MAN! Overboard!
After the big letdown of being at sea again following our stay in Auckland, and being so near the equator, we needed a break big time! So on arriving at Manus Island the CO let us go ashore for a little R&R. We had a hell of a time! Dick Lalicker and I returned to the ship drunk as skunks! Dick no sooner stepped aboard and he pulled off his jersey and threw it overboard. And what did I do, I dove overboard after it! Yeah, in my present state I forgot these were shark infested waters. BM1 Langschwager rushed to the side, grabbed a throw line, tied a loop in it and threw it at me. I managed to stuggle into it enough to get it around my chest and under my arms pits and he began to pull me in. The damn roap nearly ripped my arms off and as he was pulling me up the side of the ship I hit my head on something and had to have stiches. But, damn it, I had that jersey!