Richard,
When you told me in Brownsville, that you taught in Rockdale, I did not associate it with Conyers. Conyers is where my son has his business. The world keeps on getting smaller and smaller.

Don Reed
MM2 6/66-11/68

Hey Don,
You're right about that. What business does he own in Conyers. Tell him that I teach at Conyers Middle School, and he will know exactly where that is. Are you still planning on coming here this summer?

I'm getting back to the cruise . Who had the worst ride in the typhoons . Those of us that lived aft or those of you who bunked forward ? I remember leaving the mess deck and heading aft down the passageway by the barber shop .There was a scuttlebutt there and the damn thing was alwaws full of "PUKE"

I don't think there was any good place to ride the typhoon out. When we were in Brownsville, I saw the scuttlebut, but don't remember the puke. Someone else mentioned it, so it was there. I just don't remember that. I was so busy giving you guys dramamine or whatever we used, that I couldn't get seasick. I remember telling myself at the time, you gotta keep it together Coop. It worked! I remember having one of the few windows looking outside (for some reason, the window isn't there anymore) and looking out at the waves that must have been 20-30 foot waves. They were as big as a building. That really was kind of scary. This makes me wonder about the Stoddart sinking in 20 foot waves. She had weathered far worse than that. Also, if you look at the pictures from the article that you can find on this site, I didn't notice anything that even vaguely looks like 20 foot waves.

hey coop , first of all it wasnt't called a window , it was called a "porthole" . 2nd not all of us got sick .
i grew up in a tugboat family and thought it was just another ride in the park . i'm glad you didn't get get sick either . i remember it was my turn to show movies on the mess deck and nobody showed up . i got to roll em up early and hit the rack . i thank y'all for not showing up for the movies . got some pretty good sleep' do any of y'all remember the seat belts on our bunks ? one over the knees and one over the chest ?

I vaguely remember that typhoon (or another one) where one of the FRAMII DDs was damaged and had to return to port. Might have been the O'Bannon. They didnt return ships to port for the crew being damaged. I never got seasick in the navy, but it sure got nerve wracking, walking on bulkheads, stuff spilling all over..etc. The chairs in Radio Central operating positions were welded to the deck and had seatbelts similar to the ones in cars. They were used in this situation and a few others. I remember RM1 Horton (later) sitting at teletypewriter with his bucket, puking and typing. I think he had an infulence on others being sick. I agree, there is no safe haven from weather at sea. The logical place (for the pitching, anyway) would be midships since the bow and stern are where the up/down extremes are. I slept aft(ops berthing) and fwd(cpo berthing) and both were equally uncomfortable.
Coop-Might take you up on that offer. Been meaning to visit Atlanta for a while now.