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USS McDermut 1951, USS Oklahoma 1921

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Written by a sailor serving aboard the USS Mcdermut, during the Korean War, in 1951. From the letter……It’s really been hot over here for the past week. I never sweated so much in all my life. Yesterday and today we were handling stores and ammo. The small arms men handled all the ammo today there were only four of us that carried the small arms aboard. And we worked from 7:30 in the morning till 3 this afternoon. The boxes weighed 67 lbs. apiece and we carried them from back aft all the way up forward. And stowed them in the small arms ammo compartment. It is 3 decks down. Then I went over on the tender and stood in a line one hour for some Gedunk. That is ice cream. And when I cam back I was on a working party handling stores.
I am up on the O-1 deck catching what little breeze there is an writing this letter. I received a letter from you today and was glad to get one after working all morning…….We pull out tomorrow and I am sort of glad. I think I would like to be at sea again for awhile. We don’t have as much work to do. But we don’t get as much sleep. And stand a lot of watches……The ship looks in good shape again. It is all painted and ready to go. I was ashore again yesterday after working hours. Jackson came back and asked me if I wanted any money. He gave me three bucks so I got 1080 yen and went ashore. That is the last liberty in this place. And I don’t care if I never see this place again. All I want to see is the states……..We are docked out in the bay about a mile and as soon as we got close to the shore you can smell it. But I still like to get off the ship when I can……I saw our old Chief today. He is on the Tingey docked right next to us. Every time he see’s me he talks to me……..The latest scuddle butt. We are going to Okinawa, then Formosa, Hong Kong, and I don’t know where else………

Written by a sailor serving aboard the USS Oklahoma, in 1921. From the letter……If there’s anything I dread, it’s becoming tied down to routine work in an office, and even though I will have had four years, “seeing the world”, travel will always be attractive…….We are commencing our target practices now, and expect to have everything finished in two weeks. The navy isn’t doing the amount of firing it did last year in fact it’s in a condition often called dead broke……Did you know that since January there have been no promotions permitted either to officers or men? Probably by July, things will be better, but right now friend Josephus has left us in more or less of a hole……The nights, about 12 o’clock, become very chilly, causing quite a few colds aboard the ship. Go to sleep, so hot no blankets could be wanted at all, and wake up in a few hours, fairly shivering………..

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USS Oklahoma, January, 1920