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Due to the nature
of our operations I couldn't leave the ship until March 17th. I was scheduled
to leave the ship that morning, at 7:00 AM on the first available
helicopter from the aircraft carrier
operating close by.
Since I was due to transfer to another duty station soon, it was decided that they would give me an emergency leave, and then my between duty station leave.
I had to bring
all of my belongings and my records.
I checked with personnel 5 min.
before the helicopter was due and everything was ready. My records were
sitting in a big 20" by 20" envelope, right in plain sight
on a desk. When I was told to report
to the flight deck, I went to personnel to get my records. They had dissapered!
No one could find them. They looked everywhere!
The flight couldn't be held up and departed for Suda Bay, Crete. After the helicopter left, my records where found, right where I saw them last, sitting on the desk...
I had to wait until the next day for the next available flight. One hour after the flight left, we heard on Fleet Tactical radio that the chopper I would have been on, had crashed on the side of a mountain on it's final approach to Suda Bay!
To this day, I believe that my dad made sure I missed that flight.
