Liberties

Remember the difference between “liberty” and “leave”? Liberty was authorized absence, for relatively short periods of time, whereas leave was for a longer period of time and was charged against your annual allocation. I expect we were granted liberty at OCS and not leave, even for the extended Christmas break.

Our usual liberty was maybe 30 hours, extending from our release around midday Saturdays until 1800 Sundays (it might have been a bit longer for “white-name-taggers,” who also had a weekday night).

On the first liberty we had, which was probably on the order of two weeks after we arrived (maybe longer), I wasn’t that surprised that the battery in my 1965 Sunbeam Tiger, which had sat in an outdoor parking area since arriving, was dead. I was probably surprised that the same thing happened a week later and, I believe, each Saturday I sought to leave OCS. By the second or third weekend liberty, the local AAA service station already knew I would be calling for a start and where the car was.

Finally on the road, I often drove up to Providence, R.I., where a BC classmate and friend lived while attending grad school at Brown. I think most often I simply crashed there for a brief nap, so I could then head up to Boston.

I think most of my attention during those brief hours in the civilian world was aimed at food and drink, and probably mostly the latter. I “recall” being at the Tam O’Shanter Room in Brookline, Mass., the Boston College hangout and where I had had my first legal drink the year before, on a liberty Saturday night. I was wearing my uniform. We were supposed to. 🙂 As I left the bar that night, likely assisted by my companions, either I or the crowd at the bar began chanting, “Remember the Pueblo! Remember the Pueblo!” and I saluted them all by waving my cover.

Liberty also gave us a chance to spend some of that money burning a hole in our pockets. Heck, our lodgings, clothing, and food were free. What else were we going to do with that $226.20 we were paid each month as Officer Candidates? (I remember Harvey Katz looking at his first check in the Navy and exclaiming that the total was less than the deductions taken from his pay as a civilian.)

Memories from some other A6903ers

Lenny Borg: Besides a great Thanksgiving weekend, the only other liberty I can recall was a trip to a ski resort in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It required such a long drive that, exhausted as we were at the end of a week, it began to seem that our destination was a bridge too far. It was soon so dark that none of the terrain was visible except for the shadowy silhouettes of mountains that finally began appearing on either side of the road. Nevertheless, it all seemed worthwhile when, on the next morning, I parted the curtains and gasped with wonder at the picturesque scene of skiers barreling down the mountain right at me. For a Georgia Cracker who had never set foot on skis, that sight was dazzling.

Bob Hamilton: I was with you on the ski trip, Lenny. It was beautiful. I remember that we had to wear our OCS uniforms and, when we were on the elevator at the hotel, someone got on and thought I was the elevator boy. They told me the floor they wanted and I responded.

Dennis Greenspon: I remember being picked up in one of those local Newport bars by a girl going to school in Newport. I thought I was really cool and feeling quite “studly” and full of myself. Until the night I told her that I was taking my old college girlfriend to our graduation ball. She got up from the table, told me that the only reason she went out with me was so she could go to the ball. Apparently that was something the local girls wanted to do very badly.  They all knew we were there for only about four months, and they would never see us again.

Don Cockrill: One popular routine was to head for the main “O Club” (which was quite nice) for a world-class buffet, drink too much, go back to the dorm to sleep it off, arise, go into town, and repeat the entire process. The one popular watering hole I recall was “The Tavern” in downtown Newport. There was a nice hotel in town (name not recalled) where dances were held on Saturday night and the local working girls as well as the Salve Regina coeds would congregate to meet the OCS cadets of their dreams. A UVa law classmate of mine, who was a month ahead, actually met his future wife at one of those mixers.

Here’s a picture from the 1969 Salve Regina yearbook. Recognize anybody?

The Salve Regina school newspaper in 1969 mentioned The Tavern, The Surf Lounge, Viking Hotel, Sully’s Publick House, Surf Hotel, and Hurley’s Lounge. Expect each of these establishments saw some Officer Candidates on the weekends.