Astronaut John Glenn died recently, and after his death I saw reports that he had been the wingman of baseball legend Ted Williams during the Korean War. Here is one such report:
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/12/ted-williams-flew-as-john-glenns-wingman-during-the-korean-war
In a former life I was an officer on USS Nautilus (SSN 571), the world's first nuclear powered submarine. Being a famous ship, Nautilus often had famous visitors. Ted Williams was one of them.
He visited the ship some time during the 1970s. One of the junior enlisted men was assigned to give him a tour, probably one of the young man's all time best military assignments. I saw them chatting over lunch in the wardroom. I decided not to interrupt, so I never met Ted Williams.
Earlier in my tour on Nautilus, we had made a Mediterranean deployment. And being a famous ship, Nautilus had famous visitors while we were there. Two of them were Prince Shah Karim Al Husseini Aga Khan IV and the actress Audrey Hepburn. They arrived together in one of the Aga Khan's armed speedboats.
The captain brought them below through the wardroom hatch, and I believe he personally gave them a tour of the ship. I was in the operations compartment when they arrived and was not invited on the tour. I decided not to interrupt, so I never met the Aga Khan or Audrey Hepburn.
When I was young I guess I wanted to be famous, too. Now that I'm not and never will be, I've decided it's no big deal.
At least I have a list of famous people I never met.
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