As busy as we were in Thule, the summer passed very quickly. The bad part about being up there was that there was absolutely no entertainment. We spent the entire time on our ship and even if we were permitted to go ashore, there was no place to go. By the end of summer the work crews had completed their living quarters and they were able to move from the ships into those newly constructed buildings. Someone had made a distance sign. We were closer to the north pole than anywhere else. Our ships quarters outside as well as the Chief's quarters got pretty dinged up from a summer of loading and unloading. The sun was setting every night now and preparations were under way for us start getting ready for the trip home. The favorite place for us to gather was in the ship's galley. It was always warm in there and we always had coffee going.
|
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
| 6426 Miles to Hollywood | Lots of nicks and scratches | Cleaning up getting ready to go | The Galley, our favorite spot |
We finally got word that the LSD we would be going back on was ready for us. There would be three LCU's riding piggy back to the states and we were the second in. This was the best spot as there was much more noise and rumbling from the LSD engines on the stern and really very dark in the front position.
We watched as the 658 came in behind us. The well deck of the LSD was lighted but it was still fairly dark inside. This is a pretty tricky operation if the sea is rough but fortunately for us, it was very calm. It was not very long before we were all in and the LSD crews began to chain us down for the long voyage home.
The only part about this that we did not like was having to eat in the LSD's galley. Being on an LCU was like having your own chef and you could get him to cook things the way you like them and we ate off plates and not the steel trays. The main thing though, was going home and everyone was anxious for that. |
|||
 |
|||
We got underway the next morning and not a minute too soon as the water had frozen over during the night. The LSD's moved a little faster than the LST we came up on. We were in open sea before long and churning foam behind us. We got about half way down Greenland and for reasons still unknown to me, we started heading towards land. There was a Fjord that went inland and we entered this inlet and went at least 50 miles. It was very steep on both sides and also very narrow, so much so that I wondered how we would get the ship turned around. We finally came to a spot that was like a large lake and the LSD Captain turned around and we headed back out, It was an unexpected diversion and I was very glad to see us headed back out into the open sea and once more heading south. It was shortly after we started south that an announcement came over the PA System that we were going to bypass the United States and head directly for Kingston, Jamaica where we would stay for two weeks. I suppose that the Navy figured we needed some rest and relaxation and although I was anxious to get back to the States, I was not unhappy with the decision to go there. |
|||
|
|||
|
The job we started in 1951 now looks like the picture you see below. Over 10,000 men and women man this base today year around. I can't imagine staying the winter in Thule but I suppose things up there are much different now. It still looks very bleak to me and I just checked the weather which shows a high of +13 and a low of - 3 degrees.
|
|||
