My grandpa, Raymond Hugh Clayton, Sc1, served on the USS Drexler, in the first gun turret. It was his job to put the shells in the guns. He fondly (?) recalled the time that the Drexler crossed the equator. It was the custom for all those who first cross the equator to be smacked with a seawater drenched towel. He could laugh when he was telling the story to his grandchildren, but he said it wasn't that funny then. He said he did get a laugh out of watching the big burly officers getting whipped with the towel because, while they had been to sea many times, they hadn't been across the equator.

He also told me of the time that the sonar men were convinced that a submarine was about to attack the Drexler. They had picked up something large, bulky and making strange noises, moving in the direction of the ship. They fired a torpedo roughly in the direction of the visitor. When the "submarine" surfaced, it was a whale! Listening to his stories, I could recognise the descrpition of a Pacific Grey Whale. I remember thinking I wish I could have seen the sonarmen's faces when they realized was a whale and not an attacking sub.

There were so many stories that grandpa told my cousins and I. When he got back to the states and could lead a civillian life, he worked in an alloy plant. He spent the majority of his working life there and made many good friends. But, he said, when he looked back on all of it, he felt closer to the men that he served with on the Drexler. He didn't understand it really, nor did he really try. He knew that when men go through a life and death situation with each other, it binds them in a way nothing else can.

The men of the USS Drexler held a special place in my grandfather's life and heart. It is for him that I make this tribute to the ship and all the other men who served on her. I loved him and I love all of you.

Lori Dione Ryland