From: Bobby W Lawson
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2001 3:36 PM
Subject: Sad times

As I'm sitting here it occurred to me that maybe people other than submarine sailors would read these stories.
 They just might get the idea that we were all  a bunch of fun loving, adventerous, don't give a damn sailors.  We did in fact, have a few things happen that are not of the laughing genre.  I will attempt to cover a few items that I'm vaguely familiar with and hopefully before they are published they will receive the proper corrections and polishing. 

Time, early sixties. 

Got a new corpsman aboard right out of sub school.  Can't remember his name and it wouldn't help the story any even if I knew it.  I think he was a second class but that really doesn't matter either because he was the corpsman. As on most boats, the corpsman  assumed some collateral duties other than his own job.  The one collateral duty that this guy had affected the morale of the crew greatly.  That was the job of buying sea store cigarettes for the entire boat.  Naturally, before he could buy the cigarettes he had to collect the money in advance.  We were coming off a longer than usual upkeep and so the supplies of cigarettes were critically short.  I was a smoker at the time and I figure he must have collected around a thousand dollars or maybe even more.  (Early sixties, thousand dollars, lotta money.)  Don't you know that rascal went over the hill with our money and we went to sea with practically no cigarettes.  I think we were headed for a two week air-op down off Mexico somewhere. Needless to say, before we got back in San Diego we were all acting like a bunch of sore losers.  I heard later from my good buddy, David Holmes that the FBI got him and in the end they gave him a top secret clearance and sent him to nuclear school.  We never saw him again on Segundo and probably a good thing too. 

 

Story number two:

This all happened on a night in which yours truly had the duty and so this can't be far from the truth. Sitting around the after battery while in the duty section is not a pleasant task as those of you who stood duties are aware of.  All of a sudden, down the hatch comes the topside watch without his forty five and he is asking,  "Who wants me down here?"  Shortly thereafter a shot disturbed the night air and all the sailors sitting around down below.  A quick flurry of bodies up the hatch revealed none other than Bobby xxx USN lying horizontal with a hole in his belly.  After much activity, confusion and ado we finally got Bobby sent to the hospital.  Turns out he was feeling kinda poorly plus he had a considerable amount of Akadama in his gut and he decided to end it all.  He didn't end it at all.  He instead, caused himself much painful grief and suffered paralysis to the lower part of his body.  Later on, the old and wizened COB, Dexter DeNeen visited Bobby at Balboa.  It was told to me that Dexter first greeted Bobby and then uttered the following, "Bobby, you can't do nothin right, can you?"  I never saw Bobby again after that and so I can't really say how he came out.   I certainly wish the best for him.

 

Final chapter on sad times:

I think most everyone knew Gerald xxx EM1, USN.  Not a bad sort, always had a pleasant word or two if he knew you.  Like most of the sailors who go to sea, Gerald had developed a taste for beer, wine, whiskey, brandy, and the alcohol we kept in the conning tower for cleaning scopes.  In short Gerald liked to drink.  Well, anyways, Gerald came back to the boat one night up in Frisco three sheets to the wind.  I think someone finally got him tucked away in his bunk but he never went to sleep.  Got up, got dressed and went back ashore, presumably for a night cap.  What transpired is pure speculation because no one ever talked to Gerald again.  Its an assumption on my part but I think he must have tripped and fallen off the boat and hit the tank tops.  We sailed without him and was notified at a later date that he had been found floating amongst the pilings in the bay.  He was later positively identified by his dental records.  His condition (physical appearance) was apparently less than desirable.  God speed, Gerald.

Submitted

Bob Lawson

 

As far as a verification for Story #1 - I don't know how many of you remember David Oliver Holmes - hell of an engineman - but when we were in port he figured he should be ashore and that he should be drunk.  Apparently Bobby Lawson must have caught David Oliver in one of his liberty moments because I think that Corpsman got a courts-martial and a kick. 

Hotch Day