‘Adoptees’ Cruise In for Inspection : Student Pen Pals Tour Missile Ship Just Returned From War

A sailor just back from the Persian Gulf stood on the wind-swept deck of a guided missile cruiser Tuesday and posed for pictures with a Santa Ana eighth-grader, whose letter, he said, had been “a real morale booster.”

The meeting of Michael Smith, 21, and Jessica Rouse, 13, was a result of a letter-writing campaign by eighth-grade honor students at Douglas MacArthur Fundamental Intermediate School, who “adopted” the cruiser Antietam and its crew.

So upon its arrival home at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, the sailors of the cruiser invited their pen pals aboard.

For three hours, the 53 students explored the ship, from its 5-inch guns and darkened weapons control center to the mess hall and cramped crew quarters.

“I’m very excited. I could barely sleep last night,” said Shana Sampson, 13. “Few people get to go aboard a cruiser and see the weapons room.”

The letter-writing campaign made the Gulf War a personal experience, she said: “It reached my heart because if they got hurt, you know them, and it would be like losing a friend.”

The students crawled through narrow corridors and scaled steep stairs while exploring the ship with Navy guides. Some youngsters expressed surprise at the lack of room on the ship--and the apparent lack of quality entertainment.

“Oh look! A TV and no VCR,” exclaimed Stephanie Turner, 13, during a tour of the quarters, in which sailors sleep six to a room the size of a walk-in closet.

Elsewhere, Chief Gunner’s Mate Jeff Chaney, 30, showed off the sophisticated mechanical loading and firing system of the ship’s 5-inch guns, which can fire a 70-pound projectile 17 miles with great accuracy. The students jumped at the loud banging and piercing hiss of the machine as it loaded dummy rounds.

In the cavernous weapons control room, lit only by dim blue overhead lights and computer and radar screens, the students gazed at three blue screens.

Simulated enemy ships spotted a representation of the Persian Gulf, each showing up as small diamonds. White circles represented allied forces. One allied ship bore the legend MacArthur in honor of the students, who crowded around the displays.

“Oh, I like this ship. This is so cool,” said Holly McLean, 13, in the weapons control room. Later, she spotted a sailor with the same last name as her own pinned to his shirt. She took down his name and mailing address to write him.

After the tour, Capt. Larry Eddingfield thanked the students for their letters.

“It helped so much that we got to the point where we started to feel guilty that we could not write back,” he said.

Last week, Eddingfield presented the school with a U.S. flag that had flown on the cruiser during its tour in the Gulf.

At the end of Tuesday’s ship tour and after the picture-taking, seaman Smith said Jessica’s letter had meant a lot.

“It’s very important, especially for people who may not get any mail from family and friends, to feel that someone out there is thinking of them,” he said.

“Everybody appreciates a pat on the back, and that’s exactly what we’re getting from these kids.”