Upon that fateful decision to join the ‘Ol’ Canoe Club’ while leaving the security of childhood… I had an idea of what going on the town in a ‘Crackerjack’ uniform might be like! Right or wrong… it was what it was… and thanks to the few ol’ Navy movies I’d seen before my time with the likes of Fred Astaire, Dick Van Dyke, Steve Mcqueen, and Abbot & Costello!?!? Quite a variety of hooligans to run across that gamut… but one thing that stuck out the most was the ol’ White Hat!!!
That old Canvas Crown went by plenty of names… ‘Dixie Cup’, ‘Rag Hat’, ‘Dog Bowl’, and ‘Squid Lid’… just to name a few! Worn back on top of the old noggin, some liked the ends rolled… some liked them fitted with ‘gull wings’… and some liked e’m looking like they came straight off the shelf…
However soiled, weathered, or crisp & white… the old trusty White Hat was our global token to society… our motif… our image of the fight’n spirit to defend freedom and democracy around the world… Oh, and courting the ladies, drink’n beer, impressing members of the opposite sex, drinking whiskey, butterfly’n foreign dames, drinking rum, going in debt on bar girls, drink’n pure grain panther piss and chas’n girls… Did I miss anything???
Yep, there’s a reason they say sailors have a girl at every port… we were known for being worldwide Casanova beer swilling… carousing the streets kind of fellas!!!
That’s the image I had in my mind’s eye wearing a tilted back White Hat… Hanging out on some breezy South Pacific Island Beach in the Sun & Surf with the smell of coconut oil in the air, a Mai Tai in one hand & an Island Girl in the other…
Can you say “Aloha… Pina Colada… and Komaniwannalaya all in one sentence???
Yeppers… the ol’ White Hat was the trademark of good ol’ American Swagger!!! As the ol’ cadence goes,
♪♪“Everywhere we go… People wanna know… whooo we are… where we come from!!!” ♪♪
Even in the military hating, God fearing, liberal world of Hollywood
In just about every foreign port & every far eastern country… you can still find that long standing symbol of the masters of the sea!!! We are the good guys… boosting the economies of our foreign neighbors afar… spending money on girls, beer, poker and anything else irrationally foolish to a typical landlubber!!!
But ‘Sailor Beware’ as White Hats tend to disappear at Fleet Landings, Go-Go Bars, Irish Pubs… and other dutiful establishments of ceremonial libations as ladies, lackeys, and jealous ‘Marines’ like to steal the canvas badge of honor for their own selfish deeds!!!
I remember I had to bury my White Hat when I became a Navy Chief… the fond memories of hitt’n the beach… pass’n by shore patrol,
“Hey shipmate, Square that hat away!!!”
That’s when you gave the middle finger salute and high tailed it into the crowd!!!
Or the time in Subic City when Honey Koe wants drink,drink after longtime pucky sucky no-shit and the only thing you had to hide your family jewels on the way to the bar downstairs was the trusty ol’ White Hat… would your best friend do that for ya?!?!?
I hope the Navy in all its wisdom never phases out the Ol’ White Hat… Lord knows they’ve done their best to rid the ol’ Drunken Sailor image with a gal at every port… Even the damned ‘Lone Sailor’ monument is outside Navy Regulations… but one Gaudamned thing is for certain…
The White Hat was… is… and always will be the hallmark of the Enlisted Navy Sailor!!!
"Boosting the economies of our foreign neighbors afar… spending money on girls, beer, poker and anything else irrationally foolish to a typical landlubber!" ... That cracks me up!! Where do you come up with this shit?! LoL!!!
ReplyDeleteI am pretty sure he's not "Coming up with it" as it has all been done and contributed by the men of the sea! Way to go Dan! I remember my "White Hat" walking the streets of Japan, Singapore, Thailand, and Hong Kong! What a treat!
ReplyDeleteI can't say I had a girl in every port, but I say in every country I had been to!!! I truly enjoy my 10 years on active duty, 3 years out of Sasebo, Japan and 7 years out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. I've been to over 30 counties easy thanks to the US Navy. I have my favorite ports of call and my favorite beers too. Plus one thing is that each country or port of call had its own distinct smell. Ie. Surabaya, Indonesia will always be Clove cigarettes, just to name one of many experiences during my time of service. BTW, Yes I was a Boatswains Mate!!! Greatest Rate in the worlds greatest Navy!!!!
ReplyDeleteLet's not forget one other must- have piece of uniform gear, although the Shore Patrol was known to rip them off if they caught you wearing them - your liberty cuffs. I mean, just about every sailor worth his salt wore them sewn to the inside of his dress blue uniform sleeve cuffs, in such a manner that when you rolled your sleeve up for all the world to see, they would be oriented just right for the observer, with you sitting there at the bar in that dive on the strip right outside the back gate at NOB, you sitting there on your bar stool with your dixie cup worn on the back of your head and smoke curling up from the lit one in your non-drinking hand. Those cuffs started many a conversation among kindred souls, sometimes known only to each other by the uniform they wore. Some of the cuffs (all of them embroidered, mind you, usually in Singapore or Hong Kong or Subic) depicted the dragons of foreign lands, or your Dolphins, or the Roman coliseum where warriors of the realm fought the battles they'd read about in their youth. Sometimes, as the beers added up, words were shouted out, a chair or table knocked over, punches thrown, and SPs hauling sailors away in the paddy wagon, along with your opponent(s), who might have been a soldier, a Marine, or maybe even the guy who slept in the rack above you. It was "dangerous" to wear them because they were strictly verboten, but we did it anyway because of the comradeship and brotherhood it instilled in us that remains to this day. I sure wish I knew what ever happened to mine.
ReplyDeleteAm I the only one who has noticed the abomination that is the new and improved white hat? It truly is a "Dog Bowl" without any redeeming qualities. How they are getting any enlistments is beyond me. When are Navy Vets going to take a stand?
ReplyDeleteVery entertaining essay . . . informative too . . . Dixie Cups off to this author . . .
ReplyDeleteTwo things I learned immediately upon joining the Navy in '65, smoking and drinking. Chasing girls and buying drinks for the bar girls just came naturally. My white hat with wings sitting on the back of my head, my blues with dragon cuffs, my neckerchief rolled with a roll of quarters and my shipmates having my back and me having theirs. At 72 and after serving for 21 years, I still feel the pride of being a "Sailor".
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