 from left - Dave/Barbara Finley; Jim/Pat Welch; Vic/Pat Gulliver; Arly/Ann Hamilton (click on the image for a larger version) |
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VP-2 Goes to Sea The first week of February of 2016 there was a mini-muster of VP-2. On board the Emerald Princess, sailing out of Fort Lauderdale were four members of our great organization and their spouses; Vic and Pat Gulliver, Jim and Pat Welch, Arley and Ann Hamilton, along with Dave and Barbara Finley. Being proud veterans of our fighting forces during the Cold War (we won the cold war for America), we early on assured the Captain of the ship that should problems develop, Vic has extensive piloting experience (and piloting a ship is not much different then piloting an A/C according to Vic) and the AT’s Jim, Arley and Dave could help if any of his electronics broke down that still have VACUUM tubes in them. Has it really been 58 years ?? This was an island hopping cruise of the eastern Caribbean with stops in Princess Cays in the Bahamas, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and Grand Turk. The sand was soft, the water warm, the company delightful, and the Princess Cruise line is undoubtedly ordering an emergency restocking of a certain Pinot Noir. As always during the dinners, adventures were remembered from times in training and deployments in Iwakuni and Kodiak. With Captain Gulliver present, sea stories maintained something similar to the truth (and we were ordered to believe the ones he told). As the tales unfolded, one of the dinner wait staff, Nadia, was continually raising her eyebrows and repeatedly looking at the mild mannered Arley Edgar Hamilton. In her Argentine accented english she would say “hem deed dat?”. We assured her it was all true. His wife Ann told her it was not. Twenty-two year old Nadia is confused about Americans at this point but is thinking of joining the Navy. We have done our recruiting duty. Had more of you been able to join us it would have been even better; and it was a lot of fun. Stay well, stay in touch and we’ll see you in Oak Harbor in August 2016! Dave and Barbara |