David Kroenlein, A Tale of a Welcomed U.S. Destroyer

David Kroenlein, 1967

Rich Hayse’ article on his press work for the visit of two destroyers in Dakar brought back memories of my arrival in Alanya, Turkey, aboard my Gearing class destroyer, the USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.  The US ambassador in Ankara was much more positively engaged than in Rich’s experience.  This arrival was advertised as the first visit of the US military to this port since WWII, complete with support from the ambassador who dispatched a US Marine Corp military attaché to meet us.

In 1970 Alanya, Turkey, was still a town pretty much as it had been, I suspect, for centuries. Animals of all sorts and guys with scimitars and street markets full of people.  As the ship’s Supply Officer, I was the first person ashore, as I always was in the foreign ports, to set up port services and provisions. In this instance, however, my first stop was the local bank to purchase Turkish lira, as all purchases needed to be in the local currency, and the sailors had to go ashore with only lira.  A Marine Corps lieutenant colonel met me at the dock in his open air Marine Corps Jeep for the trip to the bank.

This was a major event for the president of the bank, the official local greeter, to welcome the U.S. Navy, and I was the official representative of the U.S. military.  The banker was prepared for me with a complete assortment of pastries and Turkish coffee and a desire to talk to demonstrate his English fluency.  His smile was noteworthy in that his mouth was full of gold teeth.  Turns out, he proudly proclaimed, that he had taught himself English listening to Pepsi Cola ads.  His vocabulary reflected this.  After quite awhile and my ingestion of many pastries and much too much thick Turkish coffee, the Marine quietly advised me that they would continue to pour coffee as long as I drank it, and while I was drinking coffee, we couldn’t move along to the business at hand, purchasing Turkish lira.

My assignment was to purchase $10,000 in lira with a US government check that I had cut and signed.  When I gave the banker the check, he motioned to an assistant to bring the lira.  A very large, heavily-used cardboard box appeared full of various denominations of lira.  A quandary for me – I was supposed to verify the amount I received, but counting a large box full of very old rumpled bills of different denominations was daunting.  In the meantime the beaming face on the banker was changing to a scowl as he sensed that I didn’t trust him to deliver the correct amount of lira.  After my Marine confidant and I conferred, he explained to the banker that my orders required me to do a ceremonial counting of a small amount.  The ceremony part satisfied the banker and the smile returned.

Now the real challenge — a 20-minute drive back to my ship through the crowded streets of an impoverished town in an open air Jeep with no weapons and a lot of money.  Likely, everyone in town knew of our visit to the bank and what was sitting in the back of the Jeep ready for the taking.  The Marine was supremely confident, as Marine Corps types tend to be, reassuring me that I would return to the States to see my young wife.  Young U.S. Navy supply officers aren’t cut from the same cloth as Marine Corps officers.

Happy ending.  The lira were sorted, more or less, by denomination, so that my disbursing clerk and I were able to put together packs of Turkish lira for the sailors to exchange and to take ashore, with very strict instructions to avoid women and booze.  We were able to leave Alanya several days later, with no disciplinary issues, with my accounts more or less balanced, and with exposure to a totally different world.  Left, USS JPK, Jr.)

At the end of August, 2021, I now reflect on this experience as I see reports from Afghanistan.  I cannot fathom what those young service personnel are experiencing, and I can only express my hope for the safe arrival of them and our Afghan partners.

David Kroenlein wrote about his service in Military Memories, November 11, 2020. In the photo below, his youngest granddaughter grants him permission to go aboard the USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., now a museum at Battleship Cove, Fall River, MA.