native island girls or local Italian women), certain women gain their interest more than others. After receiving a "Dear John letter", shy and broken-hearted Willy's love interest becomes Southern belle Nurse Cindy Bates (Brenda Wright). Tinker tries to impress and win over fickle Nurse Betsy Gordonlove (Barbara Werle) in "Scuttlebutt." Happy's love interest in "The Happy Sleepwalker" is Lt. Anne Wright (Lois Roberts). When Gruber's girlfriend Ginger (Jean Hale) shows up to surprise him in "Lester, the Skipper", McHale is talked into letting Gruber pretend he is the commander of the PT-73 while she is there. In "Fuji's Big Romance", the lonely prisoner of war falls for lovely Sulani (Yvonne Ribuca), the daughter of a Polynesian chief, when the crew sympathetically takes him along on one of their social outings to a luau with the native islanders. Other than Binghamton and Christy, none of the regular characters on the show is married and only Christy has any children. Cast Except where noted, the actors appeared on the show in every season: Ernest Borgnine as Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale Tim Conway as Ensign Charles Parker Joe Flynn as Captain Wallace Burton Binghamton ("Old Leadbottom") Bob Hastings as Lieutenant Elroy Carpenter Gary Vinson as George "Christy" Christopher, quartermaster Bobby Wright as Willy Moss, radioman Carl Ballantine as Lester Gruber, torpedoman's mate Billy Sands as Harrison "Tinker" Bell, engineman and motor machinist mate Edson Stroll as Virgil Edwards, gunner's mate Gavin MacLeod as Joseph "Happy" Haines, seaman (1962–1964) Yoshio Yoda as Fuji Kobiaji, cook, seaman 3rd class, Japanese POW; in season 2, episode 13 ("A Letter for Fuji"), he is given the name Fujiwara Takeo. The real-life PT-73 The real-life PT-73 was finished on August 12, 1942 by Higgins Industries, Iinc., New Orleans. It was long, weighed 56 tons and had a top speed of 40 knots. It was assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 13 under the command of Commander James B. Denny, USN. The squadron participated in the Aleutian Islands Campaign from March 1943 to May 1944. The squadron was then transferred to the Southwest Pacific, where the squadron saw action at Mios Woendi, Dutch New Guinea; Mindoro, Philippine Islands; and Brunei Bay, Borneo. The squadron was also based for a time at Dreger Harbor, New Guinea and San Pedro Bay, Philippine Islands, but saw no action from these bases. Overall, the real PT-73 did not have the kind of illustrious