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Dear Dr. Flanders,
I enjoyed your e-mail and your success
story very much. I think our generation of guys
were lucky to have had the opportunity to change
our life's prospects through the Navy or other
armed forces at a time when we couldn't/wouldn't
stay at home with our parents or on the other
hand go out into a society that wasn't eager to
employ us as novices. We had good work values
and social ethics but no sense of entitlement
that kids have today, we just wanted a chance to
make it on our own.
The armed forces was a
place where we could grow, to find out who we
thought we were and who we wanted to be, within
a protective culture that was expansive and yet
could be hard and even very dangerous. As you
and I and many others can attest, the trip was
worth the price.
Best regards, Stephen E.
Herrick, LCDR, USN (Ret).
From: "Charles
Flanders"
CFlanders@hot.rr.com
To:
njherrick36@msn.com
Subject: Mispillion
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 23:00:49 -0600
Dear Cdr. Herrick, Sir, I
had the same kind of experiences aboard the
Mispillion. I had no high school diploma when I
came aboard. A lieutenant Named Melton kicked me
in the butt, checked out some correspondence
courses for me and changed that. He then let me
be a striker in the sickbay. He pursued me at
every moment and checked out CLEP courses for
me. On my last cruise with the Mispillion, our
Captain ran us aground between Corregidor and
Bataan. He had thrown the pilot off the bridge.
As a result, when we finished littering, tugs
came with beaching gear and the same Lt. Melton
I mentioned earlier helped them get us off the
bottom. We sustained some damage to the plates
and had to go into the drydock at Subic. While
we were in the drydock, another auxiliary ship
the APA 222, U.S.S. Pickaway was also in the
drydock next to us. All of their medical
personnel were on the beach and the rest on
leave. We were the medical watch for that night
for both ships. As things would have it, The
messenger of the watch comes to my rack and
wakes me about 0:200 and tells me to bring my
unit 1 bag and go to the drydock next to us as a
man had fallen off the brow into the drydock. I
went to the spot where the man lay and examined
his pupils, which were still reactive to light,
saw that he had a bad head wound, and checked
his pulse, blood pressure and breathing rate. I
checked his body to see if there were any other
possible fractures but found none. I asked for a
stokes stretcher, immobilized his neck and had
him carried to their sickbay as it was a much
larger sickbay than ours. When we got there, I
saw that the wound had not penetrated the skull
so I cleaned the wound, and sutured it closed.
He still had a very large bump in the wound area
that took almost thirty stitches to close. No
anesthetic was necessary as he was dead drunk
and never felt anything. I then x-rayed his head
and neck and reaffirmed that he didn't suffer a
fracture of the head or neck. His head and neck
were immobilized for the night and I kept track
of his vital signs every 30 minutes until 0800
when their medical personnel returned. The
medical officer asked what had been done for
him. After I gave him a detailed report, he
asked my name and rate. When I replied that I
was a striker and hadn't gone to school yet, he
got a very odd look on his face. Well, when we
returned to Pearl Harbor, and the sea detail was
set to take lines, I got a message to report to
the quarterdeck. The Officer of the watch told
me to get my gear together that transportation
was waiting for me on the pier. I got into the
Uniform for leaving ship (dress whites) and went
to the quarterdeck and was met by the driver. To
my amazement, it was an Admiral's staff car. I
was taken to a Building on base and when we went
inside, I was told to sit down. I noticed the
name on the door was COMBUMED. I started
thinking that maybe that seaman had died and
they knew I hadn't been to Corps School yet. I
was really sweating by then. Then suddenly an
aide asked me to come in. I came in and stood at
attention and reported that I was Charles
Flanders, HN striker reporting as ordered. The
admiral continued looking at a file folder and
then asked me if I knew that there was no such
thing as a Corpsman Striker? I said no sir (I
really felt like a gone duck then). He asked me
if the night in question (when the seaman was
hurt) if I had done the things listed in the
report? I said Aye Sir, I did. He asked me if I
would like to go to Corps School? I said Aye Sir
I would. He said that you would have to extend
your enlistment, would that matter? I said no
sir I would be glad to extend to go to school.
He told me that a plane was leaving Barber's
Point at 1600 to take me to CONUS and from there
I would report to the Commanding Officer,
Hospital Corps School at Balboa Naval Hospital,
San Diego. He also advised me that I was to
receive a Navy Achievement Medal for my actions.
I was so relieved that I was not going to
Leavenworth! Now you know the rest of the story.
I am a better man to have walked on the decks of
the old Mispillion and a much better American
for having lived and served with the fine men of
her crews. My late brother also served on her
when I was aboard her for a while. He was a
SK/3. He came aboard in 1959 and left her in
1962. I came aboard in 1961 and left her in
1963. God bless you Mr. Herrick for serving on
her too. She was truly "Nulli Secundus." The
Captain I had for my first cruise on her was
Capt. J.E. Gibson, who was a fine Captain. Our
XO at that time was LCDR. J.V. Phares, another
fine officer. We had many of them aboard during
my stint on her. I will remember them all as
long as I live and in my eyes, they never get
any older than they were then. Thank you for
allowing me to tell you about some of my time on
her. Dr. Charles Flanders |