Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 15, 1995 TAG: 9507170030
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SARAH HUNTLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The rest of the world was glued to television, watching history happen, as astronaut Neil Armstrong took his momentous first step on the moon.
But the entertainment on the front lines was a little different.
Aboard the USS Hornet, 500 to 800 miles south of Hawaii, Spike Harrison and his buddies were watching movies of the "real men" persuasion. Shoot 'em up, round 'em up, John Wayne flicks, if his memory serves him correctly.
"We knew less than the rest of the world," said Harrison, who served as a Navy reservist for the retrievals of Apollo 11 and 12. "Armstrong was stepping on the moon, and we knew nothing. All they'd say is that the mission was going well."
Indeed it was. Very well.
Twenty-six years ago this Sunday, the United States launched the manned space capsule Apollo 11. Four days later, Armstrong earned his distinction as the first man to touch the surface of the moon. Another four days later, during the wee morning hours of July 24, 1969, Roanoke County resident Spike Harrison became a part of history.
Only he didn't know it then.
"To tell you the truth, it wasn't very exciting. Our job was to wait and then wait some more," he said. "In a nutshell, it was two months of total boredom until this thing comes busting through the clouds."
Harrison was a member of the bridge team, which involved charting the vectors of other ships, running the radar and finding adequate wind for aircraft to take off from the carrier.
Much of the work was routine, he said, but not on that day.
The sonic boom - more of a "clap," really - was the first indication he and his 4,000 fellow crew members had that "this thing" was about to splash down, Harrison said.
"Everybody hung out of the ship then. The whole thing tilted to one side."
He smiles again. The importance of the moment isn't lost on him today, and as he remembers, Harrison flashes a lot of grins.
"Mind you, we didn't know where the capsule would land," he said. "The clouds were low. We couldn't see anything. The experts had said 1,000 yards to starboard, and seconds later, that's exactly where they hit. Man, they were good."
The choppers whirred, the frogmen dove into the ocean, the astronauts were loaded onto "the Winnebago," the crew rejoiced.
They were going home.
It wasn't until several months later, as the USS Hornet toured Chile to exhibit the capsule, that Harrison became aware of the mission's magnitude.
"The people there attacked the thing. Someone stole my toothbrush and soap dish. They wanted anything that might have been to the moon," he said. "I didn't realize how much this event had captured the hearts of the world. I thought, 'Oh my God, these people are pretty far removed from the American space program.' We were astonished by their reactions."
Harrison, 51, now teaches world history at Glenvar High School. He's also running for the Catawba seat on the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors. He's eager to share his memories - but a little modest, too.
"I'm not a big hero, and I didn't get to shake anybody famous' hand because of this," he says. "In all likelihood, lots of other people around here were involved, too. I remember one guy, a warrant officer named Lawson. I could swear he said his home was Roanoke. He'd be in his 60s now."
Harrison has one item to remember Apollo 11 by: A limited-edition picture book was printed for the Hornet's crew, and he brings it out for the interested to see.
"The space program is out of vogue now, but I firmly believed in it then, and I firmly believe in it now," he said. "Even the spinoffs bring back important research.
"If someone is out there, let's go find them."
by CNB