U. S. Navy Memories

 Several days ago I realized that in 1961, fifty years ago this week I was in Boot Camp in San Diego, California.  I had joined the Navy to avoid the Draft.  When I graduated from Boot Camp in November 1961 I received a replica of our Company Flag.  As you can ascertain, I was a member of Company 421.  If you look close at the book, our Company Memory Book, much like a High School Year book you can see that I am the first Sailor in the Second Row from the bottom of the page.

For those who desire to know what the white star above the "number 1" represents, please be aware that our Company, 421 was the Academic Honor Company of the Training Battalion we were in.  We had an Academic Trainer, a fellow recruit, who would take copious notes in all of our classes each day and while we washed our clothes and also his, he would quiz us all on the knowledge we had learned that day.  We had daily test each morning which covered the previous days training.  Our Academic Trainer was from Alaska.  I will never forget his name. His name, William A. Hemmelgarn is engraved in my mind.  All of the other recruits, all 79 of us were from Iowa. 

When I joined the Navy I weighed 132 pounds.  The minimum for a 6 foot tall Sailor was 128 so I made it in with four pounds to spare.  I was 21 1/2 years old at the time.  When I graduated from Boot Camp I weighed 145 pounds.