOSUS (1955).

I don't recall most of the holidays when I was in but one Thanksgiving definitely stands out.

I reported to Centerville a couple of days prior to Thanksgiving in 1976. I was a fresh third class, had put the crow on while in transit between Bermuda and CB. I had been told that the watch sections were full and that I would be field day/day work for the next couple of months.

On Thanksgiving day I was summoned by the Ops Officer and I was informed I was going into a watch section. That was a nice surprise that I wouldn't be swabbing decks but at the same time it was puzzling so of course I asked why this was happening.

Turns out that an entire watch section had managed to wipe itself out that evening. Nobody died and if I remember, there were no real injuries beyond a broken leg (or two) once it was all sorted out.

There was a car accident. The entire section was in the car. The car had ended up upside down in a ditch. At that point, nobody was injured. They were shook up but safe. They managed to get a door open and the first person, while getting out, fell about 6 feet or so into the ditch. Then the next person fell on top of them, etc. etc. like a line of dominoes until the entire watch section was lying on top of each other in the ditch.

That's the way I remember it, accurately or not. (Names were reserved to protect my future physical well being).

Visits: