I was assigned to GM (Guided missile) Division. Our missile shop was just forward of hanger bays on the port side. The steam fitters used this space as their office during the building period. As we did not have any test station for the Sparrow III yet. They asked if they could leave their desks etc. during shakedown. No problem – being resourceful sailors we asked them if they could run a water line for a coffee mess, no problem. Hot and cold lines now on drawings. Our scouts found a small sink on 03 level that didn’t seem to have a home. We could use that. In it went.

..... Leading Chief Levy didn’t like the finish on the deck. (Footnote: Chief Levy was a really nice guy. He retired shortly after the shakedown cruises. He was listed in reunion members and I wrote to him in Ferdinandia Beach FL but never got a reply. He passed on soon thereafter.). Paint blotched & some welding slag under it. “Jitterbug the Deck” and repaint it became P.O.D. Chief Fields was the ultimate comshore artist. He scoured the Navy Yard for tile. A large can of coffee was all it took to requisition enough light cream tile. We later found out the Admiral’s cabin was the only other space on Indy with tile decks.

..... Some one had told me that the naval Officer’s handbook had a passage that read “Enlisted men are sly, crafty and bear watching at all times.” I just can’t believe how anyone could ever come up with that.

..... Bill Tremont

..... GF/AT2

..... Guess what GF stood for.

..... Fall of 1958

..... The commissioning crew for the Indy is mustered at Naval Station Quonset Point, RI via Brooklyn Navy Yard. Great duty being from Long Island, NY. I reported for duty to Brooklyn Navy Yard two days after Labor Day 1958. Having left the USS Forrestal on Labor Day. Wow!!! Number sixteen to report for duty on Indy. At Quonset I was assigned to the Electronics Shop & met Chuck Cammer an ETSN, also from Long Island. He started to carpool with me on weekends & then his fellow ET Division friend, Bob Rothman, started to join us & go home with Chuck.

..... Soon Bob was coming home with me & met my future wife, Carol. We partied with friends & Carol taught Bob to cha-cha. They also did the lindy to “Rockin Robin”. We did this more often from the Navy Yard. Only 40+ minutes to home. Carol and I married 19 July 1959.

..... Time went by until the 1st Med Cruise & Bob was transferred, because he was a short timer. I tried to locate Bob in his native Chicago by checking phone books, while there in 1976. Then years later tried the Web.

..... Chuck and I went to work for the Grumman “Iron Works” after separation, not realizing we both were there. With 30,000 people you can get lost.

..... I stayed in plant 4, flight test, from 1961 until I left to start a business in 1973. Worked Flight Line Technician, Avionics Plane Capt. on E2A & B test platform. Went to Pax River in 1964 for EMC tests on E-2 for 8 months and became a lead man on return, and two years later was invited to move up to Flight Test Engineering Coordinator, which I did until July 1973. Never met Chuck all that time and we both worked in electronics.

..... Joined the Grumman retiree club Treasure Coast, Florida, chapter in 1999. Went to the Oct 2002 meetings and put my name on “Birthday List”. This was published in the retiree newsletter. Chuck saw my name, called Bob who had moved to St. Petersburg, FL about 1999. Bob called me December 2002. Was away in Conn. for our first Christmas home in eight years. Couldn’t believe my ears when I played the answering machine messages. Have seen Bob twice since and told him of our reunions and hoping he and his lovely wife Evaughn can be with us in St. Augustine in 2003.

..... Bill Tremont

..... GF/AT2