FALMOUTH, Mass. — James Meineker served his country in the Coast Guard as an electronics technician from 1969 to 1973. 

 

He grew up in the village of Castleton-on-the-Hudson in New York State and did his basic training at Coast Guard Training Center Cape in May, N.J. 

 

"It was a big awakening, they took the chip off my shoulder and changed the thought process," he said, adding with a chuckle, "if you walked around carrying a wrench, nobody bothered you. On the ship, we had some world class skaters who knew the ins and outs."

 

His first assignment would take him to the Coast Guard's former ET school on Governor's Island in New York, then to the 5th Coast Guard District in Pungo, Va. 

 

"We had transmitters that took up the whole building, we had parts that we maintained 24 hours a day," he recalled. When asked if he was ever afraid, he responded, "one night we took a 65-degree roll. I thought to myself, I'm not coming back from this one. We shored everything up and the DC [damage controlman] came through the door and said, 'That'll do.'"

 

"We had a great captain, Ted Gannaway, just an incredible guy. He went strictly by the book, nothing fazed him. He looked like the Gorton's Fisherman," he laughed.

 

Holidays? "I did get home from time to time, back then, you didn't have the technology you had today. When you were out, you were

out. We had a crew of about 90. You knew who you could depend on and who you couldn't. One guy didn't want to go out to sea and

started a fire."

 

Meineker said climbing up the mast was an experience, and you had to learned quickly what rungs to step on. The service would also be saddled at times with "people that were in court. One time, we had the kingpin of an auto theft ring. It's tough to depend on people."

 

He recalled how he did fantail jumping, which was a dangerous act of jumping off the aft, or rear, deck. "Sometimes you were jumping 20 feet," he said. "It was lots of fun and broke up the monotony." He also kept a bicycle onboard and could ride it around without pedaling because of the movement of the ship.

 

Thoughts on being a Coast Guard veteran? "I was always proud of my service," he said. "My dad had been in the Army, he was an

engineer and landed on Omaha Beach. I wanted to save lives rather than taking them. We did a great deal of good things — ice and fisheries patrol, saved people in hurricanes — some good stuff."

 

Jim Meineker, thank you for your service to our great country.

 

Wayne Soares is the host of the popular new veterans cooking show, "The Mess Hall" that airs Saturdays on NBC's NECN at 9:30 a.m. He also entertains our troops around the globe and is the host and producer of the Vietnam veterans documentary "Silent Dignity – The Chapter That Never Ends." He can be reached at waynesoares1@gmail.com.