1961 The Jungles of SouthEast Asia
Just a walk in the jungle |
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) |
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 |
Floating restaurant |
Sea bugs are scary |
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.
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 bar in the Wan Chai district |
I chose the tall one |
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.
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