A Small Taste of Redwine

aboard this navy ship different entirely from that of reality. My

vision was of standing on the deck feeding the gulls, and listening to

the gently breaking waves, as they past the giant hull. Of beautiful

star fi lled nights with moon beams glinting on the mast, as we glided

ever so silently over a peaceful and tranquil ocean. The navy’s‘ idea,

and the one we would both be infl icted with, was for me to spend the

next eight days eating the worst excuse for food ever imagined, being

restricted from deck privileges, and existing fi ve fl oors below decks,

with absolutely no ventilation. Then, as if the navy could not infl ict

enough grief on this land loving son of the plains, on the third day

out of port and for the next three days, the ship was tossed around

like a cork in one of grandma Bs‘ butter churns, while we road out

a major storm, it was a sickenly, ever on-going, nightmare, and one

still vividly in my head. The tour was not starting out so good! I

have included some of the pertinent army paperwork on these next

few pages to verify my writing about this grand experience. These

documents include news articles,letters written to the Secretary of

the Army by various enmities commending the performances and

Band’s general conduct as it infl uenced the people of Europe, travel

orders for the tour and fi nancial documents verifying the army’s

payment for the tour, as well as the schedule of performances and the

reported crowd participation in each performance and crowd totals as