Memorial Day

To answer those who have emailed questions to the effect of "What's taking so long?", allow me to explain. Two weekends ago, I admit, I was not in Albany. I vacationed to Boston to visit an old friend from college. Last weekend, though I believe I made up for it, and will relate my activities.

Sunday I took one of my roommates, Koop, down to see SLATER, hoping to rope him into giving tours, or at the very least helping with restoration. I think my efforts will prove worthwhile, despite the fact that he probably won't want to put in the hours I do. I mean, let's face it, he does have a life. But while he was around, he insisted that I pose for a photo op. Despite my natural disinclination for the idea, I decided to go against my nature for the sake of this blog. Perhaps more photos such as these will follow, particularly since, after joining one of my tours Koop made the remark that, despite my volunteer status, I'm still an "overpaid ham".

I had been previously conned to stay that night for an overnight group of 24 Cub Scouts. Of course, the little detail of the number I was not aware of until the Scouts were there. Despite my original misgivings, the whole deal was not really as bad as it seemed at first. Truth be told, the worst part was the 4-hour security watch each of the two overnight crewmen had to stand, which means I got a 4-hour nap rather than a good night's sleep. The fact that they put me up in the XO's cabin managed to atone for this slight sacrifice. That Monday morning, we did some more activities with the Scouts, including morning colors. Before too long, they were all gone, and I was busy preparing for the ceremony that was to be held for Memorial Day.

First were the 3" shells. Well, not authentic ammunition, but a home-made series of blanks. SLATER was able to procure several 3" shell casings, three of which were cut down and drilled out so that instead of the primer, there is a hole in the bottom the same diameter as a 20-ga. shotgun shell. Cut off the shell itself and insert the brass, add about a cup of black powder, and top it off with a cardboard disc, and presto, from the Chief's mess come three home-made 3" blanks. After a Navy shower (cold & quick), I had to make the change. I had been recruited for colors detail.

I have yet to mention the Admiral. One of our volunteers is, well, a retired Rear Admiral (Upper Half). He prefers that we not fly his flag when he's not in uniform, but this being Memorial Day, he couldn't not be in uniform, and one of the other volunteers and I immediately beat it up to the chart room where all the spare flags are kept. In no time, we had the blue flag with the two white stars flying in the breeze. But as the brass kept arriving, one after another, I couldn't help but be overcome by a feeling of wondering what I had gotten myself into. Besides the two-star Admiral, we also had a Commander, two Lieutenant Commanders and a Warrant Officer from the Coast Guard on hand. It wasn't until later, when GM1 and ET2 arrived to bolster the ranks of the enlisted present, that I began to feel less like the little fish in a big pond. But, as it happened, the other two enlisted were to join me for colors detail, under command of the Warrant Officer (who has some very interesting and rather funny stories, if you ever run into Mr. Walker).

There's not too much to say about the ceremony, other than that it was nice, quite appropriate in that it was neither unbearably long, nor disrespectfully short. On top of that, there was a rather sizable crowd on hand, and the color guard, not to boast, performed flawlessly. Of course, it goes without saying that those three blanks that I helped manufacture were disposed of in a most appropriate manner.

In that a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll curtail the writing and let the photos do the rest.

(NOTE: I apologize for the crummy nature of the photo editing. I am neither a professional web designer, nor do I pretend to be. Your patience in this regard is appreciated.)

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Special thanks to all the nit-pickers who have nothing better to do than to comb through this blog and find the one, minor, insiginificant spelling mistake I made. I mean, seriously, I've been called on technical matters, and that's okay, because if I goof that up, then, yes, I want to be called on it, but, all kidding aside, a small error such as mistakenly typing "to" when I really meant "do", seriously, that's pushing it a little, don't you think? I mean, really?)

(PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The author is insane. Thanks for the catch.)

(TRANSLATOR'S NOTE: Ringraziamenti speciali a tutte le nit-raccoglitrici che non hanno più meglio niente fare che pettinarsi attraverso questo blog e trovare quello, minore, errore che insiginificant di ortografia ho fatto. Lo significo, seriamente, sono stato argomenti tecnici invitati e quello è giusto, perché se goof che su, allora, sì, io desiderano essere invitatgi, ma, interamente scherzando da parte, un piccolo errore come erroneamente battitura a macchina "a" quando realmente ho significato che "et", seriamente, che sta spingendola poco, non pensate? Significo, realmente?)