Real Early US Navy photo's from my Grandfather

[river rat]

Any Navy vet's or Marines vets shell back's I became one on the USS Proteus AS-19 on December 23,1981 a few days before Christmas a lot of those far away from home but they got it worse in the old days. This is a initiation when you go across the equator your a wog before a shell back after. A photo's when my Grandfather went across it look at what looks like a cricket bat guess what that was used for ouch. They used what was called a shillelagh on us a cut piece of fire hose with duck tape at one end for a handle to whack us that bat looks brutal. This initiation is probably watered down today due to women on ships and no more hazing and I guess this was a form of hazing but it was something you never forgot and made you forget about the boredom at long periods at sea sad to see it gone or watered down.



The summons notice what ship it is from she was at Pearl Harbor during the attack.