PRESERVING A MILITARY LEGACY FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
The following Reflection represents STG2 Joseph Jordan’s legacy of their military service from 1964 to 1970. If you are a Veteran, consider preserving a record of your own military service, including your memories and photographs, on Togetherweserved.com (TWS), the leading archive of living military history. The Service Reflections is an easy-to-complete self-interview, located on your TWS Military Service Page, which enables you to remember key people and events from your military service and the impact they made on your life.
Of all your duty stations you were assigned to from your Military Service, which one(s) do you have fondest memories of and why?
Of all my duty stations, my favorite was the USS Norfolk DL-1.
Honestly, everything I recall about the Norfolk is that she and the men aboard her were unique and outstanding. I’m not saying they were without fault. Both the ship and my shipmates had their faults, but I found it easy to overlook them.
The Norfolk was experimental, and I was never again aboard a vessel with her remarkable attributes. In Sonar, we had an experimental sonar, SQS-23E, but we also had mounted beside the sonar stack a repeater for a surface search radar. That was fantastic because we could see below and above the surface at the same time and thereby determine, on our own, what sonar contacts were viable.
My most memorable experiences occurred during the UNITAS VIII cruise. We spent an average of five days in each port while steaming completely around South America on a goodwill cruise. My favorite ports on that cruise were Valparaiso, Chile; Buenos Aires, Argentina and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In Buenos Aires, our ship’s band, five strong, with me playing my part on the Baritone, played on what could only be described as the American Bandstand for most of South America. I think we played songs: “Lonely Bull” by the Tijuana Brass and our old standby, “Anchors Aweigh.” Now that was unique. When we went to exit the building, we were absolutely mobbed by Argentine females.
Before our landing in Buenos Aires, a news crew had accompanied us from Rio. Our band was filmed and interviewed. Our default leader, Tommy (Murky) Waters (electric guitar), led the discussion for our part.
In Rio, we played football on Panama Beach. We played with two piles of clothes serving to delineate one side of the field and the ocean serving as the other. We played with Jungle Rules and had the best time ever. We paid the price for our fun, though, as everyone came down with a bad case of sunburn.
These are just some of my favorite times aboard the USS Norfolk DL-1. I could write much more, but for the word limit on this piece.
Thanks for this opportunity,
Joe
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