Love the Sand Pebbles too...the depiction of duty in China, the old swabbies, the way life was...sigh.
I never got to wear the Crackerjacks...had to wear Zumwalt’s Ice Cream vendor uniform!
I think of how it is now, and how it was then...I too was a small boat sailor beginning at age 10 in Yokosuka, Japan...just take a little dinghy out all by myself...
Good times!
Interesting. I met my wife in Sasebo where I was stationed ashore for 3 years. Had the time of my life in Nippon.