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.