I was a corpsman on the Big E, May 70 to August 71. I was at Barbers Point NAS at the time of the 69 fire, so that was my first experience with the ship. So when I got orders to report (rather than going to NSA Hospital, Da Nang, SVN), I went from Hawaii to Virginia, and then we left to go around South America, up to San Diego, over to Hawaii and then to the PI & Subic Bay. Then I left in 71 to pursue college and went to work for the VA, from which I am retiring in November.