No Such Place

Chuck and Wilbur (Red) joined the United States Navy on December 18, 1947.  Both went to Basic Training at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, and then on to Submarine School at New London, Ct.

USS Guavina SS 362

USS Guavina Insignia Patch

After finishing Sub School Chuck got orders and was sent to the West Coast; his first duty station was The USS Guavina SS 362 at Mare Island near Vallejo. She was in the yard for an overhaul.

A Boat in Dry Dock

I am not sure where Wilbur’s orders sent him to, and it was about twelve years before they saw each other again when both were stationed on different Boats in Key West.

He got off the bus and caught a cab. The cabbie says, “Where do you wanna go?”  He told the driver, “I wanna go to Valley Jo, California.”  Cabbie says, “There ain’t no such place as Valley Jo, California.”

Chuck answered him, “I know damn well there is, I've got a set of orders right here from the United States Navy that says there is, look right here, as he showed him his order’s he pointed out each letter to the driver, V-a-l-l-e-j-o, if that ain’t Valley Jo, I’ll kiss you’re a**!”

The cab driver laughed and informed him as to how the word is correctly pronounced, Va-lay-o.  Chuck was a little embarrassed at his ignorance, but he never forgot the pronunciation of it again after that lesson.

Most guys are so young when they enlist in the Military they aren't even dry behind the ears yet, and many are naive having never been away from home or out of their own element before. But most are quick learners; they absolutely have to be in order to survive.

Chuck loved boxing, and at some point while he was stationed on the west coast he decided he wanted to try his hand at it. He trained and boxed in the featherweight division of ‘The Golden Gloves’ the amateur boxing association. 

Golden Gloves

He had four fights, and won all four fights by a knock-out during the short time that he boxed in competition in the ‘Golden Gloves’.

He said, “The last guy I fought broke me from wanting to box, even though I won the match I only hit him once in four rounds, and I knocked him out with that one punch. And at first I thought I had killed him  I saw his eyes glaze and I reached out and caught him and laid him down.”

He said, “I really did some heavy duty thinking before I decided to give it up, but I thought to myself, I saw nothing but leather for four rounds; he was that fast, he couldn't hit hard enough to really hurt me. But he had cut my skin with little nicks all over my upper body enough; so that I was as bloody as a stuck pig!

And I thought one day, I will eventually meet a man who can hit as fast as he can, and as hard as I can, and that guy will kill me, so I gave it up.”  Chuck’s punch was about the same as being kicked by a Missouri mule.