Bill, My stepfather was in Korea in the 50's. In the 60's he was a merchant seamen and at least twice he worked on ocean-going tugs taking munitions and supplies to Viet Nam (up the Saigon River). Eventually he got a job on the Red Stack Tugs in the Bay as a deckhand. I went out on the boat with him one night to bring in a Greek ship. So exciting being out on the Bay in the middle of the night. The cook on the tug gave me a frying pan from the galley which I have (use and love) to this day. I can't remember exactly where my stepfather shipped out from but I remember driving him down 3rd St. to get his ship so it may have been China Basin. In high school and after I worked at Pier 1-1/2, Pier 26 and Pier 80 for California Stevedore and Ballast Co. (I was a clerk). I loved the waterfront back when it was rough and seedy. :-) Y. On Jun 1, 2010, at 8:34 AM, norcal-request@rootsweb.com wrote: > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2010 05:45:35 -0700 > From: "Bill Roddy" <billroddy@cox.net> > Subject: Re: [NORCAL] Merchant Marine > To: <norcal@rootsweb.com> > Message-ID: <25EAE9F3F52A40D9AF7849A1066BA7BA@RB40G> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Yvonne, > I was a merchant seaman in WWII, guess that's earlier than your stepfather. > When we arrived home we were paid off in hundred dollar bills. Docking along > the Embarcadero and its dives, especially when girls were involved, were too > tempting to many of my shipmates. > Bill > > -----Original Message----- > From: norcal-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:norcal-bounces@rootsweb.com] On > Behalf Of Yvonne Bowers > Sent: Monday, May 31, 2010 6:07 PM > To: norcal@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [NORCAL] drivers training > > My stepfather was a merchant seaman. He shipped out of San Francisco and > was usually gone 2-3 months and would come home with a lot of money. When > he spent it all he would ship out again. >