Gitmo, 1968-1969
I arrived here from Norfolk in January of 1968 and departed in August of 1969. I was a commissaryman 3rd class petty officer (cook) at Bay Hill Galley. When working the steam kettles I often had a wet towel around my neck to help stay cool. I lived in a separate barracks across from the galley for all the cooks called the “cook shack.” We had a small patio behind the barracks where we sat in the evenings and told stories and sang country music. Being a cook had some advantages as we could go…
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Weren't the Captain's Office and the Radio Room both on the first floor of the Admin Building? They were in 1962.
Bill, thanks for sharing that. I will see if I can find a copy.. I did not know he had the CMH.
In late 1964 I was transferred to NSD communications. That consisted of a small room across from the Capt's office with two model 33 teletype machines and two women. One worked days the other nights. Once we type the information onto paper tape, I had to drive it over to the radio room for transmission. Very high tech... I mentioned below that shortly after we arrived in Guantanamo bay we got moved to two houses. There were about 25 of us in the crew. Half were in my house and the other half were in the house next door. Bill Norris was in the house next door. It was an interesting arrangement. Twenty-five 20 year old sailors with no supervision that got thrown out of their first residence for being rowdy.
John, Gary Lennert and I were very familiar with the raising and lowering of the flag on Admin Hill. Quite often we were outside at that time of day.
There is a great book written about Admiral Bulkley, I believe it is titled, Sea wolf, and I have a copy. We all knew that our Admiral was holder of the Congressional Medal of Honor for rescuing General McArthur and others from the P.I. at the outbreak of WW2, but after reading the book, I found that there was a heck of lot more to him then that. If anyone gets the chance to read it, I think they will have a hard time putting it down. I did.
The picture of the Admin Building is very familiar. I worked in the Naval Station Personnel Office, which was to the left as you came through the main entrance on the first floor. The Radio Shack was next to the Personnel Office. I used to participate in the raising and lowering of the flag that is in the picture. I was there in 1960-62.
This is one of two houses that we got moved to after we got thrown out of the Bay Hill Barracks for being too rowdy. We were working very long hour and would come back to the barracks at midnight or later and not want to sleep…
Edward Staples, if you are planning to attend our 2013 reunion in Chattanooga, please register soon. You can obtain details about the deadline at www.gitmobay.org.
John Kellett I missed your reply to my post some time back, Sorry. I might look into a reunion at some point that sounds fun. Thanks
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