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Oral-history interview: veteran recounts Navy service and life in West Newbury
Summary
This transcript is a personal oral-history interview focusing on Larry Corcoran’s upbringing, Navy service aboard the USS Northampton, move to West Newbury in 1978, local policing and community roles, and reflections on the D.A.R.E. program.
This transcript is an oral-history interview with Larry Corcoran about his life and military service. Corcoran describes growing up in Beverly and Newburyport, attending Newburyport High School, and joining the U.S. Navy in 1963 to avoid the draft, serving four years active and two years inactive. He recounts basic training, specialized machinist-mate training, and duty aboard the USS Northampton, a command communications ship that supported the Joint Chiefs of Staff and could carry presidential staff in wartime. Corcoran described equipment he trained on (steam turbines, generators, refrigeration), shipboard life and ports of call including Guantanamo Bay, San Juan and Montego Bay, Jamaica, and a shakedown cruise, and recalled a severe 43-degree roll that broke crew members’ limbs.
He said the Northampton had a large satellite (troppo) antenna that relayed communications to Lewes, Delaware and the Pentagon and described checks of presidential quarters aboard ship. Corcoran noted the ship was scrapped circa 1970 as satellites made its role obsolete. He described heat-related illness during a deployment, the intensity of the engine-room environment, and that the crew once won an Atlantic Fleet award for food service.
Corcoran said he moved to West Newbury in 1978 after marrying, bought a house on Prospect Street and later joined the town police department first as a reserve and then full time; he served on the housing committee and water board. He described being the town’s first D.A.R.E. officer and recounted positive feedback from former students. Post-retirement, Corcoran has worked as a substitute teacher and as a bailiff in Brentwood, New Hampshire. He listed military decorations including a Good Conduct Medal and an American Defense Medal and said he attended at least one ship reunion.
The transcript is a personal interview focused on life experience and does not record civic government deliberations, votes, motions, or other formal actions.
