"Kiddie Cruiser" Dan Bernath, turns 18 years old
(40 yrs ago)
After a few nice words from them, I cut the cake and was asked to pose for a picture.
I used the officer's sword to stick it into the cook 3rd class' ear without him seeing...got a big laugh! I was basking in the good fellowship of my Navy comrades and was chatting away with them, drinking the bug juice that was also there when suddenly, 2 or 3 of my buddies grabbed me and took me into the film processing room.
We had a very large tub that held about 30 gallons of water and they had filled it with salt water from the Gulf of Tonkin. They lifted me up, against my will and threw me into the water with all my clothes on (all I had on were my Navy dungarees and clean white t. shirt as that was the uniform of the day in the tropics while we were at sea).
The insult was not over yet. Seeing a bar of soap, Airman Lothar then began to wash me thoroughly. I guess that all boys, who become men get a free bath? But it would have been nicer if it had been done by a nice Japanese girl in one of their rather cozy establishments of commercial virtue.
So that is my story of my 18th Birthday...40 short years ago. I have been a newscasters, a lawyer, a commercial photographer and back to being a lawyer but as General MacArthur says, "I am always drawn back to the Corps, the Corps, the Corps."
I love you guys, my fellow sailors. We did our duty to our beloved United States when our fellow young men were taking draft deferments and hiding in Canada. You have my admiration and love forever.