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Comments: |
1989 - 1991 OE Division. The Midway
was not my first ship, or last, but the best. It's almost
impossible to relate what "Midway Magic" really is, but it
definitely was there. Why? Perhaps partly because she was forward
deployed in Yokosuka, Japan. Yet later ships (Indy, Kitty) were
not as accepted, if not loved, like the Midway was. It was like
the Midway belonged to both the US and Japan, and the Japanese
certainly took good care of her accordingly. Perhaps part of the
magic came from the long history the ship lived and made with over
45 years of service, which not many others have ever matched. I
believe there was a very high retention of crew who wished to stay
in the area, either due to marriage with the locals, or the other
"enticements" that came with the orient. Regardless of the
reasons, to me there was definite sense of camaraderie that I have
seldom seen on other ships. After retiring I was a tech rep for
SPAWAR, so I have seen more than my share of ships and crews. The
Midway was truly a special ship. Fortunately, the ship was sent
into mothballs (rather than the scrap yard) by my very own former
Div O, LT Earl Reid. I visited the Midway Museum and found the
only electronics space open to the public was the SINS (Ships
Inertial Navigation System) shop, which was right off the hanger
bay and where I happened to work part time for OE division back in
the day. When I entered the space, seeing all the original
computers and electronics, certainly brought back a flood of
memories. What really blew me away was I found my own handwritten
notes on how the reload were still on the CP-642 computer...Well,
Good luck to all those who served! |
