From time to time people ask if I was in the military.
Below is a photograph of my home from 1957 to 1960.
USS Toledo CA-133
USS Toledo (CA-133),
1946-1974
USS Toledo, a 13,600-ton Baltimore class heavy cruiser built at Camden, New Jersey was commissioned in October 1946. Following a Caribbean area shakedown cruise, in April 1947 she went to the Far East by way of the Suez Canal to begin a career of regular WestPac deployments. Toledo had just completed the third of these cruises when the outbreak of the Korean War in late June 1950 caused a hurried return to Asiatic waters. From July through October, her guns helped United Nations forces slow and stop the North Korean invaders, then, in landings at Inchon and Wonsan, throw them into retreat. In 1951 and 1952-53, Toledo made two more Korean War tours to provide gunfire support for the forces ashore.
Following the end of the Korean war in July 1953, Toledo continued her Seventh Fleet services, deploying six more times through November 1959. In January 1955, she supported the evacuation of the Tachen Islands, off the coast of China. The cruiser visited Australia in April and May 1958, as part of the commemoration of the 16th anniversary of the Battle of Coral Sea. USS Toledo was decommissioned in May 1960. She stayed in "mothballs" until October 1974, when she was sold for scrapping.
I was an Interior Communications Electrician, which means that I spent my days repairing boxes of damaged sound-powered telephones, and sometimes got to work on the gyro-repeater units which translated the movements of our onboard gyrocompass to the main gun turrets (allowing them to have steady aim while the ship swayed and pitched in heavy seas). My Battle Station was Damage Control Central, which was a dark compartment deep in the ship's gut, where I monitored switching banks of green and blue and sometimes red lights (a red light indicated a power failure in some section of the ship -- and it was my responsibility to reroute power to that failed section). To the men who serve, their ship is a "she," a living breathing lady who needs constant care and loving. And we rocked to the music of the 50s piped over Toledo's PA system, like the midi-medly playing on this page. Toledo was a rockin Lady!
During my time in Toledo (you were always IN your ship, never on her), we visited Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines, Japan (Yay, Yokosuka!), Formosa, Hong Kong, and we even sailed up the river to Saigon. Contrary to what is claimed in the official copy above, we never did get to Australia (that visit to Sydney was planned but we were recalled to the States -- very disappointing to me). I think Toledo went to Australia before I joined her. How rude! But, we still love our Lady, even after she's been less than nice.
Our anti-aircraft crews were a wild bunch of jokers. To give them firing practice, one of the Naval Air Stations would send an old Martin bomber over us -- towing a target sleeve behind it on a long cable. Our gunners would not be bothered with the target sleeve. Nope -- they'd shoot the cable right behind the towing bomber! Needless to say, many old Martin bombers streaked for home! We laughed a lot.
Up the river to Saigon? That was a piece of work. The Saigon river is not all that deep. Toledo stirred mud all the way up that jungle river. Picture walls of jungle passing by on either side. I think we dredged that river all the way from the sea to the city of Saigon! Why did we do that? I had no idea at the time -- no one told us why we were visiting this remote city. At that point in time, we did not know that there was going to be a war. At Saigon, our Rear Admiral hosted an Open House where city leaders came onboard to get the feel of steel and grey and huge guns. They were suited up and they spoke better English than we did. They likely were not impressed with our firepower. In those days, you realistically had to see a target before you could hit it. We found ourselves in an area where you could see nothing but walls of jungle. Later (much later) I was told that we were in Saigon because of their "Independence Day" (independence from whom?). Ah well. Getting out of Saigon was a trip. We could not turn around under our own power. Old WWII landing barges were used to push Toledo's bow up a creek, then used to bring her stern around and pull her bow out of that creek, and we finally got Toledo headed back downstream. And we re-dredged that shallow river all the way from Saigon to the mouth of the river. All of us were so happy to be in the open sea once again!
Hong Kong was wild and way different from any other place we saw. Hong Kong was under British control at that time. It was pre-dawn when we first sailed into Hong Kong harbor. There were the miriad lights of this city rising up against the black mountain behind it. And, there in the dockside foreground, was this gargantuan Pepsi sign! I kid you not, it was a shocker. But Hong Kong was like that; an easy mix of old traditional China and cutting edge modern -- communism and capitalism merged together (better than Chinatown in San Francisco). In one area of the harbor was a whole "city" of people who lived in their sampans, and who constantly came alongside Toledo hawking their (sometimes quite interesting) wares. Hong Kong was one big "Alice's Restaurant" where you could get anything you desired. Enough said about that ...
It was against the rules for any Navy person to wear uniforms which were modified in any way. But all of us in Toledo had dress-blue uniforms specially tailored in Hong Kong -- with dragons embroidered inside the lower sleeves. When we were onshore, it was our pride to roll up those sleeves and display our dragons! The Shore Patrol people knew better than to bother us.
Perhaps the saddest time in my life, the most personally devestating experience, was when we docked Toledo in Long Beach at the Naval Shipyard, and were forced to strip her down so she could lose her flag and be sent into "mothballs." It was like putting your mother into bed and telling her to die ...
Mayhap, because we are poets, we are emotionally tied to our life elements in some deep way, and sometimes we cope oddly with that.
I was a casualty (as were a few others). I could not cope with living onshore in a barracks and going to work every day to destroy (my Lady) Toledo. It simply was not in me to do that to her. So, I went AWOL and made my way home. Because my grandfather was a highly respected naval officer, I received a General Discharge Under Honorable Conditions. But my self-attitude was really twisted at this point and I was bound to do something really bad. Over the following 18 months, I pursued a duplex career as a leader of a Presbyterian youth group in the evenings, and as an armed robber at night. I had so much hurt and hate in my heart and I had already pressed the self-destruct button. Needless to say, this "wild fast track" climaxed in a shoot-out with the police, me being arrested, brought to court, convicted, and sent to prison for ten years. And, though I never considered it before right now, we see my Lady Toledo being a genesis for the experiences which have made it possible for me to be a social worker and interact effectively with convicts and parolees in my work with M-2 / Match-Two Mentoring Outreach - Texas. What a traumatic transition! It must be a God Thing because I could never have put that together on my own!