The NAVY, the SHIPS, and the SEA: Memoir of a Mississippi Boy - Paperback

by John Carlton Hufft (Author), Kimberly Ann (Hufft) Huber (Foreword by)

The NAVY, the SHIPS and the SEA Memoir of a Mississippi Boy was written by my father, John Carlton Hufft. He was a naïve southern boy transformed into a world-traveled Naval officer during and following World War II, personally witnessing a number of key historical events and encountering an array of significant Naval figures: Alexander Haig, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and had an unsettling interview with Admiral Hyman George Rickover.

His recollections are supported and verified by more than 550 letters, Internet searches, communications with former classmates, newspaper clippings, photographs and other documentation. Supplemental to Hufft's work his daughter provides the book's acknowledgements, foreward, endnotes, photograph captions, appendices and epilogue summarizing his post-Naval pursuits.

While at the Academy Hufft trained and served onboard ships to the Caribbean, Pacific and Far East. While in Asia he witnessed the escape of portions of the Chinese Nationalists' Army in the Formosa Strait (Taiwan Strait).

After earning a Masters Degree in Engineering, Hufft returned to the Academy as the planning and design officer where he oversaw the planning and building of two new wings at Bancroft Hall, the world's largest dormitory.

Although John Carlton Hufft was not a war hero or famous historical figure, his story reminds us of the many men and women who nobly and loyally serve this country in war and peace. Hopefully his memoir will encourage others to share their stories; extraordinary or mundane, so we can more fully understand the contributions they made to our great country.