Sea Stories

Got a Sea Story you want remembered?
Send it to me and I'll post it

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I received this as e-mail from Gemmy Brown, I do remember the alligator he captured and the Mardi Gras but guess I had too much of that strong coffee to remember the flag incident, Jerry.

Jerry ,
You and I served together in the Corry during my tour !949-1951. I was 1st Lt and Assistant Gunnery Officer under Lcdr Duffy and Lcdr Lamb. Cdr Mandelkorn was skipper and Lcdr McMurray was Exec.
I understand Jim sent you the Corry ball team photo I sent to him. I plan to dig out some more photos for you. Do you remember the alligator mascot I acquired in the Everglades during our Port Everglades visit. I turned it .. loose in Duffy's stateroom. We gave it to the "Survival exhibit" at Pensacola NAS after a few days. Do you also - remember that Corry set the shore bombardment record at Culebra in 1951 with a perfect score? Those were fun days. We also visited New Orleans at Mardi Gras. I had the 0400-0800 watch going upriver and flew a Confederate flag from the yardarm and wore a Confederate cap until the skipper came on deck and "suggested" that the fun was over since it was now daylight. He put up with a lot from me.
Regards,
Coleman T Brown Jr.
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Another good e-mail from Kelly

Hi,
I was stationed on the Corry in early 1961 through late 1963. It was the greatest experience of my life and I have never forgotten it. Was anyone there at that time? When I first came on board, the ship had a mascot, a cocker spaniel named "Mabel" Corry (with the ok of the Navy) who actually went to sea with us and had made a Med cruise too. As she got older and a little shaky, one of the crew took her home to his parents and she lived out her Naval career as a land pup. The Captain at that time was Harold W. Hiller who I had the opportunity to visit in New York many years after I was discharged. We had a great time talking about our experiences, sliding into an LSD while refueling at sea, the hurricane we rode out near Honduras and the Cuban missile crisis. The Corry was one of the first ships sent to Cuba then as we had been escorting a sub down to Florida and we were right there when the crisis broke open. I remember we were short about 25% of our crew. Our sister ship, The Charles P. Cecil tracked a Russian sub for a month finally forcing it to surface. The Captain sent up "may we assist you" flags and the story made Time Magazine. Would love to hear from anyone who remembers me. Thanks for a great website!
GW Kelly GM3, [email protected]

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