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In one of our operations off Okinawa we had another chance to fire a missile with a telemetering head at a jet-propelled KD8 drone. Much to our delight, the missile actually hit and destroyed the drone. For a while I kept the largest piece of metal we found wrapped in the drone's 'chute but it got lost in later life. The drone squadron was so impressed they sent us a model of the drone which we placed on the control console of the radar mount that had guided the missile.
There are several other things I remember of our time at Okinawa. A "bumboat" with three boys aboard came alongside to collect the garbage. After they picked up their load I wondered how these three small kids were going to row all that weight back to shore. As I watched, one of the kids baited a big hook tied to a rope with a piece of raw meat. He threw the hook overboard and before long the boat was being towed toward shore by a shark. I didn't see how far they got with their free ride but I had to admire the kid's initiative. Another thing I remember was the sight of all those white uniforms climbing the hills overlooking Buckner Bay after liberty call. Sorta like a snowstorm in reverse. It was at the EM Club at Kadena AFB that I truly learned the real difference between service in the Air Force and the sea-going Navy. I talked to an airman who complained bitterly that he and his roommate had to have their uniforms cleaned at the base dry-cleaning shop for that weekend's inspection. I suppose he wondered why I looked at him so oddly never realizing he was talking to a guy who shared his living quarters with 74 others and whose laundry came back from the ship's laundry after a trip through a machine that was designed to impart a permanent wrinkle to dress whites.
We sailed south to Subic Bay in the Philippines and the splendors of Olongapo. We arrived on Easter weekend and, as most of the Filipinos in the area are Roman Catholic, the town was filled with religious parades. Those of us who had never been there before were warned by the "old salts" the place could be dangerous for the unwary. A young kid from my division who was definitely too naive to be running around alone disappeared and the rest of us went looking for him fearing the worst. We gathered after a long unsuccessful search convinced we'd never see him again when he came down the street walking behind the priest and alter boys in an Easter procession - a bottle of beer in one hand and a candle in the other.
It was while we were on our first tour in the South China Sea that we got involved in one of the initial operations of what was to turn into the Vietnam War. We escorted a carrier - the Midway, I believe - into the Tonkin Gulf while she had flight operations into Laos. We never were told the purpose but, given the covert operations we heard about later, perhaps we weren't even supposed to know that much.
There was a lot of time spent at our General Quarters Battle Stations during this period. It got to be where I learned to sleep in shifts sitting straight up at my radar console. Because most of the cooks duty station was in the 3-inch ready ammo locker just ahead of my radar room, we had the mutual benefit of having fresh rolls, etc. while our radar room provided the hot coffee. As we weren't supposed to have food or drink during GQ, this became a simple but well-guarded pleasure.
We returned to Japan making side trips to Iwakuni, Sasebo and even had liberty at Beppu, a resort city noted for its hot springs. Some of the crew rode horses on a tour to "Monkey Mountain" but I took one look at those short-coupled Mongolian ponies and decided it wasn't for me. Most of us enjoyed our time in Japan and were well treated by the people. With just a little effort, we could learn enough phrases to get all the food or drink we might need and the Japanese appreciated our attempts to learn the language. While we were at Beppu one of the cooks and I went into a little restaurant and made cherry pies. We gave them out to all the patrons and had a great time together.
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