From:
DLovesGolf@aol.com
To: Bill Decker
Sent: Tuesday, April 09, 2002 7:12 PM
Subject: Some Things You Do Not Forget
Bill:
Last Week I was in Hawaii on vacation. After touring the Arizona, my wife,
daughter and her husband and I went through the Bowfin. Rather then following
the printed or tape tours, I gave my own. It was amazing how much stuff I
remembered after 43 years. Stuff like 126 battery cells both forward and aft,
each weighing a ton, and 133 turns on the big crank wheels over each engine. (I
think those numbers are right.) In the forward engine room, I asked my family to
step aside for about 10 people to go past us. They all said that they wanted to
stay with us so they could continue to listen to what I was saying.
It was a blast going through a boat again. When I was showing them how we
started and shut down the engines (thank God they were Jimmies), I got the urge
to really start one up. I told lots of Raton stories, including one about mess
cooking days. It was in 57 and we were riding out a typhoon on the surface. Dale
Buchholz was also mess cooking and set a bucket of spaghetti on the deck near
the hatch to the cool box / freeze box. I was below in the cool box. The rest of
the story should be obvious - I was soon wearing spaghetti.
In the forward room I mentioned Kating and Pat McGee; in the forward battery I
mentioned Captains Riley and Williams, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Biggar, Mr. Masterson
(which got me talking about our softball team); when I got to the radio shack, I
told them about Joe Woods. In the engine rooms, I talked about Johnson,
Roulette, Romitti, Chief Bowdin (? name), etc. etc. etc.
They would not let us up into the conn on the Bowfin, but on the dock they had a
separate conn that we could go into. It was a piece from the Parche. The Parche
at one time was the training boat for the Alameda (CA) reserve unit. That was
the first boat I was ever on, so it was a bit reminiscent too.
Again, it was great being on a boat after all this time and thought it was worth
sharing with you.
Next time I am there, I will probably try to get my son to go through the Bowfin
with me. He out ranks this old EN-3, as he is a full Lt. While his squadron is
based on Oahu he is on deployment right now, somewhere, and he pilots an SH-60B
helicopter. While I am damn proud of him, I keep asking him when he is going to
join the "real" Navy and trade his wings for dolphins.
Duane Stuker