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. :-)

1966 - Vietnam Briefing

When Hughie was sent to Vietnam, he was assigned to General Westmoreland's staff. General Westmoreland was the general in charge of the whole theater of operation. Meaning, he was in charge of the war against the Viet commies. Hughie was the General's Navy liaison for his assignment.

Having watched a documentary of the battle of Dai Do just south of the DMZ in 1968, there was a lot of coordination between the different branches of the military for battles; ship guns when near the coast or carrier-based airplanes for close support in Army and/or Marine land battles, for example.

At one point, Hughie was assigned to give a briefing to the big mucky-mucks in Honolulu, HI. So, he went to Hawaii.

After all his preparations and trip to Hawaii, Hughie was ready to brief the aforementioned mucky-mucks. Before he started the briefing, Hughie in his Navy uniform with his Navy wings on his chest, one of the top generals stood up and stopped him from starting.

The General asked, "How it was that a Navy pilot is giving a briefing to an Army General about Army actions in Vietnam.?" (I think this is a very good question, yeah?)

Hughie responded, "General, I am on a joint staff and I am very aware of what the Army is doing in Vietnam."

The General thought for a second or two, then said emphatically, "I am on a joint staff too. Carry on." Then he sat down for the briefing.

According to Hughie, the briefing went well and the General was satisfied.

Notes:

*Quotations, obviously, are best recollections and may not be exact, but the main idea is preserved and since I am the writer, I chose to do quotations. If you don't like it, well then...

Side Note: Marilyn got to go visit Hughie in Hawaii on one of his briefing "vacations" and she left us back on the mainland. How rude!

1962 - Christmas in Virginia

 One of my earliest memories of my dad is something he told me about AND it coincides with one of my first memories of myself that I have retained into my old age.

My first image was playing in the snow on a hill (at my age it was probably more of a little mound) with other people. It was probably my sisters, my two older sisters. I would have been 3 years old, making my sisters Debbie 8 and Cheryl, or Cherie as she was called back then, 6.

It turns out, at the same time, Hughie was commanded by his wife, my mom, the Admiral of our house, to bring home a Christmas tree. When he got off his work, working for the Navy in the Pentagon (see the episode about Hughie at the Pentagon during the Cuban Missile Crisis) at the time, he had his friend drive him to get a tree in the friends VW bug. Apparently, the best he could do to get it home was to hold the tree against the door of the bug with the window down...

IN A BLIZZARD! 

(The pic above was how I would have done it, but whatever.)

He said when he got home his arm was frozen, as you can imagine. I love the imagery of him holding a tree out the window. It still makes me smile.

Postscript: Mother (more on that name in a future story) told me, like the younger brother in "A Christmas Story," she would put my 23 layers of clothes on to go out and play, come in after 5 minutes (it was dang cold out there), and after getting the clothes off, I would want to go back out. Good times...good times.

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night! (C. Moore)

1958 - South Pacific Nuclear Testing

In 1958, from April through August, the government ran an Operation; Hardtack I. It was one of many nuclear testing operations between 1946-1958 in the South Pacific. 

If you can believe it, the US government shot off so many nuclear bombs on, under, and over the Bikini Atoll from 1946-1958 that the islands are still radioactive today. 

Hughie was assigned to a squadron in the Pacific for the atomic testing in 1958. Part of their responsibility was to shoo away other ships that wandered into the blast safety zone. 

So one time, at band camp...I mean, one time, when their job was done, they had nothing else to do...apparently, so they were placed on to the deck of a ship that was directly under an atomic bomb that was exploded overhead at night way up in the atmosphere. They weren't the only ones on the ship that night, by the way.

Hughie said they could read the newspaper for 30 minutes on deck after the explosion, it was so bright. (Of course, they had their eyes covered for the initial explosion. They wanted to be safe. Duh!) Hughie thought it was pretty cool.

The pic above is one of a nuclear bomb set off high in the atmosphere. Interesting.

Flight School, Pensacola, FL, circa 1949

Enlisted men (those who are not officers) have it made. They don't get paid much. They have to follow orders from pretty much everyone above them. Their motto is "Hurry up and wait" in the military. They...wait, where was I going with this?

Oh, yeah, enlisted men have it good. One thing they did get back in the day was food and lodging as a part of their "benefits." I think they still do in certain circumstances.

Officers, on the other hand, because they are "rich," don't get room or board. They have to paid for it as Officers and Gentlemen (a title by an act of Congress as an obnoxious Officer and Gentleman points out regularly to me).

In flight school - Navy flight school is in Pensacola, FL - Hughie Don came up with a pretty good plan. 

Hughie found another Officer and Gentleman to share one meal ticket with him. One would eat breakfast and dinner one day while the other ate lunch, then the next day it would switch. 

He said it saved him lots of money. He also said when he got to his meals, he ate A WHOLE LOT! He probably ended up eating the same amount as he would have on a meal ticket for himself, so he got 1/2 off.

Pretty ingenious!

PS - Hughie Don was not at flight school when Maverick was.

PPS - The plane below is NOT the kind of training plane Hughie learned on...at least I don't think so.

Leadership 101

I love this story...

I am not sure when this happened. It could have been the Pentagon in 1962 or any desk job Hughie had.

When Hughie was assigned his desk job, he was given an enlisted man as his aide (a secretary, for all practical purposes).

Being a lower-ranked officer, he was inundated with senior officers "requiring" monthly reports for "required" information. (There is a reason for the ""...just keep reading.) Hughie said there were about 30 different "requirements" for monthly reports.

The enlisted man asked Hughie what they were going to do. He rightfully observed that they would not be able to do anything other than "required" reports.

This is where some great leadership occurred and which I followed my whole working life:

Hughie, in his vast wisdom, stated that they would do none of them...until the senior officers returned and wanted to know where their report was. Those would be the ones they would completed and submit.

Sure enough, at the end of the month, of the 30 initial "required" reports, two - count 'em, two - of the senior officers inquired about the reports they had ordered. Hughie told them they would have their report by the end of the day. Those were the officers who really needed the information.

Those were the two - count 'em, two - reports Hughie and his enlisted aide submitted in his tenure behind the desk.

He was a pretty wise guy.

*****

*Side note: for anyone who has worked for the government or been to a government office, you either had one of these desks (above) or saw someone using one. 

1967 A short Vietnam story

Every general has a henchman. I know that's not what they are called, but they are, in practice, the "bad cop," the henchman, the Colonel. That way, the general can be the nice guy. Then the Colonel comes through and kicks butt.

This particular day, Hughie was waiting to see the general, and as he was "only" a LCDR, the colonel was giving him a hard time.

Hughie stood at attention while the colonel looked for something wrong with his uniform. He was holding his breath because he realized his tie was still tied in a civilian manner, not the military manner. He had not untied his tie, but had loosened it and pulled it over his head, and put it back on the morning, as is.

This is what he remembered while the colonel was giving him the evil eye.

Notice I wrote "evil eye," not "evil eyes." This particular colonel had lost his eye many years previously. He was notorious for having many different "eyes" he wore.

As Hughie was given the head-to-toe looking over, the colonel missed the tie. He didn't know why or how, but the Colonel had missed it. 

Hughe was starting to sigh in relief when the Colonel looked him in the eye from inches away. What he saw made him smile, then laugh - for which he got the tongue lashing the Colonel wanted to give him. What did Hughie see? The Colonel, for his glass eye, had an American flag. That must have been quite a sight to see!

----------------------------------

Clearing up a detail: Hughie, as you know, was in the Navy. The ranks "general" and "colonel" are NOT Navy ranks. In Vietnam, Hughie worked for General Westmoreland as the Navy liaison, so he worked with the Army very closely.

Hughie Don Sheffield, 1928-2022, A tribute (5.4.22)

Prescript: I had a difficult time writing this post for obvious reasons. It has taken me some time for my mind to clear so I could write what best honored my dad. Thanks to all of you out there who reached out and offered condolences, prayers, and support in this difficult time.

------------------------

Hughie Don Sheffield died this morning (May 4, 2022). It was no surprise, but it was a shock. 

My Dad had Alzheimer's disease. He had it for the last 4-5 years. His decline went slowly for a lot of the time, but in the last six months it was steep. In the last three weeks, he dropped very quickly. 

Up until two weeks ago, he was able to live at his home with my Mother. That was a good thing.

One of his grandsons, Joel Conyers, said that his grandpa lived a long, productive life. And that is true. 

As we gathered as a family to honor his life, three things became clear to my Mother, two sisters, Debbie and Cheryl, and me.

1. Hughie loved his country. Most, if not all of this blog, has been dedicated to retelling his story in the Navy. None of us doubted this commitment. After retirement, he was still committed to our country and served in community and church organizations to help others. He spoke at Memorial Day ceremonies and he even wrote a few guest editorials for the local papers.
2. Hughie loved his family. For all his faults (yes, he had some), he never pushed any family away or walked away from any family needs. He took care of his alcoholic brother, cared for his parents as they aged, and above all, was the patriarch of our family, keeping us and encouraging us to be together for all of our lives. A story my sister Cheryl told at his memorial service - Dad always told us that he would never leave our Mother. Then, he invariably added, we agreed that the one who left would have to take the kids!
3. Hughie loved his God. The last few months of living in Japan, my parents, both of whom (I have never used "whom" before, so exciting!) had grown up in Christian households, decided they wanted to get back to church and God. From that point forward, Dad got serious about his commitment to God. He became a deacon, church leader, went to seminary, became a minister, then spent about 15 years as the pastor of a church. God was on his mind and heart a lot for the last 55 years or so of his life.

He and my Mother, 2 weeks previous to his death, had just passed the milestone of 69 years of marriage. 

The time we spent together honoring Dad's life was bittersweet. We will miss him and we believe that he is out of the earthly prison of his Alzheimers mind and with our Lord.

You are with God now, Dad. But, we still miss you.

------------------------------

Postscript: This story is the epitome of my dad to me - One year, he was the president of his local Rotary Club. The Rotary Club had a meeting on May 6. The dues, I believe were $7. On this particular day, he arranged for a meal of Mexican food and he made the dues for that meeting $6. His theme for the day? A Day Late and A Dollar Short. Get it? I did.

1948 - University of Texas, Football, and HD

When Hughie Don signed his contract to become a Navy pilot, he was paid to go to 2 years of college, followed by flight school.

Hughie went to UT, University of Texas. THE University of Texas! (OSU can't have all the fun.)

Hughie used to brag about his class schedule. 

Side Note: Hughie claimed to not need more than 4-5 hours of sleep at night. He claimed that was his optimum wake/sleep pattern. He claimed it was the truth. All I know is that he seemed to fall asleep in front of the TV every evening around 8:00, then go to bed. You decide! End side note.

2nd side note: Granted, he was much younger when he was in college, but come on, man! End 2nd side note. 

Anyway, he bragged about his class schedule. He took early morning classes, as early as they offered them, and was done with classes and all his studying by noon each day. He loved that he was done with his school day and his buddies were just getting started. Hughie would remind his buddies often that his day was done. They loved him for it. 

He told that story numerous times back in the day. He seemed to have found a way to beat the system...kind of. (He DID take classes when they were offered, so I don't know about beating the system. OK, OK, I am the one who said he beat the system. He didn't say it, so it's a "Moo point," as Joey used to say.)

Anyway, in all his free time, he decided to play football for THE University of Texas Longhorns. Pretty cool, eh?

Even cooler? One of his teammates was a guy named Tom. Maybe you have heard of him. He's kinda big around Texas...especially in Dallas. Tom, after his playing days became a coach...a head coach...of an NFL team...the Dallas Cowboys!

If you haven't guessed it already you are either denser than a really dense thing or you don't know football. 

Hughie played football with Tom Landry, one of the winningest coaches in NFL history! Pretty cool, right?!

1957 - Hawaii/Australia

Lt. Hughie's squadron was in Hawaii (either before or after being sent to Alaska to look for commies reading the Bible on the deck of a SPY SHIP) and in training.

When the dust settled - what does settle with airplanes? Wind, water, the plane?! When the planes settled, Hughie's flight crew was named to top crew in the squadron, big honor.

Not long after, the commander called the officers together because he had some good news. Two airplanes were being sent to Australia, The Land Down Under

Oh! Do you come from a land down under

Where women glow and men plunder

Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder

You better run, you better take cover.

Now, where was I? Oh yeah, 2 planes being sent to Australia. Of course, this was a primo assignment. The squadron commander told the men he was going to take one plane and offered the other to Hughie. He then said he would cherry pick the best men from the squadron to fly with them. 

Hughie decided otherwise. He told the commander that he and his crew had just been named to top crew in the squadron, so they should all get to go...together. The commander thought about it and agreed. He decided he would take his crew and Hughie could take his crew. 

The two crews flew to Australia, showed the Aussies their new innovation, and flew home. Hughie speaks of the trip fondly.

1957 - Alaska

Hughie was stationed in Alaska without the family. The family was suffering for the Navy in Hawaii. (However, the author had not been born yet.)

His squadron was sent there to keep an eye on the Soviet Union and their spy operations because, as Sarah Palin said, you can see Russia from Alaska.

One day, Hughie was sent out looking for a Soviet spy ship. As you suspect, a spy ship doesn't look like a spy ship. It doesn't have SPY SHIP written on the keel or the fore/aft or whatever. (Navy skipped a generation.) But...how many pleasure boats are out in the middle of the North Pacific or Bering Sea? So, really. The Pacific is a huge ocean and finding one ship in that vast ocean has to be like a needle in a...in a...ok, so it's like trying find one ship in the vast ocean.

Hughie's crew is the one who found the ship! I guess once you see it, it's hard to hide the ship, unlike submarines, which are marines that are sub...I guess. (Remember, skipped a generation.) So they start taking pics of the spy ship - which interestingly enough was called SPY SHIP. As they circled the ship they took lots of pictures so they could guess at their capabilities, I guess.

Side Note: as a rule, airplanes don't fly directly over a ship. I didn't know that, did you?

The pilots and crew could see there was someone on the deck reading, I guess to make it look like a pleasure craft...in the middle of the ocean...near Alaska...ok, I'm not buying it either.

When they accomplished their mission, they flew back to their base and got the pictures developed. For those of you born in the 2000's, that means they did not have automatic access to the pictures and none of them were selfies.

One particular picture made them laugh. The picture of the person on the deck reading was a man dressed as a woman. The book he/she was reading? The Bible. 

Those Soviets were truly a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma*.

The mission was a success!

*-Winston Churchill said that about the Russians in 1939. Still rings true today, eh?

1962 - The Cuban Missile Crisis

Some of you remember (and others of you have read or seen movies about) the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Like Forrest Gump, who seemed to be everywhere, so was Lt. Hughie Don Sheffield. Hughie was at the Pentagon during the whole crisis. 

A quick, simple background - The US discovered that the USSR (cue Darth Vader music) had placed missiles and were placing more missiles in Cuba - missiles that could have nuclear (not nucular) warheads on them. President Kennedy drew a line in the sand and told Khrushchev, the Soviet Premier, to remove the missile silos on Cuba and recall the ships with more missiles and support equipment that were enroute to Cuba or we would be at war. The 13 days in October, 1962, were defining moments where the Cold War almost became a hot war. We were as close to nuclear war as we have ever been.

A detail most people don't know is that when a major crisis occured, such as this one, the Pentagon closed down - no one in and no one out. Lt. Sheffield was on duty at the time the crisis began and stayed at the Pentagon for the full 13 days. 

Hughie's job was to be on the staff that monitored where our nuclear missile submarines were at all times. That regularly updating information was kept in the office he and the other Naval personnel worked in the Pentagon. As you can imagine, this would be of extreme importance during the crisis.

Side Note: Hughie was pretty proud of the fact that there were a small number of military personnel who were allowed to have the submarine information, and when admirals and generals who were not on the need-to-know list came and commanded him to give them the information, Lt. Sheffield was able to tell Admiral BusyBody and General WannaKnowItAll, NO! He liked that. End Side Note.

As you may have guessed, the Soviets backed down, the ships went home, and war was averted.

Hughie got to go home and live to a ripe old age. Hundreds, thousands, hundred thousands of lives were saved. The Evil Empire has been relegated to the trash heap of history. God bless our troops and God bless America.

End Note: Another fact - that when emergencies happen and the Pentagon is shut down, there is to be no communication from the Pentagon out. I was told many, many years ago by Hughie Don, he had set up a warning system for my mom to let her know he would not be coming home. If he sent flowers to her with no note, he was stuck at the Pentagon. 

I tried to verify this last part of the story with my mom a few years ago, but she did not remember it.