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I served in the Navy and Navy Reserves from 1958 until
1968. I went abaord the USS Cony DD 508 in November 1959, as a member of
the Deck Force. In April 1961 We went to the Bay of Pigs Cuba. At the time
I was a leading seaman and in charge of the side cleaners. We were instructed
to go over the side and paint off the five of our hull number. We became
the 08 rather than 508. We then painted off the name Cony on the stern.
Then our Commission ennant and U.S. Flag were removed; there was no longer
any question of what we were going to do. We still didn't know
where or why. We had unknown (to us) civilians come board, VIA our motor
whaleboat. Although I was a member of the boat crew, we were not to speak
to them at any time, for any reason. Soon after the failed invasion was
over, we returned to port, we were advised my our skipper Frank Dunham
not to speak of the week long adventure to anyone. As documented by author
Peter Wyden in his book THE BAY OF PIGS, THE UNTOLD STORY (Simon &
Schuster 1978), our ships did meet some resistance. It is further documented
in the VFW Magazine (September 1993), "a whaleboat carrying sailors heavily
armed with Browning automatic rifles, from the Cony, was beached at one
stage. Actual small arms fire struck the Cony." A round from a Cuban artillery
piece was fired over the bow of at least one of the destroyers. We went
to GQ. It seemed as if GQ lasted for the entire five days. All Navy duty
after those days seemed extremely tame. I finished my Navy service at USNR
Center South Charleston W Va.
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