Bare-Faced Messiah (PDF) - Apologetics Index

ecruiting, all of which were 'going into effect'.[1] Magnuson replied; 'Glad to bear your commission
went through. Know you will be right at home in your work with Navy Press Relations.'
A week later, Ron had other plans. In a second letter to Magnuson, dated 29 July and written from
The Explorers Club in New York, he said that 'as Press Relations was getting along well enough'
he had offered to write two articles every week for national magazines, with the aim of selling the
'American bluejacket' to the public. He had, he said, been given a 'free helm' and 'because this
program will net about three times as much as Navy pay I think it no more than right that I return
anything above pay and expenses to Navy Relief. So all goes along swimmingly.'
Well, not quite swimmingly: it transpired that Ron was a little over-confident about his ability to sell
US Navy stories to national magazines. He might have written two articles every week, but none
was published.
When it became clear to the Navy that Lieutenant Hubbard was wasting his time, it was decided to
send him to the Hydrographic Office in Washington to annotate the photographs he had taken
during his trip to Alaska with Polly. He arrived on 22 September and stayed two weeks. In a memo
to the Assistant Hydrographer, it was noted that several dozen of his photographs were 'fairly clear'
and of 'some navigational interest'. Ron had also suggested changes and amplifications to the
Sailing Directions for British Columbia. Some were unimportant, the memo continued, 'but in the
aggregate they represent a very definite contribution'.[2]
It was a contribution that marked the end of Ron's career in public relations. On 24 November, after
six weeks' leave, he was posted to Headquarters, Third Naval District, in New York, for training as
an Intelligence Officer.
Throughout this period, his father was stationed at the Navy Yard on Mare Island in San Pablo Bay,
California, as officer in charge of the commissary. Now fifty-five and still a Lieutenant-Commander,