''The Elsie item'' - USS Landing Craft Infantry National Association

Admiral Sabin on Seasickness! Editors Note: "The War Diary ofAdmiral Sabin ", featured in the last issue ofElsie Item provoked many responses from LCIers whoserved in Flotilla Two and remembered some ofthe things he mentioned. (l'vefilled Melve ordersfor reprints ofAdmiral Sabins WarDiary!).One item, submitted by both Bill Schreiber ofLas Vegas, and Norman Whyte ofSterling Heights, Michigan, just had to be shared with ourreaders. As you read it, you'll see why! Admiral Sabin may have produced the definitive statement on "seasickness"!This letter; which evidently was widely circulated at the time, was written by then Commander Sabin to a friend ofhis back in the Statesdescribing the crossing ofthe Atlantic Ocean on an LCl( L):Dear Don,I ought to select a title for what follows; something like"Cowboys of the Sea" or "Roughing it on the Deep" orsome equally fantastic but truly metaphorical title. Onsecond thought I might call it "Sailors without Guts". Didyou ever hear about sailors with all the courage in the worldbut no guts? If you haven't you will, because my sailorslost all their guts twenty-four hours after sailing.Well, to begin with a background. You will remember thatI reported from the Pacific Area with no idea what thisracket was about. You will also remember that I told youI had tried to get a squadron or even a division of DD's,but my friends in Washington just laughed; a sneeringlaugh, too. Destroyers were too rugged; duty was too toughin the "boats" for an old man of43. The Navy Departmentjust couldn't consider such a request from officers my age.So what? So this - I am ordered to command a flotilla of"boats" one-half the size of DDs and what's more to rideon one of them as my Flagship. You are probably smiling,my friend, having been in on the inception of this organization.You know, of course, how interestingly stuffy,cramped and uncomfortable they are. "Tough and sturdy".You know, as Training Officer, they the are supposed to be(and are) sea-going and expendable. But there are a fewthings you don't know which I found out day after day andnight after night and week after week.So we went to sea. The lawyers, the bankers ,the garagemechanics, the farmers, the salesmen and me. In ourlittle spitkits, we struck out boldly if not fearfully. We hitrain. We hit fog. We hit sleet. We hit snow. We hit storms.We even found sunshine and starry nights. But no romance.Days passed. Nights passed. Weeks passed. But we wentrolling along over the bounding main at the super-colossalspeed of six knots. Day after day, night after night, weekafter week.Did I say bounding along? An understatement. Boundingand pounding; twisting and twirling; rolling, bucking, andpitching. Never before have I seen such unrhythmic motion.The cowboy who rode bucking broncos in the rodeofor fifteen minutes won a prize. Fifteen minutes! Nobodywon any prize in this outfit for staying with these broncosdoing everything but hand springs on the high seas for ­not minutes, not hours, not even days, but weeks.The majority were seasick - but not the old man who wastoo decrepit to go on a Destroyer! They were so seasickmost of them couldn't get out oftheir bunks. Some couldn'teven move except when they were thrown bodily by thistossing stallion from one side of the ship to the other. Dayafter day, night after night, week after week. And the food- nice delicious fresh food which spoiled because freshfood always does. So we ate canned food, and drank stalewater. So it didn't make any difference. Most of themwere too sick to eat anyhow, and the few "old salts" whodidn't get seasick were enjoying the delicious odor ofdieselfumes mixed with the equally delectable stench ofvomit, the refuse of those poor seasick devils too weak toclean up their own messes. Day after day; night after night;week after week. Tossing, turning and twisting. Pitching,pounding and rolling. Up by the bow, down by the stem.Over on your side into the sea. Straining, battered andbruised. Tom and tattered.Darken ship at night so the submarines won't get you. Look27