Naval Air Technical Training Center - Memphis, Tennessee

 Boot Camp was the last time that the five of us would be stationed together, Rob, Ted and I as well as Ken Peters from boot camp were all sent to the NATTC Memphis for training and to eventually find out what our duty assignments would be going forward. Clarence and Fred wound up driving cross country to their duty stations; Clarence at Naval Air Station Glencoe in Brunswick, Georgia and Fred to Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida. It was kind of ironic that all of us including Pete were Southern California boys and we all got sent to the southern United States. 

This was a picture at my parents house the day we were all heading South  

Side Note: This was a really tense time in America and made even more so in the South because Martin Luther King had just been assassinated by a white man. He was assassinated on April 4th while we were still in boot camp and just before we were all sent south. 

This a picture from where the assassination took place. Ted, Pete and I visited when we went into Memphis one weekend. You can tell how recent it was by all the flowers on the balcony. 

We reported to Memphis on April 25, 1968 and to be honest I don't remember much about what we did there until I actually started classes on May 6th. Its not much of a stretch to imagine it was a lot of marching and inspections to make sure we remembered we were in the Navy and not away at college. My classes including grades and class ranks are included here. The classes were sequential and based on how we performed in each one then they decided what to do with us next, 

Aviation Fundamentals "P" School                     2 weeks       May 6 - May 17        94%    

Aviation Fundamentals "A" School                    16 weeks    May 27 - Sept 13        81.67%        91st of 195

Aviation Fire Control Technician "A" School    11 weeks    Sept 16 - Nov 27        78.25%        25th of 52

These courses are where I first heard the expression, "Dive Bomb Charlie" which meant if you weren't sure of the answer to a question on a test then guess "C". Not sure it worked but I'll bet I guessed a C or two, 😀

While most of our time was taken up with classes to learn basic aircraft fundamentals and then in my case the electronics involved in maintaining the fire control systems on our jets. We did find some time to hang out and Ted, Pete and I were lucky enough, along with another friend that I was on the Track team with Martin, to have Rob and Jenny's house to hang out at on weekends. Rob and Jenny had married between boot camp and his being sent to Memphis which is why he isn't in the picture with the four of us before we left. Rob also had his car there so we were able to get off base and go to the state park for picnics and just to get away from the whole "navy scene". Getting away from the same day to day routine was really helpful for mental health and helped a little with the homesickness we all felt. 

No matter how much time we got to hang out and drink beer and eat chicken that Jenny fried for us the minute we got back to the barracks it was back to the grind of being in the Navy even though we were students we still had normal navy duties like standing watch, inspections, cleaning the barracks and so on. Speaking of drinking beer that brings back some interesting memories. We were allowed to drink beer because it was 3.2% but we could only drink it or buy it on base. We weren't allowed to drink in the barracks which was a good thing but they had an enlisted men's club and like I said we could buy it and drink it at Rob and Jenny's. 

Where it got really crazy was if we wanted to get a beer off base. Shelby County, Tennessee where we were located was a "dry county" where you could not purchase alcohol so we would have to find someone with a car and drive to Holly Springs, Mississippi. 

Another example of how screwed up the south was in the 60's occurred when we went to Holly Springs. We went to a restaurant, just a dive joint really but we wanted something other then chow hall food. When we were going in a black man right in front of us was told that he had to go around back and eat in the kitchen if he wanted to eat there. We didn't make any friends when we said then we'll go around back to the kitchen to eat as well and we did. At first they didn't want to serve us in the kitchen but they knew if the got cross ways with sailors that the navy could make their place off limits. Crazy world!

At least a couple of times Ted, Pete and I would go into Memphis just to get off base. We went to the zoo, and a park, and we walked around the famous Blues area of Beale Street. Once we went to the movies and saw Gone with the Wind. The theater was the old fashioned type with huge red velvet drapes and other over the top decor. It was the perfect place to see that movie.

One of the highlights for me at Memphis was being on the track team. Because I was on the team I was given a "chit" that I just had to show whenever I was stopped and asked why I wasn't with my barracks marching to class or chow, something that was required. That "chit" allowed me to walk to and from places without being in formation. And of course going back to the mental health piece being able to have so much time to run was great.

We only had one meet but it was a big one because it was between the Navy and the Marines and there was a big inter service rivalry. We didn't win the meet but it was a great experience.

One thing that happened stuck with me after that day and actually played a big part later in how I tried to treat my athletes when I became a coach many years later. I was entered in the 880 yard run (half mile) with two other sailors Before the race after we warmed up our coach came over and told Newton how to run the race because he expected him to win it. Then he told Woods that he expected him to hang with Newton and when to make his move. He turned to walk away and then turned back to me and said, "Oh good luck". The picture below is of the finish of the race. The guy winning in the red shirt was a Marine. The guy in 2nd! That was me with Newton 3rd and Woods 4th. Id be lying if I said I didn't feel pretty good after that race.




These pictures are a couple that we took the day that we graduated from AQ school and our time at Memphis was coming to a close. One of the best things to come out of Memphis was making two friends who would remain lifelong friends, John 'Smitty' Smith and Joe Palmer. They weren't in AQ school but AT school electronics technicians but we were in the same barracks and got to know each other pretty well then we got orders to the same duty station after Memphis but more about that later.

After Memphis I took leave and flew to Colorado to have Thanksgiving with my family. They had moved from our home in Hacienda Heights.

Here are pictures of my airline tickets to and from NATTC Memphis. Seems cheap by today’s prices but I was making about $98 a month and had a $55 monthly motorcycle payment. 

In the meantime what happened to Clarence and Fred I recently talked to them both to make sure I had some facts before I wrote this entry. Clarence was stationed in Brunswick, Georgia at NAS Glencoe he also did some temporary duty at NAS Meridian, Mississippi. He trained as a jet engine mechanic and served a WestPac cruise aboard the USS Enterprise. He was actually stationed on it right after it had been docked in Hawaii for major repairs after the huge fire in 1969.

I just got off the phone with Fred this morning (January 25, 2022) and got a little more information about his service at the same time. He was stationed at NAS Jacksonville in the Weapons Division and spent some time in Vietnam the squadron VP 5 that flew P3's, He was transferred to VA 174 at Cecil Field for training on the A 7. This was the second plane that I trained on but more on that later, He was then assigned to VA 46 and was supposed to deploy on the USS Forrestal. VA 46 had trained on the A 7 at Cecil Field Between May - November 1968. On 17 September 1970 they were on their way to train in the Caribbean when the received emergency orders to the Mediterranean they stayed off the coast of Isreal until November.

The only thing think I remember is that both Ted and Pete were on the Hancock at the same time I assume they were in squadrons not sure if they were the same or not but I know we were in the Tonkin Gulf at the same time once because I was able to get a ride on a helicopter from the Oriskany to see them and spend the night on the Hancock. I wish my memory did that visit more justice but it doesn't. Can't ask Ted because he's deceased and I've never been able tp get in touch with Pete since the 70's. (Sometimes I think that maybe I imagined it!) 

This is a picture that Ted sent from his Division Party at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The date on it is August of 69 when I would have been on the Oriskany in Vietnam. 🤷‍♂️ Long time ago and a lot of suppressed memories from that time. 

Rob? I have no idea where he served or if he was ever stationed aboard ship.

Sometime after Memphis Pete got his Devil Tattoo. Memphis was the last time any of the five of us served at the same duty station or on the same ship. "Buddy Plan" my ass!