New RFM Podcast--A Whale of a Tale

[_Lemmie]

Ooops!!! I mean thanks Lemmie!!!!

That's ok. You are welcome!!!!

[_I have a question]

If Blair served circa August 1953 to August 1955, and the Marion County cruised in the Far East between October 1953 and May 1954, then Ensign Blair would have been a very inexperienced Sailor, new to the crew and ship, and whom the Captain would hardly know.

I think Frank Blair has been dining out on a lie for 60 years. And Larry Wilson swallowed it. A very simple fact checking exercising involving the Holy Google has driven tanks through his troop ship tall tale.

[_Dr Exiled]

Ooops!!! I mean thanks Lemmie!!!!

That's ok. You are welcome!!!!

I was about to say you're welcome and take credit for something I didn't produce (like a certain mopologist we know) .......

[_Lemmie]

Ooops!!! I mean thanks Lemmie!!!!

That's ok. You are welcome!!!!

I was about to say you're welcome and take credit for something I didn't produce (like a certain mopologist we know) .......

I saw what you did there...

[_consiglieri]

Ooops!!! I mean thanks Lemmie!!!!

That's ok. You are welcome!!!!

Thanks to you, Bill Reel has contacted the website you posted and made arrangements to have an expert pore over the relevant log books for the LST-975 and see what can be learned!

[_consiglieri]

If Blair served circa August 1953 to August 1955, and the Marion County cruised in the Far East between October 1953 and May 1954, then Ensign Blair would have been a very inexperienced Sailor, new to the crew and ship, and whom the Captain would hardly know.

Blair's seafaring experience does seem to be rather limited.

But he did know about running tractor engines at lower speeds from pre-Navy experience on the farm.

[_krose]

I don't think this is relevant. Well, it's relevant to prove he was actually a sailor on a ship during the Korean War "era."

I haven’t heard anyone extend a war past its end to be included in it as an era. Then again, that war never officially ended. It’s just been a very long ceasefire.

I was in Japan a few months after the fall of Saigon. It never occurred to me that was during the Vietnam War era. But maybe it would have if I were in the US military instead of God’s Army. Who knows?

[_I have a question]

Is there any other example of a World War 2 (or since) ships’ Captain requesting a sailor under his command go outside to take a look at the propellers?

I also note from the podcast, that not only does Wilson put the full responsibility for the facts of the story squarely on Frank Blair, but he can’t quite bring himself to totally throw Blair under the propellers. He adds the little personal trestimony that he knows that what Blair told him is true.

At least Holland had the humility to admit the mistake and public apologise, despite knowing the ridicule he faced, taking the full brunt of the issue on his own shoulders, rather than passing the buck to the members who told the tale in the first place.