The SEAWEED Publicotionof the U.5.5.CHAMPLIN REUNION GROUP

DECEMBER2OO7 GODDARDF. BECK Afterhis honorable discharge from the He& Dorothy,his wife, traveled to Navyat theend of the war, Goddie re- Seattleto visithis son & familya few "Goddie"was bom and raised in Columbia,tumedto Columbia,Pa. & reunitedwith his times.He also has a gnanddaughter PA. Hehas retained those classic small wifeDorothy & youngson. Heretumed to & greatgrandchild inBoston, as well townvalues throughout his life, focusing on hisposition at ArmstrongWorld Industries. as othergrandchildren in Princeton & family,church, athletics & work.He has Hewas also involved in playingspoG, Marlton,New Jersey, as welf as lo- alwayshad a job,like being a newspaper especiallybasketball & baseball. cally. boy;he was an entrepreneurwith his own Goddiemoved to Lancaster,Pa. with Doro- Goddiefollows the hom+maderoot beer business, which he thy& thereraised 7 children,4 sonsand 3 Philliesthrough good times & bad. soldto theconstruction workers building his daughters.He was a veryinvofved father, Heis alsoa Steelersfan & enjoys churchaddition. attendingallthe children's activities & professionaltennis.Heused to GoddardF. Beckgraduated from Columbia sportingevents. Armstrong Closure Plant regularlyplay tennis with his sons. HighSchool, class of 1935.They just had wasbought by Ken Packaging Corp. God- PerhapsGoddie's favorite hobby is theirT2ndhigh schoolclass reunion & he diespent 47 yeamin managementthere hismodef tnains layout which features continuestogo and enjoy his remaining untilhis retirement. While working at his about20 trains on a well-organized classmembers, which is about20 from a regularjob, he also had a greatinterest platformof 2 storiesthat occupies a classof 104.He was a standoutathlete in andtalent in propertyrestoration, doing all fullroom in thehouse. He has an- bothfootball & basketbafl.He also played thework himself including papering, paint- tiquetrains that date from his youth. baseballfor communitv teams. He played ing,plumbing & electrical. He would ailq Hisgrandfaher was a rallroadnnan, basketballfor a semi-proteam, the Colum- wallsto rooms& dothe plastering ma- 'll & he hasretained this interest & biaMerchants & competed against such sonry,orwhateverwas needed. He hadll enjoysit withgrandson Patrick. teamsas the Harfem Globetrotters & the restored10 properties, including his own" Goddiehas a busytulfilling life with All-AmericanRed Heads, a girl'steam. He historichome on Wheatland Avenue, family,neighbors & friends. He has was honoredin 1981by being named to wherehe still lives. He has had numerous theunofficial, but sincerely felt title of the"Susquehanna Valley Chapter of the tenantsin hisproperties & continues to "Mayorof WheatlandAvenue." He PennsylvaniaSports Hall of Fame"for both overseethis part of hislife today. entertainson the front poruh daily & it footballand basketball. He continued play- Goddiehas always had a greatvariety of is a realgathering area for all the ingunder community teams until World War interest& hobbies.He has had summer joggers,& animalwalkers, as well as ll andgoing into the Navy. cottages,one along the Susquehana River family& friends,and it wasthe scene Goddardwas honored to servehis country & onealong the Conestoga River, which he of his90th Birthday on August 27th. in thehour of greatneed during World War stillhas&continues to enjoy. He likes Goddiemisses his wife Dorothy, who ll in theUnited States Navy on the de- boating,which stems from his Champlin passedon April 10 atthe age 0f91. stroyerUSS Champlin. He kept a dailylog daysat sea. Goddiewas honored along Theywere manied 66 years & en- journalof hisexperiences which he still withother Worfd War ll vetenanslast year joyeddancing togetheras wellas viewsand discusses quite often. He has onthe anniversary of the end of thewar raisingtheir children & grandchildren. maintainedcontact with his shipmates witha servicemedal by the Pennsylvania Hedoes keep busy & is adjustingto throughthe reunions and by reading the Houseof Representatives. thechange & theloss. He has some Seaweed,the ship's newsletter. Goddiethrives on his 10 grandchifdren & 1 projecbgoing on that keep him busy. TheSeaweed is hisgreat delight, for when greatgrandchild. He regularly attends foot- Healso loves the mail, where people he readsabout someone he served with or ballgames, soccer & fieldhockey matches, keepin touch. He especially looks readsabout some past great event the swimmingmeets & track& fieldevents. He fonrardto the Seaweedand informa- Champlinwas involved with, he is able to fill alsogoes to pianorecitals, vocal concerts, tionlike it. in moredetails and share artexhibits & otherevents that these storiesabout the Wethank Goddard's daughter, peopleand or incidents. grandchildrenareinvolved in, KathleenBeck, for sharing l5 rto'Y,,S,, EBF? TL*Affi *te*ffiacffu uss6Ff*#a$t

TO A,IAKE 6OOD USE DEEP.SIXING OF LIFE, Why do we callthe destructionof a personor thingDeep-sixing? ONE Deepsix is an oldexpression, originally meaning a grave.Why not deep eight? SHOULD Probablysix was chosenbecause of the customof digginga gravesix feet HAVE IN deehthus the expressionsix feet under. YOUTH, THE EXPERIENCE DeepSix was particularly popular among sailors, and it is likelythat the refer- to referspecifically to drowning OF encewas to sixfathoms. Sailors used deep six victims(ie anyonesix fathoms-thirtysix feet{own in the seawas in a literalor ADVANCED metaphoricalgrave) and also to equipmentjettisoned overboard that fell downto YEARS. the bottomof the sea. AND IN for the OLD A6E, We haveJohn Deans'testimony during the Watergatehearings to thank resurgenceof this expression:Dean, President Nixon's counsel, testified that THE VI6OR whenhe informedJohn Ehrlichman that there were incriminating documents OF foundin HowardHunt's White House safe, Ehrlichman suggested that it might YOUTH. be prudentto dees'sixthem in the PotomacRiver.

AN EXPERT PORTANDSTARBOARD I5 ONE Why is the Lefthand side of a shipfacing forward called the Port? WHO Why is the righthand side of a shipfacing forward called the Starboard? KNOWs Why arethe windowsaround the perimeterof a shipcalled portholes when they are lv\ORE foundon bothsides of the vessel? AND Ancientships were usually steered with a largesweep oar Starboardis Old English MORE for steerboard or paddle,so it is easyto see howthe righthand side became ABOUT knownas the starboard.Because the steeringgear was all containedon the right, port LE55AND old shipshad to tie at dockon the left,or sideas well. LES5. Originally,however, the left handside was calledthe larboardfrom the Anglo Saxonlaere (empty) and bord(board or paddle).The middleEnglish laddeborde alsoappropriately, meant Lading side. In the earlyseventeenth century, mariners abandonedlarboard for port,undoubtedly because when maneuvering in a wicked THE REAIIY storm,larboard and starboard were too easilyconfused. HAPPYIAAN purpose porthole passengersbut to I5 THE Theoriginal for the was notto amusecruise seryeas gun ports. In the earliestships, gun portswere on the portside only. ONE WHO Sailorshad primitive,claustrophobic facilities below decks. Portholesas windows CAN wereadded centuries later, and by thattime the word porthole had stuck. ENJOY THE

SCENERY, ATOMIC BOMBS EVEN "To quell the Japanese resistance man by man and conquer the country yard by yard WHEN HE might well require the loss of a million American lives and half that number of British. HAS TO Now all this nightmare picture had vanished. In its place as 1[s visien-fair and bright TAKE A indeed it seemed--of the end of the whole war in one or two violent shocks" DETOUR. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill WB, JAMESS. ROPOGWT 3/C tuk;

OurDad, Jim, was a funloving sailor. The"fun' of cleaningthe boilertubes. cigarand "a bit"of smoothwhisky A warmsmile and firm handshakeof all were favorites. Escorting group also everyonehe met. PresidentRoosevelt's to Maltafrom where Roosevelt took a After retirementas a tool and die August1943 volunteering for the Navy at planeto theYalta Conference. maker for nearly35 years Dad age30 madehim one of the"old men" and Mom were drawn to Florida. Ridingout in Pacific. on the Champlin.He was separatedout a typhoon the First living in Ft. Lauderdalethen fromthe Navyin October1945. He Japanesesunender aboard the Port Richey. They reallyenjoyed spenthis entire time as a proudcrew Missouriin TokyoBay. their retirementyears in Florida. memberof theChamplin. Dad had just manystories about his adventures both lce covering abouteverything as ln 1995Dad fell ill and he and plowed onboardship and on shoreleave. theChamplin thefrigid seas Mom moved to the Columbus, offMurmansk Russia. Ohio area to be near his two Someof the "sailorstories" are bestnot daughtersand their families. We livedin Cleveland, Later repeated.Like shore leave in Oranor Ohio. Grandchildrenbecame the moved Italy.. Hmmmm!Then the time Dad to a newhouse in Willoughby. attention of affection and ready Dadwas an avid Indians droppeda bagof "goodies"breaking all Cleveland listenersof "sailorstories". We the bottleswhile being piped around fan evenin theirtough times. can only hopethey willremember aftera successfulshore leave at an Hewas lifelong friends with his the stories. undisclosedlocation. We'll bet you shipmateJack Strubank and his Dad passedaway in December sailorscan guess the contents of the familyof Detroit,Michigan. We spent 2000. We trust he is still being a bottles. manyweekends withthe Strubanks. "good sailor.' Otherstories are morenoteworthy. The Dadloved pool,play to bowl,shoot We hope you have enjoyed rammingand sinking of a German cards,baseball, fixing just about readingabout our father. U-Boatoff the US EastCoast. anything,and travel. He and Mom Sweatingit out rnthe engineroom keep- triedto get to as manyof the Stephanie(Ropog) Yeager and ingthe water levels correct in the heatof ChamplinReunions as possible. (Ropog) Mitchem, battle. Seeingformer shipmates brought salutingallthe USS Champlin backgood times. An occasionalfine officers and crew members.

"For those who will fight brovely ond not yield, there is triumphont victory over oll the dork things of life"

CHARLES"Chuck" MEEHAN DUESARE DUE '1944 Sometimeearly in while I was in the Navy holdingstation at Pier92 (lthink?) I ?oo7-?oo8 receivedorders to reportto Portland,Main. I was to become part of the crew of the USS ChamplinDD601. Howeverwhen I arrivedin Portland,the Champlinhad departed. I was disappointedand confusedand then to be shippedback to the i EI^BERSHIP BrooklynNavy Yard. Havingjust turned 17 years old, this seemedvery exciting. I 'boat' couldn'tunderstand why I was directedto a dry dock that held a big that Includes Seoweed

apparentlywas broken. *t** I soon learnedof this noble and gallantship and its crew who fought and sank a Ger- man U Boat-not far off shore. My adventureof a lifetimebegan and I was alone. I Subscriptiononlv to storedmy gear below in the Fire ControlComputerroom where the deck becamemy The Seaweed bunk for a while. "O" divisionquarters eventually provided a bunk. The long gapping hole in the crews mess was just 2 doors beyondthe computerroom and the ship's $5.OO office. The punjentodor of welding, raw material,burnt paintand ship yard activities Mailto NormPrewitt was near over whelming. Moythe Joy of Sixty years have passedas the blink of an eye. The positiveexperiences of the Christmosbe with Champlinhave seryedme well. At the age of 80 llm still gainfullyemployed and :,1 you fhroughoutfhe fi enjoyingthe friendshipof shipmates SignedChuck Meehan year HAROLD'HAL' MEDVEDEFF After the annual banquet at this year's reunion, we all met in the hospitality room to trade stories. Some of mine were on the unusual side, so I was asked to write them for the Seaweed. I agreed and hope that all will find them interesting. Hal Medvedeff I was bornin Harbin,China on the 1"tof April1 918. My motherknew Latin, so shewas in chargeof the pharmacyat the railroadhospital. She was alsofluent in Russian,French, and German.Her boss was a Germandoctor who was in chargeof the hospital.He was alsomy godfather.My fatherwas in communicationsinstallation for the ChineseEastern Railway. lt musthave been a goodposition as he hada railroadcar for his ownuse when there was constructionoutside of Harbin. It musthave been when I wasfive that we left Harbinby train. We wentto Pusan,Korea. Later we were in Yokohama,Japan and left on ThePresident Madison of the Presidentline. We anivedin Seattle, Washington,and my parentsfound an apartmentacross the streetfrom PacificGrade School. In September,when my fatherentered me in the firstgrade, I did not knowa wordof English.I musthave learnedsome as I passedto the secondgrade. My parentsfound a largerapartment on 5thavenue acrossfrom the SeattleGeneral Hospital. I wasthere in the secondand third grades. We movedagain to a largerapartment and I was put in fifthgrade. Actually,it was a two bedroomhouse. Later, I was in the firstyear at BroadwayHigh school, when I hadto visitwith the registrar.He askedif I was planning on college.When I saidyes, he saidI hadto havea foreignlanguage. I saidI alreadyknew Russian, and he saidit was not in my records,so it did not count.After that I tookGerman where I got helpat home.The teacher was a Germanand constantly surprised when all of my assignmentswere always doneand constantly corect. Afterhigh school, I enteredthe Universityof Washington.I startedin the collegeof Engineering,but after four months,switched to Forestry.ROTC was alwaysmy favorite,and I got allA's. Whenlfinished college,I was commissioned a 2no Lieutenant in theCoast Artillery Corps. On June3,I wasordered to activeduty and assigned to FortRosecrans in San Diego,CA. In September1941 the Army allowed officersto go throughpilot training in grade. In November1941| was informedthat I was acceptedfor pilottraining and to waitfor additionalorders. On December9, sevenArmy officers were ordered to meetwith the executiveofficer. We linedup in frontof his deskand the firstthing he said,"l wanteach of youto tell me why you shouldn'tbe sentto the Philippinesimmediately.' My responsewas that I had beenaccepted for pilottraining and was waiting for furtherorders. I wasthe onlyone notsent to the Philippines,and the othersnever came back. My orderscame in February, 1942, and I gotmy wings in September,1942. In January,1943, I was orderedto WestPalm Beach fortransportation overseas. On Marchl0lfound myselfwith 2O-some otherson a trainto the BrooklynNavy Yard. There,we wereplaced on the WYOMING,a Frenchfreighter. Afterfive days at seaand seeing ships get hit, I was on deckand lookedover and saw something in the water.The nextthing I knew,we werehit by the torpedo,and I was thrownsome distance away on the decksoaking wet. I ran backto the cabinfor dry clothesand madeit backon deckwhere the lifeboatswere being loaded. I got intoone andit was loweredto the water. A Frenchsailor used a hatchetto cut a lineand hit hiswrist instead,dropping the hatchetoverboard. Fortunately, I had my knifeand cut the line. We roweda little wayfrom the ship, which went down in ten minutes.Then, heaven sent the CHAMPLIN to lookfor survivors,and they picked us up. All22officers were taken on boardand 90 or so of the Frenchcrew. l-ifeon boardthe CHAMPLINwas notwithout excitement. Suddenly, we werenot moving.ft seemsthe wrongfuel tank was turnedon. We just floatedaround until the problemwas corrected.Another destroyer cameand circled us untilweregained motion. At the sametime, a freighterwas torpedoed by a sub but it did not sink. The CHAMPLINwas orderedto sinkit. As I recall,two torpedoeswere fired. We couldhear the "thunk'as theyhit the shipbut did not explode.We musthave detec{ed a sub as the 'K" gunswere firedand I helpedroll the "ashcans" off of the fan tail. Thattook care of excitement. We weredropped off somedays later in Casablanca,where I got someuniforms. We werethere a week or so andmost of us wereordered to Accraon the GoldCoast of BritishWest . There.we flew all the way to Khartoum,and then Northto Cairo. After six months or so, we were orderedto Dakar. After four monthsthere, we were transfenedto Marrakech. From there, we flew allthe way across NorthAfrica to Cairo and back. Then, in June, 1945,I was sent to Great Falls, MT. Afier about a week, I was orderedto the commander's office,I had no ideawhy. There,lwas told I was on secretorders to go to Berlin,Germany. I was given airlinetickets and told to proceedimmediately. lwent by commercialair lineto Parisand by a U.S. plane to Berlin,Germany. I have never seen such devastationin my life. After such ruin,very few buildingswere left standing. Hitler'soffice buildingseemed to be in fair shape. After landing,I was briefed,supposedly in secret,that PresidentTruman was comingto Berlinto talk to Stalin. The nextday, I was at the airfield,and learnedthat a planefrom Washington,D.C., would land shortly. I helpedpush the stepsto the airplane that just landed. PresidentTruman came to the door and waved a cheery "Hello.' When he came down the steps, he was no furtherthan two feet from where I was standing. lt seems that he and ClementAtfee of Great Britainwere there to talk to Stalin. I was one of four that were to be interpretersfor the Presidentin talkingto Stalin. When Stalin came in the nextday, the airfieldwas ringedwith Soviet soldiers. He askedif PresidentTruman was goingto have interpreters.When President Truman said yes, he askedfor the names.President Truman gave him a list of fournames, mine included. Stalin returned the listwith three names crossed out. Stalintold himthat threeof the nameswere not acceptableto him. I cameclose! Thefree time gave me the chanceto really lookaround a portionof Berlinthat was stillstanding. I wentinto Hitler's office, both above ground and his undergroundapartment. The underground apartment was for Hitlerand the Joseph Goebbels'family. Thisapartment was fixed with a wellappointed kitchen and dining room. I wentacross the streetinto Joseph Goebbels'office and found an autographedpicturb of Hitler. I have it today. When World War ll ended I was at MercedAir Base, in California,serving as co-pilotof a B 50. Editols note: NextSeaweed will pick up Hal'scareer at the end of WWll.

From PRESIDENTRICHARD BERMAN-THE NEXTCHAMPLIN REUNION-2008 I havecontacted the reunion coordinator for the USSBoyle, Audrey Woodard, who is the a Boylecrew member. After a lengthytelephone conversation we agreedto hold a joint reunionfor 2008 in New Hampshirearound the LakeWinnipesauke area resort hotels. The citiesof Concordand Laconiaare nearby.For 2009 we wouldmeet in Philadelphia.Audrey will coordinate the NewHampshire reunion and even offered to do it for Philadelphia.Needless to sayI acceptedher of- fer. Somevery tentative planned activities would be a dinner/dancecruise on the motorship Mt. Washington, bingo,a visitto the Planetariumin Concord,NH, named for ChristaMcAuliffe (the school teacher killed on the Challenger),golf, entertainment, 50/50 raffle, banquet dinner dance, etc. Dates are not firm yet as they d_ependon hotelavailability, but probablywill be in September. I also contactedthe USS Parker and the USS Ordronauxreunion groups. Sadly,the Parkergroup has been disbandedin the lastyear as onlythree men remainactive. They last at- tended a Tin Can Sailorsreunion and were not too happy with it. They felt it too large and too expensive.I invitedthem to join us in New Hampshire.My contact person indicatedthat he would seriouslyconsider coming and he would advise me shortlyabout the others. The Ordronauxlikewise has not held a reunionfor the lastfour years.(Let's not havethis happento us) My contactperson said he would e-mail his group and let me know if there was any interest.lt does not look very promising. I also contactedthe USS Hulse.They had alreadyscheduled a locationfor 2008 but he will contactthe offi- cers of their associationand if they thought it had any merit he would get back to me. At any rate the next reunionis in the works and I will keep you all posted via The Seaureedas news de- velops.I think New Hampshirewill be interestingand uniquefor us and we mighteven get luckywith leaf peeping.Now, all you shipmateswho have not attendeda reunionrecently please make a concertedeffort to join us in 2008. You know what that means--{et up and go CHARLESTON'07REUNION ...A Good One! AttentionNathan Lerner, Bill Gustin, Barbara Glass and every other reunion member who didn't make the Charlestonmeeting: You were missed! And you missed a rewardingfive days: o Strollingthe ancientstreets of Charleston'swaterfront. o Scadsof fine seafoodand othergood eating. o A greattour of the USSYorktown anchored at Patriots'Point along with otherhistoric vessels. o An inspirationaltour the impressiveand moving Medal of HonorMuseum. o Wanderingthe fabledparapets of FortSumter, a flyspeckof an islandin Charlestonharbor where the shotswere fired igniting the CivilWar. o Watchinga young,blond waitress at CaliforniaDreaming restaurant dealwith 26 differentcharacters andtheir orders and 15 different checks...and she got them all right and never quit smiling. . Visitingthe storiedCitadelcampus. o Visitingthe H L Hunley,a Confederatesubmarine-powered by eightpedaling crewmen-the first submarineto sinkand enemy ship. lt happenedin Charlestonharbor.* o Participatingin theAnnual Meeting where important decisions were made. (Seethe officialmeeting minutes elsewhere in the Seaweed.) o HearingJoe Blackreport he auditedthe booksand found them OK; and alsothat we are solvent o Listeningto five saltyChamplin crewmen discuss an importantevent in the 601'slife and disagreeing on whenand where and how it happened. o Loungingin the hospitalityroom and sharing anything that came to mind. " The editor notedtwo ironiesat the old Charlestonnaval base: The menadmiring the CSSHunley were primarilyfrom the northand the objectof theiradmiration was a Confederatesub that sank a Yankee ship;and second, their days on theChamplin were spent seeking and sinking subs. d,,i JAMES H. McINERNEY The messagebelow was lefton ourChamplin website by PaulJ Mclnerneyof Sudbury,MA. His e-mail address is:

I regretto informthat my father,James H Mclnemey,who servedas an officeraboard the USS Champlin,passed awayon October17,2007. He wasproud of hisservice to hiscountry and always spoke in glowingterms his timeserving aboard this ship utM CAPS-SHIRTS-SWEATSHIRTS /'T-'- Colors:White-Light Blue-Navy Hats,$10 Shirts$20, Sweatshirts$20 EmbroideredS-M-L-XL U.S.S.Champlin (Pictureoftrc ship)

At theReunion I received several requests for caps, shirts, etc. Thelist has disapoeared, please send or callme your requests, eachshirt made to order,Please send rcquest to: NormanPrewitt 2049 Eastridge Dr. Ex. Spgs, Mo. 64024, Phone816-630-7272, Email:[email protected] CHAMPLINREUNION GROUP MINUTESOF THE ANNUALMEETING CHARLESTON.SOUTH CAROLINA _2007 TheAnnual Meeting of the ChamplinReunion Group was heldin the Hospitalityroom of the LaQuintaMotel in Charfeston, South Carolina on October13'n.2OO7 ln attendance:Richard Berman, Joe Black,Lou Gilbert, Sidney Hotard, Ted Johnson, Thomas Morton, Robert Maitre,Robert McAfee, Charles Meehan, Norman Prewitt, George Styles, Larry Suter, Richard Valentine, and guestsRobert Feeney, Hal Medvedeff. President'Dick'Berman called the meeting to orderat tena.m. We madeour Pledgeof Allegianceto the Flagof the UnitedStates of America. NormanPrewitt gave the invocation. The minutesof theAnnual meeting in ColoradoSprings 2006, as printedin the Seaweed,were accepted as printed. Treasurer,Norman Prewitt, advised that as of September301h, we havea balanceon handof $2,843.70with bills for operationsand hospitality yet to be paid. The bookswere audited by Joe Blackand Lou Gilbert, the bookswere found to be in order. Therewas no unfinishedbusiness from 2006. NewBusiness: 1. PresidentBerman advised the groupthat he hadbeen working with a hotelin FortWashington and had secureda priceof $99.00per night with breakfast, if we chooseto meetin the Philadelphiaarea. 2. Dickstronglysuggested that the ChamplinReunion Group merge with at leastone other ship. Sugges- tionof the USSBoyle, the Ordronaux,Squadron 32 andthe HulseDE since it helpedus in the sinkingof the U-856German Submarine. a. TedJohnson made a motion"The President to havethe authority,at hisdiscretion, to consult andnegotiate with other Reunion groups in Squadron16 to holda .Multi'reunion at an acceptable locationand time.' Secondby LarrySuter, motion passed. 3. The DestroyerBoyle is goingto NewHampshire, no dateset. 4. LouGilbert offered another suggestion of SunnyHill in NewYork, a packagedeal. 5. A votewas taken, a. FirstChoice, Fort Washington, Philadelphia area, b. SecondChoice, New Hampshire with the USSBoyle. c. ThirdChoice, Sunny Hill in NewYork. 6. LarrySuter brought up the subjectof usingdifferent dates, like Monday through Friday for the reunion.No motionwas made,subject dropped. 7. PresidentBerman offered Congratulations to Ted Johnson and Normanand Phyllis Prewitt for puttingout the Seaweed. 8. Thanksto be givento BeckyMedvedeff and PhyllisPrewitt for puttingtogether this Reunion. 9. LarrySuter made the motion,"Phyllis Prewitt to be giventhe HonoraryTitle of "Bos'unMate FirstClass." Second by Joe Black,Motion passed. 10. Complimentsto NancyAnders for assemblingthe dataconcerning the serviceof herfather, GlennDetro. Therebeing no furtherbusiness, Ted Johnson made a motionto adjourn.Second by LarrySuter, Motion passed.Meeting adjourned at 11:10a.m. Secretary,Norman Prewitt Do YOU Remember Nancysaid: "l alsowrote and spoketo Hugh 'the Attttttt9 (Baker)and in part he replied daily record that GLENN WESTEY I}ETRO, CM2C? Glennkept was very accurate.I kept a diary also....l Glenn Detro,carpenters mate 2c, was one of the lost my diaryalong the way somewhere. Glenn de- originalcrewmen on the USS Champlin,according scribeswhat happenedvery well."' to official records. ff you have memoriescontact The Seaweed or Nancy directly: Ms NancvAnders In Octoberthis year his daughter,Nancy Anders, 21 Troon Drive Pinehurst.NC. 28374 traveledfrom Pinehurst,NC, to Charleston,SC, to attendthe Champlinreunion and learnmore about I:':1P".";?10.?u.u;9',-t-1--.";Tlil;:1m+*+ her father'sservice aboard the DD601.She spoke Destroyerci in Action at our annual meetingand distributedpackets con- U S taining photographs,copies of lettershe wrote Duringlast month's reunion, we visitedthe aircraft home and navydocuments. carrierUSS Yorktown tied up at Patriots'Point in none members at the meet- Charleston,SC. Oneof ourmembers found the Unfortunately, of the gift ing rememberedGlenn. That's why we're running book U.S. Destroyersln ActionPart 3 in the it is this story-in hope some readers may be able to shop.lt featuresour ship.Unfortunately 'USS Belowis an add some life and dimensionto what his lettersand identifiedas DD601 Champlain." us the recordstell Nancy. exchangeof correspondencebetween and author. Gfenn "enteredactive duty 22 April'1942." Orders transferring"Glenn Wesley Detro, CM2c, 61440- DearMr. Adcock: 91,from USNTS,Great Lakes, lllinois...to USS lf you noticeda run on yourbook US Destroyersin Champlin"are datedJune 3, 1942. His wife, Mil- actionPart 3 earlierthis month (October) that was dred,went with him and was invitedto the ship's us at the bookstore at PatriotsPoint in Charleston, commissioningceremony "Saturday, Sept. 12, SC.We heldour annualreunion in CharlestonOcto- 1942at 2:30 p.m." ber 10- 14 andwe boughtthe entiresupply-l got handcor- For a while, Nancy said, her parentsshared a the fastone. Our ship is in the upperright page housewith Hugh and SarahBaker in Massachu- nerof 29. setts. It is an interestingand well done book. The only Followingare excerptsfrom a coupleof Glenn's faultwe foundis that ourship's name is misspelled. you'll is lettershome which may trigger a memory or two: As notefrom the letterheadabove, DD601 the U$SChamplin, no{_Champlain. "March3, 1943We left NY today...48cargo ships (Perhapsspell-check is to blame.) and seven other destroyers.lt has been foggy and you you colderthan the devil. Couldhardly get the ships Perhapswhen reprintthe book couldsend l'll linedup, took nearlyall day." us eightor ten of the correctedcopies and send themto our buyerswho canthen put the accurate "March 11, 1943.Welf we got one of the subs to- versionin theirfibraries. day and one of the other destroyersgot another, some action.lt looks like this trip is going to be dif- Allthebest, Ted, ferent than the last one." Thanksfor writingand I apologizetorthe misspelling "January25,1945...1 suppose you saw in the pa- of CHAMPLIN.I went back to my originaltextand it per where Rooseveltwas over there with us. That was spelledcorrectly. Guess the Squadron proofers is the reasonwe had to stay so long. His son is on [Publications] changedit. board with us coming back, seems to be a pretty Squadronwifl not changeany text or mistakesonce niceguy. Anyway, I can say I pressedhis shirtsfor a workis published. him. He gave me a tip the otherday for doing $5.00 C. Faheymakes mistakes his laundryfor him. He sure got sea sick the other EvenJanes and James day though,I had to laughat him." and I fall intothat category afso. youfor yourinterest i Nancysaid, Glenn died June 28,1962, and was Again,thank ron/SignalPublications. interred with full militaryservices at Oakland Cemetery,Sandusky, Ohio. MildredDetro passed Regards, Al Adcock away in March of 2007.

lh. t!.olt l. hat.t 'lr.r .v."o'. h.rP. l OOthANNIVERSARY-THE

One centuryago Teddy Roosevelt'sNavy was the first to show the flag and project U.S. power aroundthe world withoutfiring a shot in anger. The morningof December16, 1907,broke clear and cold over HamptonRoads, Va., a welcomechange from recent squalls. Assembledin the bay was the pride of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet-a four mile long doubfe line of 16 ,each paintedgleaming white with gilt scrolfworkon its prow and afull array of signalflags runningfrom stemto stern. Manyof the fleet's14,000 sailors soon linedthe railsto salute the arrivalof the presidentialyacht, Mayflower. These men, rangingfrom young swabs to grizzledCivil War veterans,were aboutto embark on an unprecedented14 month,45,000 mile circum navigationthat woufd carry them to 20 ports of call on six continents. Rooseveltwas sending a message:The United States had arrivedas a global naval power. Newspapereditorials of the day used words like "bluff' and "bombast"to decry this latestinstance of gunboat diplomacy. But Roosevelthad reasonto worry. Across the Atlantic,Germany and Great Britain were flexingtheir militarymight with ever expandingnavies. Of greater concernwas the Pacificfront. Two yearsearlier Japan had handedRussia a stunningdefeat, smashing its fleet in the TsushimaStrait. Roosevelthad helpedto broker peace betweenthe two nationsin a dealthat denied Japan monetary indemnity. The Presidentnow wonderedwhether Tokyo might seek to recoup its losses by seizingthe newlyacquired Philippines. In the end, Roosevelt'sgambit proveda success. Aside from a few mechanicalglitches and close calls due to coal shortages,the fleet performedwell. Pointedgunnery practiceduring key layoversproved the Navy's battle readiness. And when Rear Adm. Charles Sperryand his officersstepped ashore in Yokohama,thousands of Japaneseschoolchildren were thereto greetthem. Theywere waving Americanflags. The U.S. Atlantic Fleet,popularly The Great White Fleetfor its freshly paintedwhite hulls, comprised more than two dozen vessels. The centerpieceof the fleet was its 16 battleships: USS Connecticut (fleetflagship), USS Alabama, USS Georgia,USS lllinois,USS ,USS Kearsarge,USS , USS ,USS Maine,USS Minnesota,USS Missouri,USS New Jersey,USS Ohio,USS Rhode lsland,USS Vermontand USSVirginia. Though an impressivesight, many of the battleshipswere outdatedor obsolete.ln fact, at San Francisco,USS Nebraskaand USS Wisconsinreplaced Maine and Alabama, after the lattertwo sufferedbreakdowns. Shadowingthe battleshipswas a "TorpedoFlotilla" of six earlv destroversand anotherhalf dozen auxiliaryships, includingsupply ships and a hospitalship. The 14 month itineraryincluded the followingmajor ports: r HamptonRoads, Va.--depart'12-'16-1907 Port of Spain, Trinidad 12-23-1907 o .Brazil 1-12-08 PuntaArenas, Chile 2-1-08-2-7-08 o Caflao, Peru 2-20-08-2-29-08 MagdalenaBay, Mexico3-1 2-0H-1 1-08 o SanFrancisco,Calif.56-08-7-7-08 Puget Sound,Wash. (arrivefor repairs5-23-08 o Honofulu.HawaiiT-16-08-7-22-08 Auckland.New Zealand8-9-0H-1 5-08 o ,Australia3-20-08-€-28-08 , Australia 8-29- 08-9-5-08 . Albany,Australia 9:11-08-9-18-08 ,Philippines 1 0-2-08-12-1 -08 r Yokohama,Japan 10-18-08-10-25-08 Amoy, China 10-29-08-1 1-5-08 r Cofombo, Ceylon 12-13-08-12-20-08 Port Said, Egypt 1-S09-1-1G09 r Gibraltarl-31-09-2-&09 HamptonRoads, Va. Arrive 2-22-Og The ships departedDecember 1907 and retumedhome February1909 All theseships moved with coal bumers. Doyou wonder how long those ships remained'\rvhite'with the blacksmoke pouring out ofthe smokestacks? Teddy Roosevelt 'Speaksoftly and carrya big stick." He sentour Navyto visitthe woddshowing our powerwithout firing a shot. History-WeiderHistory Group Vol24) {--1ffi Hfsforeicql 2Fdirsls t4E