Lunar landing: Michael Barnett

Michael Barnett, 62, Long Beach, in 1969, he was a petty officer third class in the Navy serving aboard the USS Arlington, a major communications relay ship. He is a retired computer technician.

I was an electronics technician and radioman.

All of a sudden we were taken off station. We were leaving the Sea of Japan [off the coast of Cambodia]. . . . We were supposed to stop at the Philippines, which all sailors love. But we were in such a hurry to get where we were going - nobody knew where that was - we just didn't go to the Philippines. And then rumors started flying around that we were going to Hawaii, which was pretty exciting to all of us. We spent a few days in Hawaii and then we steamed out. At that point, we found out that we were going to supply communications for the moon shot.

And we got out on station, right next to the USS Hornet, the primary recovery ship.

Most of the communications that occurred was [through] computer. They called it RAT. The Teletype machine was constantly going . . . taking in this data from the flight itself. But there were voice lines. . . . The way we were able to communicate with the Apollo 11 crew was whenever we had a mid-watch, a night watch [when the officers weren't around] . . . that's when we were able to communicate, under the radar, and actually speak with them. . . . There was a seven-minute delay with your talking . . . We just talked about everyday things. They were asking about how the Yanks were doing, nothing classified.

I was very excited about it. I felt this is momentous. This is putting a man on the moon. . . . The buzz around the ship was very upbeat. . . . Everybody seemed to have done their job better during that period of time. I felt I was part of something historic.

I think [the moon landing] was an immense accomplishment and I think it really was a tremendous boost of morale, especially with the fact we were at war and it was a really divided public about that war. So I think it was a pride thing. . . . It was an exciting time. I cherish it.