..... The first liberty is about to begin with 1000 of us standing in line in the hangar bay waiting for the launch. Along comes one of our rookie Ensigns (name unknown) who is going to the head of the line until a couple of Boatswain Mates call him over to a couple of GI cans. (He is in whites) The mates keep asking him if he has seen a “Sea Bat”. He kept saying “No” but they kept urging him to come closer to the closed can. They convinced the Ensign to put his head into the can to “see the bat”.

..... One mate hit him in the butt and the Ensign went headfirst into the dirty can. When he emerged from the can they asked, “did you see the bat?” The ensign mumbled, “I guess I better go change.”

..... I don’t know the name of this guy but he was in the Ships Company. He wore size 14 shoes and shuffled around the ship. Needless to say the crew picked on him. One day they gave him two buckets and told him to go down to the engine room to get “two buckets of steam”. He eventually shows up in the engine room with his buckets so they ask him, “what do you want”? His response was, “Someone topside told me to come get some steam. I know I can’t get it but I came down here anyway.”

..... This same guy was lined up to “box” with a guy who didn’t get along with him. When he got into the ring he said, “Do you think I am crazy to stay in here and get hit?” He jumped out of the ring. No one bothered him after that.

..... Who was the person that got dunked between the tin can and carrier because too many people didn’t like him?

..... My worst experience was riding in the 22 ft. liberty launch and coming around the sea wall and hitting a 22 ft. wall of water in Naples, Italy. Someone had to be watching over me that night.