USS Shangri-la (CVA-38)

Shortly after being assigned to the the Aircraft Carrier Shangri-la (CVA-38) I was given the normal duty that most Seamen and below were given and that was Mess Hall duty. A certain number from each division on the ship are necessary to help in the galley and mess deck for 90 days.  I had been waiting of the ship in Naples Italy for about a month while she was cruising around the Mediterranean, and adjoining seas. It was interesting duty because I was "the guy from X division".  "X" Division is part of (actually the only division of) the Administrative Department that encompasses the the Captains Office, Personnel office, Legal and Discipline Office, Master at Arms, Print Shop, and Special Services.  To go into what each one does would be too  much for you to read in this format, so will leave that for another time, broken down into smaller pieces perhaps.  But for now, I was the Administrative Departments "representative" to the Mess Deck force.  Since we are primarily administrative, I was assigned to the Mess Deck Office!  YAY!!!!  No hot and sweaty scrubbing pots and pans, and stuff like that!  As a Seaman (E-3) I was the highest, what they call "Non Rated" sailor in the office.  Of course I was the ONLY non-rated sailor in the office.  I typed up all the request forms for getting our supplies out of the Supply Departments cargo holds and getting a working party together and retrieving them. I was the guy with the clip board....which was exactly the kind of job I liked!

Things went along very well, as I was actually enjoying my administrative type work.  ALL of it was below decks however, and rarely had an opportunity to go above decks and get any sunshine, not realizing this was going to be a problem later.  A month or so into my new job, the ship paid a visit to Marseille, France for a port of call.  We were there for about four days or so, can't really remember, but will tell you why in a moment.  About 20 miles outside of the city, there was an Army Post that had sea side recreation facilities that included a beach, floats to swim to, in-board runabout boats to water ski behind and the normal other recreational accommodations to wet your whistle, fill your culinary needs, etc.  So when I heard about this, I was the first one at the head of the liberty line at 9 in the morning, heading out to a day of Mediterranean Sea adventure.  I spent the day water skiing, sunning on the floats, soaking up the sun.  About 1400 (two o'clock p.m.) I saw some of my friends from the Print Shop sitting on the beach, and went over to visit.  As I was standing there talking with them, I began to notice my skin tightening up around my shoulders.  Having only my swim trunks on, this was not a good feeling with all my skin tightening.  I told the guys, I may be sun burnt and should be heading back to the ship. This was when it was a good thing I wore a short sleeve shirt instead of my Navy White Bib top.  I could not raise my arms high enough to put my t-shirt on, so had to painfully just wear my button Short Sleeve Uniform shirt. The pain was starting to get worse and by the time I reached the ships boat landing, I was having major challenges containing the hurt. I ended up crouching in the shade of the the tent waiting for the ships liberty boat to arrive.  A ship as large as an air craft carrier always "parks" about a mile offshore where it is deep enough and safe enough, with all the ammunitions and explosives they carry, which requires a liberty boat to shuttle the sailors to and from the ship.

Liberty Call - USS Shangri-la (CVA-38)

The boat finally arrived.  I remember being helped into the liberty boat and made myself as comfortable as possible as the boat was bouncing hard with the waves tossing it all over the place.  When we got to the ship, another major challenge presented itself.  The landing platform was maybe 8 foot square. It was a constant, being attached to the ship.  The ladder went up sharply from there and seemed very narrow to me.  Now we have this bouncing boat, which under any other circumstances would be no problem in the timing of the jump between the boat and the platform. In my condition it was a major worry.  BUT, with the help of one of the crewmen, I was able to get on the platform and he helped me to the main deck.  He even took me to my berthing space to make sure I was safe.  I spent the next four days there, in my X Division berthing area, trying to be comfortable and allowing my Print Ship shipmates to try their sun burn remedies on me, but to no avail.  I had to stay sitting as the rest of my body was full of burn blisters....except for the top of my head and where my swim trunks were.  Finally, I could take the pain no longer and headed for the sick bay.  After standing in line for what seemed like hours, a Corpsman Chief came out of the sick call exam room and saw me standing in line.  I had already moved up to that point in about an hour of standing and had some more to travel down to the ward and then back up the other side of the passageway to the door he just came out of.  All of a sudden, I was a top priority for him.  Zipped right to the head of the line and was laying on a nice cool, stretched sheet on a exam table/bed.  After explaining that there was little they can do for sun burn but try to keep as comfortable as possible and that I may be in a little trouble with the Captain of the ship. I had been reported AWOL! No one told the "mini" bosses that I was in X-Div. berthing, NOT mess decks berthing where I was really supposed to be, and I had been "missing" for four days.  After being released from Sick Bay (with massive blisters evident wherever skin showed) I returned to work.

The Navy justice/disciplinary procedures are pretty strict.  The Captain of the ship is the chief judge and holds your world in his hands.  Since I was missing for four days and hadn't reported in to anyone when my liberty was over, I was in trouble. The charge was Absent Without Leave.  To this day, I don't know why ONE of my friends didn't mention that I was down in the berthing compartment!  The first step was to be screened by the Executive Officer. It was his job to weed out the "unworthy" cases that the Captain shouldn't be wasting his time with, and give to him the "hard case" individuals.  After standing before the XO (Executive Officer) with the Supply officer and Mess Deck Master-at-Arms (my boss) on my right, and the Ships Secretary (responsible for the print shop) and the print shop supervisor on my left, answering questions and giving character reviews on my work ethic, etc. the XO asked me two pointed questions.  "What did you do?" and after that answer, "I don't think you will do that again, will you?" To which my answer was "No Sir!"  He dismissed my case and I went back to work.  I seemed like weeks before my blisters finally disappeared.  Dodged that bullet, and thankfully, that was the only time in my 30 + years of Active and Reserve Service that I ever experienced what the Legal and Disciplinary Office folks do.

Since then, I have been very susceptible to sunburn, so try to stay out of it as much as possible. Consequently, I don't wear shorts around people much.  The bright whiteness of my legs will damage any retina that sees them.  It is just as well.  No one needs that image blazed in their brain.

The point of this story:  There is NO point.  Just a reminiscent journey in my life.  If there was a point, it may be: learn your lessons, and stay out of the sun AND out of trouble.  I really don't know what the attraction for leathery, brown skin is all about to begin with.  Those of us who are of Irish, English and French descent were not designed to have a tan colored skin.  It don't tan well.  Right up to the end of my day at the beach was WONDERFUL though.  Water skiing in the exotic Mediterranean Sea was an experience not everyone has, and for that I am grateful.  The military service does provide an amount of travel that sometimes are really fantastic opportunities to see places not normally available to the common person. We will visit some more exotic places and experiences in later stories.  Until then,

Keep singing, Keep laughing, Keep praying . . . God likes that.

Blessings,
Gary