Thursday, October 19, 1967

October, 19 1967

San Diego, Calif.

Dear Mother and Dad,

At last, I'm back in San Diego. When I left here the first time I thought I was glad to get away from here but nothing could be any worse than up there in Washington. We got in about 4 o'clock this afternoon. We were not suppose to get in till tomorrow afternoon but things went off so well at sea that we got in a day early.

We didn't get any mail all week while we were at sea but they had mail call about 6 o'clock this evening. I was glad to get the card, your letter, the clippings and the Heath catalog. I really appreciated the card, it made me feel proud to be in here and glad to know that people on the out side are thinking about us.

I have enclosed a money order for $50.00. Please put it in the bank. Since you are not having any difficulty with the money, you can continue to handle my finances. Don't bother about sending the check book. I really intend to save a lot of money because there are a lot of things that I plan to do with it when this two years is over with.

It really stunned me to hear about what happened to David. I am glad he wasn't hurt seriously. Your editorial hit the nail on the head and I bet that woman had some trouble sleeping for a few nights if she read it.

I guess that deal with Allied will never come to an end. They haven't got a foot to stand on. Wasn't that stuff insured. Why don't they just forgetit then? I imagine grandpa is still hot on the idea of getting one of the county radios but he will have to forget about it now.

You asked me in one of your letters how I liked it when we went out to sea. I hoped you'd never ask. The first two weekends out I got seasick and the same thing happened last Saturday after we went out. But, I can assure you that I wasn't the only one who did. About 50% of the crew gets sick when we go out. The sea is really rough up there and that is the reason for it. I think I have overcame it and am used to it now. The sea was really nice when we started to get off the coast of California. We cruised at a condition III watch, (wartime crusing). This is really rough on a guy. The watches are four hours on and either four or eight off plus the regular daily work routine. I stood my watches in the gun director and believe me it is really cramped in there. There are three of us in there and it is like the inside of an Army tank. I lived through it and it wasn't all that bad come to think of it. We will cruise like this for the rest of the time before we head out on Jan. 16th.

That letter you got about the ship, you will get one each month. I put your name in and Bill's too to make him think how great our ship is.

I won't be able to get out to see Bill Sunday because it is almost impossible to get a standby this weekend. He will have liberty Monday and so will I so it looks like we can see each other after all. I told him how to call the ship if he wants to get hold of me and how to get out here if he wants to see me.

Tell Duce that I have some hats to send to him when I have the chance. They are a little frayed but should be okay for him. It sounds like he has been a busy boy with all the days off of school and his outside activities. I bet he really likes it when he goes over to Champaign. I would like to see him join the boy scouts, but if he is having a little difficulty with his school work perhaps it would not be such a good idea after all. I bet he is using my radio, just tell him to keep fresh batterys in it. ha ha.

After I write this letter I will only have two of the envelopes left. Send more if you wish to. I would like dad to send me about a dollars worth of mint commorative stamps similar to the ones on the envelopes. The postal clerk said that he noticed them on my letters and wanted to know if I had any with me. I expalined that my dad was a stamp collector and that he put them on the envelopes for me to send home. He is really a nice guy, he is rather old and has been in for over 16 years and I would like to do this as a favor to him. Send what you think is worth a dollar and he will pay me for them then I'll send you the money for them. I'll try to get him interested in a little more if I can.

Yes, it has been over two months since I left. Its hard to believe all the miles I'v traveled and all of the country that I've seen and I didn't have to pay a cent for it. Big deal! The time has really went fast and I have been on the ship for over three weeks.

I think I remember hearing about that guy that collects stamps and that is a little wierd, They ought to put their foot down and ban him from the stamp club meetings.

It was really something to see when we got in this afternoon. There were a lot of wives and realtives on the pier waiting for the ship to get in. The ship has been away from here for over three months and there were a lot of happy people when we got in. I can imagine what it will be like when we get back from the Wes Pac cruise.

Well it's about 9:30 now and I have to iron my dungarees before taps so I had better go. Write again.

Your son,

Mike