It was payday for the 3,000 men aboard the U.S.S. Midway, anchored off the French Riviera. One by one, 16 bluejackets disappeared into a storage room below the carrier deck for a little forbidden pleasure. There they got out their bankrolls, settled to their knees. The soft clack of dice and the whisper of plaintive invocations went on all night until the kitty reached some $3,000. Then the door opened, and three more bluejackets pushed in. But these were different: hoods masked their faces, they whispered commands, and they waved pistols. The crapshooters were ordered to stand facing the bulkheads. The...
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