One Yank's memory of his encounter with Queen Elizabeth II

As a Yank, Queen Elizabeth II obviously didn’t have as much of a daily impact on my life, politics, or society as she would for your average Brit. But, for a single occasion in an otherwise transformational period of my life, she had a significant impact. The above picture represents the image of her that is forever ingrained in my memory.

It was early 1983 and I was an older-than-most US Navy enlistee going through boot camp in Sandy Eggo, California. I had been selected to be part of the US Navy Recruit Drill company (Company 903 led by MSSC "Sweet" Charlie Moore), ostensibly because I played an instrument, although I ended up being assigned to the flag team. Being assigned to the Maryland flag, it was drilled into me immediately that I was 7th in line for any and all maneuvers and was front and (near) center for any and all presentations (i.e., don’t screw up in front).

While Navy recruit drill companies participated in all of the training and classes as other recruit companies, we also spent considerable amount of extra time on drill training that other companies didn’t. The unit was comprised of three units – flag team of which I was assigned, band, and rifle team. Our days were so loaded with activity that I don’t recall sitting down for a meal the whole time I was in boot camp. Our meals literally consisted of standing in line to go into the mess hall, proceeding thru the chow line, eating whatever we could in chow line, and leaving out the nearest exit at the end of the chow line.

As a drill company we participated in a number of parades. Not many Navy recruits get to say they went to Disneyland while in boot camp, but our company spend two days there participating in parades (and barracked at Long Beach naval station where we soon discovered and drained beer machines located just outside the barracks). We also participated in the St Patrick’s day parade at Balboa Park as well as a couple others in the Sandy Eggo area.

But, by far, my most fond memory of Navy boot camp was Feb. 26, 1983 when Queen Elizabeth II arrived in Sandy Eggo aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia as the first port call of a 10-day tour of California. About 3,000 people gathered at Broadway Pier to greet the Queen and her husband Prince Philip, and I was honored to be one of them.

As a Yank, there isn’t normally much attention to be paid to British royalty beyond the passing scandals that show up in headlines. However, when I heard of her passing this afternoon, it immediately drew me back to that day in 1983 on that pier in Sandy Eggo as I had a front row seat to just once instance of all the pomp and circumstance that was a near daily part of her life.

How, as a young Navy recruit standing in the front line of the flag team presentation of the Navy honor guard, I was solely focused on making sure I didn’t screw up in front. I distinctly recall during her review, as she passed in front of the first row of the flag team (leastwise what I could see from peripheral vision of “eyes front”), and as she passed just a few feet in front of me under the 7th flag in line that I had dipped in honor, she held that same, practiced, but (I felt) genuine smile, and looked me square in the eyes for a moment before continuing on.

While it was, I'm certain, just one review of one of many honor guards, during one of many visits, to one of many foreign lands; in that moment she very much seemed to convey an enjoyment and appreciation of both her role and mine. It was that picture of the Queen that will stay in my memory and what I will always picture when I think of a royal monarch.