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Welcome to Ken Poorman's Navy Stuff . . .
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Boot
Camp, San Diego:
After I enlisted at
Philadelphia, PA, I went to boot camp at the U.S. Naval Training Center in San Diego, California. I enlisted as an Airman Recruit and hoped to be an Air Traffic Controller. I also intended to audition for the Navy Band after enlistment. I auditioned with the Bandleader at the
Naval Base San Diego and was eligible to attend the USN School of Music in Washington DC. As graduation neared, there
were no openings at the Air Traffic Controller school for the AC Rating, so I went to the School of Music for the MU
Rating. Glad I did!
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US
Navy School of Music, D.C.:
I graduated from the U. S. Navy SOM in 1961 when it was at the Anacostia Receiving Station in Washington
D.C. The highlight for me was The Corner House and George's Singapore Slings. And the "Little Tavern"
on the corner by the 11th Street Bridge - bags of those little hamburgers - yes. I'll never forget the first time I
heard progressive Jazz by a professional group. Bob Hores took us to Abart's International Studio of Jazz downtown to
hear Horace
Silver. WOW! Barsamian was my piano instructor - can't remember my drum
instructor's name. Hey, and John
Coltrane went to SOM - wow.
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Sea Duty with COMCARDIV 4:
After
I left SOM, I was assigned to COMCARDIV 4 Unit
Band #194: MUC Joe Gallagher (bandleader); Ken Poorman (keys), Bob
Bowman (bass), Steve Bergstrom (drums); Bob Hores (arranger), John "Sal" Salazar, Jerry Brown, Jack Caldon &
Alfred Hodge (saxes); Jack Ingram (LPO), Paul Sipe, DJ Dechesser, Larry Treaster (trombones); Bob Migacz, Harold
"Shorty" Parker, Joe Pryor, Ted Zelio & Ray "Corky" Corcoran (trumpets). We relieved
COMCARDIV 4 Unit Band #146 on USS Forrestal.
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During at-sea
operations, musicians were trained and assigned to collateral duty, such as Military Police, Air Intelligence (security clearance required), Surface Plotting, and Flag Administration.
I served in each of these billets at one time or another. I found my work in the Air Intelligence message center most
interesting, then surface plotting, I suppose. The MP duty was linited pretty much to in-port ship parties, and flag
administration was basically putting presentations together for the Admiral. |
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Sea duty brought our Unit
to many homeland and foreign places, e.g, Norfolk, Virginia; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Port-of-Spain, Trinidad; Port-of-Prince, Haiti; Rio de Janero,
Brazil; Valpariso, Chile; Lima, Peru; Acapulco, Mexico; San Diego, California; San Francisco, California; Roosevelt Roads,
Puerto Rico; Mayport, Florida; Dominican Republic; Cannes, France; Naples, Italy; Palermo, Sicily; Genoa, Italy; Athens, Greece;
Rhodes; Beirut, Lebanon; Barcelona, Spain; Crete; Livorno, Italy; Gibraltar, Portugal; New York, NY, and some I can't
even remember.
We were about a year on the USS Forrestal CVA-59, and about 3 months each on the USS Kitty Hawk CVA-63, USS Franklin D. Roosevelt CVA-42, USS Shangri-La CVA-38, and a quick run on the destroyer USS Kenneth D. Bailey DD-713. |
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| Colors every morning 8am here. |
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CINCLANTFLT Band:
When
I left Admiral Hyland's COMCARDIV
4 organization, I was assigned to the CINCLANTFLT / SACLANT-NATO base in Norfolk to finish my active duty.
The CINCLANTFLT band has changed its name twice since then - to the Atlantic Fleet Band, and now to the United States Fleet Forces Band. The Bandleader was Warrant Officer George Briley, and we had about 50 in the band, I can't remember exactly.
They sent units on tours, and we did colors and taps every day at the base, concerts around the area, and smaller gigs.
I played mostly drums there on official gigs, and Kenny Drew did most of the keyboard gigs. I played keyboards
in two cilvilian combos, and did a lot of off-duty gigs around Tidewater. Mr. B said he would guarantee me shore
duty for the next 6 years if I would ship over. HA! Bye Mr. B. . . I left CINCLANT/SACLANT and finished out inactive
reserve and discharged in '66. |
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| Email Ken |
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