Post Historian

George joined the US Navy on 20 July 1959 at the age of 17. He started his active duty at Great Lakes Basic Training Facility, Illinois. After boot camp he was transferred to the USS Forrestal CVA-59 where he spent time on the deck force before transferring to Fox Division. During a cruise of the Mediterranean he was transferred to Bainbridge, Maryland where he attended Fire Control Technician training. After completion of training at Bainbridge he was transferred back to Great Lakes Training facility for advanced education. Upon completion of advanced education he transferred to the USS Towers DDG-9 which had just been commissioned at Seattle and was being fitted at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington. After a shakedown cruise to Lima, Peru, the ship was station at its home port of San Diego, California. It was during this shakedown cruise that George became a Shellback as he crossed the equator near the Galapagos Islands. George was next transferred to the USS Gurke DD-783. After taking part in the nuclear testing at Johnson Island, George mustered out of active duty in San Diego on 4 September 1962.