My first and only Marine Corps Ball was in Malta, during a 1967 Mediterranean Sea Cruise aboard the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt CVA 42. Due to the FDR being almost 1000 Ft. long we had to anchor out at every port of call. At one point we were anchored out in Malta, and a big storm came up causing the FDR to depart, stranding the lucky people on liberty. I was one of the two Marines on liberty that day, myself and Sgt. David McAnall. It was like a vacation, we stayed in a hotel for five days while the ship was gone. We were lucky to meet an American girl whose father was an oil worker in North Africa. She had two friends that were Maltese. I still have the cuff links one of them gave me, I don't remember his name. The other one was a beautiful young school teacher named Sally Moreno. She was 23, I was 20 at the time. The Maltese people are Italian by ancestry, so they speak Italian, and English. Malta was a former British Colony.
During our time on the island the people on the ship were smart enough to figure we would need some money, so it was flown in by helicopter. We were paid at the USO, I don't know why we were lucky enough to be there when the money arrived, but we were. Malta is a beautiful place, and we saw a lot of it, we spent most of the money going to night clubs. Another thing I remember about Malta, was that the taxi cabs were all black Mercedes. The taxis cost almost nothing to ride, and that hotel we stayed in was $5.50 per night. After the storm died down the FDR came back to get us and the 200 Sailors that were stranded.
In November the FDR made another call to Malta, and that was when I attended the Marine Corps Ball. As you know, time changes everything, but I do believe that Sally was the best looking woman I ever dated, and it was the Marine Corps Ball 1967. I will attach a photo, which is terrible because it is over exposed, but take my word, she was nice!
Semper Fi
John M. Hunter
Cpl. 1811, 0311
1964-1968
RVN
1965-1966