Many years ago, my ship pulled into Ft Lauderdale. Of course sailors are going to be hitting the local night club and we hit the Baja Beach Club. Well, there was this short guy, dressed in summer whites with ensign bars, gold flight wings and a chest full of ribbons. But he had black shoes on. With summer whites, you wear white shoes! Needless to say, we confronted him and chased his sorry a$$ out of there.
With summer whites, you wear white shoes!
Surely not after Labor Day? My gawd!
Should have told him it was time to leave, but not with the uniform.
Wow, must be something about Fort Lauderdale. I was reading through this and was going to post my story when i saw yours.
I got suckered pretty good there. I tend to believe people when they tell me things. A one legged old man with his wife came up the brow of the ship when I was there and asked for a tour.
I was the Command Senior Chief and happened to be standing in the area and nothing much was going on and I gave him and his wife the full treatment. At some point he told me he was a Medal of Honor awardee. I remember notifying the CDO and Captain that he was on board because people with that award are entitled to military honors. He requested that no fuss be made and he invited me out to dinner and took me out to a pretty nice place.
Among other things, he was a POW in Vietnam. He had lost his teeth during the damage control effort on the Forrestal, and he had lost his leg in the bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut. He then served on the Secretary of the Navy’s staff. He told me he had retired as a Chief Signalman.
I was enjoying my meal in a nice restaurant with the couple and was asking some polite questions about all this when I chanced to ask him exactly how he had lost his teeth during the Forrestal damage control effort. He kind of froze up and gave me a pretty vague answer. That took the curtain off the wizard for me. I was pretty sure that if somebody or something knocked my teeth out I would remember exactly how that happened. This whole time the old lady had been looking at him admiringly and nodding while he told his tales.
I didn’t ask too many more questions and they took me back to the ship. I was kind of saddened by the whole thing and didn’t pursue it in any way. I’ve heard other stories that were kind of questionable but none as egregious as that one.