In his oral history, Rear Admiral Roger O. Simon mentioned that his wife was a member of the Sixth Fleet Music Show while he was assigned to USS Little Rock (CLG 4).  After more than 30 years I’m afraid that I cannot put her face and name together in my head.  A picture might jog my memory. 

Here’s a little more historical information about the music show and other issues of the time in the hopes that it will jog someone’s memory and promote a response or two.

In 1971, there were naysayers and complainers when VADM Gerald Miller took over as COMSIXTHFLT and began assembling the Sixth Fleet Singers.  USS Springfield (CLG 7) was flagship at the time and homeported in Gaeta, Italy.  Those opposed to allowing USS Springfield’s officers and enlisted men to join the choir saw little value in using scarce resources staging music shows.  They argued that the ship would suffer if some of the men were allowed to forego their regular duties to sing in a choir and that other crew members would have to take up the slack.    

VADM Miller saw value in using music to promote good will.  He remained resolute and got his way because he was the big guy in charge.  He made sure everyone understood his position.  Although I cannot attribute this as a direct quote, I was told that the admiral let it be known that the band and choir would be funded and staffed even if Springfield had to lock up her big guns and close down two boilers.

Even with the admiral’s full support, there was a below the radar resistance that made it very difficult for some men to participate in the choir.  I recall that the biggest percentage of men in the choir came from Springfield’s Operations Department.  I’m not sure why the Op’s department was so accommodating.  

It is interesting to note that VADM Miller was opposed to fully implementing Admiral Zumwalt’s Z-grams.  The Z-grams issued by the CNO were a long laundry list of policy directives that, among other things, allowed enlisted men to maintain longer hair styles, grow facial hair and wear civilian clothes while on liberty.  Admiral Miller was not a fan of the relaxed rules and requested that Springfield’s crew and all Sixth Fleet units adhere to a grooming standard that he was more comfortable with, which upset the younger men more than the oldsters.  The admiral got his way with liberty grooming standards, but many of the men got around the tougher dress code by wearing whatever it took to get off the ship and later switched to less restrictive attire.

I tended to follow the local rules, but I never reported anyone for improper civvies.  It did seem strange to me that liberty attire could cause such consternation, while all but the worst of drunken behavior was ignored and multiple cases of sexually transmitted disease were treated as mundane.