Midway (CVA 41) - Naval Cruise Book

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.V. V and we return to our life at sea . :t:

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. . . goodbyes . . . A sailor, in liis time, gets used to lots of things— the pitch and roll of the deck, the cramped living quarters, the salty language, the beans for breakfast. But somehow he never quite gets used to saying goodbye. The morning of April 6, 1962, found thousands of sailors, hardened by years at sea and many goodbyes suddenly softened by the prospect of another. To the youth about to set off on their first cruise, leaving nothing behind, it all seemed quite strange, but to most it was one of the loneliest moments they would encounter in their careers in the Navy— a lonely life by nature. our first ' ' man overboard

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ON BOARD A sailor lives with many things. Reveille. . .flight quarters. . .stand clear of stacks while setting safetys. . . payday for the crew. These are the sounds that are pumped into his life. He sees the same sweaty faces every morning, has lunch with them and they are the last he sees before going to bed. He talks about the same things from sun-up to sun- down and in many cases half-way through the night. He feels the air that starts out at 90 and then is baked for days below decks by the surrounding machinery and steam, plus the sun on the deck above, until it reaches 100- 130°, making his waking hours miserable and sleep impossible. He works three feet from pipes leaking superheated steam. He eats 30 feet above 5- inch gun shells and 50 below jet aircraft roaring by at 150 miles-per-hour. He sleeps five feet from the surging Pacific, separated only by a sheet of steel. And after two weeks aboard never gives another thought to these dangers. But the ever-present humor, the welcome rests, and the sense of a job well done, somehow, make it all worthwhile. . .The Life We Live. 20