Meeting an old teammate at sea

I was a career officer in the mighty U.S. Marine Corps, the fulfillment of a childhood dream dating back to the ripe old age of six. Baldwin has been my home since August of 1955. Though it has now been decades since I actually lived there, I still consider Beautiful Baldwin (BB) to be my home town. During 2 1/2 decades in uniform, l met about a dozen fellow Baldwinites. But l encountered one in a very unusual place.

I refer to an old Little League teammate, Commander Craig Sackett, U.S. Navy-Retired, of BHS ‘67 (a class ahead of my own). The last time l had likely seen Craig was when BHS ‘67 graduated from high school, or even before that.

Jp ahead a couple of decades. I was a Major serving in the 4th Marine Regiment, based on Okinawa?, Japan. I was part of a group of Marines headed up to Yokosuka Navy Base, Japan for a training exercise. We were embarked on the USS Blue Ridge, the flagship of the Commander of the 7th Fleet, a three-star admiral.

The ship published a daily mini-newspaper. I picked up a copy and saw a list of key personnel on the admiral’s staff. One was his Staff Secretary (or personal assistant in civilian terms). Imagine my surprise to read that Navy officer’s name: Lieutenant Commander Craig Sackett, USN! No the last I recalled hearing about Craig was that he was attending college on a Navy ROTC scholarship (a great honor). So l figured it had to be the same guy.

So l made my way to his onboard office. He was the gate guard to the admiral. And he in turn had a gate guard to keep the riff raff out. The man was a Navy petty officer (PO) of linebacker-like constitution. I entered and asked politely if l could see LCdr Sackett. This PO eyed me suspiciously and inquired with an almost hostile demeanor (sailors and Marines don’t always get along, you see) and inquired what my business might be with the LCdr. I replied that LCdr Sackett and l had been Little League teammates long ago.

Like turning on a light switch, the PO became very friendly and brought me in for a link- up of Baldwin Boys on the high seas. Craig did not recognize me at first, but once he did we had a nice chat about growing up in BB. When we got to port, l had the chance to meet Mrs. Sackett and tell her what a great kid her husband was back in the day.

Who would have ever imagined such a “small world” encounter? And lest you should think that this old Marine is in any way anti-Navy, heaven forbid! Both of my brothers are proud Navy veterans. Larry BHS ‘72 was a hospital corpsman. Jim BHS ‘73 was a P-3 pilot. I served with both at least briefly on Okinawa.