By Commander Ed Bookhardt, CEC, USN Retired
I was assigned to the 20th Naval Construction Regiment in Gulfport, Mississippi as Regimental Training Officer. The Regiment was the technical and military training command for Atlantic Fleet Construction Battalions and at the time, a new experimental undertaking of training Reserve Seabees in organized battalions rather than in random individual or small unrelated groups.
North of Gulfport is the vast De Soto National Forest. Within its boundaries is Camp Shelby, managed by the Mississippi National Guard. Through Service cooperation, a hooch type camp was built in a sector of Shelby at the onset of the Vietnam War. The annexed Navy facility was used to conduct military training and live defensive tactics, prior to units deploying to combat areas.
An official dedication of the annexed camp was planned to honor a former CBC Commanding Officer who had been a principal in Vietnam era Construction Forces training. Selected and invited to do the dedication honors, was the grand old Southern politico, Mississippi Congressman William Colmer.
Colmer born down the road in Moss Point near Pascagoula was a ranking member of the Washington establishment. Elected to Congress in 1933, he was serving his nineteenth consecutive term.
Having previously served as Aide to Flag Officers, duties that involved close interaction with VIPs, government officials and foreign dignitary, the Captain assigned me as coordinator and escort for the Congressman’s visit. A Marine Reserve CH-46 helicopter out of New Orleans was laid on to provide transportation for the event.
The plan was as followed: The Marines would pick me up on the Gulfport base parade field. We would then fly to the airport in Pascagoula, pick up the Congressman and proceed to a clearing somewhere in the pinywoods of the National Forest. The Captain would meet us at the site in his sedan for the trip to the dedication site. The Congressman after other commitments would return to Moss Point the following day by private auto…
Suited out in my sharpest Tropical Whites, I awaited the big garish bird which on arrival, damn near blew me off the asphalt with its huge twin rotors…a typical Marine hot doggin’ display for the local Swabbies!
Hopping aboard, I went forward introduced myself and informed the crew we were picking up an elderly Washington VIP. Further requesting out of respect and safety, they shut down in Pascagoula and again in the National Forest before we deplaned. For reasons unknown to me, I sensed this did not set well with the two. Being young, they apparently preferred engines running touch and goes. After conversing over their head-sets, the pilot; a First Lieutenant shrugged his shoulders in a half-hearted assent.
I entered the small Pascagoula Ops waiting room and there sat the old curmudgeon, the very personification of “Big Daddy” from “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” Unexpected, accompanying the Congressman was his Administrative Assistant. A man of seemingly impeccable qualities, he rose quickly, smiled and said he was Trent Lott. He in turn introduced me to Colmer, whose Southern inflection dripped of magnolia blossoms and mint juleps. Lott would later succeeded Colmer in the House of Representatives and go on to be elected to the US Senate where he became Majority Whip.
The flight to the National Forest was uneventful. As we circled the clearing, I was relieved to see the Captain’s sedan on the dirt road below…all was going as planned! We sat in the helicopter until the rotors stopped. I jumped out, gave the Congressman a hand, and processed to the sedan where I made the introductions. Since Trent Lott was along, there was no place for me in the sedan as was initially planned. The Captain catching my eye; winked and mouthed he would send a driver for me. I saluted smartly as the sedan pulled away…
Standing in the road basking in self-admiration for a job well done, the shrill whine of engines turning up returned me to reality. Damn, there was no place to hide from the backwash in the large open field! Darting for the tree line, I caught a glimpse of the cockpit…gee, a nice unexpected farewell salute. I’ve always been moved by the scene of pilots popping a little salute before soaring off into the blue…Hey; wait a minute that looks like some kind of finger gesture!
The helicopter rose slowly from the field then turned toward me hovering at tree top level. What gives? Were these my Brothers-in-Arms, about to play “Hump the Squid?” Yes! Those penis-puffin’ rotor-heads were gonna’ dust Old Eddy off! I was like a deer in the headlights! My cover went first…I never found it! The force of the down-draft whipped the shirttail from my trousers, popped buttons and ripped away my shoulder-boards. Every orifice filled with sand and debris!
Disoriented, I squatted at the base of a tree and put my head between my knees…then it was over! It had taken a matter of seconds to score one for the Grunts! The CH-46 veered off to the west, disappearing into the afternoon sun.
To top-off this little known account of Service rivalry, the duty driver apparently…”could not see the forest for the trees” [pun intended]. He was a no-show and the sun was going down. With grit, pine-needles and a variety of flora chaffing my crotch, I painfully hoofed out of the woods…
“With silvery moonbeams dancing through the Southern pines, the ambience at twilight is absolutely breathtaking…”