Kiddie Cruise

About the Book

The setting is USNTC Bainridge, Md., the years 1953-54, Frank White, a dental technician, assigned to Administrative Command has a few months to go before his enlistment is over. He comes from a dysfunctional family, lost his girlfriend to a best friend, has ambivalent feelings about his teenage buddies, finds the Navy oppressive and is in the process of maturing from a boy to a man.

His present assignment, the barracks detail, is punishment for past encounters with the military establishment. Frank wants to make amends, to preform dental technician duties, to do the things he was trained for, to return to a clinic. During his stay at Bainbridge Frank made two best friends, Gary and Mike. Gary, slightly older than Frank, from Ohio, from a different culture, is a singer with tremendous talent. Mike, the son of a Philadelphia Mafia father, is stationed in Bainbridge. Mike’s father used his influence to help Mike avoid the draft and be close to home. He becomes Frank’s older “brother” and best friend.

Chief Kotch , by accident, almost hits Frank with his car at a crosswalk near the Ship’s Store, and immediately “recognizes” him as Reilly, the sailor who disgraced him. Chief Kotch plans to end the persecution by those in the Navy Department who want to further disgrace and humiliate him. Kotch believed he had killed “Reilly”on Adak, and could not understand how he survived. The Chief was convinced that there were still people in the Navy who wanted revenge on him. Kotch believed his enemies in the Navy Department were using the NUB (Naval Undercover Bureau) and “Reilly” once again, to make him pay for that fatal accident in San Diego. Determined now to do it right, he would kill “Reilly” and put an end to it once and for all. Kotch makes arrangements to have Frank transferred to his clinic.

Dawn Mitchell, a beautiful nineteen year old yeoman WAVE, attached to Administrative Command, is fighting her own personal demons. The US Navy did not provided the escape she sought, it did not offer the shelter she needed, the ghost of her abusive father haunted her still. His spirit was there in the men around her. The navy and its people menaced her, there was no escape.

Being underage outside NY State, Frank had the need to falsify his ID card so he could go to bars. The White Horse Inn in Perryville, Md., a few miles from Bainbridge, was a popular sailor hang out, especially during pay day. Local women would go to meet sailors for a night of Page 2 Kiddie Cruise description dancing, drinking and fun. Frank and Gary having been to Port Deposit earlier for a few drinks, encountered older navy regulars narrowly avoiding a confrontation. Frank having too much to drink insists on going to the White Horse. There in the head he meets Kotch again and in a drunken stupor he urinates on Kotch’s shoes.

Kotch returns to the table in the bar area, where his long time buddy, Chief Cooledge, waited with drinks. Kotch infuriated that “Reilly”boldly mocked him, sort sympathy from his friend. Cooledge assured Kotch that it was probably just an accident of young boys out having a good time getting drunk, just like they use to do. Angrily, Kotch verbally attacked his friend. It became clear now, to Kotch, that his friend Cooledge was in on it, working with the Naval Undercover Bureau to get him.

The next weekend, Gary assumed Frank’s duty so that Frank could take a quick trip to Long Island. Thus Frank begins an odyssey, a journey to mend fences with his parents, set things right. He hitches rides to New York, takes the LIRR to Bellmore and before he reaches his parent’s house he runs into some of his buddies, who are also home on Liberty, and his plans to spend time with his folks evaporates.

The tension is thick in his parent’s home as he arrives after having a few drinks with the boys; all his good intended desires vanish in a heated argument. After g

About the Author

Ronald E. Pettit born and raised in Brooklyn until age sixteen, school drop out, moved to Long Island, tried school again, only to be expelled, he joined the Navy at age seventeen. After military service, while working as a drill press operator, he attended Hofstra College at night, full time, received a B. A.. degree in Psychology, and Master degree in Education. He taught 5th and 6th grade and social studies, ending his career in education after thirty years in the Hauppauge School District on Long Island. His passions are oil painting and writing.