IN HONOR OF VERNON W

SAMSON NAVAL TRAINING BASE

In the Sampson State Park is the Sampson Naval Training Station Museum housing memorabilia from the many veterans who were stationed here.  Construction began in 1942 and Dave’s father Vernon  was stationed here January and February 1945.  The Museum is housed in the building that served as the brig so I doubt Vernon knew too much about this particular facility.  Pictures and memorabilia are displayed throughout the building depicting the activities and lives of the 411,429 Naval recruits as they trained to go to war.

  We drove down some of these old roads, now grown over, trying to imagine what this base must have looked like during the wartime effort.

Imagine Vernon coming here along with thousands of other recruits.  He was 26 years old, already a father of two boys and having had experience running a dry cleaners.  He was probably older than most of the recruits and had different concerns and obligations.  

He arrived in January 1945 and was issued his uniforms, bedding and other supplies.   This was a very large station, over 2500 acres, over 50 miles of paved roads and a railroad which moved supplies from one end to the other.  Imagine this was all very new and very different for Vernon.

Everything was handed to recruits in a canvas bundle.  When undone, this is what you got!

Typical uniform of the day.  Imagine Vernon wore this style.

Apparently there was a knack for the boots.  All recruits wore these lace on boots above their shoes.  When they graduated they no longer had to wear the boots.  This is an instruction book to wearing these boots.  Lots for the recruits to learn about.  What a different world this must have been for these men.

Imagine the hardest thing about being here was being away from home and loved ones.  Today our servicemen have access to email, skype and all sorts of ready communications.  My nephew who is deployed to El Salvadore communicates on Facebook.  However, back in the 1940's calling on the telephone was costly.  How many remember station-to-station vs person-to-person calling?  A long distance call averaged about .80/minute station-to-station non-peak hours.  

Serving thousands of men their meals must have been arduous and the recruits had to learn where to be and when to be there.  

Guess milk and desserts were a big "I want" item because they had signs in big bold letters...

Example of what their daily menus look like.  Doesn't look too bad....I guess. Just not home cooking!

 Now, my older brother Skip, served in the Army in the Korean War and he certainly has his own name for this .... ever popular dish!!!  S ON S

In case you ever need to serve in quantities of 100!

I must be old, but I remember these old Royal typewriters.  My dad had a manufacturing firm in the 40's and we had an old Royal in the closet.  I learned to type on it!

Dave still wears this hat today.  Made of strong stuff to last all these years!

Checking out Sampson State Park through the scope mounted on the roof.

Go NAVY!

This museum is housed in the brig, so it wouldn't be right to go without Dave trying it out.

It was a very memorable experience as I'm sure it was for Vernon.  Two months was probably enough before he moved on to other places and things.  If any of the family has memorabilia to contribute to the museum, contact Dolores Dinsmore, Museum Director as 315-585-6203.

GOD BLESS ALL OF OUR MEN AND WOMEN WHO ARE SERVING OUR COUNTRY.