Typhoons and Memories

 

1961 The Jungles of SouthEast Asia

Just a walk in the jungle

Ahh, the good ole days in French Indo-China.  Wading through rice paddies, fording rivers thick with leeches the size of banana slugs, feet so wet they begin to peel away the calluses earned in boot camp.  Backpack shoulder straps digging into your shoulders, canteens banging against your butt, weapons getting heavier the more the rain come down.  Boots sink into the mud and make sucking sound as they are wrenched out and into the next spot of mud.  Utilities so wet that sweat stains wash away. What isn't wet is dripping. 

In those days I smoked and kept my cigarettes in a two part plastic case.  They would still get damp so packs of matches were useless.  Only the Zippo lighter would work in the rain under a canopy of palm trees and bamboo.  Would have made a great commercial...huddled under a poncho, trying to keep the cigarette from being put out by the rain dripping off of everything, but the Zippo works.

I don't remember there being much wind during a normal rain.  During Monsoons, the wind would be before or after the rain came down in truckloads.  Coming down in buckets doesn't do the rainfall justice.  The Typhoons were the worse when it came to wind.  Anything that wasn't tied down or cemented would move one way or the other.

Harsh Weather

I experienced two Typhoons while on Okinawa and rode out one on the South China Sea on the LST Terrell County. 

USS Terrell County (1157)

During my stint as Cpl of the Guard, my rounds included a visit to the guard post down in the cavernous hull where the Amtrak's and ammo piles were stored.  At the rear of the hull was the guard post on the ammo dump that was about 15 feet tall covered with netting.  Sitting on top was a PFC with eyes the size of silver dollars and white as a sheet.  He pointed towards the prow and as I turned to look, the ship crested a wave, gravity took a break and the "tracks" rose up as far as their tie down chains would allow and when gravity returned, they crashed back down on the deck, their vibrations echoing throughout the hull. 

The noise wasn't the scary part.  Since the inside of the LST, called a "tank deck," it's mostly a long warehouse, when cresting a wave the bend of the ship could easily be seen as the front end bent down until it contacted the water again.  Depending on the size of the wave, the tracks would bounce again.  I told the guard to move a little closer to the ladder that would be his escape hatch if the tracks broke through the deck and water began flooding in and raise the alarm.

Once on the next level and out of the tank deck, I peeked out one of the hatches to the main deck and saw the mountainous ocean waves we were traveling on.  I have yet to see a movie that accurately shows what a Typhoon storm at sea really looks like.  Maybe it's something that cannot be described in human terms as we having nothing to relate to.  "Awe" is about as close as I can come.

Eventually the storm continued past our little spot in the ocean and spent itself out on the Philippines.  The sailors began fixing whatever had been broken except the water desalination plant.  We put into Hong Kong for repairs and some welcomed Liberty ashore.

Hand made suits and being a tourist

Our ship was the only US warship in the harbor so we had the town to ourselves.  Us Marines probably totaled less than 200 and I have no idea how many swabies were aboard maybe half a hundred.  They were kept busy doing repairs while we probed the nightspots and tourist Mecca's.  I had three suits made, a tour of The New Territories, which included a visit to the border with Red China and a classy dinner aboard a floating restaurant off Kowloon.

Hong Kong water taxi

My buddy Kersch and I took a water taxi to the restaurant that was built on a barge.   It was very big with many round tables built for large parties of diners.  The menu was fish and to make ones selection was a tank full of most everything that swims.  My memory says the fish tank or Aquarium was 20 feet long, 10 feet tall 3 or 4 feet deep with more live fish than I've ever seen in one spot.

Floating restaurant

Sea bugs are scary

We were asked to make our selection, which was difficult due to our ignorance of what kind of fish we were looking at.  The only fish that we recognized were the Lobsters so we opted for one each.  They were fished out and taken to the kitchen while we were shown to our table (we were the only customers) that was covered with a spotless white tablecloth, multiple forks, spoons and knives, china settings and crystal goblets.  I don't recall ordering a beer, I probably did but what I remember most was the water glass was never empty.  After a sip, the water boy would refill it immediately.

The background music was Chinese while Kersch and I enjoyed being served the bright red lobsters.  Neither of us had ever eaten one before but we've eaten Crab so we attacked the lobster claws with relish. 
Those done, we paid the tab and left wondering what the big deal was with lobster.  Once back aboard ship we related our shore leave to those that knew more then we did about lobsters and were aghast to find out we missed the best part of a the critter.  I'm sure the story of two jarheads leaving the body uneaten is still talked about in Kowloon.

                       

Also on that trip, was a date with the daughter of the Pakistani Counselor in Hong Kong.

Wan Chai district

Hong Kong had or still has a neighborhood called the Wan-Chai District.  It is usually off limits to US military personal which means lots of SP's (Shore Patrol, aka MP's, Military Police) will remove you from there to the brig if you are caught inside the limits.  With such a small group of military in port, the SP's were reduced to patrolling the Central waterfront bars and clubs.  So, myself and three other Marines ventured into the forbidden area in search of the oriental mysteries awaiting therein.

Hong Kong bar in the Wan Chai district

The bar we went into was much improved over the usual watering holes we frequented closer to the waterfront.  Mirrored walls, lots of neon, bright red vinyl upholstered booth, subdued lighting and only a two bar girls.  We bellied up to the bar, ordered something to drink and noticed four young women sitting in one of the booths.  We could tell they weren't bar girls or Chinese which was a surprise for us having been in the Far East for over half a year and not seen any females but Asians.

I chose the tall one

We dared each other to go over and ask one to dance and I'd like to say it was me to be first but maybe not.  Anyway, we all ended up joining them in the booth, buying drinks, talking and separating which one we wanted from the others.  One thing led to another then we bought a couple of bottles of booze from the bar and proceeded outside to find a hotel, which was sort of next door.  Bought a room and went upstairs to continue flirtation to completion.  The girl I was with didn't want to get drunk and do the nasty so we went out on the fire escape and talked while my buddies serviced her girl friends.  We exchanged addresses and she and I corresponded for about a year until she went home to Pakistan and married some undeserving bozo.

Where was I, oh yes, rain and mud and humidity and Typhoons.  Currently a Typhoon has been devastating the Philippines and has brought back the afore written memories.