2012 Spring Edition Commander General In the next few months, various commanderies will hold Battle of Midway celebrations. The San Francisco Commandery will Report to the Order conduct the Memorial Day services at the newly named USS Francisco National Park at Land’s End. In the past three months there have been various The Admiral Chester Nimitz statue project is progressing. The commemorative activities and preferred site on the grounds of the National Park Service World awards by the Order and local War II Valor in the Pacific National Park Visitor center at Pearl commanderies. Harbor is currently being discussed with the National Park Service with the assistance of Senator Daniel Inouye’s office. The The nomination and selection total cost of the statue project is $100,000 and an anonymous of the Distinguished Sea donor has agreed to match contributions to the project up to Service Award has been completed and Admiral Mike Mullen $50,000. A fund raising campaign is currently being planned by was selected as the 2012 DSSA awardee. Admiral Mullen Naval Order Foundation Treasurer CAPT Al Serafini and Vice- th retired 30 September 2011 as the 17 Chairman of the Joint Commander General-Development CAPT Martin McNair. Chiefs of Staff and previously served as the Navy’s 28 th Chief Perhaps the hardest working National Officer is Vice of Naval Operations. He is Commander-Membership Donald Schuld, who last year was only the third naval officer in instrumental in establishing the Charleston Commander. He has Navy history to be appointed identified an eager and energetic young Supply Corps Lieutenant to four different four-star Commander who has agreed to take over as the Commander of assignments, the other officers the Massachusetts Commandery in Boston. Through Don’s were Admiral Thomas H. efforts, 27 new companions have joined the Order in the last Moorer and the 2009 DSSA quarter including five new members of the new Charleston awardee Admiral William J. Commandery led by Tommy LeMacks. The Charleston Fallon. Admiral Mullen is a Commander agreed to be the host commandery for the 2013 Navy Surface Warfare Officer Annual Congress. Michael Mullen CJCS whose 43 year Navy career As you can see, the Naval Order is actively pursuing the Order’s included various leadership positions aboard USS COLLETT mission of preserving and promoting Naval History. (DD-703), USS BLANDY (DD-943), USS FOX (CG-33) and USS STERRETT (CG-31) and the command of three ships The official website for the 2012 Naval Order National Congress USS NOXUBEE (AOG-56), USS GOLDSBOROUGH in Baltimore is up and running. The site may be found on (DDG-20) and USS YORKTOWN (CG-48). He also www.navalorder.org in the upper right hand portion of the site’s commanded Cruiser-Destroyer Group Two, the USS homepage. Links to the official Registration Form with its Pier GEORGE WASHINGTON Battle Group and Commander Five Hotel reservation information; the city of Baltimore’s U.S. Second Fleet/Commander, NATO Striking Fleet Atlantic. various tourist attractions, restaurants, transportation and so forth; and a description of the Pier Five Hotel itself all can be The New York Commandery awarded the 2011 Samuel Eliot found at this website. Soon, a program of events and a listing of Morison Award for Naval Literature to Robert Grandt, author optional tour events with their associated fees will be posted on of The Twilight Warrior. Mr. Grandt is a former U.S. Navy the same site. Fighter pilot with over 300 carrier landings and 2,000 hours in Respectfully, the A-4 Skyhawk and commercial airline pilot. He is the author Doug Moore of eleven books on military and aviation subjects including Fly Low, Fly Fast and Intrepid. His definitive naval aviation book Bogeys and Bandits, was adapted for the CBS television series Did you move? Pensacola: Wings of Gold on which he worked as a screenwriter Get a new email address? and technical consultant. Change your number? The National Capitol Commandery has worked diligently over the past several years with the National Park Service to install a To insure uninterrupted newsletters wayside marker in Washington DC commemorating and correspondence from NOUS, please contact Registrar Commodore John Barry, the Father of the American Navy. General Frank Green at [email protected] to update your The marker has been finalized and is currently being fabricated contact information, including your e-mail address. and will be dedicated wit h ap propriate festivities on May 5. SPRING 2012 ● VOL. XXVIII, NO. 5 W WW.NAVALORDER.ORG RADM SAMUEL ELIOT MORISON AWARD FOR NAVAL LITERATURE The Morison Award Committee of the New York Commandery a substantial contribution to the preservation of the history and of the Naval Order of the United States is again reviewing traditions of the United States Sea Services – the Navy, Marine books for the prestigious RADM Samuel Eliot Morison Award Corps, Coast Guard and U.S. Flag Merchant Marine.” for Naval Literature. The 2012 Morison Award was presented at a formal dinner held at the Racquet and Tennis Club, 370 The prize is named for the late Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Park Avenue, New York, NY on Monday, November 5, Morison , a Harvard University history professor widely 2011. The five finalists will be announced in April or May, with considered to be America’s most distinguished naval historian. the winner being announced at the end of the summer of 2012. The award is administered and presented by the New York Commandery of the Naval Order of the United States. The finalists and winner are selected by a distinguished committee of members of the New York Commandery. Books may be recommended for consideration by members of the Naval Order of the United States but must be nominated for Committee consideration by a Companion of the New York Commandery. There are detailed and stringent standards that must be met by the author and the work and the Committee follows set guidelines in considering the nominees. Robert Gandt's career has been as eclectic as the subjects of his thirteen books. He has been a naval officer and aviator, novelist, screenwriter, weapons test pilot, air show performer, international airline captain, and prolific writer of aviation and military history. Robert Gandt and New York Commander William H. Schmidt, Esq. As a carrier-based attack pilot, he logged over 300 carrier landings The winner of the 2011 Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval and nearly 2,000 hours in the A-4 Skyhawk. In his 1997 deja vu Literature was Robert Gandt , author of The Twilight work, Bogeys and Bandits , he joined a Navy F/A-18 training Warriors . He was honored by the Naval Order of the United squadron at the same base where he had trained years before. States as the recipient of the prestigious Morison Award. The Award was presented by New York Commander William H. As an international airline pilot for Pan Am and Delta Air Lines, Schmidt, Esq., Co-Chairman of the Award Committee. In Gandt flew around the globe, domiciled in San Francisco, Berlin, addition to the Morison Award plaque, presented by the NY and Hong Kong. His first book, Season of Storms , grew from his Commandery, Mr. Gant received a life membership in the acclaimed series in the Far Eastern newspaper, South China Naval Order of the United States and will affiliate with the First Morning Post , about the WWII battle for Hong Kong. Coast-Jacksonville Commandery, as nearest his Florida home, as his primary commandery and the New York Commandery as His long association with Pan Am and its romantic history his secondary commandery. inspired China Clipper (Naval Institute Press), which relived the mystique of the great commercial flying boats. His 1995 classic, The remaining four finalists for the RADM Samuel Eliot Skygods (Wm. Morrow & Co.), recounted the meteoric descent Morison Award for Naval Literature (listed in alphabetical and crash of the once-mighty Pan Am. order, not by standing) each receive an Honorable Mention, and are highly commended for their books as outstanding Gandt’s fascination with warbirds and the high-adrenaline world contributions to naval literature. They are: of unlimited air racing provided the background for Fly Low Fly Fast (Viking Penguin), his account of the dramatic battle for the Robert Coram - Brute: The Life of Victor Krulak, U.S. Marine unlimited air racing championship at Reno, Nevada. Tim McGrath - John Barry: An American Hero Kalee Thompson - Deadliest Sea In 1998 Gandt made his screenwriting debut on the CBS series Gary Williams - Seal of Honor Pensacola: Wings Of Gold . Starring James Brolin as the commander of a Marine F/A-18 training squadron, the show was adapted The distinguished writing prize—past recipients include RADM from his real life thriller, Bogeys and Bandits . Joseph F. Callo ( John Paul Jones- Americas First Sea Warrior ); Edward L. Beach ( Salt and Steel ); Lieutenant General Victor H. Gandt’s first novel, With Hostile Intent , was released by Penguin Krulak (First to Fight ); Dr. Norman Friedman (Sea Power as Putnam in 2001, followed by Acts of Vengeance, Black Star, Shadows Strategy ); James L. Nelson (George Washington's Secret Navy ); James of War, The Killing Sky, and Black Star Rising . His non-fiction work, D. Hornfischer (Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors ); James M. Scott Intrepid , co-authored by Bill White and with a foreword by former (Attack on the USS Liberty ); and, former Navy Secretary John F. naval aviator Sen. John McCain, was published in 2008 Lehman ( Command of the Seas & On Seas of Glory )—is given to an (Broadway Books), followed in 2010 by The Twilight Warriors, American author “who by his published writings has made about the air and sea battle for Okinawa.