If his railroad job as a telegrapher had been a little more stable, Jay Thyer would have missed out on what he now views as one of the most exciting times of his life. And wife Sharon wouldn’t have a delicate set of Noritake china to use when company comes for dinner.
Thyer, a 31-year Iola Police Department veteran, recalled this week his four years in the U.S. Navy.
A highlight was when he rode out a typhoon where waves crashed over the top of the U.S.S. Montrose, an attack transport, for several hours..
The unnerving storm occurred during a lengthy Pacific cruise in mid-1960.
Thyer was a radioman and vividly remembers an encrypted teletype message, meant to warn of the pending typhoon and ordering a change of course, was garbled.
“That left us in the storm’s path,” and all of the crew were sequestered in the ship’s innards, Thyer said.
“Anyone who would have gone out would have been washed overboard,” he said.
Thyer purchased his wife’s prize set of china while on Okinawa.
“Jay paid $35 for the whole set, including two turkey platters and bowls,” she said.
A few years later she was shopping for a shower gift. The bride-to-be had registered for Noritake china at a local store.
“One plate then was $14,” Sharon mused.
Typhoon and china are among thoughts that occur to Thyer when he talks about his time in the Navy, a four-year-plus hitch that started in February 1958.
He also will remember his Navy days at Monday morning’s Memorial Day services at Highland Cemetery, an event he seldom misses.
“I think when you’ve served in the military, you are a little more patriotic,” he said.
