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Topeka Comment

"AS the TOPEKA is gradually relieved of her crew and her purpose a certain want to reminisce 'of times gone by seems to come to mind more frequently. I believe I speak for all the members of the Medical Department when I say that to be a part of the ship's last mission has been a multifold challenge both in the management of acute medical problems and in the assurance of her readiness should war have become a reality.

"Of my personal impressions conjured up over these past six months several stand out. Being a former landlubber, one not used to the confines imposed by steel railings and insured by blue water moats. I was most impressed by the ability of 1,000 plus individuals to manage so relatively well for such an extended period of time. Having been warned of the prominent shipboard syndrome of malingering, I was pleased to find so few who looked for a medical excuse and so many who sought rather to have their ills retreat for the express purpose of allowing themselves to get back to work. I recall being upset about the opinions some of the European persons had developed about us as Americans and concerned by the realization that we as a group were being unfairly judged by the limited actions of so few. It seemed that the degree of recompense required to recover the loss was often more than ought to be expected. Then too I recollect the joy and gratefulness of so many of  the European people for America's deeds of the past and the much smaller everyday good actions done freely by the men of the ships. I was and still am refreshed by the thought of America and Americans not as a warring nation and people, but rather as group anxious to have fairness rule, and to forgive and forget even frequently to our own detriment.

"I remember my letdown on the receipt of my original orders to a ship scheduled for a Mediterranean deployment rather than to the Viet Nam region where a need for a physician was more apparent and the expected satisfaction so much the greater. But now, in retrospect, the purpose and need for our station in the Mediterranean is clearer, and though our guns aimed only at hollow targets, the effectiveness and importance of our presence was of equal value, and the satisfaction for having served in that area, none the less.  I am pleased to have come to know so many of you during the course of this past cruise. I wish us all good health and good sailing."

Vincent E. Bryan LT, MC, USNR

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