U.S.S. YANCEY AKA-93

Ken Grooms's Navy

A story for the USS Yancey

Hitchhiking during the 50s
in a 'Cracker Jack' Uniform

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A bit of history first. During WW2, my father operated a “tank wagon service” delivering gasoline and other fuels to farmers, construction sites and military locations. I would ride with him when I wasn't in school. We always stopped for G.I. hitchhikers from an air base about 12 miles from my town. That was a common thing to do then. When I joined the Navy in 1951 things had changed.

In the Bay area of San Francisco it was relatively easy to be picked up for a ride with ex GI’s. Yancey’s homeport at that time was in Oakland, CA. We hitched a ride to San Francisco after we had been in port for about 3 weeks. The driver of the car asked “how long have you been in”? We replied: “3 weeks”; they thought we meant how long we had been in the Navy. That was straightened out in a short time.

I had always heard that it was possible to hitch a ride from an air base to another near your home town. After I left the Yancey, I caught a ride with a shipmate going from San Diego to near Denver. Since my hometown was in eastern Kansas, I thought I could just be dropped off at Denver’s nearby base of Lowery Field. I inquired at that base about a hop from Lowery to Olathe, Kansas Navy base. This would put me about 50 miles from my home town. No luck with that; they added that I shouldn’t try hitchhiking since it was not recommended. I did it anyway.

My first pickup was a car with a family of kids. It was the 4th of July, hot and the kids were sticky and sweaty. I was eventually dropped off in a remote location with a small town about a mile from the main highway on a very hot afternoon. The town’s high school kids came by in cars and threw firecrackers near me for their amusement. Later I was picked up by an Air Force G.I. on his way east.

This ride was fine until it got dark. He had one of those Fords, at the time, that had a relay that would shut off the headlights when the electrical system was drawing too much current. Fortunately, the highway was flat with broad drainage ditches on each side. The lights would go out and we would be bouncing down the drainage ditches until the lights came on again. So, the main concern was that we might hit an occasional culvert in our path as we drove along those ditches. After a few episodes of this and as we were within about 40 miles from my hometown, I asked him to drop me off in the next town and I could make a call home for someone to pick me up. He did this; I made my call and waited near a dark warehouse until I saw the familiar faces of my family. That was the last of my adventures with hitchhiking.

Ken Groom - Yancey Historian

Submitted 8/31/09
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