Newspaper Article, circa 1960's
Contributed by Richard McCoy

Bow and Stern - Contributed by Thomas Hickson

In light of the recent appeals court ruling in California, with  respect to the Pledge of Allegiance, the following  recollection from Senator John McCain is very appropriate:.

"The Pledge of Allegiance" - Senator John McCain
As you may know, I spent five and one half years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in solitary confinement or two or three to a cell. In 1971 the NVA moved us from these conditions of isolation into large rooms with as many as 30 to 40 men to a room.

This was,as you can imagine, a wonderful change and was a direct result of the efforts of millions of Americans on behalf of a few hundred POWs 10,000 miles from home.

One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named Mike Christian. Mike came from a small town near Selma, Alabama. He didn't wear a pair of shoes until he was 13 years old. At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy. He later earned a  commission by going to Officer Training School. Then he became a Naval Flight Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967. Mike had a keen and deep appreciation of the opportunities this country and our military provide for people who
want to work and want to succeed.

As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of clothing.

Mike got himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple of months, he created an American flag and sewed on the inside of his shirt.

Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's shirt on the wall of the cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance.

I know the Pledge of Allegiance may not seem the most important part of our day now, but I can assure you that in that stark cell it was indeed the most important and meaningful event.

One day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically,and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it.

That evening they returned, opened the door of the cell, and for the benefit of all of us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours. Then, they opened the door of the cell and threw him in. We cleaned him up as well as we could..

The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on which we slept. Four naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room.

As I said, we tried to clean up Mike as well as we could.  After the excitement died down, I looked in the corner of the room, and sitting there beneath that dim light bulb with a piece of red cloth, another shirt and his bamboo needle, was my friend, Mike Christian. He was sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had received, making another American flag. He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how important it was to us to be able to Pledge our allegiance to our flag and country.

So the next time you say the Pledge of Allegiance,you must never forget the sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have made to build our nation and promote freedom around the world..

You must remember our duty, our honor, and our country

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible,with liberty and justice for all."

Smooth Sailing	Ballasted down bow, to repair bent screw in Malta, circa 1958

The amphibious dock landing ship USS Portland (LSD 37) will be decommissioned during a ceremony, 10 a.m., Aug. 4 at Naval Amphibious Base, Little Creek, Va.   The last year produced some memorable moments for the 32-year-old ship, under the command of Cmdr. Lawrence Creevy.  In January, 2003, just 30 days after returning from a four-month UNITAS deployment, Portland deployed as part of the seven-ship Amphibious Task Force East to support Operation Enduring Freedom and, subsequently, Operation Iraqi Freedom. The task force, affectionately known as the “Magnificent Seven” was the largest amphibious surge force assembled in over a decade, carrying approximately 5,000 Sailors, 7,000 Marines and tons of heavy equipment and aircraft.  Guest speaker for the decommissioning ceremony will be Rear Adm. Michael P. Nowakowski, Commander Amphibious Group 2, who also commanded Amphibious Task Force East.

The amphibious dock landing ship USS Portland (LSD 37) will be decommissioned during a ceremony, 10 a.m., Aug. 4 at Naval Amphibious Base, Little Creek, Va. Portland was the second Naval ship to bear the name. The first USS Portland (CA-33), a heavy cruiser, was commissioned in 1933 and operated extensively in the Pacific Theater during World War II. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Portland, with its nine 8-inch guns, was the largest gunship in the region until late 1942. Although often outgunned by the Japanese fleet and severely damaged by a torpedo in the Battle of Guadalcanal, she participated in almost every major naval engagement and survived the duration of the war. While operating in the Pacific Theater, Portland was credited with sinking two destroyers, shooting down more than a dozen airplanes and assisting in the sinking of three battleships. It was also responsible for the sinking of a Japanese submarine

Navy Trivia

Davit
    Not used until 1811; which is the term for the tackle on the main and foremost shrouds for hoisting heavy boats aboard ship.   -First called 'davitt', and by Captain John Smith, 'The David's End', in 1626.   It itself is derived from 'Daviet', or 'David'; since it was the custom in those days to give proper names to implements, such as 'billy', or 'jack'.  A few scholars have theorized that the true origin is related to the Biblical story of King David's son, Absalom, who was caught hanging from a tree branch by his hair.

Dipping the Ensign
    A Merchant vessel used to be required to heave and clew up all her canvass when approached by a warship on the high seas, so as to indicate her willingness to be searched. Delays resulted, and eventually, dipping the flag was authorized as a time-saving substitute.
Today U. S. Naval ships return the salutes dip for dip, except those rendered by ships under flags not recognized by the U. S.

Eight Bells
    Aboard Navy ships, bells are struck to designate the hours of being on watch. Each watch is four hours in length. One bell is struck after the first half-hour has passed, two bells after one hour has passed, three bells after an hour and a half, four bells after two hours, and so forth up to eight bells are struck at the completion of the four hours. Completing a watch with no incidents to report was "Eight bells and all is well."
    The practice of using bells stems from the days of the sailing ships. Sailors couldn't afford to have their own time pieces and relied on the ship's bells to tell time. The ship's boy kept time by using a half-hour glass. Each time the sand ran out, he would turn the glass over and ring the appropriate number of bells

Frigate
    From the French word, 'Frigata'.   Originally a class of Mediterranean vessels which used both oars and sails.   The French were the first to use frigates on the ocean for war or commerce.   By the eighteenth century, it became a term for a single-decked ship, or rather, a single gun-decked ship, with an upper, or 'weather' deck.  (Often called a 'spar' deck, since replacement spars for the ship's masts were stowed there for easy access).