MARSHFIELD — When Mary McShane told her parents she might be interested in joining the military, she probably didn't expect her father to act quite so quickly. It was Saturday when she mentioned the possibility. Sunday was Easter. By Monday, her father had a plan.
“Hey kid, get in the car,” she recalled him saying.
They headed to the military recruiting offices on East Washington Avenue in Madison. Her father had one question: Did she like digging holes?
She didn't.
That apparently ruled out the Army and Marine Corps, at least in her father's estimation. The Air Force recruiting office was closed, leaving the Navy. Inside, she met Petty Officer Kyle Roux, a submariner serving as a recruiter.
McShane was 19 years old, uncertain about her future and ready for something different. Before long, the young woman from Verona, Wisconsin, would be wearing a Navy uniform, handling military weapons and serving aboard the USS Pearl Harbor.
Her shipmates eventually gave her a nickname she still laughs about: Major Malfunction McShane.
These days, people around Marshfield know her by another name.
Magic Mary.
McShane grew up in Verona when it was still a relatively small Wisconsin community. She remembers riding a blue Smurf Big Wheel, exploring the neighborhood and spending time with her siblings and friends. She particularly admired her oldest sister, whom she followed around like a lost golden retriever.
By high school, McShane was involved in theater, track and cross-country. She was outgoing, athletic and curious, but she hadn't settled on a career. After graduation, her parents enrolled her at Chippewa Valley Technical College in Eau Claire.
It wasn't a particularly successful experiment. McShane attended only a couple of classes, spending much of the semester working instead. She hadn't found anything in school that held her interest.
Then came the conversation about joining the military. Her father's trip to the recruiting office gave her an opportunity to pursue something she hadn't seriously considered before.
“Once I had a direction, I was all in,” she recalled.
She enlisted in the Navy in 1997.
McShane reported to Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois, for basic training. She had some idea of what military life might look like, although much of it came from watching movies with her father. Among the films she remembered were Full Metal Jacket, Platoon, Midway, The Hunt for Red October and G.I. Jane.
Boot camp was considerably less entertaining. There was shouting, marching, cleaning, inspections, standing watch and learning how to function with very little sleep. Sailors had their own name for Great Lakes: “Great Mistakes.”
McShane remembered the training as demanding, but she wasn't particularly frightened by it. She approached each day by concentrating on whatever task was immediately in front of her.
“One day at a time, one step at a time, one activity at a time, one goal at a time,” she explained.
At one point, she was placed in a temporary recruit leadership position, helping direct formations and call cadence. Leadership was unfamiliar territory, but she enjoyed the opportunity.
Other aspects were less enjoyable. Sleep deprivation was especially difficult. McShane, who naturally talks with her hands, also discovered that military instructors weren't particularly interested in expressive gestures. It was a habit that occasionally attracted unwanted attention.
She survived the inspections, the shouting and the long days. Then came the next question: What exactly was she going to do in the Navy?
McShane originally wanted to become a hospital corpsman, a Navy medical specialist. Unfortunately, no training positions were available when she enlisted. Rather than wait, she selected Gunner's Mate.
The choice owed something to the 1997 movie G.I. Jane, starring Demi Moore.
“I thought I was gonna be G.I. Jane,” she recalled with a laugh.
Instead, she discovered a specialty that involved plenty of weapons maintenance, ammunition handling, inspections and paperwork. Following additional training at Great Lakes, she received orders to the USS Pearl Harbor (LSD-52), a brand-new amphibious warfare vessel.
Built at Avondale Shipyards in New Orleans, the Pearl Harbor made its maiden voyage through the Panama Canal to its new home at 32nd Street Naval Station in San Diego. McShane remembered seeing the ship arrive and becoming part of its original crew.
Her duties as a Gunner's Mate involved maintaining weapons and accounting for ammunition and explosives stored aboard the vessel. The Pearl Harbor's defensive weapons included .50-caliber machine guns and 25-millimeter chain guns. Because the ship also transported Marines, the Gunner's Mates handled equipment and ammunition associated with their deployments.
Some supplies were kept in ammunition lockers, while larger quantities were stored in spaces known as magazines. Magazines 1, 2 and 3 were enormous rooms deep in the belly of the ship, where explosives and shells were housed.
The work involved inspections, inventory records, maintenance and plenty of trips up and down ladders between decks. Saltwater wasn't kind to military hardware, and keeping equipment in working condition required constant attention.
Before joining the Navy, McShane had never fired a gun. Now, weapons were her job. She learned the procedures, adapted to the responsibilities and became part of the ship's working crew.
But when asked what she enjoyed most about Navy life, the answer wasn't particularly surprising.
She liked the ports of call.
The USS Pearl Harbor has also been known as the “Black Pearl,” but among sailors who served aboard her, another nickname stuck: the “Dirty Pearl.”
Life aboard ship meant long hours, shared quarters, inspections and plenty of opportunities for personalities to collide. McShane had a nickname, too: “Major Malfunction McShane,” sometimes shortened to “Triple M.” She laughs about it today, acknowledging that she wasn't always the easiest young sailor to supervise.
One of the people responsible for keeping her on track was a supervisor known as “Face,” whose nickname came from the television series The A-Team. Face took his responsibilities seriously. When McShane hadn't completed something correctly, he wasn't inclined to simply overlook it. He stayed aboard when necessary to make sure the work was finished.
At the time, she didn't always appreciate his persistence. Years later, she recognized how much effort he had put into helping the younger sailors in his division.
Other crew members had equally memorable nicknames. Michael Faurote was known as “Goat,” a name apparently earned by his willingness to eat practically anything. Another sailor went by “Boo Boo.” McShane also fondly remembered Ingrid Griffin, an electrician's mate she described as intelligent, funny and good company.
There was plenty of teasing, and occasionally some frustration, but these were the people McShane worked beside day after day. Between their duties, inspections and time at sea, friendships developed that would remain important long after they left the Navy.
The Pearl Harbor took McShane to places she had never imagined visiting. She traveled throughout the Pacific and into the Middle East, visiting destinations including Hawaii, Australia, Thailand, Singapore and Oman.
Darwin, Australia, remained one of her favorites. She also recalled Phuket, Thailand, and the chance to experience places that bore little resemblance to Wisconsin.
Some destinations were memorable for entirely different reasons. The Middle Eastern heat, for example, was difficult to forget. McShane spent her 21st birthday wearing protective Kevlar gear and looking toward the Kuwait Towers. It wasn't exactly a traditional birthday celebration.
She also crossed the equator for the first time and participated in one of the Navy's longstanding traditions. Sailors who haven't crossed the equator are known as “pollywogs.” Those who complete the ceremony become “shellbacks.”
McShane remembered shaving cream, water and the sort of ridiculous activities associated with the naval tradition.
Ordinary shipboard routines provided their own memories. She enjoyed breakfast and appreciated midnight rations when she was working late shifts.
Asked about the quality of Navy food, she wasn't inclined to exaggerate. It was edible, she recalled, and she wasn't especially picky. As for the Marines aboard ship, she figured their appetites spoke for themselves. Judging by how much they ate, she doubted they had many complaints.
Some of McShane's most meaningful Navy memories involved honoring sailors who had served long before she enlisted. While aboard the Pearl Harbor, she participated in burials at sea for veterans who had survived the December 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Crew members dressed in formal uniforms as the veterans' ashes were committed to the ocean. Family members sometimes accompanied the ship. For McShane, those ceremonies carried particular meaning. She was serving aboard a ship named for the site of the attack, participating in the final tribute to men who had been there.
She also remembered a Pearl Harbor survivor named Lenny, whom members of her division befriended in the San Diego area.
Other Navy memories return in unexpected ways. The smell of gunpowder or weapons-cleaning products can bring her back to shipboard life. So can music. She mentioned Eiffel 65's song “Blue” as one that immediately reminds her of San Diego and the years she served.
Not every memory requires a photograph.
To be continued...
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