One day, while undergoing a repair and refit, my dad and his buddy, "Ootie" Eaton decided to get circumcised at the Naval Hospital on Midway. Now, this is a relatively painless operation (if you are 1-3 days old) but as an adult, I am told that this is not a fun thing to have done. So, my dad and his buddy go over to the Hospital, after getting permission from the skipper, and get the operation done. I am told that they hobbled their way back to the boat (I can sympathize, I had a vasectomy) where they received an intense ribbing from their shipmates. Being a Marine, who has had fellow Marines get this done, I am sure that they had to "hobble" the same gauntlet that we inflict on our buddies! Poor Dad and Ootie. For quite some time after that, they were known aboard the boat as: "Gailberg and Eatonberg!"

Okay, this story came from Capt Paul Mansell, who was the XO of the Sunfish at the time. It seems that the Sunfish was at Guam, in 1944, and the crew was enjoying an R & R at a rest camp. Well, dad, who had a penchant for nudity, was walking to the showers with nothing on but a smile, and a towel wrapped around his neck! A car pulled up and out popped the Base Commanding Officer, who had a Red Cross nurse in the vehicle with him, and neither of whom were happy with dad's state of undress. He asked what was dad's name and boat. Dad, thinking quickly, said, "Seaman Jones, sir, off of the Sea Fox." He went into the head, as soon as the vehicle left, shaved off his beard, and ran back to the Sunfish where he told the XO (Paul Mansell) the whole story. Capt Mansell said in his tape that they looked for Seaman Jones for quite awhile!

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