Pawcatuck (AO 108) - Naval Cruise Book

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T681 SUPPLY DEPARTMENT WN' S ni' Left to right-lst row: R. A. Tolison, SN, J. U. Fontecha, SD3g H. L. Honious, SKI, F. Acierto, SDI, LT E. V. Clifton, W. L Wofford, S1-li3g D. L. Dodson, SN, J. R. Giles, SH2g R. J. Dyer, SK3. 2nd row: F. A. Mann, CSS, N. R. Hill, HM3g E. T. Denton - SN, P. Strother, TNQ S. H, Smith, SD13 V. W. Bramer, HMC, F. L. Blakely, DK1g R. S. Bridgman, Jr. MM33 J. E. Wyer, Jr. SH3 J. R. Mercier, SN, W. R. McIntosh, TN. Last row: L. B. Wooten, CSS, C. S. McCann, SD24 J. A. Downs, SN, C. B. Ahner, SKGSN5 R. Eslgink, SH3g R. E. Bunn, SN, G. B. Schilling, S-KSN, F. J. Erickson, SK2g R. A. Thomas, TN, M. G. Borkan, SN, G. H-. Simons Jr., 3.

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Repairs were being made by the Shenandoah on our station ,tf4 boom which had been damaged by the Destroyer Braine in a routine at anchor fueling operation. Schedules called for our picking up the repaired boom from the Shenandoah in Cannes on Bastille Bay. Since a ship underway is never Dressed the QM gang called upon its resourcefulness and commandeered the Supply Division personnel to execute colors and stand the sea and anchor detail watches which were involved six times. A sigh of relief was breathed when it was learned that the Greeks didn't have any holiday.on their calendar during our brief visit to Phaleron Bay. While in Greece, nightly displays of searchlights broke the monotony of a QM in-port-watch with the entire Sixth Fleet joining in the criss-crossing shafts of light sweeping the skies over the bay. Notice was served to those who could see and to those farther to the N. E. who would hear about it, that the U. S. Navy was present in Phaleron Bay. Possibly the jets being warmed up on the flight deck of the Wasp with the roar that could be heard all the eight miles to Athens may have been a more impressive show of power, but the Searchlight exercises were our contribution to the display of strength, and we did this as conscientiously as we could. E381

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t CHOW DOWN I was a mess cook, so I know. Common opinion is that being sent to the galley is like being assigned to the slave galleys of old. Icdeny this and consider it valuable experience and an important department aboard ship. My knowledge of the galley starts midway in the 52 cruise to the Med. My comrades on mess cooking were: Zidy Zeidman, Larry Voelk, and the scullery gang: Killer Flack, Tarzan Kloss, Smitty Smith and the inimitable Speedy Wilson. The scullery gang were a hardworking lot in the small space where they washed the mess gear and the sun of the Med didn't make it any easier. Every Monday afternoon mess cooks carry stores from the forward provisions store- room aft to the chill boxes and issue room. It's a long trek through hatchways, over hose lines, under low overheads. It's a tough haul but many is the time they each carried extra boxes of stores for a buddy who was behind in his trips. I always tried to see that they were well provided for in the chowline. Leonard Zidy Zeidman was a spud coxswain. I will always remember the picture of him struggling up the narrow ladder to 02 deck with a hundred pounds of crated potatoes on his back Even though spuds are now in sacks instead of crates, this is still quite a feat when performed several times a day by spud coxswains. Larry Voelk made salads and was an associate spud coxswain. He got his work out and then helped Zidy with the always mountainous pans of- Idahoes. They switched off serving the line so that each could get early liberty. Don Dinneen cut bread and butter, dished out dessert, swabbed decks and washed bulkheads with the finess that only a college degree could give. Enough for the mess cooks and on to the movers in the galleyg the captains of the watchg the cooks and cook strikers. In the Med there were two watch sections, two bakers and a butcher. One of the watch sections consisted of Bob Bunn CMSN and Loyd Wooten CM3, the other of Bill Taylor CM3 and Earl Whitehurst CMSN. Woot Wooten always backed up the mess cooks and strikers on the chowline, making sure that the line kept moving by renewing the supply of cold drinks, meat, potatoes, dessert and the like. Bunn was a good cook too and made wonderful gravy. Taylor had a passion for keeping fried eggs hot, so on mornings when fried eggs appeared on the menu, the galley would be in an uproar, preparing everything for early chow. Then by an assembly line setup, bacon or ham would be put by the eggs on the tray at the stove and handed out to the crew. It was really a great scheme because there is nothing quite as bad as a cold fried egg. Whitey , an ex-cop from Norfolk, must have gotten a taste for pickles and roast beef in one of the joints on his beat, for he used to give us that combination every night for mid rations. The bakers, Robert Toi Tolison, CMSN, and Theadore Jasper Miller, CM3, 'rose at four o'clock every morning to bake fresh bread and pastries. Sometimes they worked all night to get- ahead on bread, especially when we had passengers aboard. Tol's specialty was a terriiic coffee cake which he put out with coffee as a snack before early morning fueling. I40l