One of these ships in the J.K. TAUSSIG.**
From July 10, 1963 to early-mid August, about a month, I was stationed at the Charleston Naval Yards. One day my orders came in without notice I was to leave immediately. I was to report to the USS J.K. TAUSSIG docked
at Lakehurst, New Jersey, immediately. I
was given a commercial plane ticket to Philadelphia and a bus ticket from Philadelphia to
Lakehurst.
When I arrived at the Philadelphia airport I realized that the airport was five or more
miles from downtown Philadelphia where the bus station was. I had very little money. My fare to get to the bus station cost me
almost all my money. I only had pocket
change left, less than a dollar.
But I got there! To
the gate of NAS Lakehurst, New Jersey.
At the gate was a two story building which housed security, brig, SP Barracks, and so on*. The duty officer and duty PO was also there.
I got out of the bus, and carried the duffle bag into the
building as the bus pulled off. I gave
the Chief behind the counter my
orders. He looked them over and
laughed. He turned around to the Duty
Officer and showed him my orders. The
Officer smiled and shook his head.
I asked what was wrong.
One of them me there was one minor problem. I was assigned to the ship USS J.K. TAUSSIG but it wasn't
there. In fact, there were no ships
there. They had no dock. They were 15 miles inland.
SHIT!
It was after dark.
They tried making a few phone calls to get some kind of clarification
but people who made those kind of decisions work from 9 to 5. They had the duty driver carry me to the Main
Enlisted Barracks . I was assigned a
bunk in large room. It was a big bay of
double bunks. I had no idea where in
the room it was, being led to it by flashlight.
In the middle of the night I had a dream. The dream was in the barracks I slept in when
I was in Charleston only a day earlier.
We were being attacked. The dream
took my present sitting and added Russian
planes flying between building shooting all life. I ran out of the building (in my dream) and
saw a Russian plane headed straight towards me with guns rat-tat-tat. I ran in and shut to door to figure what to
do next (in my dream)... then two men in
casual clothes walked in. Obliviously,
they were out drinking. They were
helpful and bringing me back to reality and helping me find my bunk.... even if
they helped me with a smirk on their face, the bottom line they were helpful.
That morning in the chow hall I saw the same two men. They were sitting a few tables over and were talking and looking at me. And occasionally the y would share with
another friend, tell a friend and then
they both looked over at me.... embarrassing. But, I just had to live with that.
However, I stayed on
and became friends with the two . About
3 months later I rode with them as far as North Carolina, on my way home to
pick up my car.
*I know so much about the Security Building by the main gate
because I was assigned with Security for
a few I was assigned there as their
clean-up man. Up on the second level was
sleeping quarters for the single SPs and the head security officer, a Commander
by the name of Fisher. The sleeping
quarters were several rooms. There were
enough rooms to go around that I had my own bedroom. Also, I wandered around for that period and
did what I wanted, nobody cared what I did as long as there were no mess.
** Interesting, when I Googled to get a picture of the U.S.S. TAUSSIG this was among the pictures to representing the ship and was surprised to see this picture in the picture of the search. I was surprised because I took this picture of this distant cousin at a Hunter Reunion in Blairsville, Georgia, about six years ago. I used this picture in one of my "Small World" articles. At the reunion he and I were talking and we realized we were both on the U.S.S. NEWPORT NEWS at the same time. He was a Marine and I was with the helicopter crew. I'm sure, in that blog, I mentioned the oddity of me being assigned to the TAUSSIG docked at Lakehurst, New Jersey, 15 miles inland.
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