BRYCE CANYON UPDATE

Volume 18, Issue 1 April 2013

Inside this issue: A Newsletter Serving Former Crewmen of USS Bryce Canyon (AD-36)

Preview of the War- 1-3 wick, RI area

Survey for 2013 3 reunion

President’s Mes- 4 sage

Welcome Mat & 4 Taps

Mail Call 5

Important Message 5 COME TO WARWICK, , FOR THE for E-mail users

Coins on Head- 6 2013 USS BRYCE CANYON REUNION stones

Clock on USS 6 The Warwick, RI way for the develop- yond recovery. In 1972, Texas area will be the site of ment of Cove the battleship was the 2013 USS Bryce and served as the cata- joined by the Canyon reunion. Below lyst for the revitalization USS Lionfish, a World are brief descriptions of of the Fall River water- War II Balao-class at- some of the most fa- front and improvement tack submarine. In mous sites in the area. in the quality of life in 1974, Joseph Please read them and both Fall River and P. Kennedy, Jr. joined then give us an idea of Bristol County. The Ma- the emerging fleet at which ones you would rine Museum, Old Col- Battleship Cove. During want to have on your ony and Fall River Rail- the 1970's, PT Boats, reunion agenda. road Museum, and the Inc. of Memphis, Ten- Fall River Carousel nessee entered into ne- Battleship Cove: The round out the recon- gotiations with the Me- USS BRYCE arrival of the USS Mas- struction of a waterfront morial Committee, re- CANYON sachusetts paved the area once thought be- sulting in the installation of a PT Boat museum REUNION on the battleship. The world's largest exhibited collection of PT boat artifacts and memora- OCTOBER 10-13, bilia, these items are complemented by a rare 2013 Japanese demolition boat and PT boats 617 and 796, the latter being WARWICK, RI housed in an American architectural accom- plishment - a Quonset CROWN PLAZA HOTEL Hut, of which thousands

(Continued on page 2) AERIAL VIEW OF BATTLESHIP COVE

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(Continued from page 1) Age Experience in the grand place to view Newport Har- very slippery. Neverthe- were built around the world in villas of the powerful men bor, go by the New York less, the walk remains one the 1940's. and influential women who Yacht Club, and Newport's of the top attractions in The most recent addition made Newport America's King Park with its statue of Newport and is taken by to Battleship Cove is Hidden- leading resort and a center Rochambeau who brought people of all ages. see, the only Russian missile of the arts and architecture. the French army to New- on public display in (The mansion we tour will port to help Washington Jamestown/Conanicut the world. Built in Russia and depend on space and time win the Revolutionary War. Island: The Newport (Pell) used by the East German availability.) We may tour King Park is the southern Bridge, featured on the Navy, Hiddensee was offered one of the great Vanderbilt end of Newport Harbor Rhode Island commemora- to the United States after the houses, or the breathtaking and the Newport Harbor tive quarters, is more than fall of the Berlin Wall and the French chateau of a leading Walk. two miles long with towers Iron Curtain. After a wave of industrialist, the party pavil- that rise 400 feet above the technical experts studied this ion built by a Wild West sil- Newport Cliff Walk: The water. It's opening made compact vessel to decipher ver heiress, or the imposing Cliff Walk along the east- Route 138 into a through her secrets, US government stone mansion erected for a ern shore of Newport, RI is road across Conanicut Is- budget cuts made her avail- China Trade merchant, and world famous as a public land. Attractions on Co- able, and she became a per- feel how life was lived on the access walk that combines nanicut Island include his- manent resident of Battleship grand stage of high society. the natural beauty of the toric Beavertail lighthouse Cove in October 1996. Fol- There is the Victorian villa of Newport shore line with and park; 280 acre Watson lowing the completion of China Trade merchant Wil- the architectural history of Farm with its cattle, sheep, modifications to ensure ex- liam Wetmore, Chateau-sur- Newport's gilded age. horses, gardens and miles hibit security and visitor Mer, the first of Newport's Wildflowers, birds, geol- of picturesque trails; his- safety, Hiddensee was offi- palatial summer mansions, ogy ... all add to this de- toric Forts Wetherill and cially opened to the public in where the Gilded Age be- lightful Walk. In 1975 the Getty (now recreational June 1997. gan. Or we may enjoy the Walk was designated as a areas); a more than two Battleship Cove has grown audio tour at National Recreation hundred year old windmill; to become one of the nation's where we'll learn about the Trail ... the 65th in the na- sandy Mackeral Cove most dynamic exhibits of his- dynamic Alva Vanderbilt- tion and first in New Eng- Beach; the Conanicut Is- toric naval ships and related society hostess, dedicated land. The Walk runs 3.5 land Bird Sanctuary; a fire memorabilia. It offers a wide suffragist, and patron of the miles and about two-thirds fighting museum that in- range of special programs arts-who was given the of the walk is in easy walk- cludes a 1894 horse-drawn including reunions, memorial house by her husband as a ing condition. What makes steam engine; the James- services, banquets, and facili- 39th birthday present and Cliff Walk unique is that it town Museum collection of ties for business meetings. who married off her daughter is a National Recreation ferry system memorabilia; The USS Massachusetts has to English nobility in it. Trail in a National Historic and the Sydney Wright mu- created one of the nation's There is also , District. seum of locally-collected finest exhibits of historic naval the grand 70 room Italian Parts of the southern Indian and Colonial arti- ships with a concentration of Renaissance-style villa built half of the walk are a facts. National Historic Landmarks by Cornelius Vanderbilt II, rough trail over the natural unequaled south of , President and Chairman of and rugged The JULIETT 484: This and a waterfront which is now the New York Central Rail- rocky shore line. Walkers former Soviet cruise missile equal of any in the Northeast. road, after his first house need to be especially care- submarine is open to the The USS Massachusetts now burned down. There’s just ful and alert in these chal- public. Juliett 484, a 300- rests peacefully at Battleship more to see than there is lenging areas. You pass foot long, diesel-powered Cove, a living page of history. room to describe it here! at your own risk on the veteran, is walk, which is a public moored at Collier Point Mansion’s Row: Probably Newport's Ten Mile Drive right-of-way over private Park in Providence, Rhode Newport’s most famous drive. combines the history of a property. In spots just a Island and is waiting to be Here you can see the sum- wealthy summer community couple of feet from the boarded. For safety pur- mer homes of the rich and with a fabulous Newport rec- path are abrupt drops of poses, and for your own famous – the DuPonts, the reational treasure of public over 70 feet. Wild bushes protection, guests must Vanderbilts, etc. A tour along parks and miles of shoreline and weeds often hide this wear appropriate footwear: mansion’s row just wouldn’t access to rank as one of the danger. As you walk fur- high heels, flip-flops and be complete without a visit to most popular "drives" in the ther south you have to open-toed shoes are not one of these homes! Im- country. Among the many scramble from rock to rock allowed. Visitors must dem- merse yourself in a world of homes you’ll see along the and proper shoes are a onstrate their ability to pass wealth and power as it ex- drive is must. Even with good isted at the dawn of the 20th (Jackie Kennedy's summer shoes, fine sand on some century. Discover the Gilded home), Ft. Adams is an ideal of the rock surfaces can be (Continued on page 3)

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(Continued from page 2) tion consists of items relating to 2013 USS BRYCE CANYON SURVEY through a mock submarine door near these subjects that are perceived the ticketing area. to be of value to scholarship, and it Help us plan your 2013 reunion The JULIETT class submarine was forms the core for exhibits through- agenda by completing the following of double-hull construction with ex- out the College and for educational survey. ceptionally large reserve buoyancy, outreach projects. and is one of the largest non-nuclear Do you prefer breakfast all three morn- submarine types ever built. Its princi- Mystic, CT (Mystic Village & ings _____? ple mission during the 1960s was to Mystic Seaport: Just about eve- or only on Sunday morning_____? serve as a land-attack platform, pri- ryone has probably heard of this marily targeting cities along the east- outstanding seaport museum vil- Do you want entertainment after the ern region of the United States. The lage. Occupying 17 acres along banquet? _____Yes _____ No advent of true ballistic missile subma- the Mystic River, the Seaport con- rines in the Soviet Navy made this tains tall ships, a complex of his- Please check the attractions that you mission superfluous - the primary mis- toric buildings, a preservation ship- would like to see on the agenda: sion of the JULIETT class then yard, planetarium, and many ex- evolved into its new role as an anti- hibit buildings. Stepping back into Battleship Cove _____ ship platform, targeting capital ship the 19th century, visitors can see assets of the American Navy - the actual restoration work being done Mansion’s Row/Mansion Tour _____ USS SARATOGA being a prime tar- on the ships, and craftsmen prac- get. Now armed with four huge SS-N- ticing their skills. Includes Tours, Newport’s Ten Mile Drive _____ 3A 'Shaddock' anti-ship/land-attack Workshops, Exhibits, Symposia, cruise missiles and a relatively quiet Clambakes, Sail Education, Newport Cliff Walk ______submerged posture while running Cruises, and Antique slow on batteries, the JULIETT boats Boat Rendezvous. Jamestown/Conanicut Island were a major headache for the US Navy all through the Cold War. USS NAUTILUS and Submarine Juliett 484 _____ Force Museum: The Submarine Museum: Tradi- Force Museum, located on the Naval War College Museum _____ tion has it that on a late October's day Thames River in Groton, Connecti- in 1884, Commodore Stephen B. cut, maintains the world's finest Mystic, CT _____ Luce, USN, was rowed from the flag- collection of submarine artifacts. It ship of the North Atlantic Squadron is the only submarine museum USS Nautilus & Submarine Force anchored off Newport to Coasters operated by the United States Museum _____ Harbor Island two miles north of the Navy, and as such is the primary center of Newport, a site designated repository for artifacts, documents Foxwoods Casino _____ earlier that month by the Secretary of and photographs relating to U.S. the Navy for a new kind of college. Submarine Force history. The mu- Return by May 6, 2013 to: Once on the island, Luce proceeded seum traces the development of to a large stone building, the former the "Silent Service" from David Newport Asylum for the Poor, climbed Bushnell's Turtle, used in the Premier Reunion Services its rickety stairs, and as he opened Revolutionary War, to the modern PO Box 11438 the front door solemnly announced to Los Angeles, Ohio and Seawolf Hickory, NC 28603 his few companions and the empty class . OR grounds, “Poor little poorhouse, I Fax: (828) 256-6559 christen thee United States Naval War Foxwoods Casino: No one of- College.” Today the “little poorhouse” fers more gaming choices than E-mail: is a well preserved and stately struc- Foxwoods Resort Casino, the in- [email protected] ture, a National Historic Landmark ternationally recognized gaming and home to the Naval War College destination. With its six casinos, Phone: (828) 256-6008 Museum. Named Founders Hall in Foxwoods offers more than 6,400 honor of the founding fathers of the slot machines, 354 table games, College, it is uniquely suited for its and the world's largest bingo hall. current purpose. The Museum's Keno lovers can play the ever- themes are the history of naval war- popular Keno throughout the prop- fare, particularly as studied at the Col- erty, as well as in a comfortable lege, and the naval heritage of Narra- Keno lounge. And the spectacular gansett Bay—a tale that begins with Ultimate Race Book is a sure bet the nation's colonial roots. Its collec- to delight racing fans. BRYCE CANYON UPDATE Page 4 BC ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Ahoy Sailors, looking at having lunch in Our BC reunion will be the Wardroom. That will WELCOME TAPS held Oct 10-13, 2013 in be fun. They also have Providence/Warwick, Rhode the Destroyer USS JO- MAT The Bryce Canyon Up- Island. We will be staying at SEPH KENNEDY, and a date learned of the fol- the Crown Plaza Hotel at the WWII Sub, the USS The USS BRYCE CAN- lowing shipmates’ deaths Crossings in Rhode Island. LIONFISH. YON Association an- since the last newsletter. This is going to be a Great On our second day nounces the following Every member of the As- Reunion. Here are some of tour we could visit New- former crewmen have sociation sends his heart- the reunion “High-Lights.” port. There are mansions recently been located. felt sympathy to the fami- We’re looking at going to to see, the War College, Welcome aboard and we lies and friends of the Battleship Cove in Fall lunch at the Clubs or deceased. River, MA. We’ll get to go on downtown Newport. So, hope to see you at the several ships including the get ready to sign up for next reunion. Battleship USS MASSA- the bus tours. Thomas Thornhill CHUSETTES, which we’re ______Ted Law (1958-61) EN3 Engr [email protected] Died September 2012

FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR 04/13 Lou Fols Frank Pelton [email protected] (1952-54) ME3 1st Div Balance from 11/12 $90.96 Died February 4, 2013 Received since 11/12 Harold Bryan Dues $2365.00 (1962-66) R-2 Instruments Carlye Sims Profit from Challenge Coins $809.55 25 Pheasant Run Dr (1950-54) O Div Available for 04/13 $3265.51 Gales Ferry, CT 06335 Died April 28, 2012

Cost of 04/13 issue $1030.69 [email protected] Joe Ringhoffer (6 pages—786 copies) Postage: $223.01 Robert Miller (1957-58) CWO3 Paper: $212.22 (1979-81) ET Died August 8, 2012 Envelopes: $55.02 [email protected] Small envelopes $40.15 Gayle Teachout Printing Costs: $ 424.44 Douglas Whicello (1951-54) ME2 R Div Labor: $ 104.00 [email protected] Died August 3, 2012 TOTAL COSTS: $1030.69 Capt Robert Dempsey, Balance Remaining for 07/13 $2234.82 Carl Rammel USN (Ret) [email protected] Dues of $20.00 are due in January of each year. If you 1976-79 have not already sent in your 2013 dues, you can still mail Daryl Gilmer Died November 19, 2012 them to Premier Reunion Services, PO Box 11438, Hickory, (1958-62) SN 2nd Div ______NC 28603. 1697 Meadowbrook Dr ______Cottonwood, AZ 86326 928-202-7162 Thomas Wayne [email protected] Thornhill Published By: Premier Reunion Services John Mahalk 1940-2012 PO Box 11438 Postal Clerk X Div Hickory, NC 28603 1015 Eastglen Dr With deep regret, Tho- “Our Reunions Work So You LaVerne, CA 91750 828-256-6008 (voice) Don’t Have To” mas Wayne Thornhill 828-256-6559 (fax) 909-592-2500 passed away at his ______daughter’s home from a [email protected] sudden illness; he was [email protected] 72. He was a devoted

husband and the best Web site: www.mlrsinc.com/brycecanyon (Continued on page 5)

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(Continued from page 4) IMPORTANT MESSAGE —YOU dad, and his family misses MUST SUBSCRIBE him deeply. He is survived by his 6 children: Michelle Thornhill, Tom Thornhill, Please watch your email carefully! If we have an Brandy Forest, Nicole email address for you in our database, you will be re- Timmer, Scott Timmer, Joe Mail Call ceiving (if you have not already) an invitation to sub- Wagner; 7 grandchildren and scribe to the “USS BRYCE CANYON EMAILERS” From John Kaselnak: list. In an effort to reduce the amount of junk email that 3 great grandchildren, and I was assigned to the is being sent, there have been standards established to another on the way. He is first lieutenant’s office and also survived by 2 sisters control the way emails are sent to groups of people. “R” Division. I was a YN2. I The server that hosts our web site has adopted these and several nieces and was the Captain’s Yeoman nephews. standards, and we must abide by them. This means for inspections. Tom’s life was full. He that we can no longer just copy a list of email ad- I was a member of the dresses out of our database, and paste that list into the loved to travel, ride his mo- baseball team and instru- torcycle, sail on one of his “To:” or “BCC:” fields of an email. We can now only mental in getting uniforms. many sail boats, and visit his send group emails to recipients who have subscribed I was the second base- to a particular email list. This process involves sending children; he loved life. He man. I also played on the was a kind, gentle heart, out an invitation to group members. basketball team. After ten When you receive the invitation you will be asked who looked to laugh and find months of volunteering, I to click on a link within the email that takes you humor in all things. He was released to inactive served our country in both to the subscription page. reserves. On the subscription page, you fill out your email the Navy and Air Force. He I was a member of the address, and then submit it. retired from the Los Angeles Navy from 1945 to 1949. I Police Department, and You will then receive another email from the DADA was an inactive reservist. Mailing Service confirming that you are the ac- through his time on the In July of 1950, I volun- tual owner of the email address you provided. force, he was a motorcycle teered for six months to office, traffic patrol, along When you click on the link in the confirmation serve during the Korean email, you will then be “subscribed”. with many other duties. Fi- War. I was assigned to the nally, his last 17 years were USS Bryce Canyon com- spent as a pilot flying heli- This process is called a “double opt-in” subscrip- missioning detail, Naval tion. It is designed so that a computer robot can’t just copters for the department, Station, Charleston. I was retiring as a pilot. He en- go in and fill out random email addresses in forms – assigned to the personnel joyed the last 20+ years in they want to know a real person is submitting the email office to bring assigned address, and that same person really has access to McMinnville, OR, driving sailors aboard the Bryce school buses, enjoying that email account. Canyon. Upon commis- friends and neighbors. This subscription list is totally independent of the sioning of the Bryce Can- database we maintain for your group. If you change Memorial services were yon, I was off duty. On held on Saturday, Septemer your email address, you will still need to let us know, October 1952, I entered and you will need to re-subscribe with your new ad- 9 at 2:00 pm in Las Vegas, active duty again and dress. If you have not ever submitted your email ad- NV. served until December 1, To honor Tom’s love for dress and would like to, there is a link to the subscrip- 1977 when placed on the tion process on the reunion web site. You will also Hawaiian shirts, the family retired list. I retired as a need to send us an email with your email address in invited everyone to wear one Chief Yeoman and am to the service. order to get it added to the database. now 84 years old (85 I experimented with several different email programs ______March 2). I did enjoy my before selecting this particular one. It is the least com- tour on the Bryce Canyon plicated of the ones I tried. Thank you for your patience even though I was not a APRIL HAPPENINGS as we implement this new procedure. I, for one, get a plank owner.  Sweet Pea is the flower ton of junk mail, and would not mind at all if standards

for people born in April like this reduced the amount I have to weed through John Kaselnak  Their birthstone is the every day! 2094 Marble Ln diamond. Eagan, MN 55122-2014  The full moon for April is Respectfully, ______known as the Pink Dina Coffey Moon. General Manager  The final score of a for- Premier Reunion Services, LLC feited baseball game is www.mlrsinc.com 9-0. 828-256-6008

Page 6 BRYCE CANYON UPDATE LEAVING COINS ON HEADSTONES Statement of Publication Shared by Sheila Hartley - Suvivors, you are telling the family that you Family and Friends of the USS were with the solider when he was The UPDATE is the official publica- Franklin CV13 killed. tion of the USS BRYCE CANYON Asso- According to tradition, the money ciation. From now on it will be pub- While visiting left at graves in national cemeteries lished quarterly in January, April, July and state veterans cemeteries is some cemeteries and October, subject to receiving suf- you may notice that eventually collected, and the funds headstones marking are put toward maintaining the ficient funding. The Newsletter is certain graves have cemetery or paying burial costs for funded by voluntary contributions coins on them, left indigent veterans. from the membership. All members by previous visitors In the US, this practice became are encouraged to support the voice to the grave. common during the , of the BRYCE CANYON. A financial These coins have distinct mean- due to the political divide in the statement appears in each issue of ings when left on the headstones of country over the war; leaving a coin the newsletter. those who gave their life while serv- was seen as a more practical way The newsletter is intended to be a ing in America's military, and these to communicate that you had visited vehicle for the members to express meanings vary depending on the the grave than contacting the sol- opinions, make suggestions and es- denomination of coin. dier's family, which could devolve pecially share experiences. A coin left on a headstone or at into an uncomfortable argument Unless otherwise stated, the views the grave site is meant as a mes- over politics relating to the war. sage to the deceased soldier's fam- Some Vietnam veterans would and opinions printed in the newslet- ily that someone else has visited the leave coins as a "down payment" to ter are those of the article’s writer, grave to pay respect. Leaving a buy their fallen comrades a beer or and do not necessarily represent the penny at the grave means simply play a hand of cards when they opinion of the Association leadership that you visited. would finally be reunited. or the Editor of the Newsletter. A nickel indicates that you and The tradition of leaving coins on All letters and stories submitted the deceased trained at boot camp the headstones of military men and will be considered for publication, together, while a dime means you women can be traced to as far back except unsigned letters will not be served with him in some capacity. as the Roman Empire. published. Letters requesting the By leaving a quarter at the grave, ______writer’s name be withheld will be honored, but published on a space BATTLESHIP CLOCK ON USS TEXAS available basis. Signed letters with no restrictions will be given priority. were set at 1, the clock was showing Letters demeaning to another As a boy, I went aboard the WW I that the range to the target was 11,000 shipmate will not be printed; letters battleship U.S.S. Texas, which is now yards. Each ship would use binoculars espousing a political position will not a museum near Galveston. A few to read its neighbor's clock and set its days ago, I came into possession of a be printed. clocks to match the clock of the ship photo of the Texas taken in 1919. At ML&RS, Inc. is not responsible for which had found the range. In that the top of the superstucture, where the the accuracy of article submitted for manner, prior to the use of radio, the tower framework begins, is a clock with publication. It would be impossible to range information was silently passed only ten numerals, rather than the nor- down the line of ships and all ships check each story. Therefore, we rely mal 12. I'd wondered why the clock could set their guns to fire the same on the submitter to research each had only 10 numbers and tonight I distance. article. found out why. By the time that the Texas was put The editor reserves the right to Prior to WW II, the practice was for up as a museum at the San Jacinto edit letters to conform to space limi- to line up, bow to stern, and battlefield, the range clock had been tations and grammar. fire their guns broadside at a common removed because the Navy no longer target. These "clocks" were actually You are encouraged to actively needed it. But I had that photo which indicators of range. When a battleship participate in the newsletter family, made me curious and now we know a found the range to the target, it would by submitting your stories and sug- little something new, er, old. set its range clocks--one on the front of gestions. the superstructure and one on the ______aft. One hand indicated ten thousands Submitted by Dick Parks of yards and the other hand indicated thousands of yards, so if both hands ______