Guest writer from the ships paper...

Soldier’s Angels: A Touching Opportunity for True

By Mass Communication Specialist
Seaman Adrian J. Escobar

Fire Controlman (SW/AW) 1st Class Dennis True browsed the Soldiers’ Angels website late November in search of care packages for Sailors aboard IKE. The next month, he was contacted by Janice Parker, an intern working on her master’s degree in social work at Willamette View, a retirement community north of Milwaukee.
Wanting to find a way to encourage residents in the assisted-living wing to socialize, she found him through Soldiers’ Angels. Soldiers’ Angels is an international organization that provides aide and comfort to the men and women service members and their families.
Parker asked True if he would be interested in being a pen-pal to a group of seven retirees at the retirement center. Without hesitation, True accepted.
“This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get to know people and hear their stories from a completely different time era,” said True.
Shortly thereafter, True was adopted into the Soldiers’ Angels foundation and received his first letter. Since then, he has received a total of 127 packages and over 250 letters.
“Two men out of the group happened to be veteran Sailors,” said True. “Each one had a 1944 Shellback certificate.”
True received letters of personal accounts during the Depression and World War II, as well as general stories from the 60s. He was told stories of their children,
husbands and wives. He also shared stories of his own, and was able to jog memories of Paul Gillette, a 91 year-old member of the center.
“I sent him a story of my travel through Cyprus [the post below this one]that reminded him he had hitchhiked from Chicago to Yellow Stone when he was between the ages of 18 and 19,” said True. “He was then able to share that forgotten memory with his family for the first time.”
Due to the great response in the group, Jim Mertz, Willamette View’s chief executive officer, extended to True and his wife, Marjorie, an expense-free invitation to meet the group for the first time. He felt it was important for the pen-pals to meet. True was greeted with warmth and lots of smiles during his visit.
“I had lunch with the Angels and gave a power point presentation about the deployment,” said True. “It was a moving experience to meet them in person, and I will cherish it forever.

Musing #4

The Walk or Why You Never Trust a Local...

The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower had just anchored off the coast of Limissol Cyprus. After riding in on the Liberty Boat, I was on the beach and looking forward to getting to the hotel room that a group of us were going to stay in while we were there. After taking the contracted bus to the second of the pre-designated stops, four of the six people that were all headed to the Grand Hawaii Hotel got off the bus.
First, we had to wait on the rest of the group, so we decided to split up; the other two went on to the hotel. My liberty buddy, Tracy and I agreed we would wait on the others in the liberty party. We remained in the vicinity of the bus stop watching for the others. After about an hour and 17 busses later we decided that we must have missed them in the crowds getting off the bus.
This is where the fun and our story really begins.

We decided to head out. We had the free tourist maps of Limissol that were being passed out as soon as we were on shore. We saw our hotel on the map just outside the “magnified area” on the map and we were already half way there according to our map. Looked like about one mile maybe one and a half. No problem we will be there in no time. The “ever conscious me” even stepped into a gift shop and asked “How far was the Grand Hawaii Hotel?”
“Oh it is not too far just a little ways up the road, only about two Kilometers or so.” The shopkeeper cheerfully replied, undoubtedly hoping for a fast sale of some trinket. I did purchase a large bottle of water, both to say thank you and because a seasoned traveler always keeps well hydrated.
With new found confidence that the hotel was “just up the road” we headed out. We started out enjoying the scenery. We walked along the beach where we both agreed the local scenery was to our liking. The attire of the beach going crowd kept our spirits up. There is just something about topless beaches and sailors just getting ashore, always a great way to take your mind off the walk.
I checked the map periodically to see our progress; we are trekking along quite nicely. We are making significant progress along the “magnified” portion of the map. One mile down and only about a half a mile more to go, right?
Wrong.
We started looking around and the area was getting less and less touristy and more and more remote. Gone were the beaches filled with people replaced now with weeds and rocky shores. Not being overly concerned (yet) but still not seeing the hotel. I notice that the wind has picked up, the sun is gone, the water has transformed from a beautiful tranquil green to an ominous choppy dark green/inky black and dark clouds are rolling in (now I am starting to get a bit concerned). There is no easy shelter in sight as the first fat raindrops start to fall. We quicken our step a bit around the bend, ahead we see it - no not the hotel - rather a little apartment complex that has a wonderful covered alcove. Whew, just in the nick of time we duck in, at that same moment the sky opens up and a huge gully-washer (downpour for those non southern readers) is upon us.
After about 20 minutes of studying the map and looking for a legend, attempting to reassess our current location, and still not finding one. I can see that we are outside the “magnified” area on the map. It appears that we are right on top of the hotel or at worst it should be just around the next turn in the road. We have already traveled best guess over two and a half miles. I honestly have no idea how far the hotel is at this point. Being the “seasoned sailors” that we are, a little rain, now muddy road, and lack of landmarks on a map won’t stop us! We head back out only slightly worse for wear.
Onward Ho! Now passing the estimated three mile mark.
Each bend seems like it will be the one. We come across some beautiful ruins that were being excavated. Here I am trying to walk and get some pictures of the ancient columns and building foundations. SPLASH! Oops! Yuck! I step in a huge mud puddle, in the muck up to my knees. Now my feet are completely soaked and my shoes are almost twice as heavy from all the mud now hitching a free ride. Our sprits are sinking with each and every step. Adding insult to injury the sidewalk ends and it would appear that we are going to have to travel on the side of a very narrow two lane road. After just a few steps I spy a wooden walkway on the other side of the road. Carefully we cross the road, seems simple enough, right? Except for the fact that the Cyprian’s drive on the opposite side of the road so you are have to look the opposite from what we are used to.
We make it on to the walkway with out incident, other than an upset local that let us know his frustrations with his horn and a few choice words which neither of us understood. As we walk along the beach the sun has once again started to shine and my shoes are shedding off the now caking mud. Things are once again looking up but still no Grand Hawaii Hotel.
The walkway changes to a beaten path after about half a mile. About a quarter mile ahead I see some buildings that look like hotels and I mention this to Tracy we quicken our step. Moving forward the anticipation builds, we are thinking this has got to be our hotel. Lo and behold our Mecca, we finally have arrived at the Grand Hawaii Hotel.
Dragging our tired yet relived butt’s inside, we spy the rest of our party sitting in the bar relaxing. They look us over and you can just see in their faces the questions like “Where in the hell have you been?” and “What happened to you guys?” We summarize our events, everyone started to chuckle and tell us that they had all caught a cab, because who ever they had asked said it was way too far to walk. Slightly frustrated and feeling rather icky, I headed for the room for a long hot shower and a change of clothes.
I have learned a valuable lesson during this course of events. Never trust a local, rather ask around to make sure you have good information and for Pete’s sake Never, Never, Never (yes, I said it three times) trust a free tourist map, spend a few bucks and get a real map. The journey was lovely, aside from a few minor mishaps. I will look back on my trip to Cyprus fondly for years to come. I am now wiser and more wary of the seemingly innocent events that led up to one heck of a walk.
Just in case you were wondering, when I took a cab the next day back down to the bus stop area of Limissol checking the odometer I discovered that we had actually walked around ten kilometers or roughly six miles.
Thinking back to the shopkeeper, maybe he did say ten kilometers and not two. We may never know for sure.