Bob Nickerson - Alamo, California

Gender: Male

Hometown: Alamo, California

Military Status: Veteran

Military Branch: Navy

Military Rank: E-6

About Me:
My USN military career consisted of the following:

7/66 - 3/67: Boot Camp/Company 408 & Electricians Mate 'A' School, NTC, San Diego

3/67 - 4/69: USS Loyalty MSO 457, Pier 9, Long Beach & West Pac. "Market Time" assignment: Patrol waters off South Vietnam, board and search vessels, assist in military operations.

The Loyalty was a Korean War era ocean Minesweeper powered by twin Packard diesels and variable pitch propellers. It was decommissioned around 1972 and spent some time tied up on the Napa River in Vallejo CA before being scrapped...

My memories of MSO 457 include: Crew members Wishinsky, Fitzgerald, Glover, Wiebel, 'Salvo Latch' Thomas, Gardner, Englert, 'Frenchy' Bouchet, etc --- following the USS NEW JERSEY into Long Beach harbor & actually getting to board her once on a 'messenger run' at the Long Beach Repair facility, seeing her at Subic Bay --- Escorting the QUEEN MARY into Long Beach on December 9 1967, and weeding through all the pleasure boats that came out to greet her --- Playing Russian trawler during fleet exercises off Camp Pendleton --- The bucket and mop in the pilot house during 'rough' weather --- Fellows & Stewarts Shipyard on Terminal Island --- The fire in the boiler flats as we pulled into Hawaii, March 1968 --- Overnight liberty in Kwajalein & free drinks at the local civilians' club while the bos'ns had to repaint the ship's hull --- Guam: having the switchboard watch & full bilges while exiting the harbor on short notice into a Typhoon, Gab Gab Beach & getting thrown overboard when I advanced to EM2 --- Subic Bay: Olongapo, bar bets, the Sphinx Club & Grande Island --- Liberty in Hong Kong --- Sea snakes and flying fish --- Chasing rain clouds to take showers on the fantail when the evaps broke down...

8/69 - 7/70: IUWG 1 Unit 4, Nha Trang. "Stable Door" assignment: Harbor defense, patrol and protect merchant ships at anchor, participate and assist in coastal and island military ops.

IUWG1 Unit 4 was memorable, too, with Hubbs, Guinn, Geiger, Venema, Kearney, Bergeron, Dougherty, Goodwin, Carr, Phipps, Roos, Mezzacappa, Nau, Arnold, 'Rocky' Powers, 'Doc' Seely, Hotz, Diminio, etc. My memories include: the sinking of the cargo ship Kin Wah --- Lili's Bar --- Fresh lobster from Cau Da---watching the war from 'our side' of the hill --- Phipps calling down from the tower during a morning personnel inspection to tell Mr Murphy that Goodwin had run over a junk --- making runs to Cam Ranh Bay...

1970 -1980: Naval Reserves, including 1973-80 Coastal River Div XI & Special Boat Unit XI, Mare Island CA, where I advanced to EM1 and helped preserve the operational readiness of the Brown Water Navy. Our Navy flotilla included CCB's, Swift boats, and Jacuzzi powered PBR's & ATC's. I was a boat captain on an MATC - it was designed to carry 16 troups in shallow water at high speeds. We practiced our 'war games' in the sloughs off the Sacramento River near Suisun City.