That was the year I took my first sea voyage, to Cuba on the USS Great Sitkin, AE 17. During our passage through Hatteras a 500 pound bomb broke loose in the main hold, and we could hear it rolling around until the DC crew got it secured. We were taking 60 degree rolls for a while. A movie projecter secured to the mess hall bulkhead broke free and hit the opposite bulkhead across the ship. We ate sandwiches and held coffee cups in our hands, as they wouldn't stay on the table. Almost ten years later I was on a destroyer for a mission to the South Atlantic. We hit a gale, and the bow would go under, then rise above the waves and slap down. My crew and I were on the signal bridge watching the bext wave coming. I noticed an officer out by the number two gun mount, hanging onto the rangefinder. At times the waves would hit his feet and legs. I asked a Signalman what the story was; it seems this was the OD, and every time the ship hit bad weather, he would hang out likr that to avoid being sea sick. I could relate to that. The year before, while we looked for atomic bombs off Spain, lost in an AF air collision, I was on a minesweeper, getting footage of the weather. We had eaten fried pork chops for supper, and the weather got worse. I was in the wardroom reloading a movie camera, when the rolls got to me. I spent most of the night holding onto a stanchion, trying to see the horizon. I finally fell asleep on a coil of rope in the foc'stle.
My nephew the preacher in southern Indiana and his family had 75 MPH winds, but rode it out. He hooked up his freezer to his neighbor's generator until they got power back. He said they had no idea it was going to hit so hard. Any body hear from Carol Young? Glad y'all are OK, Frank. Stan