Page 90 - The History of Veterans at Highland Springs

PETE ROBERTSON
HIGHLAND SPRINGS RESIDENT, NAVY
I joined The United States Navy on my 18th birthday in 1948 at the Navy Recruiting Station in Lubbock, TX, along with four of my neighborhood friends. After an overnight, we were on a train to Albuquerque, NM where we were sworn in. The next day, we boarded a train headed west, the destination was Los Angeles. We picked up recruits all along the way, gaining almost 300 recruits. We then boarded a very old wooden seated passenger train pulling four carriages heading for the Naval Recruiting Station in San Diego (shades of the Old West). This was what was known as “boot camp”. After three months of “groan and grind,” we were given a 10 day leave to visit home and friends. Upon return to San Diego, I transferred to Long Beach, CA to board my new assignment, the USS Helena, a Baltimore class heavy cruiser, 684 feet long, 80 feet wide and weighing 17,000 tons. I was astonished but thrilled. I served approximately 44 months aboard the Helena going on four major cruises; the last two were to North Korea.
If I had a signature story it would be this one: on our last trip to North Korea, a small group of the enlisted men decided to do something sort of un-Navy. We decided to help a handicapped child in the United States upon our return. The decision was made to write the Chamber of Commerce in Helena, MT, our namesake, and ask them to send us several profiles of handicapped children, which they did. We chose an 8-year-old boy with several debilitating issues. He was an orphan being reared by foster parents. He also had multiple handicapping conditions that required surgeries, but we decided to select him. He was being cared for in the home of a wonderful couple willing to face the odds. Being cared for by this couple was the best thing going for him. We gambled and won. We presented him a check for $6500 collected from the ship's crew. I was chosen to make the presentation speech and present him with a check. Sixty years later, I found him in Helena White Pages. I called him and inquired what had happened with the money we gave him. The interest it derived was enough to send him to college and seminary. What a fantastic story! It has lived in my memory.
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