Shore leave makes a difference

The USS Little Rock left Buffalo, New York, on December 16, en route to Florida via Halifax. But a sudden cold snap froze the St. Lawrence Seaway, forcing the ship to halt at Montreal on Christmas Eve. The ice was not expected to melt until March, so the 70-member crew had nothing to do except mission training exercises. But a few found new ways to keep busy.

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Nancy Dossous, who works at the Welcome Hall Mission, invited them to volunteer their help. The mission provides food for 3,000 people every week, and that's a lot of packing. The sailors want to keep a low profile while in Montreal, but a few came to help out. Dossous was not surprised, since her Dad was a U.S. Navy veteran. "Sometimes you feel like you need a small army to get this done," she said, "which is great because we have the Navy."