Comments

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  Larry Sherman July 26, 2009 at 11:32pm

  And Terry, I do remember everything you mentioned, about when you were aboard. I left her in 72 for school and ended back aboard in 78 through 79.
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  Larry Sherman July 26, 2009 at 11:23pm

  John I think the Captains name was Jack Davis, he was a Vietnam POW along with XO, who I believe was Commander Terry. Davis wrote a book about his experience as POW and he had a son, who was a captain in the airfarce (airforce).
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  terry mcgowen July 26, 2009 at 7:10am

  Greeting to all. Reported aboard the Lex from boot camp,11/10/68,as a FA. For the next 4 years worked in "A" div, hydraulics gang,(elevators,after steering,etc).OH...such memories!!!! The trip to Boston...The fire in the fireroom while in drydock....Cammille....The jammed rudder going into pensacola bay....and who could forget New Orleans. I have many fond memories(and some not so fond),and will admit that i learned alot about life and people.
  After deciding that the Navy was not my cup of tea,I was discharged 8/12/72. After working in a sweat shop for a year, I enlisted in the Coast Guard and retired in 1989 as a BMCS.(please,I've heard all the "hollagan's navy" jokes ! LOL)
  I'd be interested in hearing from any old shipmates.
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  Janeen Long May 25, 2009 at 12:51pm

  Read you posts guys! Thanks a lot for some insight into my late husband Jim not being afraid of the Hurricanes etc. here. We were living in a 36' travel trailer at the time & even strong storms scared me. He was a stubborn cuss when it came time to evac. tho.
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  Janeen Long May 25, 2009 at 12:45pm

  Have a safe & happy Memorial Day everyone. I posted some pix to my wall, take a look.
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  Darryl E Arthur December 4, 2008 at 1:39pm

  I just wanted to introduce myself. I joined the reserves in 1964 while still in HS. Went to boot that summer at Great Lakes and then started college. After college deferrments, I went on active duty in September, 1969. Philly for a couple of weeks, then a holding company in Dam Neck, Va. and finally to the Lady Lex in dry dock in Boston south annex. I was a corpsman. We spent a lot of time that winter treating flash burns from guys staring at welding torches.
  We pulled out in Feb 70, headed for Pensacola. After a quick trip to Gitmo for fitness testing, we settled into normal routines. One week training primary pilots, one week near Corpus training jets, one week for fleet qualifications and one week for maintenance. A tough life. 15 days of sea duty every month. My most memorable experience was just before I got out in May 71. They took the Lady Lex to New Orleans for Mardi Gras in Feb of that year. We served as a floating hotel for hundreds of High School band members while they were performing in parades. Boy, did it get drunk out. We put a lot of stitches in during those two weeks. Lot of guys must have fallen down because sailors never get in fights.
  I visited her in Corpus a couple of years ago. She looks a little different with all of the displays set up in the hangar bay, but she SMELLS the exact same as the day I left. I took a couple of rolls of film, but at the wrong speed setting, so I don't have any pictures, but I'm going back to Corpus this spring with a digital, so I'll know that I have some good pictures to post before I leave there. That's it for now. Nice to be aboard.
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  Larry Sherman November 10, 2008 at 7:01pm

  D.John that is so true. Quite a trip. It brings to mind and i don't know if you were still on her then or not.....the trip to Boston dry dock. We went up through Cape Hatteras in Nov......the waves were breaking over the flight deck......lost several air start units off the flight deck....one took out the catwalk.....we lost a car off the number three elevator before we even left...we had family members on board that got sick as dogs....one controller with a weak stomach carried a trash can around under his arm for three days and at one time one of the other controllers told me they saw him lying in the net face down.........another fine trip on Lady Lex
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  John (Blue Eagle) Maddalena November 10, 2008 at 6:47am

  Larry can't remember the Capt's name but I heard from some of the boatswains up in helm even got sick that night. I drew the 2 - 4 am watch on the flightdeck, had to go out the fuel farms portal where they had a life line tied to the cherry picker, had to check tie down chains. On one of the trips out there,about half way across, I looked up and could see one hell of a swell comming. It was well over the front of the flightdeck, I ran back and dove into that hatch.as soon as I latched her down we hit the trough,and the swell hit the flight deck. The ol' Lady Lex just sheddered,and poped up on the other side like a big bober.
  Yea, we sure pulled some long hours back in the day. I chuckeld when I heard some of those young'ns on the show " Carrier " whin'n about how bad they got it pullin a cruise today, if they only knew !!!
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  Larry Sherman November 10, 2008 at 12:56am

  Did two tours on Lex, one when she was CVT, and one when she was AVT. I remember the Hurricane D. John talked about during my first tour on her. Second tour was quite a ride too as the only approach controller she had for 19 months, made for some long hours.
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  S D Martin August 9, 2008 at 9:10pm

  I thought the Lex was a BBF not a CVT