My unforgettable
trip halfway aroung the world trying to catch the USS Valley Forge CV-45.
I joined the Navy on April 13,
1950, and went through boot camp in San Diego, Ca. While in boot camp,
I requested that I be assigned to the Valley Forge, to be stationed with
my Brother Reggie, who had joined in 1947, along with our other Brother,
Joe.
After boot camp, with the Valley
Forge already operating off the coast of Korea, I began my long trekto
catch her in late July, 1950.
Leaving San Diego, I flew to
Treasure Island Rec. Station in San Francisco, where I joined 47 WWII veterans,
(Reserves) that had been recalled to active duty, and also assigned to
the V. F.
Being only 17 years old, I thought
these were all old men, although the were probably no more than 30 years
old. :)
We left S.F. in 2 R4-D's for
the long trip to Japan, 24 in each plane, sitting on bench seats down each
side of the pland.
After stopping at Honolulu,
Johnson, Kwajalien, and Guam, we finally arrived in Yokohama, Japan.
From here, we took a wild ride to Yokosuka on a bus with a Japanese driver,
beep, beep horn blowing continously, to avoid running over paople on bicycles.
We checked in at the Yokosuka
Receiving Station, and stayed there 2 days befor going aboard a Seaplane
Tender, the USS Salisbury Sound, as passengers, and pulled out, going back
to Agana Guam.
Two of the old men took me on
liberty in Agana, and proceeded to make an old salt of me. Well being 17,
and never having so much as a beer, it wasn't long before I was passed
out, and they had to litterally carry me back to the ship.
We left the next day for Okinawa,
pulling in some days later at White Beach, Okinawa. There was a small army
camp here, and it would be our home for over 2 weeks.
White Beach was rightly named,
because it was almost directly on a beautiful white sandy beach.
We stayed in quonset huts while
there, and up on a hill behind the huts was a huge white Bouy. Painted
on the bouy, in big black letters,was: "White Beach, Son of A Beach".
After over 2 weeks of lounging
around on the beach, some mess cooking, and going to the PX, where I could
get completely goggle eyed for 50 cents, beer being 10 cents a can..
We were then picked up by a
cargo ship, the USS Uvalde, for the final leg of our trip to the Valley
Forge.
When we pulled in to Sasebo,
Japan, the V.F. was already in port. I had never seen a carrier up close
before, and I could not believe how huge it was. I decided then, that I
would probably have to write my brother aletter, to let him know I was
aboard.:)
Reggie was in VC-3 Squadron,
and was the Radioman on an AD-Skyraider, flying almost daily over Korea.
Being a Gunners Mate striker,
I stood watch on the quad 40MM guns aft on the island structure, having
a birdseye veiw of the planes returning from Korea.
Needless to say, I had quite
a few anxious moments watching Reggie's plane coming back aboard, especially
in heave seas. Looking back, it never occurred to me that his plane could
have been shot down over Korea.
We returned to San Diege in
early December, wher Reggie, along with the Air Group left the ship.
Six days later, with a new Air
Group, we pulled out, going back to Korea.
On Christmas Eve, Bob Hope,
Marilyn, Jimmy Wakely, Miss Chicago, and others came aboard and put on
a wonderful show for the crew.
Two weeks later, in January,
1951, whil at sea, I was transferred by helicopter, to the USS Leyte. My
brothe Joe was on the Leyte, in V-3 Div., and I was also assigned to V-3.
Being from South Georgia, Joe
and Clem Demer Bryan, (his real name) from Tn. did quite a bit of good
natured ribing each other, mostly about Ga. & Tn.
Joe told Clem that cows had
grazed on the mountaions so long in Tn., that they ciouldn't walk on flat
land, without falling over on their side.
Clem would tell Joe that Ga.
was full of clay hills, poor white trash, with farmland so poor, that corn
would never get over knee high, as described in the books "Gods Little
Acre", and "Tobacco Road", by Erskine Caldwell.
After all this joking back,
and forth, soon my brother Joe began being called "Erskine", and it stuck,
and when I came aboard, I emmediately became "Little Erskine".
I was known as litte Erskine
until I was discharged on September 1, 1953.
Clair (Little Erskine) Fletcher
As Received 10/07/02DRR