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I joined the Navy Ready Reserve on my 17th birthday. I attended Chicago's Navy Pier for 3 hours, 1 night a week. I was required 2 weeks on active duty every summer. When Korea broke out I voulunteered for 2 years active duty. I joined because I thought it would be fun, it was! I picked the service branch I joined because I would travel all around the world. Some places that I went were Cuba, Haiti, Canada, Turkey, Greece, and Italy. On my first day in service we hit a storm. I honestly thought the ship was going to capsize!
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I served in the Korean War. My ship went to the North Atlantic, the Mediterrean Sea, and the Caribbean Sea. There was an aircraft called the Randolph. When I arrived there were signs that said "Welcome Randy!" I thought they were for me, but they weren't. I didn't see combat because I was up on the bridge of the ship. I kept a notebook writing everything down that happened on the ship. Every 1/2 hour I plotted the ships position. Every hour I recorded the weather conditions. I also steered the ship when it was in danger. Life aboard an aircraft carrier is very dangerous. In my first year 18 sailors were killed due mostly to airplane crashes and fires. We sailed through 2 hurricanes.
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Life in the navy was just fine for me. A few guys did hate it. I stayed in touch by writing letters. It took 2 or 3 weeks to be recieved. There were no post offices in the middle of the ocean, obviously.
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You're all probably wondering what the food was like...well, sometimes it really was great. You really had no choice, you ate whatever the cook came up with. After 2 days at sea we would be out of milk. We had to make it from powder and water.
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Most pranks we played were directed at the officers. And most of them you had to be there to understand. One day one of my buddies got a postcard photo with a midget female on it. She was about 3 feet tall. He taped it into his locker. When the officer went by to inspect lockers he would always tell us how nice our sweethearts looked. He came to my buddies locker, gulped and said she was very nice looking.
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I was awarded 3 medals; European Theatre Occupation Medal, American Defense Medal, and the Good Conduct Medal. I got them by not by being there and not getting caught doing anything wrong!
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