Friends and Family of Virgo:

Greetings! This is the first of a series of letters I'll be sending you while your men are deployed with Virgo off the coast of Viet Nam. In them, I hope to let you know what your men are doing, accomplishing, and enjoying, and where they are going.

In the preceding few months, you may have heard your son or husband mention that he was going to "WestPac" and not really known where or what that was. Well, WestPac is an abbreviation for Western Pacific, but it's not really a specific geographic area. It's not really a place It's a state of mind, an experience, an operating area that includes a small and bitter and very important ware And, it's a lot of work; your men have been and will be working very hard in WestPac.

Virgo’s long trip to WestPac (over 7000 miles), mostly meant steaming for hundreds of miles without seeing so much as another ship, and a great deal of getting ready for our work when we got there. However, Virgo did make a two-day stopover in. Pearl Harbor, Hawaiian Islands, and some of your men got ashore briefly for a look at the sights of Honolulu.

Soon we were on our way out to Subic. Bay, Philippines. A short. way out of Pearl Harbor we conducted an anti-aircraft gunnery exercise, and the gunners mates distinguished themselves with an outstanding score.

About 500 miles from Subic Bay, Virgo experienced some rough weather as we negotiated tropical Storm RUBY, whose 50 mile per hour winds gave us all a taste of rough weather sailing.

Subic Bay itself, where we are now, is on the Western side of Luzon, the large island at the north end of the Philippines The climate here is tropical--warm and humid most of the year. Dense vegetation surrounds the cleared area of the Naval Magazine; monkeys, exotic birds, and unusual insects are there, only a short distance from the ship.

About 60miles to the east is Manila, largest city of the Philippines, the nearby capital, Quezon City. Almost entirely destroyed during World War II, Manila has sprung up since as a modern and beautiful city, the "Pearl of the Orient".

Virgo leaves Subic Bay this afternoon to go "out on the line", as they say, to begin her real mission: keeping the fighting fleet supplied with ammunition. While our schedule in the coming months is open to many changes, it will follow a general pattern.

From Subic Bay, Virgo normally will steam out to an imaginary point called "Yankee Station", where there are several attack aircraft carriers, plus destroyers and support ships, which carry the Navy's air war into North Viet Nam. Virgo will replenish these ships, giving everything from 2000 pound bombs to guided missiles to conventional naval artillery ammunition to them.

After giving the "Yankee Team" a new load of ammunition, Virgo will swing south along the coast of Viet. Nam. Stationed at intervals all the way south to Saigon are a series of destroyers which provide naval gunfire support to the troops ashore. These ships, too, need ammunition regularly, and Virgo will be giving it to them. After replenishing them, we normally will head back to Subic Bay for another load, and the cycle will start again.

For many Navy men, advancement is always important, and I have some good news to tell you in this respect. Here is a list of men who recently advanced in rate aboard VIRGO, and their new rate:

Dennis W. B LAO - ETN3; David R. BALDI - MM2; Lonnie R. CARRUTH - SN;
Patrick L. DAY - SN; Albert T, HALL - SN; Richard A. PARGMAN - FN;
James R. PHILPOTT - RM1; Terry L. RUFF - SN; Craig STEWART - EM3;
William E. WHITNEY - SN; Jimmie L. HILTS - SN; Max C. HUBER - MM3;
James L. JOHNSQN - SA; Ronald E. KING - SFP3; Patrick T. O'MEARA - SN

Special recognition goes to Quartermaster Chief Billie R BROCK, who is about to trade his chief's anchor for the crossed anchors and gold chinstrap of a warrant officer. Chief' BROCK will leave Virgo shortly to report to Warrant officer Indoctrination Class at Newport, Rhode Island. This is a tremendous step up for him, and we’re all proud of him.

If an emergency arises, with you at home, there are two good ways you can contact your man aboard Virgo, while we are deployed. One way is to send a telegram, addressed like this:

(Name and Rate/Rank)

USS VIRGO (AE-30)

C/O Naval Communications Station

San Francisco, California

Cost of the telegram will be based on ,the, distance from the place of origin to San Francisco. For a slight additional fee, you can be notified when the Communications Station has received your message, this is your best assurance of delivery, and is well, worth the money. The other means of contact is through the nearest ,local chapter of the American Red Cross, listed in your telephone book.

In the coming months, I'll be able to let you know more specifically what we've been doing "on the line".. In the meantime, be sure to write your hard-working men. "Mail Call" is the most welcome word on the ship, for a letter from home is among the greatest treasures to a sailor at sea.

H. R. MACMILLAN, Commanding Officer