Sounds familiar...I got to ETA school in June of 1960 and likewise joined the radio club after I got tired of standing fire watches. My call is W6HOM.
That surplus place you mentioned is probably Zack's which was on about 10th and Market street. It was great and it had a spinoff or two. One of them was here in Vallejo until a year or so ago. It was called Zackit and it became a legit distributor.
There were other surplus places in the east bay. One on 4th street in Richmond and a few others at Oakland airport. One of those was "Mike Quinn's" which also went out of business just a few years ago.
After ETA school I went to a BUWEPS school in Pomona, CA to learn about elecronics standards and calibration. Then I was assigned to the USS Hunley AS31 which which was new construction. I used my personal call for the shipboard ham station but later when we went to Scotland we couldn't get on the air because there was no reciprobal agreement with Britain at the time.
PS. I took climbed the tower at TI. I also climbed some masts on various ships and had to go up one time to peel a guy loose that froze with fear half way up. I don't think I could do that sort of thing any more...I think gravity got stronger since those days.