Blue Water

By Captain Jack Standish

Blue Water tells the story of a young mans desire to serve his country, travel and find excitement beyond the confines of rural Lancaster County Pennsylvania. It describes his early military service in both Navy and Army Reserve programs. The author attained the rank of Staff Sergeant before being honorably discharged and entering naval service via Officer Candidate School. The book goes on to describe his twenty-one years as a naval officer, ending with a selection to Captain in the Supply Corps, US Navy just prior to his retirement.

He served as a Surface Line Officer at the following duty stations: USS BRAINE, the Defense Atomic Support Agency (DASA), USS PERKINS and USS VAMMEN. While attending Navy Supply Corps School in Athens, Georgia, his designator was changed to Supply. He then served on USS STERETT, at the Ships Parts Control Center (SPCC), the Naval Supply Center, Subic Bay, Philippine Islands, the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), USS ACADIA, and the Naval Electronics Systems Command (NAVELEX).

Subsequent to his retirement from the Navy in 1983, he worked for twenty-one years as a consultant for Navy and Coast Guard shipbuilding programs in Washington, DC and Northern Virginia. He consulted on such programs as the Navys TICONDEROGA Class Cruiser, the ARLEIGH BURKE Guided Missile Destroyer, the SEAWOLF Attack Submarine and various other shipbuilding programs.

During his Shipbuilding career, the author began a lifelong leisure pursuit of deep-sea fishing. In addition to fishing in such locations as Venezuela, Cabo San Lucas, Costa Rica and the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia, the author continued extensive worldwide travel and touring. He visited the Hawaiian Islands, many of the Caribbean islands, Japan, China, Thailand, Egypt and Alaska. His fishing adventures and travel continued through his final retirement in 2004.

Blue Water was chosen for the title of this memoir, because it chronicles a significant period of time when he was assigned to sea duty on five different ships. The author participated in four deployments to the SEVENTH Fleet, which included service off the coast, and up the rivers of South Vietnam. The book also contains approximately fifty photos and an appendix citing his awards and decorations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 20, 2010
• ISBN: 9781469105826

Captain Jack Standish

Captain Jack Standish grew up in Lancaster, PA graduating from Franklin and Marshall College, with a degree in Psychology. During this time, he served in both Navy and Army Reserve programs. After attending graduate school at the University of New Mexico, he entered the U.S. Navy as a result of an Army call-up for the Berlin Crisis. Captain Standish served twenty-one years as a career naval officer. After retiring from the Navy, he worked an additional twenty-one years in Navy shipbuilding programs. He then returned home to Lancaster, where he currently resides with his rascal cat, Billy Bob.

Book preview

Copyright © 2010 by Captain Jack Standish.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

64630

Contents

PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

EPILOGUE

APPENDIX

~ Dedicated to the Memory of ~

my Son,

Matthew Steven Standish

and

~ For ~

my Daughter,

Alissa Michele Standish Booth

Any man

Who may be asked in this century

What he did to make his life

Worthwhile…

Can respond with a

Good deal of

Pride and Satisfaction,

I served in the United States Navy.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Lieutenant, United States Navy

35th President of the United States

1 August 1961

United States Naval Academy

Annapolis, Maryland

PREFACE

Welcome to Blue Water. Several years ago, over many fireside chats with my daughter, Alissa Standish Booth, and my son-in-law, Chris Booth, I was encouraged and inspired to write this book. They persuaded me to record my life’s history, so that they, my grandchildren, and the generations to come, would better understand my Navy career, dedication to service and life experience, as well as the generational and historical context in which I lived.

Blue Water tells the story of my desire to serve my country, travel, and find excitement beyond the confines of rural Pennsylvania. It describes my early military reserve service, twenty-one years as a Naval Officer, subsequent shipbuilding career, and adventures in retirement.

A_Preface.jpg

I chose Blue Water as the title for this memoir, because it chronicles a significant period of time when I was assigned to sea duty on five different ships. During this period, I participated in four deployments to the SEVENTH Fleet, which included service off the coast and up the rivers of South Vietnam.

Prior to, and since my final retirement from Navy shipbuilding, I have spent many delightful days fishing and telling tales about my catches in the Chesapeake Bay, Cabo San Lucas, Costa Rica and the Queen Charlotte Islands.

Blue Water always beckons…

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I could not have written this book without the most dedicated support and encouragement from my daughter, Alissa Michele Standish Booth. She was my Editor-in-Chief and major champion throughout this long, but enjoyable and rewarding process.

My son-in-law, Chris Booth, was also very committed to the writing of this book. He never flinched when Alissa needed to spend time away from the family to work with me. For this, I am truly grateful. My grandsons, Zach and Cody, have also thought it was pretty cool that their grandfather, Captain Jack, was writing a book. I think they are both pretty cool, too!

My former wife and dear friend, Lee Ann Gothard Standish, played a significant role in the final editing of the book. She has an excellent memory of our life together, and was more than willing to provide additional details that further enhance the accuracy of this story.

I would also like to thank my neighbor and recently re-acquainted good friend, Biddle Whigham, LCDR USNR (Ret.), for his friendly advice concerning authoring a book. He himself has written two books about his Navy experiences.

I also want to thank my shipmates with whom I served over the years, my civilian colleagues, family, friends and neighbors who are mentioned in this book. Were it not for them, there would be no story.

CHAPTER ONE

Early Military Interests

My twin brother, Victor James, Jr. (Jim), and I were born in the Bronx, New York, on 20 October 1936, approximately five years before the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. My father, Victor James Standish, Sr., originally of Forest City, Pennsylvania, where he was a basketball star, was a funeral director at the J.B. Cooke Funeral Home. My mother, Ruth Valeria Hollinger Standish, originally of Manheim, Pennsylvania, was a basketball star at Manheim Central High School. She went on to graduate from the nursing school at the University of Pennsylvania, became a registered nurse, and worked at Roosevelt Hospital in New York prior to meeting my father in the fall of 1935.

Our first home was on West 188th Street in the Bronx. I still remember the day, 7 December 1941, when the Japanese struck the American military forces in Hawaii. Jim and I were barely five years old. Dad came running into our bedroom and made us change the radio channel from Jack Armstrong, All American Boy, to the local news in order to hear about the attack on Pearl Harbor. My son, Matthew, would later pass away on this inauspicious day in 2005.

Although my father wanted to serve his country by enlisting, his osteomyelitis kept him from entering military service. God love him! However, Dad was still able to serve our community as an air raid warden. Each night, he was out in the evenings making his rounds, ensuring that everyone had their lights out, and that the sandbags were properly positioned on top of the apartment houses. He really enjoyed this responsibility and took his civic duties seriously. Even as a young boy, I remember being very proud of my Dad as he performed a valuable service to our city during that terrible war.

During World War II, there were blackouts and extreme rationing. Gas was severely restricted, and we received tokens to buy food staples such as margarine and sugar. I can still remember Mom and some of the other lady shoppers fighting over boxes of Jello. This is still a particularly amusing recollection

Ch1a_LittleSoldiers.jpg

since Mom wouldn’t harm a fly! She always wanted to provide sweet treats for me and Jim. Although times were very tough, I don’t recall any times of fear or unhappiness. We always had enough food to eat, and there was plenty of love to go around.

One day, for fun, Dad bought me and Jim Army uniforms. Later that evening, he had a photographer come to our apartment to take pictures of us in these outfits. Unfortunately, we were already asleep when the photographer arrived. Dad woke us up, and had us quickly throw on the uniforms over our pajamas for the picture. As you can see, we were a pair of sheepish, sleepy and wrinkled looking young soldiers. I am on the left.

Jim and I had an early taste of the military because our school, St. Nicholas of Tolentyne, had militia training. Ironically, Jim chose to be a Navy sailor, and I chose to be an Army cadet.

Years later, when we were old enough to serve in the United States military, our roles would interestingly be reversed: Jim would serve as a Sergeant in the Army, and I would serve as a career officer in the Navy. Much to my Dad’s pleasure, both Jim and I marched in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as eight year olds! We felt like big shots because we got to wear spiffy uniforms and carry rifles. Dad was thrilled to see his two sons marching in uniform. After getting off the subway, and while walking home, we were saluted and cheered by many of the local barflies.

Two years later, when we were ten, Dad moved the family, including my five-year old brother Tim, to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We lived on Lancaster Avenue in a row home that was built in the late 1800’s, similar to many of the other Lancaster City homes. My Dad quickly obtained his real estate broker’s license and became the top selling agent in his office. Shortly after we arrived in Lancaster, my youngest brother Tom, was born.

Living in Lancaster was quite different than living in the Bronx. For the first time in my life, I saw cows and smelled the sweet aroma of manure in the fields surrounding the city. Lancaster County was, and still is, known throughout the United States for its fertile soil that yields abundant harvests. We all really enjoyed eating the fresh, field grown fruits and vegetables, especially the celery hearts and strawberries. Lancaster County is also the home of handmade Hammonds pretzels, Lebanon bologna, and delicious chocolate Wilbur buds made in the nearby town of Lititz.

I was glad to be in Lancaster, close to my grandparents, Sam and Alma Hollinger, affectionately known as PopPop and Nana. They lived in Manheim on West Penn Street right off the square. Nana was a fabulous cook and taught my mother, who later taught me and Tom, how to really cook chicken in the Pennsylvania Dutch tradition. Nana had a strict rule that You never put pepper to chicken! Tom and I violate that rule, and our chicken always turns out great.

Thanksgiving in Manheim was always a special treat for the entire family. Nana would get up early, before dawn, to prepare the twenty-pound turkey, with all the trimmings. The entire family: grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and cousins would all gather around Nana’s table to enjoy the dinner. There was turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, jellied cranberry sauce, celery sticks with peanut butter, green and black olives, and bowls full of gravy. The meal was followed by homemade pumpkin pie and hand churned vanilla ice cream. Jim and I always enjoyed helping make the ice cream. It was a dinner well worth waiting for!

*     *     *

I attended elementary school at the Wharton School and later Sacred Heart Catholic School, high school at Lancaster Catholic, and college at Franklin and Marshall (F & M). While attending Lancaster Catholic, I met Bob Kirchner and Roe Mariani, and we became lifelong friends.

The nuns at Lancaster Catholic were for the most part very caring and professional; however, there was one nun who taught history, and was quite large. Her name was Sister Henry, but we all called her Big Hank. For even the slightest infraction, she grabbed us by the ties that we boys were all required to wear, and pulled us across our desks. At other times, she would merely whack us across the knuckles with a ruler. After a while, we actually enjoyed it, because of the attention that we received from Big Hank, and the disruption it caused the class.

Ch1b_EagleScouts.jpg

When we were sophomores, Jim and I attained the rank of Eagle Scout, and were both inducted into the Order of the Arrow. Later, as senior scouts, we became members of an Explorer Scout unit, and wore the distinctive dark green uniforms which replaced our tan Boy Scout uniforms. Both Jim and I received the Explorer Scouts’ highest award, the Silver Medal, which I still have today. In order to receive these awards, we had to complete service projects in the community.

One winter afternoon, Bob Kirchner, Jim and I, and two other friends from high school, Mickey and Clyde, drove to nearby Lake Grubb to goof around. Bob, who subsequently became a multi-millionaire, had always been considered a cheapskate. Someone threw a penny out on the ice, and dared Bob to get it. Bob, never one to go back on a dare, ran after that damn penny and fell through the ice into the freezing pond! Jim, Mickey, and I quickly formed a human ladder over the ice. Unfortunately, the ice broke. Jim and I also fell in. Mickey and Clyde immediately ripped off some nearby tree branches and fished all of us out. Fortunately, our Boy Scout training kept us all alive that day. Much to Mom’s chagrin, we were later featured in the local newspaper!

I was instilled with a love of country and the desire to serve my community and this great nation by the moral example and hard work ethic of my parents, the teachings of the Catholic Church, and my experiences as a Scout. Dad taught all four of us boys (my younger brothers Tim and Tom included), to never lie, steal or cheat. He said, You can take everything away from a man, except his integrity. Years later, Jim named his forty-two foot powerboat the SSS Integrity. Integrity from Dad’s lesson; SSS for the initials of his three children: Scott, Susan and Sally. Jim and I never forgot what Dad had taught us. In spite of his propensity for drinking and gambling, Dad was an honorable and decent man who cared deeply for his family.

*     *     *

Ch1c_SeamanRecruit.jpg

Living next door to us on Lancaster Avenue was a Reserve Navy Lieutenant, and close family friend, Biddle Whigham, who encouraged me to join the Naval Reserves. It sounded like a good deal to me. On my seventeenth birthday, I joined as a Seaman Recruit. This was the start of a long, successful, and satisfying military career in the Armed Forces of the United States that took me around the world.

I got my first real taste of the military in the summer of 1954, just after I graduated from high school. Along with five buddies, I attended Navy boot camp in Bainbridge, Maryland. We spent two uninspiring weeks learning to be sailors. Getting up at five o’clock in the morning was new to all of us. The food was awful, and we had to eat everything they put on our plates. One evening, the menu said we were having chicken. Has anyone ever seen a four legged chicken? Though living in Lancaster County, I had not yet become a true country boy, and I did not realize that that chicken was really rabbit.

The most embarrassing event that took place during those two weeks was a medical inspection. One hundred or more of us recruits had to stand in three rows, naked as jaybirds, while two Navy Corpsmen walked slowly through the ranks, inspecting our genitals and backsides. When the word was passed, bend over and spread ’em, we all bent over and did just that. Unlucky me! I was in the third row, and had a very graphic picture of those unfortunates in front of me. I still howl every time I think about that damn inspection! What a way to start my first two weeks of sailor training!

The next summer, 1955, after my first year at Franklin & Marshall College (F & M), I spent my two weeks of active duty for training on a Navy cruiser, the USS ROANOKE (CL-145). The living spaces were quite spartan, and the