During WW II, it became known that
Quote:
|
if the plane guard destroyer picked up a pilot in the water, when they returned him, we always sent over enough ice cream for the crew. This word spread around the British fleet. One day during air operations a plane came in very low and the landing signal officer jumped for the net below with such enthusiasm that he jumped over the net into the water. The British heavy cruiser London, several thousand yards across the formation, saw this, and they put the helm hard over, blew their whistle, and came across the formation, ships scurrying to get out of the way. They picked up the lieutenant, and now we had to furnish ice cream for 900 men But we did; they got their ice cream.
|
Petty Officer Roger Bond, USS Saratoga. Excerpted from E. T. Wooldrige's
Carrier Warfare in the Pacific, pages 130-31.