Hughie in His Own Words (HIHOW) Part 1 - Practical Joke at Flight School

We had press board, stand up lockers for our clothes. It was mandatory to keep our lockers locked. We would lose keys and spend hours trying to unlock our lockers. So most of us would tie our key on a long string and hang it inside, near one of the air holes. We would then reach a finger through the air hole, and pull t
he key up, unlock it and put the key back. 

One day, I sneaked back to the barracks and cut a lot of the strings. It was fun watching them turning their lockers upside down to get their keys. 

 

They found out that I had cut the strings, so that night they quietly leaned a 50-gallon drum against my locked door and filled it with water. 

 

When I got up the next morning, I opened the door and was met with a drum spilling water all over me and my room. I had about six inche
s of water in my room. During the day most of the water seeped out, but it left the deck wet. 

 

That evening was inspection time. The inspector looked in my room and said something like this, “I can see that you swabbed your room, so I am going to give you a ‘Smart Shipshape.’” 

 

You should have heard those other midshipmen groan and moan about that!

Random Stories, Pt. 2

CONSUMER WARNING! The following two stories may be considered un-culturally sensitive. Read at your own risk! The second one sounds un-culturally sensitive, but if you are able to read to the end, it REALLY is un-culturally sensitive. :-)

Story #3

Vietnam and America are two very different countries with very different cultures that could be considered other-worldly (from either prespective) in their differences. 

The bar scene in Saigon boomed as American service members became more and more prevalent. This led to the bars competing for American dollars. Of course, many of the places catered to Americans by helping them feel more at home. 

Hughie went to one of those bars. It was set up as what the Vietnamese thought was an American bar, including a lounge singer act (It was the 60's after all). This group of beautiful young Vietnamese ladies were singing hits from the crooners of yore. At one point, the singers sang a very popular Frank Sinatra hit, Fly Me to the Moon.

Now, when Vietnamese people (and those with other Asian languages) are learning English as a second language, there are some sounds that don't come easy. Going the other way, when I have tried to learn some Vietnamese words, there are sounds I couldn't even hear!

Having written that, as stated before, the singers were singing Fly Me to the Moon. As Hughie described it, they were actually singing, "FRY me to da moon."

He appreciated it and got a kick out of it both.

Story #4

The following "fact" is important to this story: When I was growing up, we (when I write "we" I mean Hughie Don) talked about how when he'd eat Chinese or other Asian foods, it would "go right through" his stomach, making him hungry faster. (Anyone else remember that characterization of Chinese food? I googled it and it is a thing, even outside of my family.) I don't know if you have heard this before, but it was a common thought back in the day. At least it was in my family.

Hughie Don was stationed in some Asian countries and flew to many others. If the flyboys wanted to go out, they would hire one cab for the whole evening. It was common for military men to do this and part of what they did was pay for the cab and pay for a dinner for the driver.

Now to the story...

As military men did back in the day, Hughie Don and his flight pals decided they were going to have a night on the town (who knows, they could have heard lounge singers singing "Fry me to da moon" that night).

As already described, they hired a cab for the whole evening. Their plan, which they carried out, was to get some burgers at a joint and send a couple of burgers out to the cabbie so he could also have some dinner. 

They then headed off to their next stop. When they got there, the cab driver stopped Hughie as he got out and asked him a question. It was a question Hughie thought was hilarious and told it to me many times as I grew up.

The cabbie asked Hughie Don, "Do you mind paying me some of my fare for the evening now? I want to get some dinner while you are in the club because that American food goes right through me. I'm starving!"

You gotta love it!

2021 - Random Stories, Pt. 1

Story #1

When Navy fliers are in training, they sleep in barracks. When they are in barracks, they act like they are real military personnel and have some of the fliers act as duty officers. Their duty included one man at a time staying awake in the barracks and manning the desk, which included a phone and an intercom with a loudspeaker to call reveille (wake-up, for those of you not familiar with the military) for the rest of the fliers. 

One night, Hughie was the night duty officer. When it was some time before reveille, Hughie got on the loudspeaker and whispered, "30 minutes until reveille." 

A few of the guys stirred and complained.

A little later, Hughie got on the intercom again, and whispered a little louder, "20 minutes until reveille."

This time, more of the guys stirred and more complained, louder.

A short time later, you guessed it, Hughie got on the intercom and said even louder, "Reveille in 10 minutes."

Now, lots of guys were pretty upset and let Hughie know it.

None of this stopped Hughie. He would not be dissuaded. He thought he was hilarious. So at the right time, he called reveille and his flier buddies were not happy with him at all.

After all, who wants to be warned that wake up time is coming soon. 

Crazy Hughie! 

Story #2 on the Homefront

Alton, Hughie's dad, worked in the Kern County, CA oil fields during WW2. It was quite a drive from the oil fields to Fresno where Alton's family lived. There were lots of times when Friday came around that Alton did not have the money to get gas to get home for the weekend.

So many times, others who worked with him would give him money or give him gas AND they would also provide food for he and Lucille and the kids, including Hughie Don.

If you don't know, much of the things we call necessities were rationed during WW2 like food and gas.

In the middle of a world war, people were kind to the Sheffield's. Thank you.

********************

Stories #3 and #4 will follow soon. FYI

1965-66 - The Homefront

It has been said that Ginger Rogers did all Fred Astaire* did, only she did it backwards and in heels. That's my mom when Dad was having his Vietnam vacay.

Hughie got sent to Vietnam, if you haven't heard. His lovely wife, my Mother, decided to move us to El Paso de Robles (Paso Robles to you gringos out there), CA, population around 5,000. This was like an awesome adventure to a little guy like me, being a 1st grader.

She did that because her parents, my grandparents, lived there.

Even more important to me, and it is all about me, is that my cousin Gary lived in Paso Robles also. Better yet, we got to be in the same class that year. I heard rumors that the teacher quit after that school year.

It was a time where we would find golf balls and open them up and unravel the rubber bands inside to see what the core was.

We would look for bottles on the side of the road and redeem them at the little market and get candy with the nickel we got. 

We would play marbles.

We would drink Fizzies.**

We would eat apples from old orchards in the area.

We walked everywhere and were safe. 

Grandpa had a ritual every Sunday. After church, he would drive to a specific place to buy the Sunday paper from a newspaper rack. That was fun because of the funnies! It was always fun for me because the business in front of the rack was a barbershop called "Headhunters." I loved that name!

Another interesting story from that year is that everyone got sick...except me. They took turns taking care of me. When it was time to make me a lunch, the one who could stand looking at food would get up and make my lunch and then run back to bed. For those of you thinking, "Why didn't he make his own lunch?!" I was the baby of the family and the only male child. Lot's got done for me back in the day. (My wife had to retrain me and remind me that I CAN do some things around the house...women! Am I right?) Now back to me. I do remember not being able to get out of the house fast enough those days. For someone with a strong gagging reflex, it was imperative I escape as fast as I could.

Hughie sent us a picture of him in front of a building in Vietnam. In the letter that accompanied the picture, he mentioned that the building pictured was the hotel he was residing in. He had moved out and the next day the building was leveled by a bomb. There was always something in Vietnam!

We did get to see Hughie once and his wife, my Mother, got to see him twice in Hawaii that year.

*****

*Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were a singing and dancing duo in the 30's and 40's that made some good movies. Look them up.

**Fizzies were a flavored drink back in the day that would also carbonate the water, kinda like a homemade soda pop. 

1948 - The Flying Midshipmen

Nowadays, Midshipmen are all at the US Naval Academy and are in rank limbo. They are not officers...yet. They are not enlisted men, unless they do something stupid, which happens periodically. They are college students who get paid to go to college. Go Navy! (I'm waiting for your response. Still waiting.)

This was not always so. Right after World War II, for four years, there were Midshipmen who were in the fleet and flying; hence the title of this episode, "The Flying Midshipmen."

This is from the Flying Midshipmen website:

Almost a year to the day after V-J Day, the Navy faced a shortage of Naval Aviators as the thousands of men who answered the call during World War II returned to civilian life. The Naval Aviation College Program sought to fill that void, offering young men payment for four years of college and flight training in exchange for a period of active service, during which time they initially held the rank of Aviation Midshipman before receiving a commission as Ensign, USN. The program lasted four years until phased out for purely economic reasons. Those who manned the cockpits as “Flying Midshipmen” (a colloquialism for the more proper term, Aviation Midshipmen), included not only astronaut Neil Armstrong, but also Jesse Brown, the Navy’s first African-American Naval Aviator. All of these aviators distinguished themselves in the Korean War, the early years of the Cold War and beyond.

These Flying Midshipmen were an anomaly and as such, are famous within Naval Aviation circles. Tom Cruise...I mean Pete Mitchell...excuse me...Maverick would know about the Flying Midshipmen, I'm just sayin'.

[Why this history lesson? It is interesting, but what's it got to do with Hughie Don? Waaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiit a minute!]

You guessed it. Hughie Don was one of the fabled Flying Midshipmen! Isn't that exciting?

They used to have their own association and yearly meet-ups. Hughie attended a few of those meetings and had a good time.

Hughie was one of the few, the proud, the FLYING MIDSHIPMEN!

Below is a chart of current Naval officer ranks. Notice that Midshipman is NOT on that list.

1966 - Vietnam Briefing #3

This is another story Hughie told even into his later years. He liked this one also.

There was an Army (I think he was a Colonel, so let's call him one) Colonel with his superior officer in a briefing being given by LCDR Hughie Don. Have I mentioned in the last few posts that Hughie was a Navy pilot, who planned battles for the Army while he was stationed in Vietnam? 

It was and is an odd thing for a Navy officer giving instructions to Army officers. (And when I wrote "odd" I meant that interservice rivalry was very strong to the point of distraction at best and incompetence at worst. [Wow! That got dark!]) Just FYI. (Foreshadowing)

Where was I? Oh yeah, Navy pilot Hughie Don was giving a briefing to Army brass (that's in-the-know lingo for top officers). Just before Hughie started, the aforementioned Colonel got up and walked out of the briefing. It was clear that he did NOT appreciate the Navy briefing the Army on Army matters.

The General (for those of you who don't know, a general outranks a colonel. That is important to this story.) told Hughie to carry on with his briefing and Hughie did. 

When the briefing was over and Hughie was packing up, an aide to the General told Hughie that the General would like to speak with him.

Hughie went to see the General in his office and the General (remember, general outranks colonel) told him he wanted Hughie to go the Colonel's office and give his briefing over again.

*****

Interesting related side note: The Military Academy at West Point, Army, and The Naval Academy at Annapolis, Navy, is one of the most storied football rivalries in the history of football (American football, mind you...the only real sport of "football.") The rivalry is so strong that at the end of EVERY football game played by Navy no matter who they played the band plays their school song and at the end of the song the whole Navy contingent yells, "Beat Army!" Army does the same, but they yell, "Beat Navy!" (Duh!)

Comment on the related side note: It's hilarious that when Navy plays Air Force, at the end of the school song, they still yell, "Beat Army!" (Army does the same, but again, yells, "Beat Navy!" Talk about the respect a red-haired step child (Air Force) receives...

Another side note: Sometimes in the Army, a colonel is described as a "full-bird colonel." That's because his insignia (at the top of the page) is an eagle. A lieutenant colonel does not have an eagle as his/her insignia. The Lt. Col. insignia is a silver oak leaf, not as cool as an eagle.

Another Another side note: How in the world is colonel pronounced "kernel" in English?! Who knows. We do know that most of the military terms we have are from the French back when they fought a lot and even won sometimes. So colonel in French has been adapted to the pronunciation of "kernel" in English.

1966 - Vietnam Briefing #2

This is a short story, not so much about Hughie Don, but one in which he was a part of and enjoyed telling.

There was a Marine briefer who was very interesting.

You need to understand the Marines. They believe they are an elite fighting force second to none and act like it. In my limited experience with Marines and reading US history, it is a well-earned reputation.

This particular Marine officer in Vietnam was a large, barrel-chested man would give his briefing very authoritatively and loudly. When the briefing was done, he would stand in front of Admiral, bend his pointer stick in front of him and ask in an intimidating manner, "Does the Admiral have any questions?"

One time, after the Marine left, the Admiral confided in Hughie, "I'm afraid to ask him questions." 

Another notch in the Marines persona and lore!

End note: I think Hughie was proud that one of his grandsons served in the US Navy, and the other one served in the...wait for it...US Marines. You go, Devil Dog! Uncle Hugh* was proud of you too!

*A whole different story. :-)