Patches and Photos of USS Willis A. Lee

Memories of Crossing the Equator (Shellback Initiation)
on the USS Willis A. Lee (DL-4) September, 1968

The following photos are from the February 2016 issue of the DLA newsletter. The article with these photos were submitted by LTjg David Mader, who was aboard the Willis A. Lee from 7/67 to 1/69. These photos have been enlarged for members viewing pleasure.

The crawling journey was to pay respect to King Neptune...

...and his court.

This is the Royal Baby, (his "mom" is the one with the purple hair).
In a final act of respect, we were required
to remove – with our teeth – a cherry from the naval of the Royal Baby.

Punishment: being placed in stocks!

Fun stuff: crawling through a garbage-filled canvas garbage chute,

And lastly, a salt water shower from a fire hose.