Remember Mary Soo

[rogerdonnay]

Life Magazine had a full length article about Mary Soo.

She was a legend in Hong Kong and painted the Kyes many times as she did every Navy ship that anchored in Hong Kong harbour for many years.


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[hartjb]

It really made me appreciate the navy chow after seeing how Mary Soo and the girls used to scrape the trays!

[rogerdonnay]

Here's another of my memories of Hong Kong.

I was standing on the fantail when we were anchored in Hong Kong Harbor when a little Chinese boy floated up to the ship on a log.
He had a small tin can resting on the log in front of him.

He yelled up to us: "Hey Sailors! You want dirty pictures?"

[Boats417]

I sure remember Mary Soo. She painted our ship, the USS MT. KATMAI AE-16, many times. Our First Lieutenant welcomed her aboard like he was receiving an admiral. He’d broker a deal with her and the payment would include cash, coffee, empty brass (smashed flat first) and the uneaten food from the mess line and the right to scrape off the trays before they were sent to the scullery. I agree with what hartjb said, “It made me appreciate Navy chow.” The memory of those people scraping off and saving food from our trays has stuck with me the rest of my life.

[rogerdonnay]

Yeah, I remember that we paid her in brass too.

One time, one of the shipmates picked up a puppy in one of our ports. I think it was Subic.
He was told he had to get rid of it the next time we were in port.
That next port was Hong Kong.
The puppy was given to one of the paint crews.