Thanksgiving in 1968 was almost a week later than this year’s holiday. The fourth Thursday in November fell on the 28th 50 years ago.
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UPDATE: Lenny Borg recalls a special Thanksgiving liberty, which was, apparently, a long weekend. His report: “I was invited to spend Thanksgiving at the home of Gini Solomon and her parents near Groton, Conn., where Mr. Solomon was in charge of research for Pfizer. Gini was the amazingly cute squeeze of Tom Matter, a friend of mine from Vanderbilt who had quite a way with the ladies. Joining Gini and me would be Barham Ray and my long-time girlfriend from Dallas. Barham, another close friend from Vanderbilt, was also in Alpha Company but a class or two ahead of us. As we hadn’t seen an attractive girl since reporting to OCS two months before, the thought of being around those two beauties all weekend sounded like paradise.
“On Wednesday or Thursday of that week I committed the unpardonable sin of compromising my piece. That consisted of failing to lock a flimsy metallic locker, thereby exposing a disabled WWII-vintage rifle to the first eager spy who could scale the fences and bypass the armed sentries long enough to steal it and spirit it back to the Soviet Union.
“The question was whether gigs would be issued soon enough to condemn me to marching on the grinder for all of Thanksgiving weekend. Chief Sheppard probably slowed down the processing of my infraction intentionally so that I could slip away for the holiday. He tried not to show it, but he seemed to have a heart of gold.
“The Solomons did not disappoint! Our first feast was served by Mrs. Solomon. When I raved about the meat dish – and everything else on the table – Mrs. Solomon admitted that she had to beg the town’s leading butcher to obtain that special cut. At another meal, we dined on lobster in the historic Lighthouse Inn Restaurant in New London, while viewing waves as they lapped against the rocks below. The food didn’t taste remotely like the fare in dining hall at OCS. And we didn’t have to line up in formation outside in the cold until everyone in the company arrived.
“After being continually berated for gig lines that weren’t straight, beds that failed to bounce a quarter, and shoes whose toes didn’t sparkle, it was heaven to be treated so kindly at every turn by Mr. and Mrs. Solomon and two lovely young girls.”
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Bob Hamilton suggests we did not have a holiday break at OCS, which sounds right. At least nothing extensive, as we would later have for Christmas. We likely had “the day off,” meaning it was holiday routine (and I expect that was principally so that NAVOCS staff could be home with families). We also likely had turkey and all the fixin’s for dinner. In my experience, the Navy generally did all right with holiday meals.
As was the case with many others, it was the first of three Thanksgivings in a row I did not spend with family at home. The following year, 1969, I was deployed in WESTPAC and I was in Coronado, Calif., in 1970.
Best wishes to all our classmates and shipmates for a wonderful Thanksgiving this year with families and friends.