Watch The Bubbles Boys!

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I was visiting my uncle on the old family farm in Central Wisconsin.  He was sharing with me about his old navy days the destroyer USS Wadleigh in 1954.  Those old destroyers were very small, and they could just disappear in the large ocean. He volunteered for destroyer service because they traveled the most around the world.

One day a large storm came upon them! One of the old salts said, "watch for the bubbles boys!"  The order went out to baton down all of the hatches!  As the little ship was thrown around the crew down below grew afraid!  When they rolled over at a 41° angle,  they were not sure if they capsize or not!  

The captain of the ship got on the intercom and shouted for the crew to prepare to abandon ship!  The crew immediately got into their life vests. Again,  one of the old salts yelled, "watch the bubbles boys!"

At this point all of the crew were down below in their life vests. My young sailor uncle asked one of the old salts what "watch the bubbles" meant. The old salt explained like this.

If the ship would capsize and flood with sea water, you follow the bubbles!  Bubbles will always flow upwards, towards the surface.  He said to watch the bubbles and swim in that direction!  Every compartment on the ship always had two hatches. One could be opened and closed at will, this is the main hatch. The second hatch is the safety hatch. That hatch would always remain closed, but always unlocked. It is the way of escape!

The ship rode out the storm and eventually came out of it. That day they didn't need to follow the bubbles! As Christians,  our way of escape is to follow the Bible. The bubbles of God's Word will lead us to safety in our time of distress!

William James Roop

Roop-Crappell Ministries

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Shore Leave In Naples

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I was up in Wisconsin visiting family,  from my mother's side of the family. She was born and raised in Central Wisconsin, In a little town called Wautoma. We stayed with my Aunt and Uncle Jerry and Nancy Mankowski, who are still living on the old dairy farm.

One afternoon on the kitchen table Jerry is telling stories about his Navy days. He served for the USS Wadleigh in the fifties. The Wadleigh was a small destroyer. Jerry told us a story about when he got shore leave in Naples, Italy.

This was not long after World War II and all the devastation that entailed! Jerry in a couple of friends with the town in Naples. They got a hotel room for three days and two nights for only ten dollars! It was a very nice hotel. But after World War II, not a lot of tourists were going to Italy because of the war devastation.

Jerry and his friends partied in the town and had a nice supper that evening. They said the meat and their food tasted kind of strange. After the shore leave was over, They started talking with some of the guys on the ship. They said a lot of restaurants in Italy are still using dog and rat meat in their food. 

Jerry and his friends did not understand how poor the Italians were after World War II. In order to get by they would use marginal meats and just not tell anybody about it. The mayonnaise would make no mention of what type of meat it actually was! But that's okay It didn't kill him!

William James Roop

 Roop-Crappell Ministries 

 Hospice Volunteer Stories 

 The Trucking Tango 

 Apostolic Theological Seminary 

Swimming In The Mediterranean

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I was up in Wisconsin with my wife and mother, visiting my mother's family, who still lives up there. We were staying with my Aunt and Uncle, Jerry and Nancy Mankowski, who are still living in the old farmhouse.

One afternoon we are sitting around the kitchen table telling stories. Jerry was telling about his old Navy days back in the fifties.  He served on the destroyer USS Wadleigh, DD 689. Wild board that ship they went on a Mediterranean cruise.

They stopped in many ports throughout the Mediterranean when they were there. One of the places they went was off the coast of Israel and Lebanon. Country of Lebanon was having political issues. The USS Wadleigh was assigned to cruise, very slowly, at only five knots an hour, up and down the coast of Lebanon and Israel.

Those two countries are very small so going very slow is not a problem. While they're sailing up the coast, the captain ordered crew swimming! That means the crew can take turns jumping into the sea for a swim. Times of cruise swimming was very popular among the crew. It was also very rare for that captain to give that order. 

Uncle Jerry has a lot of stories from his Navy days, it seems it was a good memory for him. I can understand that I spent four years in the United States Air Force in the eighties, and I have lots of good memories from those days as well.

William James Roop

 Roop-Crappell Ministries 

 Hospice Volunteer Stories 

 The Trucking Tango 

 Apostolic Theological Seminary