San Diego - Navy Reunion

Smitty and Joe were going to a Reunion in San Diego with their squadron from Whidby Island VA 55. It was going to take place on the Midway. Willie Hall was also going to come over from Phoenix to meet them there and it was a perfect way for me to start this cross country road trip. Those of us who served together in VA 23 aboard the Oriskany had a reunion within a reunion. We had a great time catching up, eating, drinking and a lot of talking and laughing. I met two more of their old Navy friends; Doug from Illinois and John from Oregon. I had heard many stories about both of them and was glad to meet them because John died in his sleep just months after the reunion. 

John Deskin was our grill master and did a great job with the chicken. The Air BnB we stayed in had the first elevator in San Diego and was actually owned by Wyatt Earp at one time. Quite an historic place. 

I found a race in San Diego to do while I was there and it would be the first of seven in seven states including three I hadn’t raced in yet. 

We toured the Midway that afternoon and the most exciting part for me was being able to take a picture with Smitty, Joe and Willie in front of an A4 that we had actually physically worked on during the Vietnam war. 

Our final day there we went to Cabrillo National Monument after I had a good huevos rancheros breakfast. 

Then we went and visited where we all went to boot camp and while none of us had been in the same company in boot camp we had a lot of common memories. 

There will be more about boot camp later in this blog. I left early the next morning and was surprised to have to drive through near white out conditions leaving California. I was going to drive to Las Cruces before heading to my next visit.