William Henderson:
CLASS OF 1961
Pittsville High SchoolClass of 1961
Pittsville, MD
William's Story
grad 1961. only gf silvia smack. most attractive Lyndia bassett
1961-1964 ussn uss pratt dlg-13 med deployments. sms test ship pr, visits Bremerhaven gr, malta, athens ,Tripoli Toulon, nice fr, , etc rate ftm3. schools weapons directional euip, an/sps-39 , ft "b" school, shore attack trng, prison chasing glakes, small arms qual, , mk 63 directior range finder operator, best midrats swiss cheese sandwiches
1964-1970 uss bainbridge tonkin gulf, wde trracker;disig console. assigned mk63 system.
Rammed sub blackfin not good. monitored sir strikes into vietnam. gun mission (called back to not expose nuke ship to shore fire.. Sent to Austrailia not knowing we were to be attacked (saw small "boats" on horizon not knowing each could have sank us.
Crossing "the line" ceremonies cancelled. pay back would come later. Fremantle were first ship to viisit since wwii. everything was free! Leaving port found someone had smuggled in a kangaroo, shipped off the ship.
vist to Japan cancelled because of being a nuke ship.
Visit to singapore. Snuck in. All hands were to be in civilian clothes. after selection. co wanted to know why enlisted looked better than officers. ward...Expand for more
robe update. Answ was enlisted wardrobe was all new.
entertainment: co/xo did not put "no nex" purchases on pod. We all knew on leaving for states. the carriers had first come at the px. SOO we took advangage and bought all electronics (tapes, audio decks etc). Came to a hault when the capt cmme into cic and found the consoles covered wirh tape players cross recording music.. Personnel were req to store equip into a fan room (later to flood). I took all my stuff to my radar room and stored it. My teac11 was on a cart "locked" to a cable trunk cover, Got underway, was rough. went to the radar room could not open the door. forcing open the door found my teac on the floor banged up, opening it up found a wire broke. solderd it worked fine. now in thr garage..
came back to us. flew back to to met my wife. (would i recognize her) i did.. Bought s bacarooda and headed west.. Saw the sights. rented a place in long beach until yhe ship went to mare islamd for refluling.. moved to vallejo calif, visied all the wineries. found the eating paradise on the russian river (occidental) still their
Went to school, instructor training. Anniversery in San diego 7/30. nickie
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