MEMORIES OF THE 509

A poem by Lyman Amsden on his days in the Navy.

Some things are kept forever by the crew of the 509.

Shore patrol at French Martinique

The bars of Fall River, Mass

Scolley Square in Boston

Bourbon Street in Orleans

Snow up to your ass in Adak

Scraping paint in Manicani, Pl

Steaming past the Statue of Liberty

Shrimp boats at Key West

The rum factory at Havana, Cuba

The natives of Trinidad

Shoe shines of Panama City

Sidewalk vendors in Cuidad

Firing at goats on San Clemente

or at targets off old San Juan

Watching the shoreline recede at Frisco is not the same as leaving Tacloban.

Does a bottle of rum in Montego taste the same in old New York?

To be a dog at Norfolk “sailors and dogs keep off the lawn”.

Many prayers said at Cape Hatteras for the welders who built this ship

Were repeated again off Block Island during the hurricane of ’54.

From the powerful seas of the Pacific to the white caps of the eastern shores

From the flying fish at the bow to the seagulls over the stern.

O to be again, at sea again to breathe that salt sea air

To see again, to hear again those friends of the 509.

Amsden GM2

DE 509