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| At random: "Again I ask, who really are our Hero’s? They are the men who have, since the first day of our great country, left their families and friends and gone to war asking for nothing and giving all." -- Gary Walker |
 Corabelle, Hope I can get this to youModerators: Jump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [25 messages per page] | |
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dex armstrong |
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COMSUBBBS Posts: 3202 Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: Corabelle, Hope I can get this to you Dearest Corabelle, Apologize for my failure. Love your personal posts and thank you. Now to something you asked about and I feel strongly about. Let's get a couple of things on record to frame this piece. (1) Elmer and the men just like him were my childhood heroes and that fact has never changed. I have never met a WWII combat submariner that I didn't hold in awe. (2) I think what you are presently engaged in, is the best thing I've ever seen a sister do, to honor a beloved brother. My hat is off to you. Now to the subject at hand. Use of certain words. Corabelle, let's begin with defining the qualities of the men who rode U.S. submarines against the Empire of Japan....There is noone in their right mind who could fail to acknowlege that they were courageous, highly dedicated patriots who wanted nothing more than to take a bloody toll of both Jap ships, personnel and to destroy critical war sustaining supplies. The result of their effort resulted in the last two UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDERS this nation ever achieved. Unconditional means just that---no negotiations...no "if you promise to be good little boys" we'll be good and forgive you. What it says is,"We don't promise you anything but that we'll stop shooting you bastards on sight. Stop delivering packaged hell from the sky and we won't eat your family and relatives. Other than that, we'll own you and tell you what to do and when to do it." Elmer and his mates bought us that gift. (to be continued) | ||
| dex armstrong |
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COMSUBBBS Posts: 3202 Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: RE: Corabelle, Hope I can get this to you They made terrible sacrifices to bring us that kind of conclusion. They...the magnificent bastards who rode the old torpedo delivering smokeboats, had the toughest popularly recognized environmental conditions of any service...hygene suffered from lack of sunshine, breathing some of the worst air ever created...laced with fuel oil stench, vented septic tank gas, cooking odors, and second hand tobacco smoke. Diesel boat sailors used to say."We don't believe in air we cannot see" At times the oxygen level dropped below the level that would support cumbustion...you can't smoke a Lucky or Camel if you can't light the damn things....They shared bunks....During a war patrol living spaces became a little gamey, foul smelling dirty laundry, unwashed animals, the odiferous gasses that had to be vented inboard after sanitary tanks were blown and after reaching a 9/10ths level sanitary tank air had to be vented back into the boat to prevent large bubbles reaching the surface and giving the boat's position away. Chow was great but there was no way to cheat rust, mold, rot and spoilage that attended the passing of time. The coffee always came with a consumable oil slick snorking around in the cup. Everything they owned had to fit in a locker the size of their mother's bread box. They showered for a whole minute every seventeen days. And they operated thousands of miles beyond the established lines of warfare. They operated in locations where major medical attention was virtually non existent and no back-up if they stirred up a hornets nest and needed support. (to be continued) | ||
| dex armstrong |
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COMSUBBBS Posts: 3202 Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: RE: Corabelle, Hope I can get this to you Then there is the obiviously recognized life with death constantly riding at there elbows. Visualize men sitting in an inactive position taking a violent depth charging in the dark after the filliments in the incandescent lights were knocked out...they were some of the bravest men who ever sent to sea. This nation owes these men a debt of gratitude to these men we can never repay. If it wasn't for Elmer and his mates we could be eating fish heads and rice with silly sticks and saluting a flag that looks like a bloody Band-Aid. These men went to war against some of the nasiest bastards human history has ever known....and whipped them. They didn't have a nation behind them that wavered, toe danced or didn't give a damn. Now for the men and the vocabulary they used...Which brings us to the use of the word WHOREHOUSE (to be continued) | ||
| dex armstrong |
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COMSUBBBS Posts: 3202 Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: RE: Corabelle, Hope I can get this to you These men were healthy, lusty red blooded Americans...they weren't "light in their loafers" ballet dancers, limp wristed hair dressers, cross dressers or candidates for the future "don't ask, don't tell" navy. They liked female companionship. Problem, we had millions in uniform sent to places where the male to female ratio was so damn lopsided that you stood a better chance of winning the PowerBall lotery than getting a whiff of perfume. So, to satisfy there hormonal requirements and refrain from having carnal relationships with monkey's, chickens, ducks, sheep and friendly lizards, sailors patronized professionals....pros....ladies who sold eternal love in three minute increments..."three dollars for three minutes." Parking meter sex and satisfaction. These were men who went out and risked their lives to deliver the ordinance it took to send enemy ships to the bottom and they came with a vocabulary to meet their toughness. They said "take a piss" rather than tee-tee, wee-wee, or pee-pee. They didn't go tinkle or diddy-winkle...they "ripped of a whiz"....and they visited "whorehouses and got their ashes hauled" Like it or not that's the way they talked...and it fit the life they lived. They bedded women who didn't put their napkins in their lap, attend "high tea" at the Governor General's house, or own a copy of Emily Post's book on manners and proper behavior. Their debutants smoked seegarz and spit on the sidewalk and you wouldn't have taken one of the little darlings home to "meet your Mother" Corabelle, there's enough homogenized, watered down, sissified rewritten socially modified BS being passed off as history today for you to have made the Jolly Green Giant hurl his cookies. Don't add to the national obsession with political correctness that makes editors opt for the sweet and gentle over the rough and tumble of grown men at play. They visited whorehouses, incontrovertable fact....did it regularly. Unlike todays sailor, they came in and didn't give a damn about a trip to the USO, Christian Science Reading Room, a flower and garden show, or a lecture on canary reproduction. They used vocabulqary universally connenected with sub sailors. They didn't sit around crocheting bloomers, furniture doilies, or table decorations...they smoked foul smelling seegars....drank whiskey a science teacher wouldn't use to put dead snakes in....and enjoyed seeing anything female remove her undies. Unfortunately the wars and the demands placed on our forces, forced them into seeking pleasure and release in places where non-conventional love took place. Use WHOREHOUSE Corabelle, you're not composing a Little Golden Book...Use Elmers words to describe the life he lived....The firstime you change something, it becomes a second hand fictional account. Bless you and Elmer and the UnitedStates. DEX | ||
| Corabelle |
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COMSUBBBS Posts: 2561 Location: Rapid City, SD | Subject: I did. Actually I typed what he had typed. Here's part of it: "We finally reached Panama where we had a few days liberty. I saw my first whorehouse there. I went with some of the guys to the red light district. There was every color and size of girl there. They stood in the doorways of their cribs and tried to entice the sailors in. Many did go in." Did he, or didn't he? You'll have to read 'the rest of the story' to find out. I think that today I will possibly finish with what Elmer wrote. From then on, I will have to think & talk like a submarine sailor. Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum. Oh, and what I really wanted yesterday was what the 'Zoomies' first words were when they were rescued from their tiny little rubber boats after ditching their planes in the Pacific, and waiting (sometimes hours) for the 'rescue submarine.' I really did like, "Do you have reservations?" though. Cora | ||
| dex armstrong |
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COMSUBBBS Posts: 3202 Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: RE: Corabelle, Hope I can get this to you Corabelle, About Panama. I was there with my Dad in 45 just after the War. Lived at Fort Amador. then visited there in the Navy. Here's something that may help you to understand Panama and prostitution. First of all, it was a function of the government and operated by their equivalent of the civil service. In the middle of the Canal there is a fresh water lake called Gatun (pronounced Gat-toon) lake. It is fed by the Chagres River that created the lake when the East Coast and West Coast locks effectively dammed the flow of the river. Ships transitting the Canal discovered if they anchored and "swung the hook" for a few days, marine growth that could not be sustained by fresh water being salt water creatures...died and sluffed off. Thus by spending a short period of time in Gatun gave them a partial bottom job and increased both their efficiency and speed. The Panamanian government recognizing the potential for an economic bonanza with all those sailors both naval and merchant marine lads moored on ships with damn near nothing to do, built two multi-storied whore houses. They were THE BLUE MOON and VILLA D"AMORE. They were built from the same architectural plans. Most if not all the girls came from Columbia and wore little white cotton nighties and slippers and were auditioned and selected for their beauty and willingness to perform. Going rate 200 Balboas for one hour, which included a hot bath and post activity rubdown. The Panamanian government operated six FREE WATER TAXIS to pick up lads from the anchored ships...The girls were all Catholic and every one of them had a crucifix on the wall above the head of their bed. I never saw one who spoke English. I had a running mate who asked me once, "What's the plural form of Jesus?" "There isn't a plural form of Jesus, Idiot...There's only ONE Jesus." "Not here, every room has one." So as eighteen year old sub riding stupid jerks, we came up with "one Jesus, ten thousand Jesi" and from then on the BLUE MOON was THE HOUSE OF TEN THOUSAND JESI....And the girls were inspected and medically tested every three days. If a girl passed anything on to a U.S. sailor the U.S. Navy shut the place down for a month since we controlled the operations within the Canal Zone. DEX | ||
| dex armstrong |
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COMSUBBBS Posts: 3202 Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: RE: Corabelle, Hope I can get this to you Corabelle, My rambling diatribe reminds me of the little boy in third grade who had to give a book report on frogs. He began,"Mrs Montgomery I read a book about frogs. It told me a lot more about frogs than I ever wanted to know. Billy Jones" I apologize for boring your bloomers off. DEX | ||
| dex armstrong |
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COMSUBBBS Posts: 3202 Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: RE: Corabelle, Hope I can get this to you "Am I out of your penalty box now?"DEX | ||
| Land Lubber |
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| Old Salt Posts: 402 | Subject: RE: Corabelle, Hope I can get this to you Well said Dex!!! The men back then were MEN, and all that you said. Take Care, Steve | ||
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