Thursday August 2, 2012

It is going to be a hot humid day. In fact we had a brief shower about 0700. This morning I did the tri. I am more motivated when I swim after watching the swimmers at the Olympics. Speaking of swimmers in 1961 I attended a 2 month Navy school in Port Hueneme, CA. One of my classmates won a gold medal at the 1960 Olympics. He attended Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. We had a brief heavy rain about 1000. Nancy thought she had left her sun roof open so I went out the check. The sun roof was closed. I did my normal thing at the Kava House. I had a quick lunch and then headed to Fox Ford to get our satellite radio fixed. I guess the radio needed some upgrades so the tech downloaded the upgrade and I headed home. I walked Ms P around the block and she was very unhappy because it is so hot and humid. We had dinner at Great Lakes Shipping. We spent the evening watching the Olympics. I stayed up to see Phelps win his gold in the 200M IM. I have been checking some old letters and this is an update. July 22, 1962: Midway Island Naval Station. I wrote my mother and told her about a big H bomb blast (50 mega ton) that I witnessed in early July. President Kennedy and his Russian counterpart were in a contest to see who could built the biggest nuclear device. The blast took place at Johnson Island. Johnson Island is a small island about 850 miles from Midway. Midway was a major monitoring station. I told mother that just before the blast I walked down to the beach. The beach was crowded with almost every sailor on the island. It was pitch black. When the bomb went off the sky over Midway was like high noon for about 10 seconds. For the next 30 seconds it looked like a bright sunset. Life magazine had a cover picture of the blast and how it lit up Hawaii. I also mentioned that I rode out to a visiting Korean Navy Ship. My friend a Lt is a trained pilot and he guided the Korean ships, 4 destroyers, into Midway Harbor. August 1, 1962: I let mom know that Helen's birthday present was in the mail. I also mentioned that I had a new boss a Navy Commander. He is big in playing handball so I got a work crew together and we fixed the outdoor court. Now I have to play the Commander whenever he wants. I mentioned our big project was to build a road to the edge of the reef. We were tearing down buildings and taking down old trees in order to get enough fill to build this road. I also told Mom that I would not send any checks home because I was saving up for my vacation in Hawaii. When I enlisted in the Navy I weighed 137 pounds. I now weigh 155. It must be the good Navy food. We have some Admirals visiting the Island tomorrow so I have to provide drivers. The men must be spit and polish in their dress whites. Tomorrow a ship comes in with supplies for the base. I must provide equipment operators and mechanics to unload the boats. The ships always come in on a weekend. The unloading operation runs 24/7. The Navy air wing assigned to the Island do not have to provide men. After all they are protecting the USA. No Navy construction personnel like folks in Navy air. I also vented on the career Navy personnel. I did not think the career folks worked too hard, especially aviators. Midway has heard rumors that the next Mercury Astronaut will land near Midway and we will be involved in the recovery. It was a long rambling letter home. I think the confined Island life was getting to me.