[George Lander]

Originally Posted by Grantham Forester

At the base "Acey-Deucey" NCO club, every Thursday night was Bacardi night at Rosie Roads-all you paid for was your set-up- I liked Bacardi white with club soda, ice and a big slice of lime-- Back then, when I was a machinist mate first class, we were rebuilding from the original installation of the WW2 era-We were working with some Sea-Bees on Vieqas Island , which was used for both gunnery and EOD practice, and it was outstanding and easy duty- we secured at 1500 each day, had 1 & 1/2 hours noon break, and the week-end started at 1200 on Fridays, and were were off duty until 0730 hrs. on Monday.

You could charter a boat all day for $25, the deep sea fishing was super, a case of Red Stripe in a iced up big cooler, plus sandwiches and apples and cold water was $10- so four of us would split that- beautiful clear diamond blue waters, clear cloudless skies, I'd go back in a heartbeat if I could--

Grantham: Another interesting aside was when our ship arrived in San Juan waiting for on the pier was none other than Louis Armstrong and his band. He did a full concert for us and our sister ship, the Gearing DD-710. Singing with Satchmo was Bessie Smith who, i understand, passed away shortly thereafter.

Best Regards, George