Foote (DD 511) - Naval Cruise Book

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... - - - , T ...-1 x 4- ,,, I 1 --1 v-'- '5 2 - is T 2-' 'fs-..' 7 1 - ' E ' I-M is g ,.: 0 A ' 5 v'-2 --.H Q e l 15 T Q vii -T T 2 ............,,,,,,,'l HE GREATEST LHTTLE PAPER PsFLORT------. . A fN.,A ,A,4jxZ,A.,,A.Q1N.-fNL,he.fxM4Wx,1NE,fki4xw M5 1395- -l - !i.jk--js-jx' g, Ll TQ- .Saturday5 10 February 1254 Nolume II, No. 5 l g ,... ,a,i .ll R XJTSZE db-- N 'R I vi:lFl5-Yvg JlI!IIIIIiIIIIII',fjj'f 7 ff ' 1 .S 1' ,f ' fr N X WE x XX A ! .1 'Q ,S fm, . ,1 y X .xii Z y,V f g li .5 0 H ' ' A I ,5 .T ' ' - ll IQ v Lfyvz mill? 'W fx V K' VlIIf', MW W fax 'fffifiif f PR vw , ofa.,-as jf! 41 Q--po in , ' if ' 'T 14- 'NA '52in: u4E5' -Qu-c:E!:?Q sith! - - fd :X -an 1 a 3.21 ' ,tif?+ +',i4iifGeHe CURRENT EVENTS QBy G. H. Blood, RM2cl Without a doubt, the most talked of topic in recent weeks has been the forthcoming meeting of the NBig Threen.. Britain, Russia and the U.S. The American Public as a whole first began to take notice of the situation early in October, close on the heels of an Allied disagreement over the explosive Polish question...At that time it be- came evident to even the least inter- ested parties that jurisdictional pol- icies would have to be agreed upon by all concerned, and soon. Since the out- come of our national election was still in doubt, the president's hands were figuratively tied, as Britain and Rus- sia would undoubtedly hesitate to rely on the word of one who perhaps did not represent the opinion of the American majority. This would ap ear to be QContinued on page 23 THE SHIP BY STATES There have always been arguments about which state is the best in the Unior, and for us to try to settle that one would be sticking our necks out too far. However, there have been just about as many arguments about which state is best represented on board. This one we can answer, and with straight dope. A careful tabulation was made and the results will undoubtedly be sur- prising to some, especially the Nat- ives of Mass. The great majority of states are represented, the only not having a native son on board Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Virginia. New York leads with a total of 28 sons of the Empire State, while Ohio fsurprised?D is a close runner- up with 26 followed closely by Penn- sylvania, with 253 California, with Zhg Illinois with 23g and Massachus- etts with 2O. Those are the states most heavily represented. Next came Michigan, Missouri, Texas ani Indiana, ones are and each of which has more than 10 men on board but less than 20. Michigan and Missouri, who lead have the same number. represented have 10 or this last list, All other states less represent- atives, and most of them have more than one. Perhaps the most surprising thing about these statistics is the number from Mass. as the consensus of opinion on board seemed to be that she was best represented. It is our opinion that this was due, in a large part, to the fact that all the other New England states are comparatively well represented If you want to know exactly how many men on board from any of the states, see Wright, Y2c. 56

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SHIP'S ACTIVITIES I-IERE is a saying in This man's Navy lno oTTense To The WAVESI ThaT The besT ship you were ever on was The one you iusT came oTT-and The one you are iusT being TransTerred To. Well, during The war lremember?I The acT oT being TransTerred To oTher ships or sTaTions happened as oTTen as you are able To pick up a REIVIBRANDT Tor a small minT- meaning ThaT TransTers were VerboTen, buT ThaT you land only youl were an indispensable man. ResulT: The EOOTE was To be our home-and-Teeder even Though iT meanT To puT up wiTh some wild broncho riding and a IiTTIe spam wiTh de- hydraTed spuds now and Then. BuT sailors have guTs Imore or lessl and They can Take anyThing ThaT is dished ouT To Them, and while They served in The go-geTTer Tincan, The FOOTE, They learned all The Tricks and Trade oT naval war-Tare. I-Iowever, They also learned someThing else which is Twice as imporTanT To The individual selT - The arT oT relaxing beTween The Trying ordeals oT war. The TirsT crossing oT The EquaTor when The ship was en-rouTe To New Caledonia Trom Panama inTroduced some 300-odd men-all young and inexperienced To war- Tare. Some had never seen a gun Tired excepT in The G-lvlen Tlickers aT The local TheaTre, and as many never had a waTer-pisToI in Their hand - noT To menTion Tiring any oT The ship's guns. There They were-supposedly wiTh Their TirsT case oT war-nerves buT The only Thing They were worried abouT was geTTing wacked in The rear oT Their anaTomy. Only abouT ThirTy men had previously crossed The EguaTor and as Tull Tledged Shellbacks They had quiTe a Time whipping The green Pollywogs inTo The proper shape IOUCI-I!!I Tor Their accepTance inTo The I-Ioly Order oT King NepTune. The poor Pollywogs were accused OT having commiTTed such horrible crimes as spiTTing inTo The sea: preparing lousy iamoke lcoTTeeI: sleeping in The Torpedo Tubes, eTc., eTc., and even ThaT oT reTerring To Themselves as sailors. A guy couldn'T win Tor loosing - buT whaT Tunl Everybody was as happy as could be - and why noT? IT isn'T every day ThaT one geTs his hair chopped oTT by a Royal Barber, and a Tree medical examinaTion by a Royal DocTor. A Tree dive inTo yesTerday's garbage and a Tree shower under a Tull pressure Tire hose squirTing good clean sea waTer. Some Tun, buT whaT an honor oT having been duly iniTiaTed inTo The I-Ioly Order oT King NepTune. IvIosT sailors are good beer drinkers and They were worried no end abouT obTain- ing Their TavoriTe quenching liquid ouT There on Those beauTiTul liTTle Gardens oT Eden in The likewise blue-beauTiTul PaciTic Ocean. They boys had Their beer whenever They managed To geT To some nice beach beTween naval aTTairs - and Then They had To drink ThaT 3.2 sTuTT, which was guiTe all righT wiTh everybody Ibecause There wasn'T anyThing else To drinkl. America's number one sporT has always been baseball, and naTuraIly iT was The same Tor The EOOTE. The TavoriTe recreaTion oT our greaT Tin-can sailors was soTTball, and The FOOTE produced a loT oT good soTTball players. lvlazepa, The gunner's maTe, was voTed The number one player on The Team-a Team ThaT once deTeaTed The SouTh-PaciTic soTTball champs, The U.S.S. DIXIE. WiTh such greaT soTTball players as I-Iommes, French, lvlolnar, Oodshall and oThers, The EOOTE made quiTe a name Tor iTselT among The soTTball playing ships and sTaTions in The PaciTic TheaTer oT War. The Ordnance Division walked away wiTh The honors in an inTer-divisional soTTball series, and The winners happily consumed several cases oT 3.2 beer in Their hour oT vicTory. Newspapers and magazines used To arrive weeks To monThs laTe in The PaciTic, buT 55

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regardless how old They were They were eagerly snapped up and read by all hands. During Theo dark and hard-ToughT days oT The Solomon campaign, The FOOTE began To publish iTs own paper. Willie Foss conceived and developed iT and became The ediTor oT The bi-weekly newspaper, The FOOTE-NOTES, which slogan was The GreaTesT LiTTle Paper ATloaT. ' A Tour-page mimeograph sheeT, iT broughT To The crew The well needed liTT wiTh a menu oT humor, saTire and inTernal gossip which was The delighT oT all hands, even Those who were The buTT oT The iokes. When aT The reTurn oT The FOOTF To CaliTornia, Foss wenT To The hospiTal, George D. WrighT, The liTTle man Trom New Orleans Took over The ediTorship and kepT The FOOTE-NOTES on Top oT The liTTle papers. LaTer The man wiTh The pills, Doc Gary l-lunTer Took over The job and kepr The banner Tlying. As an added aTTracTion, during The regime oT WrighT and l'lunTer, TalkaTive penswinger, Gene SchnaubelT became The sTaTT arTisT. IT is his drawings ThaT you see scaTTered ThroughouT This book. The FOOTE also had iTs own liTTle Madison Square Garden. The crew would geT TogeTher and rig up The TanTail lThaT's The aTTer end oT The shipl and have The pugilisTic boys show us The manly arT oT selT-deTense and The grunT and groan rackeT. Yes, There were many a greaT baTTle oT The cenTury ToughT in a Triendly and sporTing Tashion on The TanTail. One well remembers Those hecTic slugging maTches beTween Rough House Dannison and The Tormer Michigan welTer weighT champ Reed, and The round-house baTTles beTween MidgeT Siders and Muscles Brennan. Joe Jacobs could never produce TighTs like ThaT. WiTh The memories oT FisTicana we musT also remember The greaT sTage-shows, The l-lappy-l-lours ThaT was produced aboard The MighTy 5I l. During The lull in The war The TalenTed boys would geT TogeTher and puT on several good acTs. The spec- TaTors would siT, sTand and hang like monkeys To waTch and enioy Themselves. Among The Taces one will always remember is ThaT oT Tom Berry, The whisTler Trom Brooklyn, who made iT Trom The Bowery To The GreaT WhiTe Way in The company oT Baby Snooks Fanny Brice, and would you believe iT-WalTer Winchell. Yep, old Tom could sing, dance and whisTle all aT The same Time-and as an added aTTracTion he used To Tell iokes , . .The kind you would laugh aT. Then There was The Tormer wresTling and weighT-liTTing champ oT New Zealand, Obie Cleghorn, whose jolly Tace land bellyl and beauTiTul singing voice made The sailors scream wiTh delighT. As no good show is wiThouT iTs BlacksTone acT, our shows were never wiThouT Dee Schullian's acT, l-le made more Things disappear and reappear Than BlacksTone himselT. One Thing he didn'T have Though, was rabbiTs. The reason being, he was aTraid ThaT The ChieT Commissary STeward, Frank Collins, would make sTew ouT oT Them. ll-lmm, we could have used some sTew aT Timesl. g The largesT big-Time oT The FOOTF'S recreaTion momenTs was The Ship's ParTy held aT The Lakewood CounTry Club in Long Beach, CaliTornia. A grand parTy iT was -and howl The beer guzzlers couldn'T say They didn'T geT enough beer ThaT nighT. The crew was enTerTained by movie sTars and Then The crew enTerTained The movie sTars-and They aTe and drank and wined and dined and oT course They danced, also. Yep, iT was really hep To The iive in sea going Tempo ThaT nighT. They Talked abouT The parTy Tor weeks aTTerwards. Now aTTer reading This you mighT Think ThaT all The FOOTE sailors did was To have a good Time- Don'T geT us wrong. A good Time was had whenever There was an opporTuniTy-and The opporTuniTies were Tar and long aparT. One mighT Think ThaT The FOOTE sailors are a happy-go-lucky loT-Well, come To Think oT iT-They are. 57