Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Cold in San Francisco

When the USS Pickens was on Magic Carpet duty (bringing troops home) we spent only a few days in San Francisco each trip, just long enough to take on supplies and do needed maintenance.  One day it became my job to meet all crew members returning from liberty and instruct them how to get to the particular Moore's Dry Dock pier the ship had moved to.

I've sometimes said the coldest I have ever been was in August in Frisco.  I was wearing a pea coat, that heavy woolen garment that restricted your movements but failed to keep you warm.  Once I read an article that suggested the navy replace the pea coat with a leather jacked that provided protection from cold and rain.

Within a few miles of San Francisco the temperature can reach a 100 while at the waterfront it is cold, especially early in the morning when fog rolls in.

If my memory is anywhere near right, I had to suffer until 7 a.m., when liberty ended.

Each trip end was a pleasure for some of the crew as their points had accumulated to the amount qualifying them for discharge.  I was so far from that point I refused to think about it.

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