Naval messages are known for their brevity and strict adherence to communications protocol. The night before Christmas and New Year's Eve are the two occasion when rules are relaxed somewhat. It is on those occasions that Navy watchstanders have produced some of the more memorable verse ever recorded by Navy personnel. Although such prose is usually to be found in ship OOD or aviation unit SDO logs, the naval messages shown below bear evidence to the fact that such liberties are not limited to log keeping. The first message (in two parts), from NALCOEURREP, orders VR-24 to operate a delivery mission. The other two are summary reports (sort of) from ships supported by missions flown by VR-24 Det Naples just prior to Christmas, 1963. These messages were contributed by Al Capel, a former member of VR-24 who often flew as crewman on the Christmas COD missions.

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