Well it all stated for me when I entered submarine school. The war in Vietnam was heating up and flower children had taken to the streets, at least those who had not run to Canada. My first billet, after leaving sub school on February 12,1964 was the USS Pomfret (SS 391). I enjoyed a year and one half there, met Joe Burrage who was later to become the COB "Chief of the Boat" on the Trieste, earned my Dolphins, made 2nd Class Petty Officer and decided to volunteer for an assignment at the Naval Electronics Laboratory in San Diego California. I have to admit that it was not because I wanted to become involved or out of a sense of patriotism, because the dispatch I read didn't say what I would be doing or what the mission was. It might have been the rumor that the reason we were in the ship yard was to outfit the Pomfret with a 106 recoilless rifle to attack junks off the Vietnam coast, which seemed like a bad idea to me, at least for the poor swabs who would have to hit the deck running and hope they could get the gun operational while the folks on the junk were trying to discourage their efforts with automatic 50 cal fire and anything else at hand. This and the strong suspicion that I might be one of those on deck. (I had qualified expert on the jeep mounted 106 in my short stay in the U.S. Army at Fort Ord California,--but that is another story). I was concerned that fate was eying me unkindly so I broke that cardinal rule and volunteered. I have never regretted it and the Pomfret was never sent to Vietnam.

The official story of our mission was the training of deep submergence rescue vehicle operators and to map the continental shelf. We didn't do much of that but we did receive lots of training on the latest underwater electronics equipment. I recall once asking one of our instructors why we always trained on equipment with the serial number 02 and wanted to know where the first one was. I only got a startled look. I now know that serial number 01 was waiting in the other Trieste II for us to complete the testing and evaluation of that equipment for use in operations less visible than ours. During testing, in the summer of 1965, we were looking forward to a test dive off San Clemente Island when we got word that the mission might be scrubbed due to an inoperable radar on the tow/support ship. The night before the departure date I was on duty and went down to shoot some pool but the PX was full and the tables booked so I decided to walk down to the pier to see if there had been any sucess in the repairs. There had not been and they had concluded that they would have to go into the shipyard for repairs. I convinced the watch to ask the duty officer to allow me to look at the radar and he consented because I was from the Triest/Naval Electronics Lab. The next morning we got under way with the radar operational and I was eager to participate in my first mission. On the second dive I was asked if I wanted to make the dive and immediatly accepted. I was surprised to be asked since there were many others with more time on the Trieste than I and the Trieste would normally accomodate only two passengers and a pilot, normally all only officers. I had the unique opportunity to dive to the ocean bottom off San Clemente Island with Commander Shumaker and a visiting officer whose name I have forgotten. I later learned that I had been rewarded for repairing the radar and was given a commendation and a Dive Certificate.