Joe Sanes served his country during wartime for six years and survived a torpedo sinking his ship — all before he graduated boot camp. Sanes, a World War II veteran, officially graduated from boot camp on June 14, more than 70 years after he enlisted in the Navy, a Navy release said. The young sailor had only been in boot camp for four weeks in 1941 when Pearl Harbor was bombed; he was immediately assigned to the destroyer Hammann, never graduating. “After 72 years, I am proud and happy to be a part of this graduation,” the 91-year-old said in…
Browsing: The Old Salt
Ernie Borgnine was the reason I joined the Navy, though I didn’t meet him until 2003 at the Navy Memorial in downtown Washington, D.C. As a child growing up in the 1960s, one of my favorite television shows was “McHale’s Navy,” with Borgnine playing the part of Lt. Cmdr. Quentin McHale, drawing from his own experiences in nearly 10 years on active duty. “Doing that show was very much like being back in the Navy for me,” Borgnine said. “And like being part of a ship’s crew, we really became very close doing that show and many of us stayed…
By custom, the surface warfare officer with the earliest Officer of the Deck qualification is recognized as the Navy’s “Old Salt” — an award initiated in 1988 by the Surface Navy Association. On Friday, that distinction will be bestowed on Adm. John Harvey, commander of Fleet Forces Command, in a ceremony aboard the amphibious transport dock ship San Antonio at Naval Station Norfolk. The current Old Salt is the recently retired Adm. Mike Mullen, who stepped back into civilian life Sept. 30 following four years as the nation’s top military officer and 43 years of service. There was no interim…
