[continued]
On December 17th, 1955 I married Edna Mae Spencer (she was 20, I was 21) in Baltimore, Maryland and shortly thereafter reported aboard the pre-commissioning detail for the USS Saratoga (CVA-60) at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. She was commissioned in April 1956 with Edna Mae and her parents standing on the flight deck watching the ceremony.
My work being done here, I wound up being transferred to the 2nd US Army, at Brooklyn, NY on Armed Forces Police. While there I didn't do a whole lot of AFP work, I was used to transport prisoners who had been tried at the Receiving Station in Brooklyn, and sentenced to prison terms. I spent a lot of time on trains going to Portsmouth, Va. and Portsmouth, NH. While on AFP detail in NYC, I got a Summary Courts Martial for putting a .45 round thru a sailor's knee (from the back to the front) while he was running up the steps of Grand Central Station. He tried to make a break for it while I was escorting him to the brig at Portsmouth, NH. and I stopped him. I was acquitted, but found guilty of the second charge/specification of discharging a firearm in a public place. The CO of the APF detachment told me this was necessary so the local DA could not try me, and put me in jail. I was fined a month's pay. Got an immediate transfer to NAS Cecil Field, Fla. While there in 1957 our son Charles Jr was born.
[As a side note, this official entry in my service record prevented me from making CPO [E-7]
In late 1956 I was promoted to RM1 (E-6). The time between 1957 and 1959 is also fuzzy. I was at NavRecSta Charleston in 1959, running the post office. Also in 1959 Edna Mae gave birth to a still-born child, a girl. We named her Sarah. The caretaker of Baltimore Cemetery gave us a half plot (because he couldn't sell it) with the stipulation that we never put a marker on it. She was buried there.
Twenty five years later, when we got into genealogy, we found out that Sarah is buried between Charles Henry Cheeseman and Harriett P. Cheeseman….. my father's parents ! These graves are in the old section of Baltimore Cemetery known as "potter's field"
In 1960 I went aboard the USS Essex (CVS-9) at Quonset Point, R.I. Our daughter, Wanda Jean, was born March 1st , 1961. While on board Essex I did my famous walk off of the elevator, into the Carribbean. It was about this time I developed a stomach ulcer. Between (about) 1961 and 1966 I was in and out of so many hospitals, I lost count. I'd be ok for awhile then it would start up again. The year 1964 saw me at NavCommSta, Norfolk for shore duty. In 1966 I got orders to the US Naval Support Activity, Da Nang, Was there in a crypto repair support role, with occasional trips to the field. Then I got "loaned" to the ROK Army Capital (Yellow Tiger) Division at Chu Lai. This is where I got into alcohol, and it led me down the path to alcoholism. I stayed with these bastards til about April of 1967, when I got MedEvac'd to Da Nang, then to Tachikawa Air Base in Japan.
Here I'm going to vent a little anger, and I'm not sure who it should be directed to. While I was in the hospital at Da Nang, I saw a whole lot of Army guys, Marines and even some Brit's come in there wounded. Just about the time they woke up, there was a representative from their unit (Usually an XO or Platoon Leader) pinning a Purple Heart on this guy. I never saw anyone from my "unit" let alone the coveted Purple Heart.
[In Early 1971 I was called to the personnel office, and a YN3 handed me a package, with "This came for you in the mail". It was my Purple Heart. No presentation, no ceremony, no nothing. And, from that day til I retired, I never got to wear it. However, in retrospect, maybe…. just maybe I was never 'officially' with that ROK unit.]
Anyhow, I took two rounds (7.62) in the stomach, probably from an AK-47.
(This is part of my official service record.) While they had me open, they removed most of my stomach, and with it the stomach ulcer.. Got back to Balboa Naval Hospital, San Diego, in July and was released back to active duty in August.
My enlistment was up (I had sixteen years in) and wanted to come back to the east coast. I did re-enlist in San Diego, and they did send me to the east coast….. to Newport, R.I. to the USS Voge (DE-1047). About this time I developed a duodenal ulcer. (Must have been the booze) In an out of hospitals, again, transferred to the USS Koelsch (DE-1049), and finally transferred to NavHosp NorVa. Here, they promised me they were going to cure my ulcer. Johns Hopkins had a new treatment for ulcers. The object was to keep the stomach and first intestine dry at all times. So they put you to sleep… for ninety days !!!! They wake you up for two hours a week, to allow the brain to catch up. They feed you with an IV, and you have a tube up your weenie. And, it worked !!
However, I understand that I was in on a pilot program, and it was deemed UN-successful !! Four were done at Portsmouth Naval hospital and all four were successful. I was released from the hospital in 1969, "fit for duty" and was sent to the Receiving Station, Norfolk, for further transfer to sea duty.
[to be continued]