Sammy White and Don Quixote

Sammy and I served on the deck force on a ship in the Korean War. He has been doubled crossed, having been promised to go to printer's school and then be assigned to a printer's job by the recruiter; and then was sent to the ship right out of boot camp. Sammy had worked for the printing firm that printed the "National Geographic" in Washington, D.C. and I felt that he expected better treatment for his desire to be a printer. (I should say that these double crosses happened to white folks too, so Sammy was not unique in this regard). But, the added problem was that our division officer was a white southerner, very self conscious in a job he was not qualitied for (somewhat common in the war, especially for officers who came out of the NROTC).

So when Sammy asked that he be given some justice, the officer probably considered his story to be some kind of poppycock, and made life hard for him. Enter Don Quixote, me. I have carved out a hobby of helping fellow shipmate with problems, especially correspondence, since most of them did not know how to write letters. I knew a man who worked in the personnel office and asked him to check Sammy's record. Bingo, there it was, Sammy was right. So we started a campaign and things got tougher for both of us. Well, the officer's incompetence got him transferred off the ship and his replacement stepped up to the plate for Sammy. He was transferred to a shore station (Norfolk, I think), and hopefully on to printer's school.

I thought of Sammy during the Martin Luther King talks broadcast by Amy Goodman on "Democracy Now," especially for very eloquent one from Memphis (given just before he died). Our time at sea and in the Navy predated these speeches by over ten years, but the things that were playing out in Memphis were a version of what was happening to Sammy, and perhaps what had encouraged him to enlist in the Navy in the first place. It would be fascinating to find out what happened to him after all these years. Recently a shipmate on the same ship found me through the Internet and now we have corresponded and even gotten together since then. Perhaps I'll try it with Sammy. Printing and the printing press has gone through several revolutions since the 50s, Sammy may have had to retire rather than face the latest one.