Outskirts Press, INC.

The late Jesse Gaines, Sr, invited me to join his own children on a “Navy Family Cruise” when I was a teenager. I was the only one of his “children” who followed his footsteps into the Navy. The rest of them were either in the Army, Air Force, or Marines. My naval career brought me to Vietnam, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Manila. As a passenger on a small “fourteen-seater” jet, I experienced landing on the flight deck of the USS Coral Sea, CVA-43, as it moved through the South China Seas off the coast of Vietnam. Writing JOURNEY brought those days, and memories back to mind. - Henry Seaman