Don,Thats a great find youhave there.By the way,is there still a Navy base at Charleston,SC.? When I first reported for duty aboard ship she was in drydock there,after a med cruise that ended with her having a damaged prop due to one of her lcvp`s crashing into it.As a result I and the rest of the crew
were bunked for 2 1/2 months from Feb. to Apr. of 1953 onboard a floating barracks.All because the Navy decided since she was in drydock anyway
for the prop replacement why not go ahead and replace the original steam plant with a new steam turbine,which they did.That entailed a lot of work,
including removal of the funnel.We were not allowed to go aboard until she was floated again.
Charleston S.C. was the best liberty any swabbie could get,as the people down there were very friendly to servicemen,unlike Great Lakes or Norfolk,VA.
They would go out of thier way to accommodate you,for instance if you ran out of gas,they would help you out.One time I had borrowed a civilians car and
with his permission was driving it with three other swabbies onto one of the beaches there,when it suddenly became mired in the soft ,wet sand.We
couldn`t believe it when from one of the homes on the beachfront comes a guy with two long 12 ' planks and says "After you fella`s dig under the back tires and push the car onto the planks,when she starts to reverse give her the gun,and return my planks, please,`cause this happens all the time." I have
never forgotten Charlston,S.C. and I hope it never changes.After all repairs were completed and test runs were made, we picked up a battalion of Marines
and were heading to Korea when we were recalled outside the Panama Canal due to a truce agreement..

Charlie</p>