Bob Leilich

Ron:

I was referred to your website by a friend. It brings back old memories. I was Chief Snipe on the old "boat" in 1963. I was one of the last of the "two year wonders" out of Naval ROTC at Purdue. Since I majored in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in power plant engineering, it was only natural to start my active duty as MPA.

In later years, my wife and I were very close friends of two star Admiral William Newman who, at the time, was CIC of the missile range at, I believe, Point Magu. (He was also formerly a lead pilot with the Blue Angels.) One night over at our house for dinner, I asked him what he had been up to. He replied, "Testing some new ECM missiles on an old tin can off of Long Beach." Asking him the name of the ship, thinking I might know it, he answered, "USS Preacher, Minister, or something like that."

I asked, "USS Parsons?" He responded "Yeah, that's it." My heart skipped several beats, after which I replied "Out of my house you SOB - that's MY ship!" Bill ran out of the house and came back with some high speed photos of a missile pulverizing the bridge where I stood many a night as CDO (before it was enclosed). Seeing tears run down my cheek, he put his arm around me to comfort me and told me that he too had felt bad, and ordered the ship towed back into Long Beach for repairs.

"Bill, that was nice of you. Why did you do that?" To which he replied, "So I could blow it up again!"

This is a true story. Shortly afterwards, Bill sent me a framed picture of a missile blowing up the bridge, and a signed autographed picture of himself. It sits on top of my desk at home. I can scan both in for addition to your library if you wish.

Captain Anson - a true Hollywood image of a Naval Academy officer - was my first captain. I'll never forget coming into San Diego after a WestPac cruise when he said "Chief, I'm going to give you three bells - ahead one third, stop, and back full. I want your boys to be sharp and follow those commands quickly, precisely, and the last with steam."

True to his word, that's all we got, and I still remember the nudge as we made a most impressive landing for all the wives and families to see. He was a real steamer. So what if we had a few bent stanchions. A hammer and some paint and all would be fine.

Later, we had Capt. Jester, who re-christened the ship the USS Snosrap, which is Parsons spelled backwards. He said since eveything aboard ship was backwards, the name should also be spelled backwards. (I had four boiler explosions during my duty - even one when fires were out! We also had a major fire on board, and I probably had more intimate contact with Admirals at the end of a long green table than any chief engineer in the 7th fleet!)

Oh, the stories I could tell during my two short wonder years!

I may not be able to make a reunion, but I would like to hear more about it.

Bob Leilich
rleilich@canac.com