6
PACIFIC OCEAN
1We left port aboard the heavy cruiser Charlotte on March 23rd. The boys were pretty gung-ho to kill every Jap in the Pacific, eat a slice of apple pie in downtown Tokyo, and then stick the fork in some sweet yellow tail. I had never been on open water. Settin’ and checkin’ jug lines on the Tennessee River was about it for me. Didn’t get sick a lick, though. Plenty of other guys were givin’ up their lunches day after day, livin’ on the rail. Slept like a rock the first night in my rack. Something about that gentle sway settled into my bones and relaxed me. I figured right off I had picked the absolute best route to navigate my a*s through this war. I even had some rules I had made for myself that I kept written in pencil on an old envelope in my back pocket: keep to yours
