I wonder how many guys like me got out and forgot about the Navy, then started thinking more fondly those years. I came to cherish the sea stories we threw back and forth whenever I'd run into ex-Navy guys. Some thirst or yearning to bring those times back, and just to speak the lingo, those words nobody other than ex-sailors knew.
I started writing about those times back in march 2012, and finished after 79,000 words, my Navy memoirs, entitled, "Gone Asiatic," and I published it on Amazon-Kindle; I put a lot of work into it, had an editor and critical readers, and am very proud of the work. Its subtitle is "Tokens from the Cold War Navy in the Western Pacific."
I encourage all of you who want to write to do so because when you die, all your memories die with you. Your children and grand-children will be grateful if you put forth the effort. Plus, as my writing did for me, it can help you re-live those times as you write.
You can see my book at: www.amazon.com/author/gordonmartin
Comments
Reading the info written by Mr. Gordon Martin about his time in the US Navy has piqued my own interest in telling of my time served in the Navy,as well.I enlisted just a few months before Mr.Martin,and can relate to his story with my own,as they are not all that different;my first duty station after RTC Great Lakes,Il.was aboard the USS James E. Kyes,(DD787),which I boarded on Valentines' Day,1957,there in Subic Bay.Thanks,Mr.Martin,for your insight,and prompting for others to follow-up with their own stories of their own lives...Bravo to you,sir!!