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The majority of my tour was spent working as a neuropsychiatric technician on the mental health wards @ USNH 59, St. Albans, Queens, NY. It was our job to observe the patients, report to the psychiatrists, and maintain control. Never even SAW a ship in 4 years . The first time I boarded a Navy vessel was in 1991, 25 years after I got out.
Hunting wild Leeks
The Yeaw family traces its roots in America back to the late 1600's or early 1700's, when Captain David Yaugh brought his family to the New World from the British Isles aboard his ship. David had six sons, from whom the entire family in America is descended. Mostly due to the rampant illiteracy abounding at the time, none ended up spelling the name that way. Many times, some scribe spelled it phonetically from the owner's pronunciation during the making of some record, such as a deed or court proceeding. This phonetic spelling became official from that point, and the most common spelling became Yaw, followed by Yeaw, Yew, Yeo and Yow. In tracing the Yeaw (Yawl genealogy, it was noted that the family has a long tradition of serving in the military. Oliver, William, David, Moses, Andrew, Amos (Sr. & jr·), and two Johns served in the Revolutionary War. Alonzo fought in the Mexican War ("Remember the Alamo"). Robert, james, Andrew, William, Jesse, Edgar, Oliver, Henry, Franklin, John, Simeon, and two Josephs served in the Civil War. Four of those lost their lives in combat. One spent a year at Andersonville. Since then, though, it seems the Yeaw family in general has wised up. There is record of only one Yaw fighting in World War I, and one in the Korean Conflict. None was found in World War II. The only (in-country) Viet Nam veteran of which I have re- cord was a Navy Seal. Now there could be the clue to it. Perhaps the Yeaws quit enlisting in the damned army and getting their asses shot off. Instead, they joined the Navy, where you can shoot at folks with impunity from somewhere over the horizon. In fact, looking back through the family history I find there is a rich record of the Yeaw family associated with the sea, either sailing or at least generally behaving like sailors. Take the case of Samuel Yee. On 29 September, 1653 in a Salem. MA court. he was found guilty and fined for, "being much in drink and disturbing the neighbors in the night." Now that had to be a sailor. As could have been Thomas Yow. He appeared in a Yorke Co. court in the early 1700's charged with selling liquor to the Indians . Then there was David Yaw, who served on a schooner out of Boston. When their ship was overrun in late March of 1724, one of the pirates, a Frenchman named John Baptis, demanded and took David's boots. Considering the general demeanor of the privateers of that era, he was fortunate that his feet weren't still in them. Indeed, seamanship still runs in the veins of the Yeaw Yaw) family, as evidenced by such worthy seamen Robert E. Yaw. As a merchant seaman working the west coast, he was swept off the deck of his ship and drowned in San Francisco Bay in 1946. My brother and I have tried to carry on the heavy burden of this family Naval tradition. I served in the US Navy and am a veteran of the Lunatic Wars. Well, wards, actually. Lunatic wards. The first ship I ever set foot on was at the Naval Park last year. My brother, on the other hand, served in the Marine Corps. Sort of. Actually, he did a 12-week course at Quantico for some OCS-type program he joined in college. Upon graduation he turned down his commission and went home with his fingers crossed. He never heard from them again until his six years was up, when his discharge came in the mail. We were all so proud. He hung it on the wall.
NAVetsUSA members Dave Yeaw and Laura
 
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