View from the southeast to the northwest with Riviera Beach in the background. This was my home for the last six months in 1967, prior to getting promoted to YN3 and transferred to recruiting duty in Tampa.

Seamen and firemen pulled port and starboard duty every other day/night and every other weekend. There were 19 of us stationed there and CWO4 (BOSN) Rex W. Coulson was our Commanding Officer. The house we lived in was built in 1936 and did not receive air-conditioning until July of 1967 as I recall. The CG bought numerous large window units from Sears and they were transported to the station via USMC Reserve AMTRACs that were also on the island. While the hours were long and the days were busy it was a great place to be stationed because of the peace and solitude on the island.

The station house contained offices, radio room, kitchen, dining room and TV lounge on the bottom floor. There was a large seaman's berthing area on the east end, smaller bedroom and bathroom on the second floor, and bedrooms on the third floor. The large boathouse was used for maintenance and we were told that Secret Service agents used the second floor of the boathouse for sleeping quarters when JFK was President and visiting his family's home on nearby Palm Beach. The bomb shelter that the Seabees built for JFK was located in the corner of the cleared area above the station house, and was already leaking water whenever it rained by 1967. It was surrounded by Australian Pines in 1967 and not on cleared land like this photo depicts. Oh the tales that shelter could tell if it could only talk!