Lead and Line - naval officers' association of vancouver island

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____________________________________________________________________________________________________________Lead and Line In addition to surveillance, maritime air can include search and rescue, law enforcement, marine domain awareness, fisheries and antipollution and scientific patrols. PAL has more than 35 years of fixed wing operational experience, flying over 130,000 hours in 20,000 incidentfree missions with a fleet of 10 maritime patrol aircraft and UAVs worldwide. PAL has 750 employees and undertakes work in over 30 countries. It is a marine success story of which we can all be proud. It is clear that Maritime Air is a cost-effective, long-established component of Canada‘s and the West Coast‘s maritime industry which will become critical as Canada expands its ocean capability in the coming years. There is much to be learned from PAL‘s success story. PAL‘s success shows that the private sector can work in partnership with the Government of Canada to provide cost-effective solutions. The Government of Canada is presently exploring alternative service delivery for a Fixed Wing Search and Rescue replacement aircraft. It is not a new concept, as the PAL story shows, stretching back 35 years. We have much to learn from the PAL story. Canada is a safer, stronger and a more secure maritime nation because of this public-private partnership on Maritime Air. Joe Spears is the principal of HBMG, and learned to fly at the East Coast meccas of maritime aviation, CFB Greenwood and Shearwater. He would like to thank Colonel (Retired) John Orr, a Research Fellow of Dalhousie‘s CFPS, for renewing his interest in Maritime Air as an integrated ocean management tool in a changing world. Joe can be reached at kjs@oceanlawcanada.com Reprinted with Permission, BC Shipping News published by McIvor Communications Inc. The Publisher, Jane McIvor welcomes comments and feed back contact@bcshippingnews.com. www.bcshippingnews.com U.S. NAVAL SUPPLY CORPS SCHOOL, BAYONNE, NEW JERSEY -EXPERIMENT OR EXPERIENCE ? by Bob Darlington CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 THE STUDENTS Each of the four 1949 Companies consisted of 30 students. Although the large majority were Ensigns, ex US Naval College, there were numerous exceptions including we Canadians. There were two Brazilian Lieutenant Commanders. Bill Gary was an ex US Marine NCO with numerous combat medals, at least one for heroism. Art Burkholder was much older than the average. As an NCO he had been captured by the Japanese when Corregidor fell and he had survived the death march. Each Company had a senior officer and mine was Art Sirginson, a Lieutenant Commander who had transferred from ―the Line‖ to the Supply Corps. Jack Hull in another Company had done the same. There was one Coast Guard Lieutenant who got next to top marks at graduation over the rest of we 120 plus students. There were at least five WAVE officers, mostly very junior except for Lieutenant Commander Beryl Catt. One did not call her Kitty Catt in range of her hearing! Most of the USN students were young and fresh from college life. In the USA that meant that they were used to extracurricular activities. It was not long before clubs were formed. The 1950 NSCS yearbook titled Account Current contains a display of activities available. They included; Glee Club, Spanish Club, 14 Dramatic Club, a news journal called Supply Line (with some contributions from me), tennis, volleyball, baseball and the Summer Ball. A good number of the officers, particularly those from the 1949 Naval College, were freshly married and these social affairs were improved greatly by the pretty young faces of the wives. Inevitably there were some romantic contacts among the students. Bill Emery dated and later married Betty Ibach much to the chagrin of Vince Lambie who was one of many attracted to Betty. In my company was another very pretty girl. I believe Gretchen Ward who married Rick Ridenour from Company A and became known as Wretched Ward Ridenour. Most of the then 48 states were represented and the accents ranged from a nasal New York ethnic to a hill Billy from the backwoods of Tennessee who drawled so slowly that one wondered if he would ever finish. One of my Company mates was Dorsey Wharton Daniel from the tobacco country of Oxford, North Carolina. Danny had the next cabin to Vince Lambie and their radios carried on a perpetual battle between Country Music and the BBC. Danny referred to Vince as ―Prince Vince‖. Vince was an overly deliberate player in a game of snooker which bothered Danny.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________Lead and Line One day after Vince had studied the balls for a long time Danny said ―Prince, you would argue with a sign post until it fell down, then you would go the wrong Damn way!‖ Country humour. One of the young (and pretty) WAVEs was Debbie Belka from Gulfport, Mississippi. She had a lovely deep southern accent and her father was Principal of an all boys‘ school. Debbie attended that school. 1949 was the height of TV game shows. They selected the candidates from slips of personal data provided by the audience. Debbie was a natural. Her slip included ―I was the only girl in an all boys’ school and am now a female officer in the US Navy‖. The students took Debbie to New York and brought back the prizes she regularly won. Another School character in H Company was Enos Rogers ―Planter‖ Pleasants from Mississippi. He claimed that his parents had brought him up to expect more out of life than he could afford. He lived life to the full and his trips to New York were legendary. After graduation he moved to the legal side of naval duties. I met him in Washington in 1952. Wendy was fascinated by his accent and his joie-de-vivre. He told me that one of the WAVE officers had been trapped in a sting in Boston when it was discovered that she was a Lesbian. Life in the BOQ was very active. On weekend mornings someone always got to the mess hall early enough to return and shout out ―Grits today”. The southerners leapt out of bed and headed for breakfast. We remainder turned over with a groan and stayed for a while longer. The Mess stewards were all Filipino. One very short one with a very deep voice would suddenly appear at your shoulder and startle you with ―We have eggs to order Sir‖. If you had a bit of a head it was a rude awakening. The shower room rang with group singing, mostly College songs like ―Far above Cayuga's waters there’s an awful smell. Stands an old abandoned outhouse, that they call Cornell.‖ RECREATION With New York a short bus ride across the Hudson River we young officers had a buffet of choice. The Big Apple was a friendly place then and we felt safe on the streets. The only danger was being trapped by a garrulous New Yorker. Early on we discovered the Anchor and Saber Club in the basement of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. It was for uniformed officers only at the entry price of NY State tax, 12 cents I believe. The only rule was that dance 15 partners were chosen by the girls. This could be good news or bad. We called this facility The Shanker and Cable Club. Plays and Musicals were affordable. We saw the original casts of South Pacific, Death of a Salesman and Mr. Roberts. Davis fell out of his seat laughing when Ensign Jack Lemon blew up the laundry and came on stage covered in foam. We saw The Rockettes and at one movie house the virtually unknown Peggy Lee sang a couple songs before the picture started. I went to a few NY Giants baseball games at Shea Stadium, again at the outrageous cost of State Tax if you were in uniform. There was a triple A ball team in Jersey City. Ex-pro player Mel Sorge took me and we watched the team warm-up. Mel knew one of the players who came to the rail and chatted. Some years later I realized that player was The Rifleman of TV fame. One of the girls from the Shanker club was a travel ticket seller for the well known baseball announcer Mel Allen. From him she got me a seat at the 1949 World Series Yankee vs Dodgers game at Ebbets Field. I was three rows behind Mrs. Truman the President‘s wife and close to Joe Louis‘ seat. Mel Ott hit a home run. I have a great memory of a great game. When hockey started Davis, Margetts and I attended almost all the home games which were played on Wednesday and Sunday evenings. From Winnipeg days I knew Don (Bones) Raleigh who played center and he came to the boards to chat before a game. Seats were (I recall) $3 and we usually had three on the blue line, first row. The Rangers lost the Stanley cup to the Red Wings in the seventh game. We were on a train heading west to our new appointments when the last game was being aired. At every stop we tried to get the score. We had the free run of US Naval establishments. The Mess at the Brooklyn Navy Yard had slot machines that were favourable to the player and we won many nickels there. On Long Island a mansion had been taken over by the Navy for some research activity and was also the assigned home for retired Fleet Admiral Nimitz. The building had an indoor pool and we twice took our dates there for drinks and a swim. I once wandered up to a billiard room where an elderly lady was shooting snooker balls. A voice said ―Do you play pool Son?‖ When I said I did I was ordered to play a game with Mrs. Nimitz. When we
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