San Francisco, Calif., December 1954: I was barely 8 years old, just old enough to join the Cub Scouts. Every once in a while, our troop would go on a short trip somewhere. Sometimes it was to a museum or an aquarium. On this particular outing, we went to visit a Navy aircraft carrier that was docked at the seaport.
At that time, I didn't even know what an aircraft carrier was—or any other ship, for that matter. Our troop leaders told us that there were several Navy ships in port that
