….AND THERE WERE TIMES THAT I WISH I HAD STAYED IN THE NAVY…
I too have a 1970 Shang story….. In 1969-70 I was in Viet Nam with the 101st Airborne Division. I managed to get a 3 day ‘in-country R&R’ to Saigon. One night I was walking down the main drag in Saigon and saw a couple of sailors walking twards me. I didn’t give it much thought but as they passed, I saw the U.S.S. SHANGRI-LA patch on one of their shoulders. I stopped them and ( I was armed to the teeth, dirty, in my flack vest and all) tried to get one of them to let me have a shoulder patch. I explained that from 1958 – 62 I was an IC Electrician on the Shang, but to no avail. I think they thought I had lost my grip on my perch. They did tell me that this would be the Shang’s last cruise. Anyway when I got back to my unit I told my C.O. that the Ship I served on while in the Navy was out in the Tonkin Gulf and if I could find a way, would he allow me to go out and spend a few days since when she went back to the states she was going to be decommissioned. HA!!! He said that was with out a doubt the most creative excuse he had ever heard to get more goof off time…… get back to your Platoon!
IC/FN TOM ROGERS U.S.S. SHANGRI-LA 1958-62
SFC (E-7) THOMAS A. ROGERS US. ARMY (RETIRED)
