Interviewer: How did you happen to be assigned to the Cassin Young?McGee: Well the ship that I was on, the USS Heerman DD-532, was put out of commission around April or May of '57. And I was reassigned to the Cassin Young, I believe it was in Boston here in dry dock being done over, and I drove up from Newport and was welcomed aboard the Cassin Young for a year and a half. I was a commissaryman third class, cook and baker. I went to the commissary school in 1954 after I got out of bootcamp. So I was at sea about 3 and a half years aboard the Heerman and the Cassin Young.Interviewer: Could you describe your duties in that position a little bit? McGee: Well, usually I was teamed up with another person. For—if we were at sea we would work in the galley. We would work one day on and one day off. We'd start our evening meal in the afternoon about 1 o'clock, and we'd stay on, and work the evening meal... retire for the evening, get up around 4:30 and cook breakfast, and then cook dinner and then we'd be off about 1 o'clock for 24 hours and then we'd come back on. There were 4 of us, on port and starboard watch they were called—port and starboard watch. Two worked one day, two worked the next. When we were in port we usually worked 2 days on and 2 days off and every other weekend off. Interviewer: Were there ever any, complaints, or compliments about your food? McGee: Oh, more complaints than compliments. [Laughing] There were more complaints because guys were 19, 20, and they were, used to eating maybe at home [where they ate] all they wanted to eat and weren't rationed. I know we had to ration them 2 pieces of bread for lunch and 1 at night—they couldn't even make a sandwich. And we always used to give it our best doing Thanksgiving dinner, and doing Christmas dinner aboard ship. And, Easter—some of the major holy days or holidays because it was a special meal especially for us who were away from home. And we'd have extra help to help us because, we had to cook maybe 18 or 20 turkeys... Of course the guys wouldn't be rationed. We gave them as much as they wanted but they could always come back for more during those special days.

Album: Oral Histories - The Galley - USS CASSIN YOUNG (DD793)