Website: www.ussstoddard.org USS STODDARD Date: April 2020 ALUMNI NEWSLETTER USS STODDARD DD566 WWII * Korea * Vietnam 32nd Reunion— Jacksonville, Florida The 32nd Stoddard Reunion for 2020 has been cancelled and re-scheduled Double Tree by Hilton for Jacksonville the following year: Jacksonville Riverfront 1201Riverplace Blvd. September 15th thru 18th, 2021 Jacksonville Fl. 32207 Reservations: 1-800-222-8723 Hosts: “USS Stoddard Bill & Ulla Group Code STO “ Melyan Standard Room - $119 Riverfront Room - $139 Riverfront Suite - $159 Rate Good Three Days Before / After Reunion Email: [email protected] Breakfast for 2 Included The USS Stoddard 32nd Reunion has been cancelled for Additional Breakfast $10 2020. After talking with our tour director who informed us the Free Parking Mayport Naval Base has been closed to civilian traffic and the clo- sure of restaurants and other venues for the reunion, it was decid- Inside this issue: ed to cancel the 2020 Reunion. We secured the Double Tree by Stoddard Tidbits 2 Hilton Jacksonville Riverfront in Jacksonville, Florida for the Reunion in 2021. The hotel has agreed to honor the rate for next Navy Ship Namesakes 3 year. If you have already made hotel reservations, please call the Namesakes (Cont.) 4 hotel and change the dates. Namesakes (Cont.) 5 Chaplain’s Report 6 Please stay safe, Secretary Report 6 we want to see you next year! Westpac 63-64 (pics) 7 Stoddard History 7 There will be no newsletter in July, the next newsletter will be February 2021 with the 32nd Stoddard Reunion details. Ship’s Store 8 USS Stoddard Alumni Newsletter—April 2020 Page 2 Stoddard Tidbits On the 16th of You may want to this month, I traveled to put on your calendar the my local Safeway Super scheduled release on June Market to refresh my 12, 2020 of an exciting refrigerator with food Navy WWII war movie for the coming week. I staring Tom Hanks. arrived early in the Pre-production photog- morning, as in Califor- raphy took place in Janu- nia we have been placed ary 2018 at sea on board on lockdown due to the Coronavirus (Covid-19), to HMCS Montréal, a frigate find the large parking lot filled with no place to of the Royal Canadian Na- park. I then spied a woman leaving and grabbed vy. In March 2018, and her spot immediately. filming had commenced in Inside the large grocery store, I found all of Baton Rouge, Louisiana the isle ways naked of products on the shelving, and aboard USS Kidd. The hundreds of folks with shopping carts overflow- USS Kidd is a Fletcher-Class Destroyer like USS ing. (The hoarders had settled in). All of the isles Stoddard. perhaps several hundreds of feet long were lined up The movie is based on the novel The Good to the back of the store with people waiting to check Shepherd (1955) a nautical and war novel by C. out. A store employee who happened to just pass S. Forester. Below is part of the story: by at this moment, told me that it will take 45 minutes to over an hour to get to the register. So in During the early days of the United States' line, I waited with my 8-10 items in my shopping involvement in World War II, an international convoy cart. of 37 Allied ships, led by Commander Ernest After about 10-15 minutes of going nowhere, Krause, crosses the treacherous North Atlantic while another store employee came down the isle, pulled being hotly pursued by a wolfpack of German U- my cart out of the line, and lead me forward to a boats. The film focuses on Krause, a career officer new register that she was about to open. She said who was finally given command of a destroyer, USS that she had saw my cap, and I immediately began Keeling (radio code named '"Greyhound"). Unlike the to thank her for the courtesy that she had bestowed prototypical hero, he must battle his own self- on me in that moment. Her father, it turns out, was doubts and personal demons to be an effective lead- also in the Navy in WW2. Thanking her again for er of the defenders. See you at the movies! her courtesy, I again thanked her once more and also said, “and my President at that time also thanks you now”. And she asks, “and who was that she said”. I replied: John F. Kennedy. What fol- Follow-up from February Newsletter lowed was an over whelming moment of silence. on Stoddard Boiler Incident All of this because of a Stoddard Ball Cap in a Grocery Store in California early in the morning. I was the engineering officer of the light off watch stationed in the forward engine room dur- ing the start-up of fireroom and engine room equipment. Anyone interested in finding out more about the incident please email me or call my phone. Richard Ahlmeyer—MMCM USN Retired Email: [email protected] Phone: 928-770-4301 USS Stoddard Alumni Newsletter—April 2020 Page 3 How One Battle in the Civil War Produced Three Medal of Honor Recipients and the Names of Four U. S. Navy Destroyers in WWII The Battle: Attack on Yazoo City, Mississippi- 5th March 1864 The Yazoo expedition ended in a small but sharp engagement at Yazoo City on March 5, 1864. The battle included a number of black troops, including former slaves from Mississippi who had enlisted in the Union army. Because of their presence, the battle of Yazoo City was particularly ferocious and would serve as a template for much of the fighting to come in 1864 and 1865. The Yazoo River had long been viewed as a likely avenue of approach for the Union navy, but the river had been blocked by Confederate batteries at Snyder’s Bluff north of Vicksburg and by Fort Pemberton in the north, an earthen and cotton bale fortifica- tion just west of Greenwood. With the fall of Vicksburg, however, the river was open to Union navigation, at least part of the way. The purpose of the 1864 expedition was two-fold: first, Sherman wanted to capture or destroy the enemy’s cotton and corn in order to “Impress on the people along Yazoo and Sunflower that we intend to hold them responsible for all acts of hostility to the river commerce.” Second, he hoped to draw Confederate cavalry in the region to the defense of the Yazoo and away from his main column. On March 5, 1864, USS Marmora was assigned to support the 11th Illinois Volunteer Infantry in defending Yazoo City, Mississippi from fierce Confederate attacks. During this action Stoddard was assigned with two other sail- ors (Franks and Laffey) to dismount one of the ships rifled howitzers, mount it on a field carriage and take it ashore to support the Illinois Volunteers. To quote from a report by Rear Admiral Porter to Secretary of the Navy. Gideon Welles: “…At this time the fighting in the city was hand to hand. The gun was placed in position in the street and did good service, helping very much toward winning the day. The crew at one time was driven from the gun, they did not have sufficient support to hold it, but the soldiers seeing the crew driven, rallied charged on the rebels and retook it, losing three men in the charge, and wounding James Stoddard of the Marmora…I am proud to say that the Navy was well represented by three sailors, who nobly stood by their guns through the whole action, fighting hand to hand to save the gun and the reputation of the Navy. The sailors are highly spoken of by the army officials for their gallant conduct. Their names are…James Stoddard, William J. Franks, and Bartlett Laffey of the Marmora. I would recom- mend them for your consideration.” A more detailed report by the Commanding Officer USS Marmora indi- cates that while the gun was severely damaged during the attack, “to the bravery of that gun crew may have attributed to the change of fortune of the day…I would most respectfully solicit in their behalf that you would confer a medal of honor on the following men: James Stoddard, seaman, shot through the neck, slowly recovering, William J. Franks and Bartlett Laffey. The Tinclad: USS Marmora (1862-1865, "Tinclad" # 2) USS Marmora was a 207 -ton stern wheel “tin clad” paddle steamer river gun boat in the United States Navy. Marmora was built at Monongahela, Pennsylvania, in 1862, was purchased by the Navy at St. Louis, Missouri, on 17 September 1862 from Messrs. Brenan, Nelson, and McDonnell; and commis- sioned at Carondelet, Missouri, on 21 October 1862, Captain Robert Getty in command. USS Marmora was soon sent to join the Federal forces campaigning against the Confederate fortress at Vicksburg, Mississippi. During the rest of 1862, she took part in mine clearance and other operations in the Yazoo River. In Janu- ary 1863, Marmora went up the White River to help capture Fort Hindman, Arkansas, and subsequently was active on the Yazoo, White and Little Red Riv- USS Mamora ers. Decommissioned in July 1865, following the end of the Civil Namesake: Variant spelling of Marmara, an Island in the Sea of Marmara. War, USS Marmora was sold the next month. Laid Down: 1862 Acquired: 17 September 1862 Commissioned: 21 October 1862 Decommissioned: 7 July 1865 Fate: Sold, 17 August 1865 Displacement: 207 long tons (210 t) Length: 155 ft. Beam: 33 ft. 5 in. Draft: 4 ft. 6 in. Speed: 6.9 knots 7.9 mph Armament: 8 x 24-pounder guns Fort Gorges2 x in 12 Casco-pounder Bay guns Calendar Islands—Casco Bay 6 x 14-pounder guns (Continued on Page 4) USS Stoddard Alumni Newsletter—April 2020 Page 4 The Seaman: James Stoddard (Continued From Page 3) James Stoddard (born 1838, date of death unknown) was a Union Navy sailor in the American Civil War and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions during an engagement in Yazoo City, Mississippi.