Passing Anchors
It is a tradition for a Navy Chief to
pass on his anchors to a new CPO initiate and it is a personal
honor to receive and be pinned with another Chief's anchors.
My dearest friend, Rick Burris had been pinned with anchors from
his friend, who was the Atlantic Fleet Sailor of the Year.
The following year, Rick, in turn, passed his anchors to me.
I was the only one of the class of 1991 CPO initiates in USS
California to be pinned with passed anchors.
I was privileged to have
been pinned with two passed anchors. I received my collar
anchors from my dear friend, Rick Burris while on my cover I wore
the anchor passed to me from my wife's Grandfather, MMC Donald
Davison, who had a ship sunk from under him in WWI.
A year later, during the USS California CPO initiation, no one was
slated to receive passed anchors. During the initiation, it
was discovered that someone forgot to buy enough anchors to pin
all of the initiates - we were one set short. It happened
that a friend of mine was being initiated that year so I ran out
to my car, pulled the tattered anchors off my working uniform and
directed that they pin my friend with them. I then pulled
him from the initiation, explained the situation and the history
of my anchors. I also charged him never to forget that the
anchors came off my work shirt and he was being pinned with
"working anchors." He broke down in tears. He also
never forgot and became one of the best chiefs California ever
had.
