Page 106 - Lubbock Senior Link Magazine Fall 2019- Online Magazine

Lee Reese
ven on that first day
of Navy boot camp,
Eit quickly became
apparent that Lee Reese had
the foulest mouth in the
entire company of sailors,
a notable achievement for a
young fellow among a class of
men known for their colorful
language. Maybe that’s why,
for that first day’s inspection,
someone decided to play
a little joke by placing, not
one but six Bibles among the
young sailor’s gear. To this
day, Lee is baffled by that
discovery. When his company
commander uncovered
the stash, he responded
by making Lee Reese
the company’s Religious
Petty Officer. His duties
as Religious Petty Officer
included responsibility for
106 Lubbock Senior Link
The Mistake That Wasn’t
by Katherine McLamore with David Eppler
evening prayers and Nam in the Gulf of Tonkin,
encouraging fellow eventually returning stateside
sailors to attend church to complete a cruise that, in
services. But maybe ’74, was logged as the shortest
the joke was on Lee’s on record at only five months
fellow sailors because long.
the life of devotion and
service that followed Lee’s sister invited him to
may well have been a party where Lee met a
foreshadowed by young lady named Sharon.
that somewhat ironic Later that evening, the
selection. young sailor asked if he
could walk the bright-eyed
Lee was born in girl home. They started as
Fresno, California in “just friends”, but the more
1949. His father had time they spent together, the
become disabled after more they realized it was
a heart attack but still something special. Lee left
managed to contribute for another year of duty but
to the family income returned just before Christmas
by selling newspapers. to take Sharon to meet his
Lee’s mother kept up grandmother. Sharon passed
the household for her the test, and the couple
five children, and for a married in 1973.
while, Lee did odd jobs
to help make ends meet. Then, Despite his early intentions,
on May 12, 1969, at the age of Lee remained in the Navy,
19, Lee enlisted in the Navy. with deployments that took
Lee was first deployed aboard
the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt
attack carrier, which took the
young man throughout the
Mediterranean, with stops in
Spain, France, Italy, and the
Greek Islands. Even though
he had no intention of making
a career of the Navy, Lee
reenlisted because “it seemed
like the right thing to do.”
After his service on the
Roosevelt, Lee was deployed
aboard the USS Ranger which
was headed for the Western
Pacific. The ship sailed to
the Philippines, Hong Kong,
and off the coast of Viet