MISSING THE ROYAL NAVY LIFE? HERE''S HOW TO RECAPTURE THE ATMOSPHERE OF THE OLD DAYS AND SIMULATE LIVING ONBOARD SHIP ONCE MORE.
1. Build a shelf in the top of your wardrobe and sleep on it inside a smelly sleeping bag. Remove the wardrobe door and replace it with a curtain that''s too small.
2. Wash your underwear every night in a bucket, and then hang it over the water pipes to dry.
3. Four hours after you go to bed, have your wife whip open the curtain, shine a torch in your eyes, and say "Sorry mate, wrong pit".
4. Renovate your bath room. Build a wall across the centre of the bath and move the showerhead down to chest level. Store beer cans in the shower enclosure.
5. When you have a shower, remember to turn the water off while you soap.
6. Every time there is a thunderstorm, sit in a wobbly rocking chair, and rock as hard as you can until you’re sick.
7. Put oil instead of water into a humidifier, then set it to ''high''.
8. Don''t watch TV. except for movies in the middle of the night. For added realism have your family vote for which movie they want to see - then select a different one.
9. (Mandatory for engineering types) Leave a lawnmower running in your living room 24 hours a day to re-create the proper noise levels.
10. Have the paper boy give you a hair cut.
11. Once a week blow compressed air up through your chimney. Ensure that the wind carries the soot over into your neighbour’s house. When he complains, laugh at him.
12. Buy a rubbish compactor, but only use it once a week. Store up your rubbish in the other side of your bath.
13. Wake up every night at midnight and make a sandwich out of anything you can, preferably using stale bread. Optional: Cold soup or canned ravioli, eaten out of the can.
14. Device your family menus a week in advance without looking in the fridge or larder.
15. Set your alarm clock to go off at random times through the night. When it goes off, leap out of bed, get dressed as fast as you can then run into the garden and break out the garden hose.
16. Once a month, take every major household appliance completely apart, and then re-assemble.
17. Use 4 spoons of coffee per cup; allow it to sit for 3 hours before drinking.
18. Invite about 185 people you don''t really like to come and stay for a couple of months.
19. Install a small florescent light tube under your coffee table, and then lie under the table to read books.
20. Raise the thresholds and lower the top sills of all the doors in the house. Now you will always either hit your head or skin your shins when passing through them.
21. Put lock wires on the wheel nuts of the car.
22. When baking cakes, prop up one side of the cake tin while it is baking. When it has cooled, spread icing really thickly on one side to level it out again.
23. Every so often, throw your cat in the swimming pool or bath and shout "man overboard" then run into the kitchen and sweep all the dishes and pans onto the floor while yelling at your wife for not having secured for sea properly.
24. Put on the headphones from your stereo, do not plug them in. Go and stand in front of your dishwasher. Say to nobody in particular, "Dishwasher manned and ready sir" Stand there for three or four hours. Say once again to nobody in particular, "Dishwasher secured". Remove the headphones. Roll up the headphone cord and put them away.
25. Nickname your favourite shoes ''steamies'' then get your children to hide them around the house on a random basis.
Poor is the nation that has no heroes
Shameful is the one that, having heroes - Forgets them!
Have to think about this one Skip......I mean.......it was a long 12 - 17 actually......
Franco il Capitano!!!
read www.rgough.com/navy.htm
Well just a quick hello to anyone that knows me and as an ex investigator there is probably a few!!
Well it has been about 18 months since I left the service and I am only just starting to adopt to life in civillian employment.
It was a very sharp drop off the promotional ladder coming from a position of rank and experience to a worker bee in West Yorkshire Police.
I conductyed myscene of crimes course prior to going to Diego Garcia and found the qualification useful when appling for a position in West Yorkshire.
I currently operate out of Bradford covering the Western Dispatch are of West Yorkshire and am daily involved in the examination of major and minor scenes alike.
The job and the people are fine but there is a certain something missing from it all and that being the ability to speak jack speak (and I speak more than most) and secondly the comradary that you attain in the service.
I also miss the social life and am seeking to spend a weekend in Pompey plastered in September!!
Well thats about it for now and I will write more if i have any other news.
I have just added 3 pictures to the website for people to recognise me.
The latter two are taken in Mauritius where i have just purchased a plot of land and look forward to moving there in approximately 5 years to settle with my Mauritian wife and family.
Regards to anyone that knows me.
George
I was stationed at HMS Dolphin as a Leading Wren Radio Operator 1969 - 1970 and during that time I had the privilage to be the first Leading Wren to go to ''Sea'' on a Naval Exercise - Northern Wedding to be precise. Myself and five Wren Radio Operators left Portsmouth on the RFA Olna to sail to Norway where we were based on a Norwegian Naval Base for the duration of the exercise. It was an experience crossing the North Sea on an auxillary ship fully laden with all necessary fuel for the exercise. We were billeted in the Wardroom and were very well looked after - I mean, Barcardi & Coke was only 6d - 2 1/2p in todays language!. We arrived in Norway just as the sun came up and the sight of the sun shining on the mountains as we sailed up the Fiord was breathtaking. We spent a total of three weeks in Norway and all the Norwegian naval personnel were very helpful and friendly. The only problem we had was trying to type on teleprinters where all the letters and characters were in different places !! Many''s the time I opened a cupboard and came across half an eaten raw fish - that was something we could not get used to. Also the other problem we had was that the locals, whilst being used to seeing men in naval uniform, had a great difficulty accepting the fact that the Royal Navy had female personnel in uniform - but we overcame the problem and enjoyed our three weeks thoroughly.
I''''m searching on behalf of my Dad Alan "Jim" Cookson, he''''s not used to all this E-mail malarky so I''m doing the donkey work for him! I''''m not too sure if I''''ve got the dates right but if you remember him (he was a Chief Caterer) please E-mail me and maybe I can put you in touch with him. He''s served in the South Atlantic, Antartica, South Africa, Bahrain, Bermuda, Mombassa & Malta, he currently lives in Plymouth.
Cheers
Sam Cookson
presently livinf in the channel islands, working as an Air Traffic Controller.
Left the RN in 1975, and sailed as 3rd Mate on bulk carriers.
Worked for my Board of trade tickets, and ended up as Chief Officer in 1988, when I failed a medical after having a disc removed from my neck.
Worked as a Solicitor''s Managing Clerk for several years, until further health problems. Worked as a motorcycle courier for a year (great fun! Crap money!) and joined Corps of Commissionaires. Became an Area Supervisor in Bristol, mainly dealing with Health & Safety.
Then found I had family in the USA.
Survived the attack on the World trade Center (was at the mezzanine level of Tower 2 when the plane hit it) and now work as a Butler (what else does an Englishman do in new York?) on the Upper east Side of Manhattan.
I loved the place, had a flat in Ravenscourt park, partied elsewhere, Thursdays in Furse House, DTS in the Gaiety, morning sess in the ''gate'' On A and C watches, got married to Chris Tetlow.
This diary event is dedicated to Those Members of HMS Invincible''''s, Crew who gave the ultimate sacrifice, During the Falklands War, of 82.
I also dedicate it to all the casualties, from both sides who passed through, my operating theatre, during the 1982 War.
I start with one of our first casualties, no names given but this guy, was on our side, we operated on him,and nursed him back to reasonable health, and then came the time to casivac, him back to a hospital ship, he was securley strapped, in to the stretcher, and we were saying our farwells, to him, he was about to be sent into the bomb lift, up to the flight deck, for the LONG trip Home, He very timidley made the remark! Thanks alot doc, but could you pass me a bottle, I think He needed to do No1''''s, We all had a good laugh and said to him ''''Do it in the suit''''I hope he survived, to tell the tale- end of part one, regards Lynda Cash
I joined HMS Hickleton (Coastal Minesweeper) in Malta early 1960 as a member of the towing crew. We were to be towed to Singapore by the Tug HMT Brigand. There were just eight crew members, including the Captain, Lt Waddington. the tow went smoothly until we reached Aden and went alongside. During the night one of our metal "rat guard''s" fell off the ''fore-spring''. A couple of nights later one of the men woke to find a rat sitting on his chest, the loudest scream I have ever heard rent the air. We were a "dead ship" no electric lights, the generator being used only to run the Cold Room and water pump, we had torches and Hurricane lamps, but pretty useless trying to find a rat in the dark. We did eventually corner it in the galley flat,we were leaning over the galley half door trying to hit it with broomsticks,the deck-head hatch to the wheelhouse was open and the rat ran up the bulkhead rivets trying to get away, but a man, leaning down from the hatch knocked the rat off the rivets, it lay stunned for a moment on the deck where it received a broom-stick aided death. The Tug Captain who had been told about the rat, was informed of it ''crossing the bar'' and told us not to ditch it. That evening the tow was dropped and the tug came alongside, and we held a full burial service, then afterwards we had a wake aboard the tug. In those days we were allowed two cans of beer when at sea, that went by the board that night, every one got very merry, and all the time we were drifting through the Red Sea. As daylight came we once again got under tow, quite a few miles off course. A day later our generator packed up and all the food stored in the cold room went bad leaving us with just emergency tinned food to eat. The huge side of beef we had was dragged out,and a hook fastened to the sweep wire, the beef was hung on it and hoisted up, the davit was turned outboard and the beef lowered into the sea, we were hoping to catch a shark, there were supposed to be plenty out there, we towed the beef till we got to the Malay Straits then reeled in the wire, there was not much left of the beef, what was left was pure white, we never did see a shark. Then the Captain, who had often appeared on deck a bit drunk decided to go berserk, running round the decks with a pistol,he was overpowered when he tripped over, we had to tie him up to get him into his cabin, where he was locked in for the rest of the trip. He smashed his cabin up and started on the door, we had to nail wooden battens over it, we fed him by putting dishes of food through the smashed door. When we reached Singapore naval base a group of ''armed ''crushers'',an RPO & MAA and Lt Cdr were waiting to take the Captain into custody, by then he was quiet and left peacefully, well he could not do much else in the straight-jacket they had him in. We felt sorry for him, he had been a good bloke to start with.
Later I found out he had been court-martialed and dismissed the service. We were victualled in HMS Terror, no duties so we could go and come when we liked, we made full use of that, the nearest village was Nee-Soo, there was a tailor there who could make a civvy suit quickly and very cheap, we all went there to get one, in our pockets was 3 months pay. I chose quite a fancy design, flared trousers and long back pleated jacket, the cost was 60 Singapore dollars,equivalent to about £2 or £3. That was on the Tuesday, we got measured and chose the material, the next day we had to go back for the first fitting, it was amazing how quickly they worked, and all hand stitched,a few things had to be altered, and it was back the next day for the final fitting and paying for it, the suit was perfect, but we had to wait another day for the suits to be pressed. We went ashore that night and visited all the off limit places finishing in Boogie Street eyeing up all the beautifully gorgeous "girls" on parade there, you would never have thought men could look so lovely? We staggered back to the barracks and as we went in we were collared by the duty patrolman, we thought we were going to be charged, but instead we were bundled into a lorry and taken to our quarters and told to pack, the lorry would be back in twenty minutes to take us to the transit camp in Changi, we were being flown home. There was no chance of getting our suits, the plane took off in the early hours. The RAF Brittania plane stopped to refuel at Gan, a desolate island in the Indian Ocean, just an airstrip a collection of Nissen huts and three Palm trees for shade (Officers only). Then we stopped for the night in a hotel in Karachi, but there was an uprising against the British, and we were confined to the hotel, the food was awful and there was no bar, we slept four to a room and woke up to find hundreds of lizards crawling over the walls and ceiling. We had an armed escort back to the plane. Our next stop was Nicosia, Cyprus where we were put up in a Army camp of tents. After spending such a long time in a red hot climate, Cyprus was quite cold, our tents had the sides rolled up, so we lowered them, a sergeant major balled us out for lowering them, saying it was company orders that tent side must be raised, we told him as we were not in his company what he could with the orders and where to go, he said we were on a charge which would be dealt with in the morning, but as we were leaving again in the early hours we just laughed. Those three months were a bit hairy at times, but a lot of fun, and it was to be the last time I spent at sea, the rest of my time was spent as motor boats crew to Chatham Dockyard''s Harbour Master.
This was my last draft before going outside, the last trip was 6 months States & Canada (west coast)we started at Virgin Goarda then San Juan onto Norfolk (Virginia) then Barbados, Burmuda Panama canal, San Diago (SMP)6 weeks then Lima Paru San Francisco, Vancouver Island, Vancouver,Acapulco,Gibralter, then home.
Joined the Royal Navy in 1947, under the impression I was on my way to the River Ganges, in India. Was the only sailor incapable of marching past on the final day because I had sewn too many heavyweight washers into the bottom of my bells. Had to be cut out of my uniform at Liverpool Street Station, because I had sewn up my sleeves too tightly. (Hands assumed a curious, blue hue and veins in my neck bulged). First ship JUTLAND where I made a name for myself, swearing at the Captain (Lt Cdr Lombard Hobson) whilst under the influence of violent sea sickness. Next to LOCH ALVIE where I played the piano-accordion extremely badly. Then to the cruiser CLEOPATRA, transferring to FORTH (where I played the cornet, extremely badly), when CLEO returned home. After two years in the Med, returned to UK and joined GRENVILLE, followed by DEFENDER for the Suez crisis. Married a WREN and was drafted to SCARBOROUGH. Witnessed the H-bomb trials at Christmas Island. Umpteen drafts to GANGES and WHITEHALL WIRELESS. Final draft to HMY BRITANNIA as a Radio Supervisor in 1963. Qualified Sub Lieutenant and sent to BARROSA for 18 months in Singapore. Umpteen appointments to GANGES, WHITEHALL WIRELESS, FORTH. and TERROR. Transferred to 9 ANZUK SIGNAL REGIMENT and ran the UK COMMCELL and the ANZUK COMMCEN at Sleepy Hollow. Back to home and appointed to FOST. Went to RAF RUDLOE MANOR on the staff of CDCN where, together with a Naval Commander, introduced the RAF to Trafalgar Day. Final appointment was as a Divisional Officer then Training Officer at RALEIGH. Left the Navy and spent the next eleven years as a civilian in MOD. Finally retired in 1993 and now twiddle my thumbs, having given up golf (which I played extremely badly).
This was my first sea going ship which I joined as a JREM. I can remeber flying to Jacksonville,Florida,to do so and having a good weekend in the local Naval Base before actually joining the ship.Enjoyed Florida before sailing back to Guzz and a refit.
Left shortly after she went to sea again having travelled aroud Scotland.
Had manged to get to the dizzy height of REM.
On M.T.B 666 we sailed from Lerwick carrying supplies for the Norwegian Underground Fighters. We landed them near an island called Batalden near Floro, this was on Dec.13th 1943. We were given three large christmas trees to take back, one for the Norwegian King exiled in G.B, one for the Norwegian embassy in London, the other for display in Trafalgar Square, the first one to ever be shown in Trafalgar Square, the tradition continues to this day. For the first time i will be going back to that island in July 2003
HMS Fearless, Grand Harbour at Valetta - November 1972.I''''d just been rated up to PO and joined the largest PO''''s Mess on board. I was unanimously ''''voted'''' in as bar manager - or did the Mess Pres tell me, that as the sprogg PO,it would be my pleasure and priviledge to run the bar for my new messmates because no one alse wanted the hassle that went with it ?
One of my new messmates, with whom I shared an adjoining bunk space was a PO stoker,''''Jan'''' Farrell. He was an 18 stone raw boned Cornishman who played rugby to quite a good standard.He drank........anything and everything,but delighted most of all to imbibe his beloved ''''apples'''' - of the liquid variety (scrumpy to most of us).
We were anchored out in the middle of Grand Harbour. The mess bar funds were awash with profit and someone had the bright idea that this should be invested in a run ashore for the whole mess, to include big eats, darts & doms, and an open bar tab until the cash was finished. One of the lads had a retired oppo who just happened to have opened a likely venue within walking distance of Customs House jetty. The rig of the day for the run was to be ''''smart casual''''.
I teamed up with my new messmate, Farrell. We had the statutory 4 pints of CSB (Courage Sparkling Bitter), the max allowed in harbour, plus a couple of tots, before going ashore. Jan didn''''t have much by way of civvy clothing - in fact in the 18 months that I was on board I hardly ever saw him in anything other than his ovies. He managed to borrow a pristine blazer from someone who swore him to look after it, as it had only been worn on a couple of occasions before. Off we went in a small fleet of disaghs (spelling ?)to Customs House steps jetty. It was about 1800hrs.
We quickly found the bar that was to host our extraviganza night out. There was a good crowd of about 30 of us. The dart board was taking a serious hammering; the big eats consisted of a la carte steak egg and chips - take it or leave it, and the hop leaf was flowing freely. After a couple of hours or so I went to sit at the bar with Farrell. He then espied a flagon of Merrydown vintage cider which was fastened to a gimbled type arrangement, for pouring purposes, at the far end of the bar. Needless to say Farrell insisted that we must have some - after all, it would have been rude not to, seeing as how somebody had carted it out all the way from the UK. Some time later the flagon was empty.
So far as I recall, we were then joined at the bar by another PO stoker, a 3 badgeman who worked down below with Farrell. I can''''t remeber his name, only that he hailed from Barnsley. He regaled us with one of his own sea stories - about how, some years previously he had been on a ship that had visited Mexico. He duly went on the trot with a Mexican maiden, and had spent quite a bit of time there before giving himself up to the authorities. After doing his time in DQ''''s he had put it all behind him..........except for his liking for tequila !
Wouldn''''t you just know it, he spied a bottle of the stuff behind the bar. That was my introduction to tequila, complete with salt shaker and slices of lemon. After scuppering that lot it must have been getting close to bewitching hour - because my next recollection was being at Customs House jetty steps in the queue for a disagh back to the ship. It seemed as though most of the ship''''s company were there, returning from their various runs ashore. Some, it has to be said, looked as though they had had one or two shandies too many.
As I recall the oggin was quite choppy alongside the jetty steps. Each disagh carried about 4 to 6 passengers. When I got to the front of the queue the disagh was rising and falling rapidly with the swell. I stepped out to meet the rising disagh prow, hopelessly misjudged and oooooops......I was in the oggin. I remember seeing a line of faces as I surfaced - all of them cheesing down at my misfortune, but none of them too quick with the offer of a hand !
Eventually I was pulled into a disagh where I was joined by Farrell, who was having a bloody good laugh at my expense, and a pair of bootnecks who just happened along for the ride.
As we chugged towards the ship, which looked lovely amidst her floodlights, the booties began arguing between themselves and they came to blows. The disagh driver was in a panic as his boat was being thrown about violently. Up steps our hero, Farrell, to sort them out. I''''m not too sure about the sequence of events that followed, but it culminated in Jan giving his ''''sub-aqua'''' blazer a test run. Yes, he was in the oggin !! My turn to laugh now.
He was duly hauled inboard and we got to the accommodation ladder alongside the ship. Of course, it was no less choppy in the middle of Grand Harbour than it had been at the jetty. Up stepped Farrell again to stride across from the disagh to the ladder. He must have had another senior moment...........missed his footing..........ooooooooooooooooooops - he was back in the drink !! Yet another test for the blazer.
The Officer of the Watch that night was a young subby, at least 14 years old, complete with telescope under his arm. When we got to the top of the accommodation ladder Farrell chopped him one off and made the usual request, "permission to come on board ,sir."
Subby responded, "PO you are a disgrace !"
Farrell retorted,"I''''ll give myself a bollocking in the morning sir." He then spun on his heel and wandered off to his pit.
The next morning I was awakened by the sound of much groaning and the trickling of water. I peered out from my bunk to see Farrell kneeling over a dhoby bucket in the middle of the bunk space. He was wringing out his oppos blazer ready, no doubt, to present it to No1 and his laundry crew for it to be restored to pristine condition.
That was my introduction to a run ashore with the big boys. I had many more good runs on Fearless - but never ended up in the oggin again !
Postscript - I last heard of Farrell in the mid-80''''s when he had retired to St Ives in Cornwall.
Serving on the Manxman in the far east in the sixties, one saturday morning rounds the Captain
T.V. Stopford ordered me as L/H of the forward mess to open the escape hatch in the bulkhead
which I did, unfortunately just then we hit a green Goffer and the chain parted the mess flooded, and the local chinese mess below was filled during their mahjong game,there were all sorts
of yells in chinese of course and they evacuated the area promptly, our deck was the cleanest on board after the mopping up, it was the time when we were moving over from Woodbridge Haven to Manxman at Gan, which took a long time finding with our acient Radar, good memories
Joined RN in September 1968 as EM2 then categorised as REM2 in HMS Collingwood, then became a Radio Mechanician Apprentice, spending a year at sea in HMS Bacchante
Completed apprenticeship in June 1972 and served
in the following ships :-
Oct 72 - Mar 75 HMS Andromeda
Mar 75 - Aug 75 HMS Defiance
Aug 75 - Nov 76 HMS Cambridge
Nov 76 - Dec 78 HMS Collingwood
Jan 79 - Sep 80 HMS Norfolk
Sep 80 - Dec 80 RNC Greenwich
Dec 80 - Nov 81 HMS Collingwood
Nov 81 - Nov 84 HMS Nottingham
Nov 84 - Jun 87 NBC Portsmouth
Jun 1987 Retired as Lt WE(SD)
While working at HMs Osprey on Fleet support, I was asked to carry out planned maintenance on the starboard switchboard of a minesweeper (the name escapes me). When I arrived at the main switchboard room, I looked at the Port switch and the Starboard switch and noticed that the starboard switch was still in use. Now you have to understand that I was a green JREM at the time, and I was told to work on the Starboard switch. One of the first things that you are taught in the Navy is to follow orders and then question!!!
I had this nice big heavy screwdriver with me, so I thought best short it to earth before I start working on it just incase there is some residual charge. When I touched the main breaker to the earth connection there was this almighty bang, I went blind for a moment with the flash, the whole minesweeper appeared to lift out of the water and then there were lots of shouting, so acting the innocent I joined in and legged it to the upper deck with the aid of emergency lighting. Later that day I was sent for and it all came out. I escaped with no charge as I only obeyed orders, but needless to say I never worked on another minesweeper.
HMS DUNCAN WAS ONE OF THE FIRST ALL WELDED SHIPS TYPE 14 AND WAS DESPATCHED ALONG WITH OTHER TYPE 14,s TO THE FIRST COD WAR IN 1958.AFTER A SPELL IN DIGS ASHORE DURING WHICH TIME I CONTACTED BED BUGS WE SHOOK DOWN IN RECORD TIME AND OFF WE WENT.OUR BRAND NEW SHIP ALL LOVELY AND GLEAMING WAS SOON MADE TO LOOKED WEATHERED. DURING A REFUELLING THE M E P.O BLEW WHEN HE SHOULD HAVE SUCKED AND AS A RESULT ON DISCONNECTING THE ENTIRE SHIP WAS COVERED IN FUEL OIL ON. WE SPEND THE NEXT FEW DAYS WITH BUCKETS OF SHALE OIL CLEANING IT ALL UP, BUT UNDAUNTED, HE DID IT AGAIN,AND AGAIN MORE SHALE OIL ALL ROUND.ON OUR WAY HOME TO XMAS LEAVE WE WERE HIT BY A FORCE 12 AND DUE TO THE SINGLE SCREW PROPULSION WERE FORCED TO TURN ABOUT AND STEAM VIRTUALLY BACK TO ICELAND IN ORDER NOT TO BE CAPSIZED. DURING THIS TIME SEVERAL WELDS SPLIT AND WATER WAS CONTINUALLY FLOODING THE BRIDGE AND THE BRIDGE VISION.
A TWO RINGER DECIDED THAT THE DUTY WATCH SHOULD TURN TO AND GO INTO THE FORWARD HEADS AND FLUSH THEM WITH COOKING OIL IN AN ATTEMPT TO STOP THE SPRAY REACHING THE BRIDGE. I STILL WAKE UP AT NIGHTS DREAMING ABOUT SLIDING MAJESTICALLY ACROSS THE HEADS FLOOR CLUTCHING MY GALLON TIN OF COOKING OIL AND FLUSHING ALL IN RYTHYM OF THE SHIPS MOTION.
Joe Pusl
Here we are, 50 years later assembled in Gregory to celebrate our high school graduation. I read our class motto, “Strive to conquer the unconquerable,” and it seems that many of my classmates did just that. We are the children of “the Greatest Generation.” As our fellow South Dakotan Tom Brokaw says, “It was a generation united by common values of duty, honor, economy, courage, service, love of family and country, and above all, responsibility for oneself.”
The summer after graduation I worked on my father’s farm/ranch southwest of Dallas. In September it was off to the University of South Dakota at Vermillion where Bill Brookens and I were roommates until six months later when he joined the U.S. Air Force. The following year I switched to the University of Nebraska and became a midshipman on the Holloway Plan, a scholarship program left over from World War II in which a student trained with Naval Academy midshipmen during three summers and graduated with a commission in the regular Navy. I received a degree in Mathematics in 1954 and did graduate work until I entered the Navy in 1955. I served to Lt. (jg) USNR 1955-58.
My career consisted of over 34 years in the aerospace/defense industry at an interesting time in its history. This included designing software test systems for the Mariner IV spacecraft that went past Mars, working on the Saturn project for the man on the moon trips, and managing other missile and anti-submarine warfare programs.
Dottie and I married in 1967. We have two children. Joe III and his wife Kary both have master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Both worked for a small division of IBM in Encinitas, California, for several years. Kary has now become a full time Mom after the birth of their son in 2002; they now also have a daughter. Joe moved on to a start-up company for wireless chipsets; it failed. He is now with Texas Instruments. Lisa has her MD degree from the University of California, San Diego, completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Stanford University, is an associate professor of medicine at UCSD, and practices with their health group. Her husband, Mike Wastila, is a Major, United States Marine Corps. Lisa and Mike have two children, a boy and a girl. I have been retired since 1992 and spend part of my time at the Institute for Continued Learning at UCSD where I served as treasurer for 8+ years. In 1999 Dottie retired from being a community college teacher. We thoroughly enjoy our grandchildren and welcome more!
Gregory High School Class of 1950
Class Book 2000
Updated 9-30-2002
Hello, my name is Helen Blount and I am the grandaughter of Arthur Kitteridge, my hero!!!!
He was in the Army, Sherwood Foresters and went to Dunkirk, in WW2, his brother was Les Kitteridge who was a POW.
I am afraid I did not follow in his footsteps and join the army i think his wonderful stories put me off as a little as a child.
Well I am now 38 he passed away 16 years ago and i am trying to put a picture together for his great grandchildren who he never got to meet. Also for myself as my family never spoke of his journies...If anyone can tell me anyhting about him I would be most great full.
Thank you
helen