I spent two tours at USNS Argentia. My first tour was from 1961 thru 1963. I was stationed with the base Crash Crew just down the ramp from the tower. Man, the winters were cold. Especially sitting on top of a crash/fire truck waiting on a in flight emergency to land. Later on I transferred to the AIMD and was a crew chief on the HU-16 D Albatros and "Eloise" The station R-5D. Remember her. That's where I first was qualified to turn up the recip engines and was signed off as a ADR 3. Between my tour at Argentia I was assigned to VP-8 at Pax River (Patuxent River), MD. During that time our squadron was the first in the Navy to get rid of the P2V Neptune aircraft and get the first of the (then) new P-3A Orion. I was a part of the Cuban Quarantine and then transferred back to USNS Argentia for a second tour. My second tour was with VW-13 and I flew the early warning DEW line from Argentia to Iceland across to Ireland, Scotland, England then to Portugal and back to Argentia. It was a blast to see al those countries then. Being just 19 and traveling like that was great. I was also stationed at Argentia when President Kennedy was assinated. That was quite a blow to all of us then. I married a girl from St John's and we had a dauhter that was born in the Navy hospital on base. I transferred to VX-1 in NAS Key West, Florida from Argentia but that is another story.
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