Salute to Our Veteran: Bruce Adams

Bruce Adams: Veteran Naval Officer And Witty Story-teller

Resident of Sun City Summerlin

Bruce Adams is writing a book…a collection of funny stories about his career. Some are short, some are a little longer. He enjoys telling his friends and fellow Model Builder Club members funny stories, little vignettes. And people tell him: “You ought to write that down.” His stories are more or less true!

Bruce shares the following story . . . the time I was an Ensign, I was the Gunner Officer. I traveled for three days and was finally dropped on deck by a helicopter. We were in Vietnam. I was in charge of the gunner’s mate. All the weapons, the big ship guns, the rifles, pistols, were part of my responsibility. We left Vietnam and were on our way to Hong Kong. My Chief Petty Officer, who was a real character, right out of a movie. One of those guys who is always in trouble. He was a WWII gunner’s mate. He was an old time “West Pac Sailor,” which meant that he had not been back to the U.S. in about 12 years. He lived in Japan and was on different ships. So, he said to me: “Mr. Adams: We are taking the machine guns down. They are going to be stored in the small arms armory.” So, the machine guns were stored away in the armory. The Chief walked into the armory (a room in the afterdeck of the ship) and there way up high mounted were the two machine guns. So, the Chief says to one of the gunner’s mates: “You sure that gun is empty?” He pulls the trigger and BANG! The bullet flies through the ship . . . goes through all these compartments finally hitting and destroying a filing cabinet! No one got hurt. What happened? Was there a court martial? No, nothing happened. Luckily, no one was hurt. We were at sea, 5-6 hours out of Vietnam heading to Hong Kong (one day away). The Second-Class Gunner’s Mate who was really in charge, said: “The Chief is not allowed in the Armory anymore!”

Now, back to Bruce. He went into the Naval Academy in 1965, right out of high school and graduated in 1969. While in the Naval Academy, Bruce and fellow students were given lots of opportunities to do different training, exposing them to a wide array of situations. They went to sea on ships at the start of their second year. And at the start of their fourth year, they went out on ships as Officers. They were First Class Midshipmen. Bruce’s first assignment as an Officer was on a little tiny destroyer 300 feet long . . . the USS Cromwell. The ship was on its way to the North Atlantic destined for a North Sea cruise. The crew was excited to be heading for Northern Europe, to Scandinavia. As Bruce recalls: “All we could think about was that we were going to meet all these beautiful blonde girls. We called it: The Blonde Girl Cruise.” While they were crossing the North Atlantic, the Russians invaded Czechoslovakia. They stayed at sea chasing Russian destroyers and never got to any port, never met any beautiful blondes. Instead, they stayed at sea for 8 weeks. They got lots of experience on the bridge training in naval operations . . . lots of sea time. Bruce recalls that he was a pretty good ship handler. The Captain said: “You don’t have to go back for your last year. You can get a commission right now. You know everything you need to know; you don’t need to go back for a year of school.” So, that was the summer before the start of Bruce’s fourth year. He stayed on and learned how the ship works, and how to work with enlisted men. Real hands-on team building. He and his fellow officers and crew worked with submarines and aircraft carriers about 6-8 ships, it’s called a “Hunter-Killer Group” it’s a carrier and a bunch of destroyers.

Bruce returned to the Naval Academy and got his commission. He served on numerous destroyers. His first two ships were in Vietnam. So, during the years 1969-1971, Bruce spent about 12 months of those 3 years in Vietnam.

Then, Bruce went to Graduate School, and earned a Masters of Science at the University of Washington. He returned to sea on another ship as an Operations Officer. Bruce got out of the Navy in 1979. He then stayed in the reserves and went to work for a variety of defense contractors. Bruce retired in 2005. His last few working years were really exciting, and pleasant. He spent a lot of time in the Middle East and had a ball! Bruce was doing marketing, meeting with government people, and experiencing different cultures. Bruce recalls: “It was great…you live on a first-class budget!”

Upon reflection, Bruce shares: “All in all, it was a good, rewarding career!”