USS LEXINGTON Former Crew Member

Name: Ernst, Jesse J.

Service Dates: Dec. 1974 – Feb. 1977

Rank/Duty Assigned: E3 Aviation Boatswain Mate, work the catapults on deck my entire years of service.

We shot 300 to 400 traing pilots per month into the air, day and night. We also had rescue missions, once during a bad storm we assisted a oil rig but had to pick up 14 drowned lost souls. No one on the ship spoke for about a week. Once the Captain donated his old corvair auto for a charity cause and for 10 dollars you could hit with a sledge hammer. After, once it was well beat up he let us shoot it off the left catapult at sea. It was one of the funniest thig I ever did.

I miss Steve Higley and Mike Galarda who both during a possible accident saved my life.