She rode in the president’s ‘Vette but not in his jet

June Reed is a quiet, private woman living in south Florida after retirement from a large international chemical company. Yet, she is busy travelling to visit and help friends and family up and down the east coast. In her seventy-ish years, she’s active, fun-loving, and with an off-center sense of humor, but her retiring demeanor belies her past.

 June grew up in Claymont, a suburb of Wilmington, Delaware. She had an identical twin sister, Jean, who was left blind following an incident with the oxygen feed in her incubator. June and Jean had a very strong relationship and June always kept tabs on Jean’s health and well-being until Jean’s death on October 22, 2018.

 Sometime in 1974, June met a young Delaware politician who also grew up in Claymont before moving to nearby Mayfield. His name was Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Biden lost his wife and daughter to a tragic automobile accident near Hockessin, Delaware, roughly eight miles west of Wilmington in 1972. He remarried in June 1977 but not before meeting a few young ladies.

One of those young ladies was June. They met at a Junior Achievement Awards banquet and she rode in his green 1967 Chevrolet Corvette, a wedding gift from Joe’s father on the occasion of his first wedding. Although the relationship was fleeting, June always remembered the honor of riding in the ‘Vette.

 Like many teenagers, June made spending money by babysitting local children. One of those was a little girl who was two to three years old and whose name was Valerie Bertinelli whom she watched until the family moved out of the area. June watched Valerie’s growth in celebrity and they still keep in touch infrequently.

 Arguably, the most famous music festival in America was held in mid-August of 1969 near Woodstock, New York. Some have falsely claimed to have attended, but June actually did attend. Her best friend’s uncle had a dairy farm near the site of the festival and the two young women stayed at the uncle’s house, spoiled by warm beds at night and full meals during the day when they weren’t attending the music festival by slipping into the venue through the intervening fields and where she claims she never inhaled. She noted that the artist most wasted was Janis Joplin and her favorite act was Santana.

June filed other accomplishments in her life as well. She, her older sister, and her father competed in target shooting and won several trophies. She and her father, Roy, also competed and won competitions in roller dancing, one of those to Foreigner’s “Cold as Ice.” June has many other accomplishments, both personally and professionally, many beyond the scope of this post. By the way, her team won “Best Business” award at the Junior Achievement Award Banquet.

June Reed is just one example of what this blog is about. We celebrate the lives, the histories, and the accomplishments of people who, when you first meet them, you would never know what makes them who they are.

SQUID

Flyboys. Jet Jockeys. Leathernecks, Jarheads. Swabbies, Squids. Boats, Puddle Pirates. Doughboys, Grunts.

Just a few of the epithets that members of our military call members of other branches … and sometimes within their own branch of the military. Still, although some nicknames may seem disrespectful, rest assured that these nicknames are overwhelmingly used with great respect for other branches, whether active military or veterans.

Russ Thomas refers to himself as a Squid, a moniker he says was reserved for submariners in the U.S. Navy, although he heard references to “bubbleheads” and “sewer pipers” as well. Ironically, Russ was born in Kansas, far from any ocean or the Great Lakes. However, his motivation to serve in the military and travel might be credited to his family’s travels when he was a small child, having lived in five different states by the time he entered elementary school.

When the time came, Russ enlisted in the U.S. Navy in October of 1975, and following boot camp in San Diego, CA, served most of the next eight years on board the USS Cavalla (SSN-684), a sturgeon-class, nuclear-powered, attack submarine with a length just over an American football field. This ship was the second-generation Cavalla after the first, SSN-244, served admirably during WW II, having destroyed the Japanese aircraft carrier, Shōkaku, in the Battle of the Phillipine Sea.

Although SSN-684 was stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, as home port, she travelled the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic Oceans and the Caribbean Sea as a versatile nuclear submarine. Russ travelled with her to most ports including the coasts of Italy, Greece, Scotland, and of course ports in the Pacific, including passes through the Panama Canal.

Russ served as a non-nuclear machinist’s mate, requiring training and knowledge in a wide range of disciplines including hydraulics, hoists, atmosphere control systems (critical to life aboard a submarine), and weapons and weapon systems, among many others. Toward the end of his eight years in the Navy, Russ was assigned shore duty at the Submarine Base, Pearl Harbor.

If you catch Russ in a talkative mood, he might describe the time, during a diesel equipment training course near Chicago, that he tried to steal a train engine to get him and a few buddies back to the training facility after a night on the town, or the time that he and a friend snatched the transmission out of an abandoned, snow-covered pickup on the side of the road and put it in his friend’s disabled truck, all in 2-1/2 hours. Or he might describe a visit to the prostitutes’ rooms uncovered in the ruins of Pompeii, or his time, as a youngster, on the rodeo circuit in Texas.

In civilian life, his work has involved mechanics and hydraulic systems. He has been known to visit cafes, restaurants, and bars in his community, accompanied by a quiet demeanor, yet proud of his military service.  On occasion, Russ will notice a couple or small party at a café or restaurant where he is relaxing and will cover the check for the entire party, whether acknowledgment is received or not. Credit for his gesture is not his goal; it seems that service in some form is in his nature.