USS Tidewater AD31 Association

VISITING SAN JUAN
by Robert Hall MM3
USS Tidewater, 1969-1971

t started getting pretty hot by June 1970 when we headed back to Norfolk's D & S Piers from San Juan. We had been there since February. Every day, thunder heads would roll over and pour rain. Then the sun would come out and you would be soaked in 90 degree heat and 90% humidity .

Our engine room chief was Harold Kidd, MMC. Harold was a ham radio operator. Before we had left for San Juan, Harold had loaded up his mobile ham gear and brought it aboard. The communications officer gave him an empty room and an unused antenna. All the way to San Juan, Harold would stay up at night so the crew could radio-phone families back home. I'm sure it was fun for him, but it was quite a thoughtful thing to do.

Little did I know all the way down to the island Harold is talking to a native in PR about horse-trading some ham gear. The minute the ship was secured to the pier, Harold came into the log room and directed me to "get a truck". I asked what he needed a truck for. He just repeated, "get a truck" .I told him I couldn't just sign out a truck. They are going to want a reason. His reply was "be creative".

I was able to "get a truck"; he loaded up some ham gear and directed me out of town. We headed for the mountains and after about an hour of driving around we found the gentleman's house. I couldn't believe all the stuff they had arranged to horse trade. It was a lot of fun to see parts of the island not normally seen by visitors.

It was a lot of fun watching the high divers at the hotel. I don't remember the circumstances, but Tidewater personnel could use the hotel's pool, towels and beachfront.

One of the guys in supply was a native of P .R. He had a motorcycle there. I spent a lot of time riding around New San Juan seeing the sights. At the time they were building the largest J.C. Penny store in the world. It was quite the newsmaker back then.

We had a Canadian ship tied alongside for a couple of months. They were quite a fun-loving bunch. Somewhere during their stay one of Tide's officers found out our neighbors got the traditional "rum ration". This occurred at 3 :00 in the afternoon. After about a week if you were looking for Tidewater personnel at 3 :00 you could find them next door. One of the machinists had a little too much to drink one afternoon and came back to work sloshed, so that put a damper on the afternoon break

The only sad thing that happened during our stay, was the shooting of one of our stewards. He was walking down the sidewalk one evening and someone drove by, shot and killed him. The ironic thing is he was Puerto Rican.

When we departed San Juan we headed for St. Thomas for a couple of days. Then returned to D and S Piers.