Experienced People Needed In the Navy

I read the article by Capt. Robert G. Butler (In My Own Words, April issue) and agree with him in every respect. I can only use myself as an example of a wasted talent in the Navy.

I enlisted in the Navy in 1945 and became a fireman apprentice. For three years I worked on diesel engines on tugboats and LST 533, and became a good mechanic. I could overhaul those engines and repair almost everything on the ship. But there was no plan for my future.

I remained a fireman apprentice until I was discharged in 1948. There was no reason for me to re-enlist, so I accepted an honorable discharge. With the G.I. Bill I went to college and became an electronic engineer and worked for Bell Telephone Laboratories and Lockheed Aerospace for 40 years. I retired as avionics design manager in charge of designing avionic black boxes for Lockheed’s aircraft.

I would have stayed in the Navy had I been offered schooling and advancement, but there wasn’t anything available. Capt. Butler, as an engine man, hit the nail right on the head. Experienced men are needed in the Navy. I had the talent in the Navy, but it was wasted.

Joseph F. Panicello
North Hills, Calif.

Signalman Poem Begs Questions

This is my first issue and very good it is, too. But I have a question about the poem, “So Long, Flag-waggers” in the March 2004 issue, Letters section. The letter notes that the poem was published in 1910, and a version (for it seems to have undergone some trauma over the years) of the full poem, “The Lay of the Last Signalman,” which may be found at http://www.rnca.info/ditty/poems.htm, has a verse that tells us that:

“The alert and hawk-eyed signalman is rendered obsolete
By the electronically operated Optics of the Fleet
And the leaping barracuda or the charging submarines
Can be sighted as a blob upon a brown fluorescent screen.”

Surely there was no radar in 1910? And would the barracuda not have been the aircraft of World War II?

Lawrence Hare
Received via e-mail