[RascalPuff]

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Bay of Pigs. April - May, ‘61
Large portions of the entire 6th Fleet were in a ‘holding pattern’ around the island of Cuba, from April through May of 1961 (Not to be confused with the ‘Missile Crisis’ of 10/’62). To my knowledge, there was no major deployment of troops or cargo to the island in this period of standing off the island aboard ship(s).
On the other hand there were Americans deployed to the island - that I know of - prior to the invasion window, which, to the best of my knowledge, is from 6 May, ‘61 thru 26 May, ‘61.
There were Americans on the island as early as mid April, 61; I am sure of this because I coxswained a boat with 16 passengers - mostly Americans (one, known as ‘Irish’) - to various parts of the island, for 5 ½ days (after which time my LCVP boat was relieved by another of the same description). There were about three of the 16 (small arm equipped) passengers who spoke English with a Spanish accent. Including myself and an American Lt. jg, no one on board was in uniform, most of them wore civilian dungarees, I was assigned to coxswain an LCVP boat, with no markings and our Colors struck down.
I was briefed and told that our activities were routine exercises (characteristic of Fleet unit ‘shakedown cruise’ deployments around Cuba), and only through long term hindsight did I learn that we were apparently doing reconnaissance in preparation for the forthcoming (classified) invasion. I had access to charts which included an area called ‘Blue Beach’, which I later learned was the Bay of Pigs (proper).
To the best of my recollection we did not recon that area. We stationed ourselves in thick foliage-overgrown rivers and small inlets in the day time. A lightly armed six man team (without a radio) made sojourns inland, I don’t know how far, in daylight hours.
At night we ventured into open sea near shore, where divers from my boat brought up debris and recorded depths and sub-surface coral formations, drop offs and inclines.
After I returned to my ship from this duty, I was re-called and ordered to a designated location to rendezvous with and pick up ‘personnel’ (I would later learn that some of these men were among those who had been with me on my boat for the first described detail, ‘Irish’ was among them). The contacts were absent from their station of appointment. The crew (ship’s company from another unit - other than my regular crew from my ship) and I waited for three and a half hours. We were then told that there had been a change of schedule and ordered - and transported by another small craft - away from the designated coordinate and back to our ships. I don’t know why these men were absent from the assigned meeting place. About three months later I was told they were ‘transferred’; without further explanation.
When I was discharged (7/’62) from four years and three days of active service, my DD214 made no mention of the Bay of Pigs. On occasions when the subject was brought up and I said I was there - ashore - I was consistently reviled (in two cases I was physically attacked, on one of these occasions I was struck over the back with a heavy metal chair), on the popular but false premise that ‘no Americans were in the Bay of Pigs’ (An entire armada of ships was just off shore).
In 1980, under the sponsorship of then congressman Leon E. Panetta (a former navy member, who found my story credible - Mr. Panetta later went on to become Chief of Staff of the Clinton White House), I joined the Veterans of Foreign Wars (which requires membership to have served in a war zone). It was known to everyone in my post that I had no papers for the Bay of Pigs. In April, 1985, the acting Commander abrasively and publicly dismissed me from my post because I had no papers.
Six months later, in October, ‘85, congressman Panetta recovered and sent me my Navy Dept. papers (attached), with the Navy Expeditionary Medal. I returned to my VFW post (5888, which I co-founded in 1983, Santa Cruz, CA) with the described documents and proof.
I was immediately and physically attacked by three post officers (Vice Commander Steve Bare, Quartermaster Lee T. Bookout, and Adjutant Robert Hall). I prevailed in the fight. In February and March of ‘86, I was charged with battery and brought to stand jury trial, as a defendant in a court of law for the first (and only) time in my life. The opposition lost (again). I was found ‘Not guilty’ of battery. Whereas, I was disallowed, under consequence of being ‘rat-packed’, from ever attending post meetings again, or even entering the Veterans Memorial Building - which had previously been an important part of my life (as Officer of the Day/Security Officer), since 1980.
This rogue ‘policy’ was strictly maintained, to the time I moved from Santa Cruz, in 2002.
Since 1996, when I attempted to subject the above events and circumstances with V.A. counselors, they consistently prohibited and balked discussion about it (‘We don’t do politics’).
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Car & truck collision
As stated in the (attached) service medical report (SMR) on this incident, the injury was minor and the physical consequence was minimal.
The circumstance of the accident was that the truck made a left hand turn out of the right hand lane without signalling, resulting in Byer’s vehicle (in which I was the front seat passenger) braking while he (BM3 Napoleon Byers) steered to the left as it impacted and proceeded half way under the (left hand turning) cargo truck bed, shearing off about one third of the roof of the car.
Byers took the described action to minimize impact. I threw myself down on the seat with my left hand on the lower dashboard and my right hand raised in a defensive reaction. The shattered windshield and passenger side upright post passed over me because we could see the impending collision and took the described evasive actions. The truck lost several hundred pounds of live crabs, which were strewn over a wide area of the highway. The driver’s side of the car was undamaged. Part of the truck’s undercarriage was wiped out, along with my side of the car. Had I not reacted as described, I certainly would have been decapitated.
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Tever
I woke up under sexual assault from SN Tever, who slept beside me in the same double tier of bunks. I cursed and punched him to the deck, where several people pulled me away from him and restrained me. The incident woke up most of the people in the forward compartment. I couldn’t sleep and sat up all night on the messdeck. When revellie was piped, I reported the incident to Division Petty Officer, Roger Branch, who was among the many witnesses. He took notes and ordered me to report to the commissioned Division Officer, which I did. We were moored in port, tied to a pier, in Bayonne, N.J., and within a matter of hours, two Criminal Investigation Division (CID) Officers were aboard and I was ordered to report to my Division Officer’s quarters where I was questioned by the two investigators and told to compose a detailed written report of what happened. SN Tever was then ordered to report to the same to CID Officers, where, as I learned shortly afterward, SN Tever did not contest my testimony or written statements. There were rumors implying that somehow I was responsible for this, until Tever was ordered off the ship before working hours ended that same day. This (Summer of ‘60) event is not reported in my service record. I have since learned that I am obliged to acquire Tever’s consent, before I can access Navy records, through the Freedom of Information Act.
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Falling dunnage
Having momentarily removed my helmet while working ammo crates on the third level of a cargo hold, I was struck on the top of the head by a vertically descending, approximately ten foot length of 2 x 4. It dropped me to one knee and someone asked me if I was all right, I replied in the affirmative. The next thing I remember is waking up in a hospital with a Dr. asking me if I knew where I was. I didn’t know I was in the Fort Monmouth Medical Facility until I was told. I have no recollection of being transported there by ambulance or being winched out of the hold in a Stokes stretcher.

Please proceed to Part III