OK, I admit it, when I went aboard the Mitchell, the only thing they had open was for me to be the Chaplain's Assistant. I ran the children's nursery, bingo games, dances and set the room up for his church service.
My first Chaplain was a Wesleyan Methodist, strict beyond belief. If they had a dance in the passengers lounge, it was on the same deck as his cabin, he would sleep in the Chaplain's Office, which was on another level. He was no fun at all.
Then I got a Lutheran, first "buying" trip with him in Seattle, well we would buy bingo prizes and items for his church services. His services called for a lot of wine, and he loved to play cribbage. That is pretty much what I did for a year or so, play cribbage and drink wine, and of course, my duties aboard the ship.
I was the Ship's Diary Yeoman, kept a diary on everything that happened aboard ship. It had to be the last thing to leave the ship before we sailed. That became a bit "hairy" on occasions, with last minute transfers, some who missed the ship for one reason or another, I was often typing as the ship was leaving port, and would hand the diary to the Pilot as he left the ship. Often heard, "Diary Yeoman to the Bridge." If the Diary didn't leave the ship, the ship didn't sail, so you can see my dilemma.
All in all, I had a good four years in the Navy. Played a lot of golf in San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Yokohama, Japan, Okinawa and some other bases in the orient. Golf was not as popular the. Our Captain played golf, the Executive Officer did, Tony, a Corpsman did, and I. So we often did a foursome. On a number of occasions, we were the first four off the ship.
The Mitchell is gone, every time I shave, I wonder if I am using any of the metal from the old Mitch. I have some more information on the Mitchell or, there is a link on this blog.
