Indiana Military Museum

Preservation and Interpretation of our Military History

I WAS A SAILOR ONCE



 



 

Reflections of a Blackshoe

By

Vice Admiral Harold Koenig, USN (Ret), M.D.



 



USS Vincennes (1826-1867)
Colored lithograph published by N. Currier, 2 Spruce Street, New York City, 1845.
Courtesy of the Naval Art Collection, Washington, D.C.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

 


I like the Navy,
I like standing on the bridge wing at sunrise with salt spray in my face

and clean ocean winds whipping in from the four quarters of the globe -

 the ship beneath me feeling like a living thing as her engines drive her

through the sea.


I like the sounds of the Navy - the piercing trill of the boatswains pipe,

the syncopated clangor of the ship's bell on the quarterdeck, the harsh

squawk of the 1MC and the strong language and laughter of sailors at work.


I like Navy vessels - nervous darting destroyers, plodding fleet auxiliaries,

sleek submarines and steady solid carriers.

I like the proud names of Navy ships: Midway, Lexington, Saratoga, Coral Sea -

memorials of great battles won.

 

The Heavy Cruiser Vincennes passes through the Panama Canal in 1938

I like the lean angular names of Navy 'tin-cans" Barney, Dahlgren,

Mullinix, McCloy, -mementos of heroes who went before us.


I like the tempo of a Navy band blaring through the topside speakers

 as we pull away from the oiler after refueling at sea.


I like liberty call and the spicy scent of a foreign port. I even like

all hands working parties as my ship fills herself with the multitude

of supplies both mundane and exotic which she needs to cut her ties to

the land and carry out her mission anywhere on the globe where

there is water to float her.


I like sailors, men from all parts of the land, farms of the Midwest,

small towns of New England, from the cities, the mountains and

the prairies,from all walks of life. I trust and depend on them as

they trust and depend on me - or professional competence, for

comradeship, for courage. In a word, they are"shipmates."


I like the surge of adventure in my heart when the word is passed

"Now station the special sea and anchor detail - all hands to quarters

for leaving port", and I like the infectious thrill of sighting

home again, with the waving hands of welcome from family

and friends waiting pierside.  The work is hard and dangerous,

the going rough at times, the parting from loved ones painful,

but the companionship of robust Navy laughter, the 'all for one

and one for all' philosophy of the sea is ever present.


I like the serenity of the sea after a day of hard ship's work,

as flying fish flit across the wave tops and sunset gives way to night.


I like the feel of the Navy in darkness - the masthead lights,

the red and green navigation lights and stern light, the pulsating

phosphorescence of  radar repeaters - they cut through the dusk and

join with the mirror of stars overhead.


And I like drifting off to sleep lulled by the myriad noises large

and small that tell me that my ship is alive and well, and that my

shipmates on watch will keep me safe. I like quiet midwatches with the

aroma of strong coffee - the lifeblood of the Navy - permeating everywhere.


And I like hectic watches when the exacting minuet of haze-gray

shapes racing at flank speed keeps all hands on a razor edge of alertness.

I like the sudden electricity of "General quarters, general quarters, all

hands man your battle stations", followed by the hurried clamor of

running feet on ladders and the resounding thump of watertight doors

as the ship transforms herself in a few brief seconds from a peaceful

workplace to a weapon of war - ready for anything.


And I like the sight of space-age equipment manned by youngsters

clad in dungarees and sound-powered phones that their grandfathers

would still recognize.


I like the traditions of the Navy and the men and women who made them.

I like the proud names of Navy heroes: Halsey, Nimitz, Perry, Farragut,

 John Paul Jones.


A sailor can find much in the Navy: comrades-in-arms, pride in self and

 country, mastery of the seaman's trade. An adolescent can find adulthood.

In years to come, when sailors are home from the sea, they will still

remember with fondness and respect the ocean in all its moods -

the impossible shimmering mirror calm and the storm-tossed

green water surging over the bow. And then there will come

again a faint whiff of stack gas, a faint

echo of engine and rudder orders, a vision of the bright bunting

of signal flags snapping at the yardarm, a refrain of hearty laughter

in the wardroom and chief's quarters and messdecks. Gone ashore

 for good they will grow wistful about their Navy days, when the seas

belonged to them and a new port of call was ever over the horizon.

Remembering this, they will stand taller and say,

"I WAS A SAILOR ONCE. I WAS PART OF THE NAVY,

AND THE NAVY  WILL ALWAYS BE PART OF ME."




ABOUT THE AUTHOR





Vice Admiral Harold M. Koenig USN (Ret), M.D.




Chair and President, The Annapolis Center 32nd Surgeon General of the Navy

and Chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery

Vice Admiral Koenig became Chairman and President of the Annapolis Center

on July 30, 1998. In this capacity, Dr. Koenig leads the organization as its chief

spokesperson and chairman of its Board of Directors.


VADM Koenig became the thirty-second Surgeon General of the Navy and Chief,

Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, on June 29, 1995. He retired from that position on

June 30, 1998 after completing 32 years of active duty service.

A native of Salinas, California, he attended the U.S. Naval Academy and received his

Bachelor of Science Degree from Brigham Young University. He received his Medical

 Degree from Baylor University College of Medicine. He is certified by the American

Board of Pediatrics in general pediatrics and pediatric hematology-oncology.

VADM Koenig is a Diplomate of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

In 1994 the American Hospital Association named him "The Federal Health Care

 Executive of the Year".

 VADM Koenig served in a variety of clinical roles in the Navy, including general

medical officer, residency training program director, department chairman, hospital

executive officer and commanding officer.

His staff assignments before becoming the Navy Surgeon General included:

command of the Naval Health Sciences Education and Training Command,
Director of Health Care Operations in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations,

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) for Health

Services Operationsand Deputy Surgeon General and Chief of the Medical Corps.

VADM Koenig's personal awards include the Navy Distinguished Service Medal,

Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit with Gold Star,

Meritorious Service Medal with Gold Star, Navy Commendation Medal, a

nd the Navy Achievement Medal.

Reprinted from the Vincennes Sun Commercial

OUR TIMES ( Vincennes Sun Commercial, July 13, 2008) Brian Spangle:


At midday on July 14, 1943, a small delegation of Vincennes citizens gathered at the depot to embark on a trip to Quincy, Mass. Quincy was home to the Fore River Shipyard, where the group would see the launching of the light cruiser USS Vincennes (CL-64), the third ship to carry the city's name.

It was just seven years earlier, in May1936, when another local contingent traveled to Quincy for the launch of the heavy cruiser USS Vincennes (CA-44). That ship was sunk by the Japanese off Savo Island in August of 1942.

The 14 people who made the trip from Vincennes to Quincy that month were Mayor Noble P. Barr and his wife; Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Stoelting; Mr. and Mrs. Clay Johnson Jr.; Judge and Mrs. Curtis G. Shake; Miss Mildred Dumes; William J. Dumes; Mrs. Emery F. Small; Mr. and Mrs. Carl Fritch; and Mrs. J. W. Kimmell.

Although his wife attended, former Mayor Joseph Kimmell, who had led the delegation in 1936, did not make the trip. Kimmell owned an orchard and was busy getting his apple crop in.

The ceremony took place on July 17. Kimmell's daughter, Virginia, who had christened the USS Vincennes that was launched in 1936, also had the honor of smashing a bottle of champagne over the new ship's bow. Virginia married Arthur Osburn Jr. in 1938 and was living in Marion. Her husband was a lieutenant in the Navy.

There were other Vincennes people who met the group at Quincy. Two of these, Mrs. Robert McCormick and Mrs. Harold Klemeyer, served as Mrs. Osburn's attendants. There were a number of local servicemen present. Overall, a big delegation from Indiana attended.

While there was a post-launching program, being wartime the entire event was carried out with less celebration than would have been typical on such an occasion.

Mrs. Osburn was given the gift of a platinum wristwatch and she kept glass from the broken champagne bottle as a memento.

The Vincennes party traveled on to New York City, where they were treated to a luncheon and the theater by Vincennes native Bernard Gimbel, who was president of Gimbel Brothers Department Stores.

NOTE FROM THE WEBMASTER!(Comments from people knowledgable about this event or other stories about any of the ships VINCENNES are encouraged to responed in our Guest Book at this WEBSITE so it can be shared by all.) ( Photos of this event or the earlier 1936 christening are on display or in file at the Indiana Military Museum)

Summary of Mrs Robert S. McCormick's comments to the WEBMASTER:

Mrs. Robert S. McCormick (formerly Betty Anne Small, a 23 old newly wed at the time)  husband Ensign Robert S. McCormick, US Navy(23 years) was assigned as a student at the Motor Torpedo Boat School at Quonset Point, Rhode Island. They  lived in New Port, Rhode Island at the time near the school.  They were both in attendance and she held Mrs. (Kimmel) Osburn's flowers while she flung the champaign bottle. Ensign and Mrs. McCormick did not get to accompany her mother Mrs E.F. Small to the luncheon and tour of New York with Mr. Gimbel as they had to report back to duty.  Ensign McCormick was promoted to Lt. jg and assigned as captain of PT 513 in MTB Squadron 35. The PT Boats of Squadron 35 served in the English Channel during the summer of 1944 as part of Operation Neptune which was the Allied Naval part of Operation Overlord known to all as the D-Day or the Normandy Invasion.

The Honorable Judge Curtis G. Shake was a judge at the War Crimes Trials in Nuremberg, Germany after the Victory of WW II.