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Life Afer Spinax: Jim Gibson You asked for it!!!! In the summer of 1951, I was on the Spinax oiling for Dick Schmetzler in the after engine room. Also I was trying to make up my mind if I should re-enlist or not. About that time Harry Truman extended all hands for one year because of the Korean War. Also about that time an "al-nav" came out asking for volunteers to put the USS K-2 in commission in Mare Island. Being single and a liberty hound and having heard about Georgia Street in Vallejo I shipped over and volunteered. It was a blast until 3 of us went a football game between Vallejo and Napa. I met a fair "damsel" in distress and 5 months later I married her, the love of my life, Mary Lou (for 48 years this coming March 15th). The K-2 was home ported in Pearl and we set up house keeping and enjoyed Waikiki. Next there was a great tour at the Severn River Naval Command the support center for the U.S. Naval Academy. There I made En-1. It was there that I had the great fortune to go to the "All Navy" baseball finals as a pitcher for our district team. Carbonero in Port Hummene, CA was next. After a great tour there and being in Mare Island, I swapped onto the Rock and a 9 month Wespac cruise. By this time we had 2 boys Bill and Rich. After attending a couple engineman schools and Eastpac operations, I volunteered for and completed nuclear power school in New London, CT. It was off to Idaho, as a trainee, and later I stayed on as staff, where I was promoted to cpo and ensign ending that tour, as an engineering instructor PCOs. After a brief knife and fork school in Newport, RI, I reported to the USS Pomfret in San Diego. I must admit "our" life changed. I made up my mind that what I wanted out of the navy and my professional career was command. I was so lucky that I served with senior officers who helped me over and over. I was allowed to qualify, as an officer, and later qualify for command of submarines. After 3 1/2 years we went to Charleston, SC to help put ComSubRon 18 in commission. This was a beyond great ,tour. I had the rare pleasure to serve under the late Randy Moore as Squadron Commander. He later made Radm. I was allowed to use my farmer experience, as a young man, to complete a sports complex of lighted baseball, football, and other sports facilities. SubLant honored me by naming it "Gibson Field." Now, as a Lieutenant, I caught the USS Catfish while she was in Vancouver B.C. and served on her to Wespac. ZinC of USS Hake (nav-res boat) in Philadelphia, PA was next . It was a good tour in the city of brotherly love for the family and my history bent. Thanks to the hard work of the station keepers and the reserve unit it was the #1 naval reserve submarine for 1968-69. It was here in Philadelphia that I made Lieutenant Commander. At 39 years of age, I was ordered to USS Coucal (ASR-8) home ported in Pearl Harbor, via deep sea diving school in Washington, D.C. That was a thrill, as I said, at 39 years old. The Coucal was a lot of work and better yet a lot of fun, with a great wardroom and a even greater crew. To use a "construction term", we done good. We stayed in Pearl for a tour on Subpac Staff and then to El Paso, Tx and zinc of the recruiting area in Southwestern Texas and Southern New Mexico. It was time to retire and test civilian life. Now it was 51 mid life crisis's and that was in the first month. We got deeply involved in the trucking industry in El Paso. In 1977 we moved lock stock and barrel to here in Anderson, CA in Northern California. We bought and ran a dump truck business for eight years and then totally retired and started traveling both in country and overseas. I report that all is good here and we are enjoying life. We belong to Mare Island Base of USSVI. Jim Gibson dorado@c-zone.neto |