Dennis LaMort

Dennis LaMort served in the United States Navy from October of 1967 to October of 1971 as a radio and radar operator in both the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas aboard the Guided Missile Destroyer USS Sampson (DDG 10).

LaMort was born in Passaic, New Jersey in February 1949 and raised in the Garden State. The Vietnam War was raging as he attended high school, and he knew he would eventually get drafted, so he decided to enlist in the Navy after graduation. One of the first adjustments LaMort had to make was the traveling demands of military service. His family had never gone on vacations, and he had spent his previous life in New York and New Jersey.

After his enlistment, LaMort and his fellow recruits had their pre-induction physical and were issued uniforms at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York. They were bussed out to John F. Kennedy airport, where they boarded a plane for Chicago. From there they were sent to the Great Lakes Naval Station, where they went through basic training or” Boot Camp”. At Great Lakes, the physical fitness training intensity was more than he had expected. During the time that LaMort was there, the obstacle course was closed due to concerns about safety issues, but every month the trainees went through a series of tests to judge their physical fitness. It was the only form of formal exercise, but there was a lot of marching and drill with rifles. Everyone had to scrub and wash their own clothes and hang them on clotheslines to dry. Due to the cold temperatures, however, their clothes would often freeze.

LaMort recalled that the noncommissioned officer in charge of his recruit training unit was hard on them, but also fair. As long as they tried their best, he supported them. Boot Camp was not scheduled to end until the middle of January, but the recruits were all allowed to go home for Christmas, then return to finish their training.

After Boot Camp, LaMort was sent to radar school. Fortunately, it was just on the other side of the base from Boot Camp, and so he grabbed his bag and hopped on the bus that took him there. LaMort was in radar training school for six months. He completed the operator course in July 1968.

Before officially becoming a radar operator, LaMort had to spend two weeks in electrical training in Chicago, during which he was able to visit a friend in Michigan. After his training was completed, he was assigned to the USS Sampson, then docked in Charleston, South Carolina, While LaMort was assigned to the Sampson, he was initially detached on other orders, including being sent to Florida and temporarily assigned to a ship going to Guantanamo Bay base in Cuba after it had passed its initial “evaluation.”

In September 1968, LaMort went on the first of four cruises on the Sampson. The first one was four months long. Each cruise had stops at Naples and Athens, the two largest naval ports in the Mediterranean at that time, but also in a number of smaller ports. The Sampson’s first port was Malaga, Spain and after that Barcelona, Venice, Tunisia, and Turkey.

LaMort operated radar on board. A typical duty day at sea consisted of waking up, eating breakfast, and then reporting to duty. He was responsible, along with several other crewmen, for the maintenance of the ship’s antennas. While in port, they would inspect the antennas, because that was when it was safest to do so. Reading the radar, his other responsibility, involved finding what ships were nearby, even though they were not visible to the eye. Each ship location was updated every 3-5 minutes.

Duty stints on ships lasted for three days, with a few days then granted to relax. Throughout the three days, sailors on duty only got around five hours of sleep. They tracked Soviet spy vessels often disguised as commercial or fishing craft. Radio frequencies were changed daily. The Soviets would vaguely threaten American ships, yet any actual warfare situations never occurred. Ships would be on duty nonstop for forty-five days. For extra exercise, some of the men on board would jog and do other exercises on the deck.

It took ten days for a ship to cross the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. On one occasion, LaMort’s ship was hit by a hurricane on the trip. The bow of the boat rapidly moved up and down and disappeared into the water. The boat was also moving from side to side, and came very close to capsizing. LaMort knew that because, as the lookout on the quarter deck, there was a gauge he read that measured how close the boat was to capsizing.

LaMort felt that getting seasick was more of a mental problem than a physical one. If he was not constantly busy, he would begin to focus more on the waves crashing and the ship rocking. LaMort did get seasick during the hurricane, because he had a fear of dying.

During the storm, the ship almost lost one of its life rafts. A metal ladder at the edge of the ship was twisted, and a metal cabinet where sailors used to nap, and which was bolted to the deck, was torn loose.

There were three different aircraft patrol groups LaMort and his fellow radar operators had to keep contact with on several aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean Fleet. He was reassigned to the group that was going home. On the way back, the ship stopped at Naples and Barcelona. LaMort was back in Charleston just six weeks after he had left.

One of the life lessons that LaMort still carries with him was that a purpose of being on the ship was to make everyone self-reliant. He then transferred to the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy, a ship that earned the Meritorious Unit Commendation, which LaMort awarded although he was only on the ship a short time. Once he got back to Charleston, he flew home and surprised his father, who thought he was still overseas. It was hard to communicate with family while on board a ship, but LaMort received care packages with food and other things from home. He was never homesick, because of how busy he always was.

On the Sampson, there were several petty officers who LaMort dealt with. The first noncommissioned officer was very concerned about saving the Navy money, and would look for the cheapest food to feed the men on board. There was a lot of powdered food when he was in charge. The second officer had a different philosophy: he didn’t care about the money it cost to feed the crew well; he just wanted to do so. He made sure that the crew always had healthy and fresh provisions.

There were about 300 men on the Sampson including radiomen, boilermen, stablemen, and others who kept the ship moving in good condition. Since there were missiles on board, there were also people to maintain and shoot that equipment. There were many different jobs on all the ships. In the Caribbean at night, they would go out and practice war drills and so forth. Then they pulled into the Virgin Islands, and Jamaica. Six months out of the year, they were at sea. LaMort preferred the Mediterranean mostly because he spent more time there. Everyone on board had a patch on his shoulder that identified the ship that he was assigned to. After they spent Christmas in a rented room over a local tavern, they were advised that they were about to be discharged. They got out six days early. If they were not overseas, they would have been able to leave six months early.

LaMort’s family was at Charleston to meet him when he arrived to be discharged, and he went home with them. He ended up using some of the GI Bill benefits to get a bachelor’s degree in Business. LaMort graduated from Stockton State College in New Jersey, where he also worked in the Veteran’s Office. He was also a member of the Elks and their veterans committee. The other veterans would share their stories, and those who needed help would receive it. LaMort got a feeling of satisfaction by helping other veterans out.

Dennis LaMort was thanked for his service, determination, hard work. and service in protecting our country. He had become an inspiration to many, and was thanked for sharing his story.