Profiles in Service: Meadow Ridge Veterans Reflect on Navy’s Anniversary

There is a thread running throughout Meadow Ridge that binds residents and associates with one common experience—military service. With the U.S. Navy’s 250th anniversary on October 13th, Meadow Ridge’s Navy veterans are reflecting on how their time in the service shaped their lives and ties them together in a brotherhood of reverence.

Walter Dages: A Teenager in the Navy

Walter Dages was just 17 years old when he enlisted in the Navy in December 1944. He wondered if his childhood asthma would keep him out of service, but “I passed the physical. When I got home, my father wasn’t too pleased. He didn’t want me to go to war.”

His father got his wish. World War II ended while Walter was training in aviation electronics and he was assigned instead to the U.S. Naval Air Station at Patuxent River, Maryland. “It’s an important Navy base because anything coming in from the ocean is only 60 miles from Washington.” His job was to monitor the radar, surveying the East Coast from Florida to Cape Cod.

“There also was a big hangar with lots of planes. One of them was a [German] Messerschmitt jet. The army had captured one of these jets and brought it to our hangar to figure out how it worked. A couple of times I got overnight guard duty at the hangar and they’d strap a .45 pistol on you,” recalls Walter.

Walter was still a teenager when he was discharged from the Navy, yet those 18 months in the service matured him in ways no other experience could. “It taught me to be on time for anything I set out to do. It taught me discipline. I learned a lot being in the Navy compared to those who had no military experience. We did things that they didn’t do and accomplished things they didn’t accomplish.”

Dean Ervin: Responsibility at Sea

Dean Ervin graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1954, right after the Korean War ended and the Cold War was building. “We got lots of responsibility at a very early age and had a lot of experiences we wouldn’t have had any other way. It’s a privilege to have those responsibilities.”

Dean was assigned to a destroyer—which “was more fun than it should have been”—and an attack transport. “Sea duty was my favorite. I served in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and I would do it all over again.”

The Navy has influenced Dean in innumerable ways, from small parts of his daily routine—“I still make the bed every day and it has to look right”—to big moments that will always stay with him.

“I had a good friend who lived across the hall from me at Annapolis. He became the captain of a nuclear submarine, the USS Scorpion. It was deployed on a Cold War mission to the Mediterranean and scheduled to return home on a Friday afternoon. Family members and a band were at the dock to greet the ship. The submarine never showed up. The joyful occasion became a nightmare.”

The Scorpion was found on the floor of the Atlantic in October 1968. There is only speculation about what happened. “I had a really hard time with that,” says Dean. Decades later, the tragedy stands out as a reminder of the risk and sacrifice of service.

“The Navy was a long time ago for me but it’s still a proud service. I fully believe that the United States is about to celebrate its 250th anniversary and there would not be a U.S. if there hadn’t been a Navy.”

Paul Brown: From Navy to Leadership at Meadow Ridge

When Paul Brown was in the sixth grade, he lost his best friend in a fire. “Obviously that affected me. I always had in the back of my mind, ‘maybe I could become a fireman one day.’”

Many years later, after trying a year of college, Paul said, “I wanted something different. I had some good conversations with my uncles who were in the Navy, so I said, ‘let’s change my path,’ and I joined the Navy.”

As a shipboard firefighter deployed to Yokosuka, Japan, his job also entailed chemical and biological warfare response and emergency ship repairs—fulfilling his childhood vision while preparing for the leadership role he’d one day hold at Meadow Ridge. In the Navy, he says, “You learn that every single position is important and each person has to do their job to make sure they’re successful. Everybody understands the bigger picture more than himself.”

Paul’s four years of service paid for his return to college and gave him the discipline to excel. In fact, he’s earned several advanced degrees and is currently pursuing a doctorate. He jokes that “I have to keep up with my wife,” a Ph.D. educator whom he met aboard the USS Blue Ridge.

Reflecting on the Navy’s legacy, Paul says, “The Navy is a very professional branch, but it goes beyond the Navy. It’s the armed forces. We’re one team, one fight. So proud of that.”

Bonds for Life

Paul enjoys the instant connection the Navy gives him to Meadow Ridge residents. “They like to hear those stories of when I was in the Navy, what has changed, things that are still the same. Some of those commands, like the 7th Fleet, was still the 7th Fleet back in WWII, so it’s a huge connection point.”

Dean agrees his Navy service always gives him the opportunity to bond with others. “We had a picnic here at Meadow Ridge on Labor Day and there were three destroyer men at the table, so we got to share a lot of experiences.”

And while Walter also takes great pride in his time in the Navy, “I would like to see the world at the point where we don’t need the Navy or a military. I’d like everybody to get along.”

Featured Image: Meadow Ridge resident and 1954 Naval Academy graduate, Dean Ervin, served just after the Korean War and at the height of the Cold War.