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Plan Of The Day
Anybody know where I can view some old Plans Of The Day from the Big E from 1971? Or if some of you who served on her from that time, might have some old ones that you can scan and post? It would be awesome to see those again. Historical too. Thanks!
Read more…Indian Ocean
We were near India after being ordered there from Tonkin Gulf. A Russian warship had been tailing us for sometime and one day it huffed and puffed up along side us. We all waved and checked each other out. Excuse the ancient photo. Its an old slide. WESPAC of 1971.
Read more…Back Then
I remember when I was on the Big E, (1971-72), some where in the South China Sea, maybe the Gulf Of Tonkin, that a Huey gun ship landed on our flight deck with a wounded gunner. I assisted the Chief Of Surgery that night in removing small bits of shrapnel from this gunner's legs. His surgery was successful and he recovered well in Sick Bay with both legs intact and functional in spite of his wounds. And later was air evac back to the PI for continued therapy. But what kinda confuses me, even…
Read more…
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MM1, RM-2 Div '73 to '77
Thomas H Ruff AO2 Guided Missile Shop, Weapons Division 1973 to1977
The only corpsman I knew was Thomas King. We chat on together we server.
https://navy.togetherweserved.com/usn/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd...
that is where I contacted agent orange by drinking the water
I was in OI Division 82-87 , met her in P.I. Oct 17th 1982 ... spent a month there before she showed so I stayed in the barracks there and became boat coxswain qualified while waiting (lost my cherry too) ... many a newbie showed at the same time so that first cruise was full of wogs ... hardly any shellbacks! 2 more cruises, line of death, suez canal and two groundings later, I left to the Naval Postgraduate school in Monterey CA almost exactly 5yrs and 5 ranks later ... I loved this ship .. sad to see her go, happy to see her come back as CVN 80!
Here is a composite so you can see my interruption.
I served aboard the Big "E" with RVAH-5 during the 1971 WestPac. I don't know flags, but the two A-5s in the background are "Heavy 5" Vigilantes. If that picture was taken in 1971, I was there. I worked flight deck the entire cruise.
PH2 Murray
Ramsey-Etheridge-Murray
CDR. Everett and LTCDR. Stokes were both killed a few weeks later.
Right out of boot camp, I served on the Big E from Dec 1968 to Sept 1970. I was assigned as a Ship Fitter - Pipe. Other duties included fire fighting, fog foam station watches, and damage control watches. Tore my left ear down a ways when colliding with a fellow fog foam station responder. During a Damage Control Watch, I fell forty feet after slipping on a oil soaked ladder (safety nets were down, to allow moving some equipment out). Did the Yankee Station tour; Crossed the equator; was on board during the 1969 fire; went on a weekend pass to William Schumacher's folks place in NJ, and went water skiing in the ocean - THANKS; co-rented an apartment in Newport News when the Navy was redoing the heating system in the Winter, and redoing the air conditioning system in the summer. Then I was transferred to Viet Nam.
I thought I had already joined USS Enterprise group. I'm fairly certain I walked aboard Jan. 2, 1975. It's been so long I will have to check out my year books to find out for sure. Except for the bent shaft which caused a rough ride on 2nd deck during turns, she was a good ship. I have no doubt I was on there when she went to Hobart, Tasmania in 1976. Second cruise I think, what a wild port that was. It was full of memories. (Should have written some of them down).