USNA ‘66
From Hubert:
“I should never have made it, according to the doctors who treated me so many years ago for third degree burns on my back and buttocks after I was run over by a car at the age of 5. They said I could never be athletic nor do any strenuous type of work, that my back would never be strong enough. But I showed them, my family and myself that I could do anything I set my mind to do, that I didn`t recognize any barriers. I have dived under the sea in submarines, parachuted from planes, landed and taken off aircraft carriers (as a passenger only), soloed in the T-34 aircraft, and survived plebe year as well as combat duty in South Vietnam. All of this from a GAY MAN who didn’t really acknowledge until his junior year at the Academy that he was GAY.
“I enlisted in the Navy in 1960, with the desire to attend the Naval Academy. I achieved that desire through a SecNav appointment after attending Naval Academy Prep School at Bainbridge, Maryland. I had been enroute to duty on board the USS SEAFOX (SS 402) in San Diego when I got the change in orders to report to Bainbridge (I was home on leave at the time).
“After graduating in June 1966, I went to flight training but left of my own volition after determining that I could never be a Phantom (F-4) Jock (which was the pipeline I was in). Following that, I joined the Black Shoe Navy – in Minesweepers and saw duty off the coast of Vietnam in Coastal Interdiction and then in-country as a member of COMNAVFORV Staff.
“However, prior to the COMNAVFORV Staff duty, I was sent to Destroyer School at Newport, Rhode Island. While in Destroyer School at Newport, I met the first man I would love and have a relationship with – a playwright from New York City (living near Provincetown, Massachusetts) and because of my feelings for him and because I had been the subject of several investigations by Naval Investigative Service – I decided to end my Navy career and resign my commission. In doing so I lost the first man I loved and I gave up a career that I loved – because I really did (and still do) love the Navy and all that it stood for (except of course for the policy on homosexuals).
“Do I have regrets? No, not really because, you see, the Navy and the Naval Academy, provided me the opportunity to grow and be THAT NORMAL GUY I had always wanted to be and to show the world that I was good enough physically, emotionally and mentally to achieve things that I doubt I would have accomplished had I not served and to recognize that I was more capable than I thought in all aspects.
“I am proud to say that I am a GAY MAN and I did serve my country well. I wish I could have served longer but LIFE IS WHAT IT IS.”
Hubert passed away on January 29, 2010 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.