My Friends in the Royal Navy

This is a little story about the high regard I have for UK’s Royal Navy and the friends that I have had in its service. I had my pleasure to work with the Royal Navy on my trips to Europe and I enjoyed each trip. They were all brilliant men and women with a strong sense of duty and a strong sense of fun. When we visited we always had their full support and the mutual respect was clear.

When the work was over for the day it would be natural for them to just bid us a good evening and head off to the personal lives, but we weren’t treated like visitors; we were treated as friends. They set us up with, what they call, a run ashore. This is their term for hitting the pubs. I won’t go into all of the details but there are few people funnier than a Scotsman with several pints in him.

On one trip our friends set us up with a two special tours of the Rock of Gibraltar. The normal tour that people go on is called the upper rock tour. The lower rock tour is not offered because of liability concerns. It required a bit of maneuvering through some smaller and wetter areas. It led to areas used by the British military in World War II. It was on this tour that I saw Maida Vale written in the entrance way. My friend, Pete (Ken) Dodd, turned and said, “Hey look mate; you’re famous.” It was an amazing little hike through the rock.

The second tour was called the Med Steps Tour. This was a hike around the side of the rock that faces the Mediterranean Sea. The path was fairly small and there weren’t any guard rails. I will quote my friend again. Everyone knows how we Americans just love the differences in our languages. Pete said, “Be careful mate, this can be a bit dodgy.” The view was breathtaking. Africa was across the way, Spain was behind us and to the right. The Atlantic was to our right, and the Mediterranean started its journey at that point and stretched to our left.

Several years ago I got an email from my friend Chief David Morris. He asked if I would like to meet him in Norfolk, VA and take a tour of his ship. Cathy and I took our oldest grandson and we made a little vacation out of it. Now here’s the funny part. We live in the town of Upper Marlboro and we live in a development and its main road is Sutherland Circle. Moe, that’s David Morris’ nickname, was onboard HMS Sutherland and when we got to the dock we found that his ship was tied up outboard. We had to cross the deck of HMS Marlboro in order to get to HMS Sutherland. It was good to see Moe and he gave us a great tour of the ship. My grandson got to run all over the place and his favorite part was being able to sit in the pilot’s seat of the helicopter. It was an experience very few kids can brag about and I thank Moe for making it possible.

I’ll always have the highest respect for the men and women in the Royal Navy and I will always appreciate their friendship.