STORY BEHIND THE PLAQUE
Service Reflections of LCDR Leroy Jones, U.S. Navy (1954-1975)

I was 7 years old when Pearl Harbor was hit. I grew up wishing I could get involved. We did in the ways kids could, collecting scrap medals and tinfoil (from cigarette packs) and learning and practicing the “Scout Run” to be able to act as messengers as Scouts in England, if necessary.

When graduating from high school I couldn’t wait to join. Korea was going then (1954). I missed Korea but, made the Navy a career and was involved in Vietnam.

No one person influenced me to join the Navy. World events played that role.

My last assignment was Electronics Material Officer (EMO) aboard the USS Long Beach CGN-9. As such, I had the new technology fixed array radar systems by Hughes Aircraft, with one of them the only one of it’s kind (the USS Enterprise had both but their SPS-33 was an older version).

I joined the Long Beach via high line in the Gulf of Tonkin three months into a deployment which was extended to nine months. There was a short turn around with much of the time in the States out at sea and in Seattle for nuclear power plant work as well and military duties. The same applied to the next tour to Vietnam and preparation for a third deployment.

I reported aboard with my sons, ages 3 and 2. During those deployments and even the time in the States, I was seeing almost nothing of them. I had time in service to be able to retire and took that path.

I had 11 years enlisted and 10 years commissioned. I have never regretted that decision although I would have loved to continue my Navy career. I had served as Seaman Recruit to Chief Petty Officer then Ensign to Lieutenant Commander.

Who knows what would have been my future had I remained in the Navy.

Rather than try to pick one single incident I will give one assignment. My first assignment as an Officer was the USS Everglades AD-24. There were several people who had a profound impact on me and the rest of my career.

Captain Albert August Steinbeck was the one who influenced me and my career most. He devoted his life to developing his young officers. He was tireless, patient and always challenging in his approach. He set the example and presented us with demanding and challenging situations.

Was there a particular incident during your service when you believed you were in a situation you might not survive? Please describe what happened and what was the outcome.

Although deployed twice to Vietnam, I never really felt threatened personally. We made one trip to Da Nang to have a disabled helicopter removed from our fantail flight deck. That required us to steer a slow course in a straight line in an area that was vulnerable.

As I was at my battle station in the huge target of a nuclear powered guided missile Cruiser with aluminum for armor, I was wondering how I would perform if we were hit. I have no doubt training would have taken over and I would have met expectations.

The duty station that provided the biggest challenge and therefore, the fondest memories were as Officer in Charge of the remote Navy Transmitting Station, Capas, Tarlac, Philippines. It was the site of the Death Camp at the end of the Bataan Death March.

It was also located in the area of the Philippines experiencing the heaviest HUC activity. I participated, along with the Boy Scout Troop from Clark AFB, in the 29th-anniversary re-enactment of the Bataan Death March. We marched 57 miles in the very footsteps of those on the Death March.

Following that we held a ceremony in the antenna field at the cross marking the mass graves.

There were two participating in that ceremony who had been in the Death Camp. Probably the only time such a ceremony was held.

I have put together a spiral bound collection of memories of my Navy career for my family. It is 3/4 inch thick (printed both sides) with photos etc. This question could be fully answered with a copy of that record as all of those memories had a tremendous impact.

There are a couple that jumps to the top of the heap. As a new Officer on the USS Everglades, I was ship’s Electronics Material Officer and Repair Department Electronics Repair Officer for ships we were tending. The ship had one telephone line for the Repair Department consisting of five Repair Divisions. It was almost impossible to do our jobs. I fought for and won the right to have a private telephone in my stateroom. I was able to get my job done efficiently. I may be wrong but believe that was the only time an Officer had a private phone in his stateroom in the history of the Navy.

Another experience was the result of having been a Chief Petty Officer. While off the line in Vietnam we needed a drive motor for our SPS-12 radar. We were not going to be in the yard at Subic but anchored in Manila Bay. I went to the Embassy, called the yard and asked for the Officer in Charge of radar antenna repair. I explained my problem and he said he didn’t have a drive motor he could send me. I hung up and called again asking for a Chief in the radar antenna repair. The Chief said he had one designated for installation on a ship in the yard, but he could order another and get it in time so he sent me the motor for that ship.

I realized that the Officer in Charge was doing his job of managing the inventory but also realized that a Chief would be looking at the problem with a solution in mind. Had I not been a Chief I would probably have taken the word of the Officer and not have gotten our problem solved.

What achievement(s) are you most proud of from your military career?

The overall achievement of a highly successful career as an Enlisted man followed by an equally successful career as an Officer would have to be the answer. There were many achievements along the way but it would take a book.

Probably the single with the most impact was the redesign of a huge addition to the Fleet Operation Control Center, Norfolk. The addition had been designed years earlier and the need for the building was still relevant but the mission had changed. I redesigned the interior to meet the needs of the various units that would occupy it. It was a great success at great savings of what would have been over a million dollars (in 1967 dollars).

The Navy Achievement for my performance as Officer in Charge, Navy Transmitting Facility, Capas, Tarlac, Philippines. It is special because it was the recognition of my individual performance where the others were recognition of serving during a certain period or location.

Without hesitation or doubt, it was Captain Steinbeck. My career as enlisted set the table but he served the main course. He did his job to perfection. His standards were extremely high but he was patient while being challenging. It is impossible to overstate the impact he had on me.

Again, there is no space to be fair or complete with an answer to this question. A Second Class ET (ET2 Adlis) running the Test Equipment Calibration Lab on the USS Everglades has to rank extremely high on the list. His job on the Everglades was over the top. He made a modification to the procedures for checking in work submitted to his Lab that doubled the output making his Lab the highest production of all Test Equipment Calibration Labs in the world.

Later when the USS Long Beach was off the line from Vietnam for a mini yare availability the time in the yard was not long enough to calibrate all test equipment so a bunch of job orders was turned down. I noticed there was a Destroyer Tender in port and went to the Calibration Lab to see if they could help even though they were not there to perform work.

Now ETC Adlis was there and after catching up on old times he wanted to know what he could do for me. He took everything that had been turned down and there was a comment on my Fitness Report that I had gotten 97 units of test equipment calibrated in the short upkeep period. I didn’t do it, Chief Adlis did it again, making me look so good in the eyes of those above me. Impossible to forget him.

Experience which may not have been funny at the time but still makes you laugh.

Almost dying in a fire in the cabin I was living in on independent duty in Neah Bay, WA. I usually went to bed about 2200 but, was working on a particularly interesting lesson in a correspondence course and was still awake at 2400 when I became aware the cabin was filling with smoke. The bulkhead behind the pot belly stove was on fire.

Had I gone to bed at 2200 I would have quietly died in my sleep. It really does pay to study!

After retirement from the Navy, I spent a year at Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA. Due to problems with getting reliable child care my wife had to quit work to give our two sons proper care. I dropped out of school and went to work for Taco Bell as a restaurant manager.

A year later I took over a district with 11 restaurants. Two years later I was taken into the Corporate office as an Internal Auditor auditing Franchise operations which I did for four years.

Then I shifted to the Franchise side as Director of Operations of a Franchise in Tallahassee, FL for six years followed by two years of Comptroller for a Franchise in Chattanooga, TN. after the Tallahassee Franchise was sold. Then four years of Land Surveying in the Chattanooga before total complete retirement.

am extremely active in the VFW (Sammy Martin VFW Post 7800, Stuart, VA). I’m Adjutant, Quartermaster and for right now, Service Officer.

I also am a Hospice Volunteer, visiting Veterans in Hospice care and a member of the Patrick County Memorial Honor Guard providing military rites for funerals of Veterans.

Everything that I have ever accomplished was heavily influenced by the experience of my time in the Navy. I can almost say it flows unbroken from growing up during WWII. I can’t think of any other influence other than the growing years under the best parents the world has ever known.

Almost everything is an extension of my experience in the Navy.

I often heard the advice, “never volunteer” when I joined the Navy. I disagree. I volunteered whenever a call was put out. Some of my most memorable experiences were the result of volunteering. Not always a pleasant experience but always memorable for an experience that helped build my tool kit for life.

The other advice is the same as I gave my Grandson as he left for Boot Camp. When you make a mistake for you surely will make mistakes, be sure you are the one who tells your boss. I made that my rule and even when as an Ensign I disregarded the directions of the Executive Officer and tried to do what he told me to get my men up to do. I broke the Admirals TV set on the USS Everglades.

I woke the XO at about 0300 to tell him what I had done. It wasn’t pleasant but following that incident, my word was golden on that ship. And, because I had done so at 0300 instead of later in the day or trying to cover my mistake we were barely able to get a replacement picture tube from Italy in time before the Admiral reported aboard. I have always lived by those two rules and have never regretted anything that flowed from them.

Years ago I devoted a couple of years documenting my career in the Navy for my family. Many copies are out to family members. Together We Served got me thinking along those lines. There are some who served at the Navy Transmitting Facility, Capas who got in touch through a website I posted about the base. Several of them have assumed the responsibility of managing an interactive extension of that site which is quite active.

My Navy websites:

www.leroyjonesnavyhistory.com

www.navy-transmitting-facility-capas.com