Underway, 1966

Editor's note: This poem was written by John Anthony Contes while he was in the Navy during the Vietnam War. Contes is a Cape Girardeau resident originally from New York City. He served in the Navy for six years. This poem has been published in various military and other publications.

Happy New Year's and Anchor's Aweigh!

This is the San Marcos, we're underway.

The new Year we started is just about right,

With our yard period finished, the SM is tight.

Our new Captain, Spielman, and XO

started us off with a shakedown

cruise to the Carib via Gitmo.

The Shakedown taught us what we should know,

About shipboard living, survival and so.

With our NBC warfare and atomic attacks,

The SM "can do" and "know how" showed no slack.

So through Guantanamo Bay shakedown we went,

Then on to liberty in Jamaica, West Indies, we spent.

The "Island in the sun" is what it's called,

Montego Bay, our liberty port, that wasn't all.

We found exciting, through rum and Coke

The Montego Bay, Jamaica, is no slowpoke.

Then homeward bound to Stateside again,

To Key West, Florida, for a weekend.

But not for long, We're the SAN MARCOS

Then on to Rota, Spain, naval station,

Another San Marcos routine operation.

Our liberty then was in Lisbon, Portugal,

The good-looking capital city of the nation.

Then we came to be in port,

And it wasn't long before we were caught,

This time to carry "Alvin" the H-bomb chaser,

To bring her home to Boston, Mass.

She did her bit for public relations.

A few weeks later, a surprise note in our P.O.D.

The USS "Old Ever-ready" the SM,

Was chosen for a five-month cruise,

In the Mediterranean Sea.

So to our mission, PHIBRON II was sent,

From June to December on landings

And liberty we spent.

On the beach party in Bomba, Libya, over there

The sailors, with the goats, camels and donkeys,

Was quite an affair.

Through Italy, Greece, Malta and Spain,

None of them were quite the same.

Some of these ports, our second time around,

For some old sailors know these towns.

The tours and liberty, the rest of us found,

Gave us more knowledge of this Old World ground

The wine festival in Patrai,

Vernon Club in Malta,

The PanAm in Barcelona,

And the wonderful time in Palma.

Through Naples, Taranto, and Genoa, too,

We finished our Med cruise,

1966, we're through.

Homeward bound now, over the Big Pond,

Little Creek, Va., our home port station.

We look forward to you -- Pier 58W

Continental U.S. our nation.

-- John Anthony Contes