They say that the difference between a fairy tale and a sea story goes something like this: "Once upon a time" as opposed to "This aint no sh*t!"
Once upon a time, back during the summer of 1970, I was stationed at Great Lakes Naval Training Center near Chicago, IL, and at the time, I was attending Hospital Corps School. Upon arriving there, I had been promoted to Hospitalman (E-3).
Midway through the summer, our Corps School company was invited to attend the premeire of the movie Catch-22 to be shown in Chicago at a really nice theater. A school bus was chartered to carry us as well as a company of raw recruits that were going through training at the Navy Recruit Training Center across the base from us. We pulled up to a company of recruits who were standing in a very disciplined formation. We stopped, and in a very neat and orderly fashion, they boarded the bus.
Shortly thereafter, after we had arrived at the theater and watched the first half of the movie. Everyone retired to the lobby to munch out during the intermission. While standing and gabbing with my chums, all of a sudden and out of the clear blue, a person walked up to me and said "Gary? Gary Garvin?" I looked at the sailor, a Seaman Recruit (E-1) and sporting the familiar boot haircut (no hair), I immediately recognized him. "Martin? Martin Tischler?" The Boca Raton High School's senior class president, for the class of 1968, Martin Tischler, was standing right there before me. Of course, me being from the class of 1968, this had great significance.
What's this... I, the class underling, now a mighty and know-it-all E-3 standing here and talking to a green, recruit, my former class president... what a turn of events!
Actually, Martin and I chuckled over that "turn of events", but both of us, being far away from home, were a sight for each other's sore eyes. We gabbed and gabbed as long as we could, maybe something like ten minutes, and then Martin had to rejoin his company and go back into the theater to their section. I went with my friends back to our section. The recruits were isolated from us for the rest of the evening. That was the last time I saw Martin.
Martin... if you ever find our site and you read this... man, that was great. What were the odds of something like that happening? I hope you did well while in the Navy and I hope you've prospered since. And if you do find our site, please... pretty please... get in touch... THAT'S AN ORDER!
A true story.
Class of 1968
Class of 1968