The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1920-01-12
AN OCALA BOY IN THE NAVY

Following is part of a letter writ
ten by Edward Connor, boatswain's
mate, on the battleship Arkansas, to
his parents, Mr.. and Mrs. C. E. Con-
nor, of North Lake Weir:
We left Hampton Roads July 18th,
and proceeded to Panama, where we
arrived seven days later The Arkan-
sas has the honor of being the first
super -dreadnaught to enter the Pan
ana canal. We coaled in Gatun lake,
and then proceeded to Balboa. While
passing through the canal we went
west by travelling east. Here [ must
say something about the wonderful
work we have done in building the
Panama canal. l have seen the Brook
! lyn bridge, the Eiffel tower. Wool
worth building. parliament buildings
and Westminster Abbey, but the
Igreatest piece of engineering I have
ever seen is the locks in the Panama
canal and the spillway. The Culebra
cut is certainly some work. / visited
Panama City while here and was very
much impressed with the quaint
| VIC pLONCCOCu IIC SOdoL,
but did not stop in Mexican waters,
until we got to the Coronado Islands,
where we dropped the hook and be-
gan to clean up for our bow to the
first port of call on the west coast,
San Diego. Calf On the way up we
had nothing of interest to happen.
First was an athletic meet in which
the 9Th Division carried off the tug
of-wSr pull art which they have never
been defeated. The other was the
second time we have stopped at sea to
pick up mail. which we did two days
out of the Coronado Islands. We GER
tainly found out why the Pacific ocean
| is named as it is. After being tossed
and thrown around for two years on
| the Atlantic and in the Bay of Bis
cay, and the North Sea, is seemed all
the way up the coast like we were
on an inland canal. August 9th we
entered San Diego harbOr in all our
glory and were here reviewed by Sec
retary Daniels. San Diego had
promised US a pleasant stay but they
San Pedro, where we had to take on
more black diamonds. While coaling
ship on the port side here. we were
rigging ship on the starboard for
navy dance, which was held in fine
shape. We caught the Pacific Electric
from here for Long Beach, Los An
geles, Vernon and surrounding terri
tory While here the movie people
put on a regular roundup with Doug
las Fairbanks, Wallis Read and others
as crack riders and believe me they
can sure ride. l took trip down to
Phoenix, Ariz. and l got enough of
the American desert right then and
there; 40 in the shade and no water
or shade anywhere and a dry heat at
that. None of it for this cracker We
next visited Venice, which is all the
name implies and then some. 1t is
one of the most popular summer re-
scrts in the world. Venice is the Pa
cific coast Coney Island, except that
it has Coney Island outstripped
thousand ways. While here / visited
Grifith's million dollar pier. which
when the Green river flowed free was
one of the most popular drinking
places in the world. Monte Carlo
hasn't anything on this pier. We next
dropped in on San Luis Obispo, which
is small town with great promises.
Santa Cruz was our next stop. We
shall remember it by it's ground
swells and big trees. On September
1st the new Pacific fleet entered the
Golden Gate and shook hands with
San Francisco and Oakland. Secre-
tary Daniels came aboard Sept. 9Th
and we proceeded north. Portland,
Oregon, Victoria. B. c., and Seattle
came next in order The president
reviewed US in Seattle from the old
bulldog of the navy, the Oregon, on
Sept 18th. From here we went to
Bellingham, the beautiful. | haven't
been able to figure out if it was the
city or the normal school girls that
gave it its name. From Bellingham
we proceeded to Bennington and here
we are still Since our arrival we
have nearly changed personnel. We
have all new men now. so we of the
old crew are having quite a time
teaching these recruits something
We are trying very hard to whip the
crew into shape so we will be effic-
lent when we leave the yard. This
place is dead. There are three movie
shows, all owned by one company, and
about six pool rooms and other skat-
: ing rink Other than that there is
nothing here. The population of
Bennington is about 5000 and there
are about 5000 workmen in the yards