12/24/13

Wardroom Mess - Christmas Eve - USS Princeton 1957

WebMaster's Note
I missed this celebration on Princeton. I spent Christmas at NAS Cubi Point while the ship and the helicopters were providing aid following a typhoon in Burma . We were almost seven months  into a six month cruise. Got home in January. Married Donna in March - and the rest is history!

WebMaster's Note 2
We did hold a party at the BOQ. I received an Email from Al Dunaway '53 who recalled the party-

"Will and I planned the thing for a sumptuous buffet and an unlimited amount of French 75's as the beverage, located  in the passage way between the rooms.  The party started early, about noon; our squadron mates quickly got drunk and left  the party to hit the sack on a one by one basis until Will and I were the only ones left standing.   
    The standing didn't last very long; Will and I were soon sitting on the deck drinking the 75's until very shortly we decided to abandon ship and retreat to our respective bunks. 
   There was a lot of food and drink left over.  
    One attendee was a newly-ordered-in LT who had been an instructor at Kingsville and one of my instructors in the TBM.  Can't remember his name, but he had been  Fred Riley's idol  in advanced training.  I  ran into him years later in a shopping mall in Newport News.  He was selling black and white pencil sketches of squadron life aboard a carrier, and they were quite good.  Don't remember recognizing the pilots, dressed in greens.
 
Al Dunaway"


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