Page 105 - The History of Veterans at Highland Springs

WALTER KARL ROBERT THIEME
HIGHLAND SPRINGS RESIDENT, NAVY
It was 1958 when I graduated from Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts. President Eisenhower landed troops in Lebanon and I enlisted to serve my country. I completed the Naval Officer Candidate program as well as the Navy’s Combat Information Center School and Air Control School at the Glynco Naval Air Station, Brunswick Georgia.
After completion of this training I reported to the USS Montrose (APA-212) in San Diego, California to serve as the Combat Information Officer on this troop transport. I was now a member of the “gator” Navy as we were affectionately called. My responsibility was concerned with all the tactical information that would be of concern to the safety of the ship.
While aboard the “Rambling Rose” I served one tour of duty in the western Pacific. She was a troop transport carrying battalions of marines from Okinawa to the Philippines to be transferred to another troop transport for duty as a combat ready station ship off the coast of Vietnam. We ferried troops back to Okinawa. Another marine battalion came on board and was ferried to Suruga Bay for transport to a training base on Mt. Fuji. After a few days of R&R at the naval base near Yokohama, we reversed this course, ending up once more in the Philippines.
During one of these runs in Tokyo Bay, I qualified as an Officer of the Deck “underway” on this large ship which was unusual as I was still at the rank of ensign. Toward the end of our tour, our navigator was transferred back the states. I became the “new” navigator and was told to plot a course from Okinawa to San Diego. We were to steam independently across the northern Pacific which was a challenge to me for I had never navigated a ship using a sextant. GPS was not known at that time. Despite encountering a large storm at sea, we arrived in San Diego on schedule.
I spent 4 years’ active duty and 6 years of reserve duty, receiving an honorable discharge with the Navy rank of Lieutenant.
105