Boot camp, Great Lakes '55
Sonar A school, Key West, Fla '55-'56
Special training, Key West '56
Nav fac Ramey AFB '56-'57
Nav fac Bermuda '57-'58
Sonar B school '60
AN/SQS-23 sonar equipment school MK 114
FCS school instructor ASW officer's course at the fleet anti submarine warfare school

Served aboard the:
USS Coontz DLG-9
USS Towers DDG-9
USS Rupertus DD-851
USS Parsons DDG-33

When I joined the navy to see the world they didn't tell me so much of it was water. One day I went to San Diego and saw a hole in that water with the USS Parsons sitting square inside that hole. That hole moved all over the Pacific ocean and then some with the parsons sitting in it and me sitting in the parsons. We visited some wonderful places and I got to serve with the most wonderful crew you could imagine. Some one at the bureau must have hand picked that bunch of guys and sent them to the Parsons. We had collision drills real and imagined, inspections of all types, we went very fast, and did slow circles for weeks. Sailed in rough seas and smooth, cold weather and hot. We shot a few bullets at the bad guys and replenished at sea day and night. I got to qualify as a fleet OOD underway. A title which I am very proud of. I got to be the chief master at arms for a couple of years. We had earned the gold ASW 'A'. We crossed the equator and king Neptune made shellbacks out of almost every one of those lowly pollywogs. We helped the Japanese celebrate their "black ship festival."

Then finally, it came time to say goodbye to my friends...... more than friends, actually, shipmates. Our skipper, Walter E. Olsen was the finest skipper I had the privilege to serve with. I was transferred to navmacpac San Diego and wrote PMS checks for the fleet. Received my discharge and went to work for San Diego alarm company that day. guard, service technician, and finally, service manager. I worked as service manager for 5 years then had a dispute over my assistant's salary and gave the boss my notice...."you can take this job and shove it." Ahhhh sweet retirement. Bought a gold wing motorcycle and the wife and I took two months and did the four corners of the United States. Today we have the best of two worlds...summers doing electrical work for the forest service at fish lake in Utah, and winters in the warm sunshine in quartzsite, Arizona. My favorite sport is riding my ATV in the mountains. Trout fishing is second.