Dear Abby, a West-Pac Cruise, and a Memorable Story
I often repeat favorite stories. When I ask, “Have I told you about X?” a common reply is, “Yes, about a half-dozen times.” It doesn’t always stop me from sharing again. I recently surprised my wife Jean with a story she had never heard.
Missing Christmas
When my friend Peter told me his 27-year old daughter wouldn’t be home for Christmas this year, I commiserated. I “missed Christmas” myself as a 24-year old sailor, and therein lies the story. I enlisted in the U.S. Navy in August 1984, in the waning years of the Cold War. Despite being 2500 miles from my East Coast hometown at a West Coast duty station, I spent each of the first three Christmases with my family.
USS Ranger Flight Deck Duty
1987 was different. My shipmates and I spent parts or the entirety of 11 months at sea. In an April letter home I wrote, “I figured out we’ll be deployed 263 of the 365 days in 1987.” I was an aviation electrician’s mate in a squadron flying S-3 Vikings stationed at NAS North Island, and attached to Carrier Air Wing 2 aboard USS Ranger (CV-61). Aircraft carrier flight deck duty was intense, an equally dangerous and rewarding experience. While at sea we worked 12 hours on/12 off, 7 days a week. In those days before e-mail and cell phones, news was spotty, and mail deliveries became more inconsistent the farther we ventured from friendly ports.
Operation ‘Earnest Will”
Our extended 1987 Western Pacific (West-Pac) cruise began in July. Ranger was steaming toward the Indian Ocean and North Arabian Sea to provide 24-hour air and command support for operation “Earnest Will,” during which the U.S. Navy provided protection for re-flagged Kuwaiti tankers through the Straits of Hormuz and in the Persian Gulf. Numerous incidents made headlines in the mainland U.S.
Operation “Dear Abby”
Jean asked me to tell the story to our 26-year old son. “Back in the day,” I began, tongue slightly in cheek, “there were these things called newspapers.” In response to the headlines of the dangers faced by servicemembers in and beyond the Persian Gulf, advice columnist Abigail Van Buren, syndicated in hundreds of newspapers across the country, asked her readers for help.
In her December 1 column Abby wrote, “Readers, start writing now. Send as many cards and letters as you can.” Listed first among six addresses was that of my ship, USS Ranger. With more than 5000 men aboard Ranger, I recall personally opening more than a dozen Christmas letters, replying to three or four. Extending the math would work to 60,000+ letters, plus however many more may have been forwarded to sailors aboard the 14 smaller ships in Ranger’s battlegroup. The men usually requested letters written from their home states, those boasting feminine handwriting being particularly popular.
Ranger’s Response
Abby was slightly misinformed, as Ranger was not in the Indian Ocean at Christmas, having been relieved in November by the USS Midway (CV-41). By Christmas Day we were in the Pacific, beyond Hawaii and five days out of San Diego. I was able to decorate the squadron workshop and arrange a “Secret Santa” gift exchange. In the meantime, the ship’s public affairs office organized a memorable response to the morale-boosting letter campaign.
I remember being one of the men at the top of an “R” in “RANGER,” perhaps the second one. I did not remember exactly when the photo was taken. The caption above places the date as Monday, December 21, 1987. Some 10-15 years ago I found the image posted to the San Diego Air and Space Museum online photos collection without explanation. I was able to tell them the approximate when and why, and this too inspired Jean. She purchased a post card of the image as a gift, depicted below.
Home at Last
We moored at NAS North Island on December 30, thankful to be back in America, and thankful for the overwhelming response to the Operation Dear Abby campaign from our fellow citizens. I flew home in February 1988 to spend time with my family, and to share my favorite stories. Today, I share this one with you. Stop me if you’ve already heard it.
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