Memoirs of a U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer: VW-1 Here We go Again! Change is good?

Here we go again is right!
A normal Navy tour is three years. Being transferred three times in three years is unsettling. Transferred to VR-6 in Feb 1962, to VR-22 in Feb 1963, and now orders arrive in Jan 1965 for transfer in March to VW-1 at Naval Air Station, Agana, Guam. This transfer to VW-1 comes after the Navy spending thousands of dollars on training at Charleston Air Force Base for C-130 aircraft, the cost of an investigation to issue a secret clearance, and a promotion to AE1. Seems like a lot of money spent with not much return for the Navy. And where the hell is Guam?

We can't take our 8 foot by 35 foot trailer to Guam. Navy personnel are required to live on base in Navy provided typhoon proof housing. Typhoon proof? That sounds interesting. We are able to sell the trailer for the $1300 we paid Jim Gettle for it five years earlier. It's traumatic to sell your first home, where you lived for the first five years of your marriage and where your two children spent the first years of their lives. After selling it we learn there's no housing available on Guam for approximately six months! Now we have to find a place for Diane Doris, Cheryl and Carl to live until Guam Navy housing becomes available. More trauma. Eventually we do find a place for Diane and the kids. This has its own challenges because since I'll be living in the barracks on Guam and when Diane Doris gets there we'll be living in Navy provided housing, we no longer get paid off-base housing allowance. Paying for housing while not getting a housing allowance consumes the vast majority of the Navy paycheck!

It's a long flight to Guam on a C-118 aircraft! Long being the operative word. Norfolk, VA to Alameda, to Oahu, Hawaii, to Wake Island, to Guam. About five days in all after a layover on Wake Island. On the flight is Jerry Stamps. Jerry asks me, "Where ya headed?" "VW-1 on Guam." "Not me," says Jerry, "I'm going to some outfit called Aerron One." That's when its obvious Jerry isn't in Naval Aviation! "They're the same outfit Jerry." We both laugh, fly as seat partners the whole trip, become beer drinking buddies on Guam, and remain friends as long as we're both on Guam. Jerry was a Yeomen Petty Officer Third Class (E4). Yeomen work in administrative offices processing paperwork in every Naval Command. And there's plenty of paperwork. It's an important job.

Wake Island

Looking at this photo you can see how narrow the landing strip is on Wake Island. Actually you can just about throw a rock over it at its thinnest section! The triangular section at the bottom of the photo is where all the family housing, barracks, the four lane bowling alley, the dining hall, and a small store is located. Everyone eats at the dining hall. Wives, kids, and the sailors stationed there. If your family went to Wake with you, your tour was for 18 months. If your family did not accompany you, your tour was 12 months. Some wives loved the laid back beach and sand life on the atoll and some didn't! If your family came with you, you inherited a jeep with a plywood body. Plywood because the metal jeeps bodies rusted away quickly!