One of my Navy buddies, Mel Roberts, as we were about to pass under the Golden Gate Bridge enroute to our home port in San Francisco Bay, 10 June 1980. This ended a seven month WestPac (Western Pacific) deployment, during which we spent 102 consecutive days at sea off the coast of Iran, without hitting a port, and participated in Operation Eagle Claw (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Eagle_Claw) - the Iranian Hostage Crisis rescue attempt of April, 1980. We had a lot of tough, but good times. Ports of call: Pusan, Korea; Subic Bay (Olongapo), the Philippines; Pattaya Beach, Thailand; Singapore. At time this photo was taken our ship, the USS Coral Sea was commanded by Captain (later Admiral) Richard Dunleavy, a fine man (who later got caught up in the Tailhook Scandal...en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dunleavy)..Later, in 1981-82, another seven month WestPac. 79 consecutive days at sea off coast of Iran during the Iran-Iraq War (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_iraq_war). Ports of call: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Subic Bay, the Philippines; Pattaya Beach, Thailand; Singapore; Hong Kong; Sasebo, Japan. Happy Veterans Day, shipmates, Mike, Len, Terry, Rick...and everyone else (not just veterans)!
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 13:13:12 +0000
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