By Gerald A. McGill

In mid-December, the Point Welcome assisted a U.S. Navy Destroyer in a search for equipment they believed to have lost overboard. Unfortunately, the search was unsuccessful and was eventually called off. The Destroyer’s Commanding Officer thanked us for our efforts and asked whether we had the ability to prepare meals while underway. I assured him we had a complete galley with a stove, oven, and a freezer. This was a unique feature of the Cutters and distinguished us from the Navy swift boats where the crew had to eat MREs during their 2 to 3 day patrols.

The Destroyer’s C.O. then asked if we would we like “a few” extra frozen turkeys that they had on board as thanks for assisting them. I said we would be happy to take them. We pulled the Welcome alongside and they lowered a pallet by crane to us.  When we unwrapped the pallet we were astonished to see that they had given us at least 40 birds!

These turkeys didn’t look like any turkey we’d ever seen before. To save space for shipment, the center bone had been removed, making the two legs and the breast the same size in a neat square package. I had my cook get on the radio to get preparation instructions from the Destroyer’s cook.

As it turned out, the turkeys could be cooked intact without worrying about the white meat getting cooked before the legs were done. Each turkey took about 2 hours to prepare to perfection and we could cook four at a time. For the next two patrols, we cooked turkeys around the clock and shared them with the Swift boats in our patrol area. We even traded turkeys for fish with the local fishermen. What a wonderful and unexpected Christmas present from the U.S. Navy!