Posted on by Julie Moree

A Navy Hero of a Different Sort: The Act of a True Navy Man (And He Doesn’t Even Need To Go To War)

Current photo of Maki (age 54)
Image taken by Julie White of Maki in current work uniform.

“Most of the time when things were going on, I was in a different place!”  Nathan Maki says with a slight smirk on his face, referring to events like to 1994 Earthquake in Northridge, Calif.  He says, when this “tragic” event happened, he was stationed in San Diego, Calif.

    Now 54 years old, Maki is a retired Petty Officer of the First Class United States Navy as Hull Maintenance Technician One (HT1).   For over 20 years, he been working for Universal Studios Hollywood as a Park Attendant, but he is forever a Navy man.  His naval specialty was in Nondestructive Testing and Quality Control in Division RQ (Repair Quality).

Retired Navy Pride Tradition Service
Figure 1 Image from "Shift Colors", the emblem represents a newsletter sent to retired Navy Men and Women.

He currently lives in Van Nuys, Calif. with his wife, Linda of 16 years and has a total of 11 stepchildren, 33 grandchildren and two great grandchildren, but he says, he has traveled to many different places throughout his naval career.

These places include…

  • Guam,
  • Japan,
  • South Korea,
  • Taiwan,
  • Hong Kong,
  • Singapore,
  • Sidney, Australia,
  • Bali,
  • The Philippines,
  • And Bahrain (located in the Persian Gulf).

With each new destination, all he has to say is, “Each (place) is interesting in its own respect.”

Poster of Uncle Sam pointing to audience
Image from Sonofthesouth shows a poster from around the year 1917 of “Uncle Sam pointing his finger at you (the audience) and saying ‘I want You in the Navy and I want you Now’. The poster, was placed in areas where young men would see it and be inspired to report to the recruiting station.

Maki says his naval career began at the age of 18.  He walked into the recruiters office, mainly due to lack of jobs elsewhere, and said, “I wanna join the Navy.  From there, he went to Boot Camp in San Diego and then trained at a school in San Diego, Calif. as well as San Francisco, Calif. that specialized in Hull Maintenance.   He was than stationed on his first ship in 1976 in Japan.

He now holds several achievements that come with being a Navy Vet.

They include…

  • Humanitarian Service at Sea
  • National Defense
  • 3 Battle E’s (Efficiency)
  • 4 Good Conducts
  • Navy Achievement Medal
  • Navy Unit Commodations to the Ship
  • And finally because of his 12 years of good conduct with no bad marks, Maki can officially wear gold.

After serving for 20 years in the U.S Navy, he says he “still supports the president,” even if he doesn’t always agree with the political decisions. He says, with a smirk, “The Congressmen are the least likely crooks.”  Given what he’s experienced, he says he’s not much into politics and religion.