STOCKHOLM ....FIRST DAY

Our first day in Stockholm......



We pulled into Stockholm Sweden with high expectations and a payday in our pocket. This was the land of ''free love'' and beautiful girls. Everyone had high expectations and a lot of love to share with the locals. I was luckey the first day in and I had Cinderella liberty. We decked out in our dress canvas and hit the beach with high expectations. In this particular port we had to wear a Class “A” uniform. That meant we had to wear he ''flat hat'' or what we called the Donald Duck hat with our uniform instead of the traditional ''Dixie Cup''............ We were ''READY'' to say the least.
Jim and I buddied up and hit the beach. We caught a bus to downtown Stockholm. We smiled at the people and they ''looked thru us'' like we were not even there. I asked Jim if he forgot to shower or was passing gass. He said yep to the shower and no to the passing gass..... We got off the bus and strolled downtown smiling at the ladies and trying to be friendly. NO DICE.... No one wanted anything to do with us. We checked our shoes for ''dog poo'' ….. NOPE... In frustration we finally found a movie theater with the movie ''AND GOD CREATED WOMAN'' with Bridget Barebutt staring in it. Over there you buy your ticket by where you want to sit in the theater. The movie was in Swedish with French under righting but we followed the plot just fine. We got out of the movie and mingled with the crowd. We offered ''ciggies'' with no takers. We went to a bar for a drink and were totally ignored. In my life in the Navy I was never treated this way in a foreign port of call. In frustration, we went back to the Norton about three hours early. Some of our buddies were back also and we compared notes.
''What the flame gives with these people. The are suppose to be friendly and like US Sailors.'' The next day I had the dirty duty and didnt care......
The great problem was this. The general populace though we were Russians. It seems that our ''DONALD DUCK'' hat was the same type and shape as the ''Ruskies'' wore with their uniforms and the Swedes didnt like the Ruskies. The Russians made regular liberty calls in Stockholm and the people just ignored them when they came. That same day there was a front page article in the news paper about the Norton and the ''good will tour of the US Navy to Sweden'' Things changed for the ''MUCH BETTER'' after that. It seemed that all the girls in Stockholm wanted an American Sailor as a status symbol and one could simply ''pick and choose'' as to his likings.
We were there for seven days and I think I lost about ten pounds. ''Nuff said about that for now because ladies might read these posts but believe me the blond, blue eyed Nordic ladies loved us sailors and all you had to buy was usually dinner and a drink or two and catch the train to their apartment. Sometimes they would take you home for a home cooked meal.......''... I believe everyone fell in love several times and made a lot of promises that got broken later. We pulled out at four am and the pier was standing full of ''lovelies'' waving good by....
I still think of Sweden sometime.....
Seajay the sailor man
God bless our troops and bring them home soon and safe
God bless our vets for their service to this great nation ….
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