Liberty Hound 1972

I came across this photo the other day in an old box. It is me in the summer of 1972 being a liberty hound enjoying a few hours on the beach. I remember that much. I wasn't good at marking pictures then and I remember that cafe overlooking the sea but I don't know if this was in Spain, Italy, France, Greece or Turkey. It might have been Crete, Sicily or even Ibiza but I do remember that view . This was around the time that the Navy let us wear beards and they became somewhat laxed on long cruises. This photo was taken during a long six month Mediterranean cruise. I loved going ashore which we called the beach. 

Some Navy lingo clarification… a liberty hound refers to the first sailor going ashore down the gangway ladder once liberty call is sounded. Usually a boat took us ashore. Anywhere ashore is called being on the beach. Although there can be only one liberty hound that is first on the beach for the ship, the term also referred to the first person in your department, division or group to go ashore on liberty. I usually wasn’t a liberty hound but I loved hitting the beach.

Update: 8/3/21

I was looking at the Liberty Hound restaurant page on Facebook today and saw this picture and basically this post I made on my FB feed. Apparently the Liberty Hound liked my description of what a liberty hound was or perhaps the post came up because of the words liberty hound were on the page.  It was strange. We're heading down to the Liberty Hound this evening.

Also I've been thinking a lot about my years in the Navy now that it has been 50 years and I'm remembering more details. I'm pretty sure now that this picture was taken while on liberty in Heraklion, Crete. I remember that cafe and that pink room overlooking the spectacular waterfront.