Morning at Sea - 1970

Morning at sea on WestPac 1970

I worked the night shift for some of the time aboard the USS Bon Homme Richard during the Vietnam War.  I remember taking a midnight break at the mess hall and chowing down on hush puppies with syrup and coffee with my shipmates. If we needed to go to the flight deck, we had to be especially careful because only red lighting was permitted. This was done to prevent night blindness, but  it was still easy to trip over a tie down chain.

Night Shift
Night Shift on the Bon Homme Richard

At the end of my shift I had the opportunity to watch the sunrise and observe the shifting light on the clouds and ocean.

Morning Sky
Morning Sky

Flight operations continued night and day when we were at Yankee Station

Helo Launch
Helicopter launch aboard the USS Bon Homme Richard
Morning Launch
Catapult steam after a morning launch
Morning at the flight deck
Morning on the flight deck

The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk played a key role as a carrier based fighter during the Vietnam War. I composed this photo as a silhouette.

Douglas A-4 Skyhawk
Douglas A-4 Skyhawk

A view of our destroyer escort

Morning Sky
Morning Sky