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U. S. Navy Sea Stories
| Ship: | Who Added: | When Added: |
| USS Providence CLG-6 67-71 | Ray Plumlee | 02.08.04 |
SewNameOnLeftBreastPLUMLEE |
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Have you ever had your name misspelled, mispronounced or changed in some funny way? Well, I have had mine mutilated so bad that it has allowed me many humorous retelling's of the event. While serving in the Navy during the sixties in Japan, I bought a new uniform work jacket. More than the uniform regulation required, sailors at the time had their names embroidered on the left breast of their jackets. In those days in Japan the Navy base tailor had a mobile tailor shop in the back of a small truck. This truck would come on the pier next to the ship twice a week. With my new jacket in hand I went out to the tailors' truck and filled out a ticket for tailoring service. On this ticket I wrote "Sew name on left breast PLUMLEE." The little old Japanese lady took my ticket and jacket and said come back Thursday. When Thursday came I went out to get my jacket from the tailor and to my surprise my new jacket had a word embroidered that stretched from the zipper to the left arm pit. At first I could not recognize the word. Then suddenly I understood. It said "SEWNAMEONLEFTBREASTPLUMLEE." At first I was abhorred. I cannot wear this with my uniform. Then the humor of it all finally hit me. I do not think I have ever had a bigger laugh. Whenever I wore that jacket, all eyes went to my name. Soon after the ship left port I was standing watches on the bridge. The bridge is the eyes, ears and brains of the ship and is where the Captain spends most of his time. As fate would have it, the Captain saw this string of letters across my left breast and signaled me over to him. He said "son is that your name?" Somewhat embarrassed and a little worried that I might be in trouble, I told him the story. At first he said nothing then a big grin broke out on his face and he said "son that is the funniest story I've heard in years." As the years went by I had nearly forgotten this story. Then, twenty years later, I was attending a Naval Shipyard conference in Norfolk, Virginia when a gentleman in civilian clothes came up to me and said Commander Plumlee are you "SEWNAMEONLEFTBREASTPLUMLEE?" He was a retired Chief Petty Officer who had worked in the shop next to mine. So have you ever had your name mutilated as badly as I have or had as much fun with it? |
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[ USS Oklahoma City CLG-5 ] [ USS Providence CLG-6 ] [ USS Goldsborough DDG-20 ]
[ USS Norton Sound AVM-1 ]
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Navy Related Photo Album
[ Some of Ray's former Shipmates ] [ USS Providence CLG-6 ] [ USS Norton Sound AVM-1 ]More to come.
