Nice series of shows and it reminded me of something I won't forget.....
July 25, 1969: On liberty in Valletta, Malta, US Navy. The first foreign port I ever visited. I was not sure what to expect when I first stepped off the ship and walked down the street of a strange land outside America. Almost immediately a girl (about 25 years old) ran up to me and hugged me and was jumping up and down with excitement. She spoke some other language and was trying to talk to me, yet I couldn’t understand her. I thought she was probably one of those prostitutes I was warned about, although she had tears of excitement in her eyes and just kept jumping and hugging. I was confused and honestly a bit nervous about what was going on. Finally, I understood the word “moon” as she pointed to the sky, but I still didn’t know what she meant. Suddenly it made sense she was excited about America landing a man on the moon! She was so happy for us. The landing was days earlier with Apollo 11, but we just arrived in port. In fact, everyone in Malta was excited. Any American sailor in a uniform was automatically a hero and being offered free food and drinks. Several people wanted to take pictures with me. This was my greatest time in the Navy when I was so proud to be an American. Gee, how times have changed.
