Navy Blue With a Green Tinge
There's a Navy vessel with a green quarterdeck in Far Eastern waters, and rumor has it that the call from her sounds more like "Wah Hoo Wah" than "Ahoy." She's the USS Pollux, a general stores issue ship serving the Seventh Fleet, and three of the ship's key billets, starting with the commanding officer himself, wear the Navy blue and gold on a solid Dartmouth green background.
Skipper of the Pollux is Captain Vining A. Sherman '38. Captain Sherman, a native of Plympton, Mass., where he still maintains a home, entered the Navy in 1940 after several years of postgraduate experience as a first mate on commercial fishing vessels. After receiving his commission he served aboard several ships in the Pacific theater during World War II, and in 1946 was assigned to the U.S. Naval Academy as a navigation instructor. In addition to his Academy duties he commanded the yawl Lively in the 1948 Newport-to-Bermuda Race and the sloop Norderney in the 1949 Newport-to-Annapolis Race. In the first nine months of Korean hostilities he participated in all amphibious landings there, coming back to complete Line School in 1952. From that point he has had a variety of assignments in the U.S., abroad, and at sea. He was promoted to captain's rank in 1960. He and his wife, the former Marion Rogers, have two children.
The executive officer of the Pollux, Lieutenant Commander Eugene I. Finke '48 has had a variety of sea and shore billets. He completed postgraduate work in communications engineering at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, is a graduate of the Naval War College at Newport, R, I, and holds a Master's degree in international affairs. He's also a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and is up for promotion to Commander.
Youngest Dartmouth Indian aboard the Pollux is Ensign Joel C. Monell '62, an NROTC regular and a philosophy major. His first Navy duty was as communications officer on the Pollux. He was appointed navigator last July.
Capt. Vining Sherman '38 (r), Lt. Cdr.Eugene Finke '48 (l), and Ens. Joel C.Monell '62 plot USS Pollux's positionfrom Japan home base to Hong Kong.
