Patrick Ferry:  

I am originally from southern Ohio. My first home was outside the small town of New Lexington. This area is best known for the ancient "Indian Mounds" which are abundant there. My great grandparents were coal miners on my mom's side of the family, and my grandmother and her sister worked at the Roseville Pottery, painting designs on the pottery before glazing. My dad's family were oil drillers in the Pennsylvania oil fields. My great grandfather McLain ran a blacksmith shop and livery stable in Emlenton, PA. We moved to northern Ohio sometime before my fourth birthday. We lived in Sylvania, just west of Toledo near the Michigan border. Most of my memories from that area involve shooting marbles, playing in the crick with my friend Tim, and learning to ride a bicycle. I spent one year in the Maplewood Avenue Elementary School before we picked up and moved to Long Island, New York. Setauket was still a small town when we arrived. The farms surrounding the town grew potatoes and cauliflower. We lived on West Meadow Road, and I spent the summers at the beach. Mrs. Murphy was the music teacher at Setauket Elementary School. She tried to give everyone the opportunity to play an instrument, and tried to teach us all to read music, a good thing. She also tried to teach us to sing the Setauket School song ... "Setauket here we are, working together"... yada yada, a bad thing, especially if you have a voice like mine (reminiscent of a punch drunk Irish boxer with poor diction). Junior High School at Setauket, when Mr. Gelinas was the principal, and long before the school got it's new name. Mr. Ernst and Mr. Werner were the science teachers. Mr. Werner used to take the earth sciences classes out on field trips in the local area. We would study the rocks, and the soil, and usually he divided us into teams and we got to play "Steal the Flag" before heading back to class. Mr. Rothstein was the English teacher. When I was in his classes I really hated him. He made us keep these detailed notebooks, outlines, he drilled us on spelling every week. God it was painful. It wasn't until I finally matured at about age 27 and was at Purdue University, that I figured out the value of the detailed notebooks and keeping outlines. I guess this is my only chance to pay a little homage to a very good teacher. High School at Port Jeff was different. I found it too easy to disappear. The school year only existed to break up my summer vacations. All I wanted to do was go out on my boat and lay on the beach with my girlfriend. I spent most of the school day skipping classes, smoking cigarettes, and generally goofing off. Sadly I remained a boy in a man's body for far longer than most of the students. I carried my bad temper and immaturity for several years after graduating. Pat Dunn and I joined the Navy on the delayed entry program. We both spent the summer working for the Davey Tree Company, spraying power right of ways throughout southern Massachusetts. The spray was a mixture of fuel oil and a chemical called 2-4-D. Wasn't until 20 years later that I learned that was the chemical name for Agent Orange. Pat and I practically swam in the stuff. We smelled so bad when we got back to our boarding house in the evenings, that the landlady made us change in the garage. Later on we worked on Staten Island spraying a plastic sealant on telephone cables. We also climbed trees and cleared power lines along the road in Brewster, NY. I started active duty before my 18th birthday. The plan was to do my three years and get out on my 21st birthday. Ended up staying in for 27+ years. I had some great duty stations, and really got to travel. I spent four years in the Philippines, 4 years homeported with CTF 63 in Naples, Italy, plus an additional 4 years with NATO in Naples, 4 years in Australia, and rode just about every ship type the Navy had except for minesweepers and submarines. During my duty with NATO I got to spend a Mediterranean cruise onboard the French Aircraft Carrier FS Foch as Communications Liaison Officer, interesting duty, and the only time in my adult life when my high school French language studies ever came in handy. My career included working the CW radio room at the Receiver Site at NavCommSta San Miguel Philippines when the distress call from the USS Forrestal came in on 500KHZ. The guys in that room worked with the Forrestal non-stop for nearly 24 hours just taking her casualty lists. During my tour on the USS Ticonderoga, we were WestPac deployed to the Tonkin Gulf, when, on 15 April 1969, the North Koreans shot down a Navy EC-121 belonging to VQ-1 over international waters. All 31 crewmembers were killed, and only two bodies were ever recovered. We joined up with the USS Enterprise and several other carriers and support ships, eventually comprising the largest Naval Flotilla since WWII. We steamed around, freezing our butts off, and "making a Naval Demonstration". I'm really happy that the President got a feel good moment. The strangest event I witnessed was in 1971 at Fleet Weather Facility Sangley Point, Philippines. We were preparing to close down the US base, and turn it over to the Philippine Marines. I guess some of the locals decided that they needed to act fast, so they loaded up a bread truck with men and guns, came through the front gate, and headed for the base bank. They took several hostages during the robbery. They killed one US Marine LT who was responding to the bank alarm. They escaped by driving down one of the base perimeter roads, cutting a hole in the fence line, leaving the truck behind. At least 4 of the accused in the robbery were members of the Cavite City police force. Navy Astronautics Group in Point Mugu, California. I was first assigned as a watch stander in communications, then qualified as a Satellite Controller, and finally as Leading Radioman. In 1974, while I was stationed at Navy Astronautics Group in Point Mugu, California, I was fortunate enough to be selected for the Navy Enlisted Scientific Education Program (NESEP). Many thanks to the Commanding Officer, Captain William Liebert. I attended college at Purdue University, earning a Bachelor of Science in Math (Mr. Maloney is probably writhing in pain at the thought), with a minor in history. After graduation from Purdue, I was assigned to Surface Warfare Officer School in Coronado, California. In June 1978 I graduated from SWOS, and attended Counter Terrorism School, Operational Deception School, Remote Sensors school, Communications Jamming and Interference school, and Communications Officers School. My tour on the USS Mount Vernon (LSD-39) was interesting from the first month I went aboard. I was just out of Surface Warfare Officer School, and Communication Officers School, when I reported aboard the ‘Mickey-Vee’. I was informed by the XO that they didn't need a communicator, so I was being assigned as the Combat Information Center Officer. On WestPac in 1979-1980, we participated in Operation Kangaroo 3, a joint operation with the Australian and New Zealand Navies. The ‘Mickey Vee’ was assigned as the primary control ship for the amphibious phase of operations. After a successful operation we got to spend a week in Brisbane, Australia. That really whet my appetite to see more of Australia. When the Iranians took over the American Embassy in Tehran, our Amphibious Ready Group received orders to deploy to the Indian Ocean in preparation for possible action against the Iranians. As with all things Jimmy Carter did, it was a...Expand for more