Van Freeman:  

{B }## ps USS LEYTE CV 32 {Only 3 Carriers were larger than HER. 92 planes were on deck !}was assigned FLIGHT DECK & catapult room duties, etc ==9-6-49 to FEB 1,1950 DURING the MED CRUISE TO SHOW THE FLAG IN N.AFRICA & EUROPE.I had Just finished 9 mos of AB schools that Sept.1 aboard the USS BLOCK ISLAND CVE 106 in the Chesapeake Bay at Annapolis,MD as the Catapult and Arresting Gear phases were there for 7 weeks of the final leg of this 9 month AB schooli6ng in 4 bases in Tx,Tn, Pa and Md. IN mid-Sept as the Leyte entered the MED. SEA leading it's 6th task fleet battlegroup of 3 dozen CAPITOL ships,,<<>> THE SOVIETS detonated their first atom bomb on day 2,thus shifting the worlds balance of POWER, PLUS,, +the Berlin Airlift was in a Soviet initiated-- dominated survival CRICIS for that city plus,, +SEVERAL >British, French & Holland "territories"/countries had MAJOR freedom uprisings/wars for independence that put the world in more extreme TURMOL in..1948-'49, >>& +The UN was trying to form,,,PLUS +the MARSHALL PLAN to FEED & CLOTHE EUROPE was slowly operating for desperate tens of MILLIONS there ! We were in major flight opps.. using our 92 planes with all Marine pilots every & night that the weather was barely OK, to tell Stalin that HE didn't OWN THIS SEA ! Sure, We visited Athens, Rome at Christmas and Pope Pious XII and Trippoli in mid-Nov.for the Marines birthday celebrations, & S France with liberty by train to Paris and 6 other ports for fun and sports incl basketball. Later,on Feb 1,1950, the day after the LEYTE tied up again at our Quonset Point,RI homeport, I was transfered to the NAVAL ACADEMY PREP SCHOOL at NEWPORT,RI,, and later on to OTHER special duties aboard 2 more CARRIERS. I Served in 4++ oceans and, the ONE YEAR enlistmant **extention** to 4 years during the miserable WAR in KOREA ,and discharge at Brooklyn, NY Naval Base on July 16, 1952...****Beginning Sept,3,1952,==On to College at Penn State Universaty and marriage in March to Joan. etc THEN--Jan 30, 1956 graduation and the world of Big Business and a rewarding career. Van June 2009 >>>>{A} Begin #<>Enlisted for 3 years in NAVY AIR at age 18 on Aug 5, 1948 and was Discharged 4 years later on July 16, 1952 as an Avation Boatsw...Expand for more