By Frank X. Moraga / Amigos805
It was a cool, foggy evening when our bus finally arrived at the U.S. Naval Recruit Training Center in San Diego. We had just witnessed a bunch of Marine recruits being dropped off at their training base next door. Immediately, the drill sergeant starting yelling at these “useless worms,” telling them their soft civilian life was over and ordering them to grab their gear and run double-time to their barracks. For us, the Navy recruits who remained on the bus, a look of utter shock spread throughout the group, with all of us wondering what was in store for us during the next couple of months of training before they shipped us out to parts unknown worldwide. What followed: My long hippie hair was shaved off to the nubs; I was told to jump off the 5-meter board into a cold swimming pool to see if I could survive a sinking ship; I had to go into the tear gas chamber to see if I could get my gas mask on before I teared up and coughed my lungs out, and I marched around the parade grounds – “The Grinder” – for endless hours at a time listening to the commander of Company 173, a young man of short stature but with a booming voice who sounded oddly like Popeye the Sailor Man.
No, it was not a hoot. It was tough to be away from home for the first time — probably not as rough as the training received by the Army and Marine recruits, but tough enough.
Frank Moreno — U.S. Army
Today, I think back of my great uncle from Piru — Frank Moreno — who in 1917 boarded a train down to the U.S. Army base at Fort Kearney, now known as the Miramar Naval Air Station near San Diego. He must have also felt all alone in his own large company of men from around the state. Soon he would embark on a train eastward, load up on a troop transport ship in New Jersey and head out to the battlefields of Europe where he served as a replacement member for a 75mm gun crew for the 155th Field Artillery Battalion in the closing days of World War I. My U.S. Navy travels also took me to the far reaches of the globe, endless days sailing the hot and shimmering Indian Ocean, to Bandar Abbas, Iran; Karachi, Pakistan; Singapore, Hong Kong, Subic Bay, Philippines; Yokosuka, Japan and finally back to San Francisco and home port in Bremerton,Washington.
For veterans of any era, the boot camp training is tough, the hurry-up-and wait travel is monotonous and the dangers are downright real — I was once almost dragged overboard by an unwatched line behind me during a typhoon in the South China Sea. But like many veterans, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. The memories of being young, feeling invincible, seeing exotic lands are something we wouldn’t have experienced if we had gone straight to college or the regular civilian workforce.
As I prepare to light the candles of my altar / ofrenda for the upcoming Día de los Muertos celebrations, I look at the photo of my great uncle and also think about all the veterans who gave a few important years of their lives to render service in the U.S. Armed Forces. Let’s remember them as Veterans Day approaches on Nov. 11 by placing their photos on our ofrendas, waving at and saluting them at upcoming parades and offering prayers of thanks to their sacrifice.
Upcoming events —
- Santa Barbara Veterans Day Parade begins at noon Sunday, Nov. 8. Starts at 1400 State St. Visit http://www.pierreclaeyssensveteransfoundation.com/veterans-day-weekend for details on this and other upcoming events.
- The Oxnard Veterans Day Celebration is traditionally held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11 at the Veterans Memorial at Plaza Park. Check http://www.oxnardnews.org for the latest information.
— Frank X. Moraga is editor/publisher of Amigos805. He has served as business editor, director of diversity and general manager of a bilingual publication at the Ventura County Star, and as a reporter in the community editions of the Orange County Register and Los Angeles Daily News.