CHAPTER 11:
LIBERTY CALL:
LONDON, ENGLAND
JULY 1955

It was announced after we were all tied up, that a one day tour to London was being arranged for anyone that was interested. Two of my closest shipmates, Eddy Fisher (No relation to the singer / actor) a Fire Control Technician (FT) and Jim Webb a Gunner’s Mate (GM) and I decided to sign up. A train left Portsmouth the following morning at 0800. The last train back to Portsmouth left at 2200 (10 PM). We had to be sure to be on it, because we had Cinderella Liberty again.

All hands were looking forward to some time off the confined quarters of our ship and were ready the next morning, "Bright Eyed and Bushy Tail." Liberty commenced right after morning quarters for muster. They pass out the plan of the day for ships company and they take a head count to make certain all hands are present or accounted for, that no one fell over board or jumped ( deserted ) the ship.

Since our train left at 0800, we were mustered at 0715 on the Quarter Deck, prior to leaving the ship for the train station. For everyone that had signed up to take the Tour Train into London that morning, there was a bus waiting to take us to the Train Station. I have to comment that the train to London was a fast and noisy one. We arrived at Victoria Station and were eager to see the sights.

We had no idea where anything was, it was a bright sunny warm day ideal for walking, so we just started walking, we lucked out and caught the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. I don’t remember exactly how we did it, but we were all over London. We even found the famous No. 10 Downing St., the address where Sir Winston Churchill lived. By evening we had been to the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, London Bridge and St. Paul’s Cathedral. London was a great deal bigger than any of us thought and we found it very interesting.

We had been walking for a while and stopped to discuss what to do next. Unbeknown to me, the left side of the back flap of my jumper collar had some how gotten turned up. We overtook two women on a busy London side walk. We stopped for a couple of minutes to discuss our next move. As the two women caught up to us, one of the ladies walked up behind me, reached out and straighten the flap of my jumper collar. I turned around, as I felt something touch the back of my neck. The lady smiled at me and informed me that the back flap on my uniform was turned up and she could not resist the motherly instinct to straighten it. I thanked her for her good deed. I thought it was nice of her. I still remember small personal things like that. The words of a now old love song sung by Kitty Kallen, Number 1 on the music Hit Parade in 1954 "LITTLE THINGS MEAN A LOT," ring true to this Tin Can Sailor.

Toward evening we picked up another shipmate and we found ourselves around Trafalgar Square. As we were walking around apparently looking some what lost, ( We stood out like a sore thumb, in our US NAVY uniforms) a Taxi drove up to us and the driver asked "ARE YOU BLOKES LOOKING FOR SOME ACTION?" and my shipmates eagerly answered "YES." He mentioned something about Piccadilly Circus and I though we were going to see a Circus (shows how naive I was). The cab driver drove us to Piccadilly Circus (a kind of Rowdy part of London) and dropped us off.

We got out of the cab and started walking across the street, when I heard someone whistle, and I turned around to see where it came from. I saw an attractive young women in a short length dress running in our direction, as she reached our group, she proceeded to attach herself to the sailor at the far left end of our 4 man formation, we were walking four abreast, and I was at the right end.

He had not seen her approaching and was startled by her forwardness, as we all were. Even though I had seen her approaching, I did not think we were her objective, and I did not say anything to my fellow shipmates about what I had seen. She was all smiles and talking a mile a minute. Being a half breed Tigua Indian and Spanish mix, I was watchful of my environment where ever I was. I realized why the girl had whistled, she was sending a signal to her girl friends. They were coming from all directions, running directly toward us, and the 1st 3 to reach our formation were the winners. The other girls showed their disappointment at losing the race and turned away, but they kept looking back as they moved away. I believe the most attractive one of the bunch attached herself to my right arm. She grabbed my right arm and put her arm through mine as we walked. All of what was happening was a new experience for me and at first I did not think they were ladies of the night, but just some English girls that wanted to meet some American Sailors. How naive I was.

I had never even kissed a girl on the lips in my life before and although I was a grown young man in the US Navy, in a foreign country where no one knew me and the folks back home would never ever find out what I was up to. I though of the moral values my parents had instilled in me, especially my mother, who had all the faith and trust in me, that I would do the right thing no matter where I might be. Even though I was free to do what ever I wanted to do, and it was very enticing, I could not bring myself to betray the faith and trust my mom had in me.

It was not until I heard one of the girls proposition one of my shipmates that it dawned on me who or what these girls were and what they wanted. The girls led us to a Pub not too far from where the Taxi had dropped us off. Even though I knew the young woman I was with was a prostitute, as were all the other girls, I did not treat her as one. I treated her like a lady, with respect and consideration. She never even tried to proposition me during the time we were together. We just sat and talked about what a young women and young man, strangers to each other, might talk about. Even though I paid for all the drinks she ordered, I did not have anything to drink myself.

Negotiations were still going on between my other three shipmates and their girls. As the evening turned into night and I looked at my wristwatch and saw that it was after 2100 (9 PM) and we had to catch the 2200 (10 PM) train back to Portsmouth, because we had Cinderella Liberty and had to be back aboard the Daly by 2400 (Midnight).

At this point, I started talking to my buddies and I had the task of convincing them that if they went with the girls that had already sold them a bill of goods, they would miss the last train back to Portsmouth. They would all be AWOL (Absent Without Leave) and they would probably have to face a Captain’s Mast (Non Judicial Punishment) and I was able to convinced them that they should go back with me.

Needless to say that the girls were very upset with me for having taken their customers away from them. I knew that I had done the right thing for myself as well as for my shipmates. We just made it back to the Daly in time, with some time to spare.

Liberty in historic London, Daly shipmates Jim Webb ( left ), and Eddie Fisher ( right ) are foot loose and fancy free, as we took in the sights in London, July 1955. I ran ahead, so I could capture this image.

We caught the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. London, July 1955

HMS EAGLE, British Aircraft Carrier, a photo from the British Imperial War Museum.

Photo of the British White-Hat, that I traded my White-Hat for with a sailor on the HMS Eagle, Portsmouth England, July 1955.

Reveille came early (the usual time, 0600), but it felt like my head had just hit my pillow when I heard "REVEILLE, REVEILLE, REVEILLE, HEAVE OUT AND TRICE UP, THE SMOKING LAMP IS LIT IN ALL BIRTHING SPACES," blare out over the speaker in our berthing (sleeping) compartment. My body clock was used to TAPS, LIGHTS OUT at 2200 ( 10:00 PM ) and it did not matter where I was, come 2200, I started to get sleepy. It is strange, how I could sleep through all the racket, that drunken sailors make ( Singing and stumbling into lockers etc. ) yet the Messenger of the Watch had only to speak in a low voice just above a whisper "GRANADOS, TIME TO RELIEVE THE WATCH" and I was wide awake.

The last thing you do before you hit the sack at the end of a long day at sea, is to check the UNDERWAY WATCH BILL, to see what watch you have. It is a sailor’s responsibility to make sure he knows when he has to stand a watch. My underway watch station on the DALY was on the HELM on the BRIDGE ( PILOT HOUSE ) as HELMSMEN ( steering the ship ). I had worked hard to become a qualified HELMSMEN and I was a good one, if I may say so myself. I became one of the best ship handlers on the old Greyhound ( Destroyer ).

We were getting underway at 0730, so I did not waste any time getting dressed and making a BEE-LINE to the end of the Chow Line. On a ship, if you miss a meal at sea, there is no snacking in between meals, unless you bought some food with you when you were ashore. Otherwise you just have to wait another five hours until the next meal and I can testify to you that you are one hungry hombre by the time the next meal call is sounded.

FOX DIVISION, was responsible for the handling of No. Four Spring Line aft, for entering and leaving port, whenever the Special Sea Detail is set. After a hearty breakfast, I meandered back aft to my line handling station on the fantail, to wait with the rest of my shipmates for the call to "Set the Special Sea Detail" in preparation for getting underway.

On the morning of 16 July 1955, the USS DALY and USS SMALLEY got underway and steamed Westward through the English Channel, we proceeded along the South English Coast to Land’s End( the Southern most tip of England ) and turned to starboard and proceeded to navigate our way north, up through St. George’s Channel. We passed close to where the Great British Ocean Liner LUSITANIA,the largest and most luxurious in the world at the time , was torpedoed and sunk by a German U- BOAT ( Underwater Boat, Submarine ) in May 1915 as she was on her last leg ( ST George’s Channel ) of her otherwise very pleasant return trip from New York City, she was bound for Liverpool, England.

The two ship formation continued to navigated it’s way through the turbulent Irish Sea, pass the Isle Of Man, through the North Channel and threaded our way up through the Caledonian Canal in Northern Scotland. The Caledonian Canal, separates the Northwest Highlands from the rest of Scotland), and flows by the port city of Inverness, which was our next land fall.

Inverness, was not really a liberty port, we were headed into the Baltic Sea and the Daly and her sister Destroyer the Smalley DD 565, were to pick up a Special Photographic Team in Inverness Scotland, before we headed into the Baltic Sea. Which was more or less under the control of Air and Naval Forces from the Soviet Union.

We were in Inverness only long enough to pick up our cargo of equipment and men. The two destroyers steamed Northeast out of Inverness, through Moray Firth and turned Northeast into the rough North Sea. Headed into the SKAGERRAK CHANNEL, (the channel separating the southern tip of NORWAY and the northern tip of DENMARK ). We then turning south into the KATTEGAT and continued on to picturesque Aalborg, our first port of call in Beautiful Denmark.

Although I had liberty in Aalborg, my memory is in somewhat of a fog bank (at this time) about some details that I believe I have mixed up between Aalborg and Copenhagen and I have to sort them out. From Aalborg, we proceeded down through Kattegat and into the narrow Ore Sound between Sweden to our Port side and the Island of Sealand (Denmark) to Starboard. Passed by Copenhagen, proceeded around the southern tip of Sweden and turned north into the cold blue waters of the Baltic Sea. The Daly and Smalley took a course heading towards our northern most and final destination, HELSINKI, in "THE LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN," FINLAND.

Map # 9
United Kingdom and Ireland
1965 Rand McNally World Atlas
Showing our route from Portsmouth England up to Inverness, Scotland and out into the North Sea. July 1955

Stormy Irish Sea, en route to Inverness Scotland, the Smalley can be seen plowing through a big wave astern of us, as she follows in our turbulent wake. July 1955

As you look at the Smalley plowing through one wave after another, keep in mind, that my ship ( Daly) was behaving in the exact same manner. Irish Sea, July 1955.

I captured this image from my perch up on the Main Battery Director Platform, located directly above the Bridge / Pilot House. The Daly’s bow is just starting to plow into a wave. I took the shot and turned my back to protect my old Argus C-4. I held it against my chest, as the water came up and back, to drench me. Irish Sea July 1955. The triangular structure on top of 5" Gun Mount 52, is set up for high-line operations (refueling, movies / mail for the crew or material and personnel transfer from ship to ship), while underway at sea.

A view of the Smalley off our port side doing the exact same thing we were doing. Irish sea July 1955.

The Smalley continues to plow through a big wave, her bow can be seen breaking through, as tons of sea water fly over her bridge. Picture yours truly, up on the main battery director platform just above the bridge, taking and capturing the image of photo on page 170. Irish Sea, en route to Inverness, Scotland, July 1955

A view of the Daly’s fantail just after a wave washed aboard. Photo taken from the After Lookout's position on the 01 deck. Irish Sea July 1955

A view looking aft from the Signal Bridge, port side, Irish Sea July 1955. The Smalley is faintly visible astern of us, through the smoke created by the Daly.

The rising early morning sun shines on the HMS Glasgow’s bridge and superstructure, as she steams slowly by the Daly, on her way to her berth in Inverness Scotland, July 1955.

Dawns early light of a new day, this day finds the Daly and the Smalley silhouetted against an early morning sky astern of us. Swinging on the hook (anchor) in the Bay at Inverness. Scotland July 1955

Anchored in Inverness, Scotland July 1955. A view of the Bay from the Daly’s main deck, as we wait for the Commodore, Skipper and XO(executive officer) to return. Some of the British Naval ships can be seen in the bay.

Map # 10
Norway / Sweden / Finland and Denmark
Showing our route into the Skagerrak, Aalborg Denmark and to our final destination, Helsinki
1965 Rand McNally World Atlas

Go back to to Chapter 10: USS DALY DD 519 DEPLOYMENT BRITISH ISLES, DENMARK, FINLAND NORTHERN EUROPE 28 JUNE 1955

Continue to Chapter 12: "COLD WAR" CAT-AND-MOUSE GAME IN THE BALTIC JULY 1955