to Stoddert Sitrep Fall 2011

USS Benjamin Stoddert (DDG-22) Association
The Stoddert SITREP
VOLUME 7 - NUMBER 4
2011
FALL EDITION
Association President: Ron Zorn , 9609 Vomac Rd., Santee, CA 92071, ronaldzorn@gmail.com (619) 402-5523
Editor: Art Hansen, 5800 30th Avenue, Kearney, NE 68845, artandjane@charter.net (308) 237-5435
hotel. After a short visit and time to reflect on this
memorial to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their
nation, we loaded back on the bus and headed for Naval
Station Mayport.
At Mayport we drove past a large number of new ships
moored at piers, including many from the Arliegh Burke
class of guided missile destroyers, before our first stop at a
new enlisted barracks. WOW!!
MEMORIAL NOTICE
MOORE, WILLIAM LEE San
Diego, CA Dec. 4, 1927 - Sept. 22, 2011
Sept. 29, 2011 at 10:00AM at Miramar
National Cemetery Poway-Bernardo
Mortuary.
Published in San Diego Union-Tribune on
September 26, 2011
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA RECAP!
Reunion Sep. 28 – Oct. 2, 2011
The seventh reunion is in the past column now, and it
was a great time. Jacksonville was a fantastic city and the
hotel staff were as friendly and accommodating as anyone
we have encountered to date. The hospitality room was
open and occupied when we arrived and the memories
were already being shared while new ones were in the
making. After checking in and grabbing a beverage and a
seat at one of the tables, we started renewing our
friendships with the folk we recognized from the past and
making the acquaintance of those new faces. People were
coming and going in this friendly environ as the dinner hour
was upon us. The water taxies provided easy transport to
the Jacksonville Landing with a large selection of eateries
including a food court. It was also a short walk over the
bridge, which was our option—though we did use the water
taxies on other days.
Thursday morning, most attending had breakfast in
the hotel restaurant (The American Grill) which had a
marvelous breakfast buffet at a reasonable price, or
breakfast a la carte.
Then it was off on the tour, with the first stop being at
the Veteran’s Memorial Wall, just a few blocks from our
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In order to promote careers in the Navy, the conditions
have gotten continually better since those in the Stoddert
Association served aboard the Sweat. The barracks are
not WWII left-over and not just for ships in dry dock. When
a ship is in port, sailors can move off the ship and into a
barracks. The barracks are set up in suites with a living
room, separate bedrooms (4), two bathrooms, a
kitchenette and a laundry area. It made many of us want
to re-enlist on the spot.
The next stop was the BX: some of us hadn’t been
there in years! What fun!
Benjamin Stoddert Association
Fall Edition 2011
Volume 7 – No. 4
of
the
downtown
tourist shopping area
and the Castillo de
th
San Marcos (a 17
century fort) so we
could
get
our
bearings, then a few
hours for lunch and
shopping time on St.
George Street. This
was followed by a
After a shopping expedition, (Bernie Hansen is
choosing among the ball caps above), we proceeded to the
Officer’s Club for a wonderful buffet luncheon. The room
was very colorful and had ship and squadron emblems in
the ceiling tiles. After the lunch, we enjoyed a powerpoint
presentation about Mayport history. Coincidentally, Myrtle
Saunders, Dave Saunders’ better half, actually served the
US Navy at this site when she was an active duty sailor!
Following
lunch, we enjoyed a
bonus tour of the
Jacksonville
Anheuser-Busch
brewery. What a
treat: Sailors and
Free Beer! Due to
time constraints, no
one had time for
both free brews!
That evening, we donned our luau shirts and headed
to our third buffet of the day (pass the Pepto Bismol!).
Friday morning started with a tour to St. Augustine. A
ghost hitchhiker, crazy Ida Alice Shroud Flagler, guided our
tour to the oldest city in America. Stops included the
Fountain of Youth (including a drink from the fountain—
which did not seem to work on any of the Stoddert crew),
Flagler Memorial Presbyterian Church, a roundabout tour
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tour of the San
Sebastian Winery,
where
we
all
bellied up to the
bar for a class on
Florida wine.
Dinner Friday
night was on our
own, giving us
ample time to
swap sea stories
in the hospitality room.
Saturday morning we had our business meeting. (The
minutes from that meeting follow in this newsletter.) The
afternoon gave us time to head for the water taxies or the
bridge and back to Jacksonville Landing. The Landing had
two great museums: The Maritime Museum and the
Adams Class Naval Ship Museum. We encountered many
fellow reunion attendees in both places. The Maritime
Museum gave a wonderful pictorial history of Jacksonville,
as well as models of a wide variety of ships. The ACNS
Museum had actual artifacts from ships of the class
including electronic equipment and a missile. They were
offering a discount to Stoddert sailors and sales were brisk.
You could purchase a ball cap from any of the destroyers
in the Adams class, challenge coins, bumper stickers,
posters, jackets, t-shirts, models ships and the list goes on.
Benjamin Stoddert Association
Fall Edition 2011
Volume 7 – No. 4
Saturday night was the luau banquet. The hotel wait
staff even wore Hawaiian shirts to contribute to the
celebratory event. The food and companionship were both
excellent.
We had the colors presented by Sea
Cadets from a local high
school and they did an
excellent job—we are sure
that they will one day
represent the Navy in the
finest sense.
Our guest speakers at
the
Saturday
night
banquet
were
Joe
Snowberger,
Executive
President
of
the
Jacksonville
Historic
Naval
Ship
Association
www.Adams2Jax.org and Commander Mary Crawford
USN (ret), Treasurer of the Association. Their passion for
the project of bringing the Adams DDG-2 to live on the
Riverwalk in downtown Jacksonville is very evident.
On the registration form for the reunion, there was a
space to make a
donation
to
the
preservation of the
Adams ship.
John
Dishaw and Ron Zorn
presented a check for
$500.00
as
the
amount donated by
our sailors.
Henry Koopman
won the big prize of
$175.00 in our 50-50 drawing and promptly presented it to
Mary & Joe for the benefit of the JHNS Association.
The other winners in the 50/50 drawing were Joe Patz,
nd
rd
2 prize, and Ron Zorn with 3 . We also had our drawing
for the raffle prizes which were donated by Association
members, although some were purchased by the
Association for the drawing. The Sea Cadets and their
Commander were assigned to sit at different tables and
provided with tickets to the raffle. Somehow, they all
managed to win several prizes. I didn’t win anything—next
year I’ll try buying TWO tickets.
USS Benjamin Stoddert Association
General Business Meeting Minutes
Jacksonville, Florida
October 1, 2011
Meeting called to order by the Assoc. Chairman Ron Zorn.
Old Business
1. 2010 business meeting minutes read/approved.
2. Treasurer’s report read/approved.
New business
1. A discussion of when dues were due led to a discussion
of changing the Association fiscal year to run from October
through September because many people pay their dues
at the reunion. The treasurer stated that dues paid in
October would be applied to the 2012 year running from
January through December. No motion was made to
change the fiscal year so no vote was taken.
2. The members entered into a discussion of a location for
the next reunion. Chairman Zorn had a package of
information for Albuquerque, NM as a first suggestion for
our next destination. After stating that the package was
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truly only a suggestion, the Chairman stated that working
from discussions at last year’s meeting he has already
begun work on planning the 2013 reunion in Seattle and
the 2014 reunion in Hawaii.
3. The Chairman opened the floor for suggestions for
reunion locations in 2012:
a. Branson, MO was proposed because it has many
entertainment venues.
b. Albuquerque, NM was proposed because of the
following possibilities;
Turquoise shop and Old Town Plaza
Sandia Peak Tram Ride
Santa Fe trip
Casinos
Balloon rides
c. Williams, AZ because of its ease of access to the
Grand Canyon and reasonable costs.
d. Las Vegas, NV because it’s Las Vegas.
e. Memphis, TN for Beale Street, blues, barbecue, and
Mud Island.
The Chairman asked for a motion to select one of the
cities and he would begin planning for that city. The motion
was made and seconded and carried. A vote was then
taken to choose the city and Las Vegas was chosen.
A motion was then made to reconsider limiting the
Chairman to one city which could result in the Association
not getting the best deal. The motion included the proposal
that two cities be chosen. The motion carried.
In the ensuing voting each member present was
allowed to vote twice.
Branson – 2
Albuquerque – 21
Memphis – 11
Williams – 0
Las Vegas - 16
Albuquerque and Las Vegas were chosen as
alternatives. The Chairman stated that the decision would
be made by January 15, 2012
A discussion was held about changing the timing of
the reunion from one year to 18 months without a motion
being brought. Some thought it would give us chances at
different seasons to engage in different activities. Many felt
comfortable keeping it the way it is.
The Chairman made a proposal to bring the USS
Jupiter’s crew into our group. The purpose of the proposal
was to make it possible for both groups to more easily
meet hotel and tour minimums. As proposed the Jupiter
members would not vote on the destination of the reunions
and would pay a registration fee to cover their share of
hospitality room beverages and snacks. They would share
tours and meals with us. A motion was made and
seconded to combine with Jupiter. The motion carried.
The newsletter editor Art Hansen asked for inputs
from the crew to enhance the quality of the Stoddert
SITREP.
Members were again asked to bring items to be raffled
and or auctioned during the Saturday evening meal. Many
donated items were on display in the hospitality room to be
given out at this evening’s dinner.
Frank Chesla took pictures and will put them on the
website.
Motion was made and seconded to adjourn the
meeting. The motion carried.
Respectfully submitted, Dave Saunders.
Benjamin Stoddert Association
Fall Edition 2011
Volume 7 – No. 4
FACEBOOK your Stoddert Buddies
For those of you with some computer savvy,
check out the USS Benjamin Stoddert Alumni DDG22 Facebook page! You need to have a Facebook
page yourself, and it’s easy to do if you have an
email address.
At last count, there were 247
members on the alumni page, so you may find a
buddy, or be found by, a lost buddy on that site
because “someone knows something”.
USS Benjamin Stoddert Alumni, DDG-22
is the site on Facebook to check out!
Get in on the 50-50 Drawing
You can’t visit St. Augustine without stopping at the
Fountain of Youth. The water did not seem to have the
desired effect on a bus load of old salts.
Notice via Email
“. . .looking for
any who can witness to the fact the Benny
Sweat was in fresh water (the river
system) in the first West Pac tour in
65/66.” If you can help him out, please
call his home phone: (417)-779-0734 or
cell (417)-230-2179 or email him at:
paulwillett8@yahoo.com.
Paul Willett, ICFN, 1964-1966 is
From Humor in Uniform: Growing up, we
always had Reader’s Digest arriving in the mail
at my house each month, and reading the jokes
was one of my favorite things—I can still
remember some of them almost 50 years later.
Well, now we have the book—a whole book of
jokes & true stories from that classic magazine,
and will be sharing some them with you in The
Stoddert S I T R E P :
“With our aircraft carrier under way
on an important exercise, the Admiral called
all the pilots together to discuss safety. He
sternly lectured the group, then glared at
them and asked gruffly, “Any questions?”
No one said a word, so he asked a second
time. Still no takers. “No one is leaving,” he
demanded, “until I get a question.”
“So,” came a weak voice from the
back, “where you from?” --Jeffry
L Edgar
Page 4 of 6
We will be selling 50/50 drawing tickets right up to
a few minutes before the drawing at the 2012
reunion banquet dinner, so if you haven’t won yet,
you can try again. Tickets will no longer be mailed
out with newsletters: instead you need only send
your check in along with some of those pesky return
address labels that regularly appear in your mailbox.
Our treasurer will take care of the funds and will even
stick the address labels on the tickets.
(Thank you, John, for doing this!!)
Remember, the drawing is always
open to everyone, regardless of
whether or not you attend the
reunion. You do not have to be
present to win. The winners who
are not at the reunion will have a
check mailed to him or her immediately after the
reunion. Ticket sales for the 50-50 will continue until
just before the drawing.
If you want to sell 50/50 tickets to your workplace
buddies, we can send you a page of the tickets in
email, you can print them off and sell all you want…..
Just remember to send the money to John Dishaw,
…oh, and the tickets with the address labels. The
drawing is open to anyone (over age 18 probably,
just to be legal).
Help support our Benjamin Stoddert Association.
If you want to purchase 50/50 tickets, simply mail
$10.00 for each 12 tickets to John Dishaw at the
address below and include 12 address labels so we
can place them on the tickets for you. Make your
checks payable to USS Benjamin Stoddert
Association and mail to:
John Dishaw
3035 Charlotte Street
Newbury Park, CA 91320
Have a Very Merry Christmas
and Joyous New Year!
Benjamin Stoddert Association
Fall Edition 2011
Volume 7 – No. 4
THE SHIP’S STORE
View at: www.DDG.22
The Ship’s Store is now open for business
at the website (above). You can purchase
and pay for the following items on-line.
Don’t like on-line shopping? No problem,
complete the order form to the right and
mail, with payment, to:
Bill Christensen
PO Box 343
Seabeck,WA 98380
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
STODDERT CHALLENGE COINS
11
12
13
14
According to Wikipedia, a challenge coin is
a small coin or medallion (usually military),
bearing an organization’s insignia or emblem
and carried by the organization’s members. They
are given to prove membership when challenged
and to enhance morale. For a more complete
story of the origin of challenge coins, visit the
website at ddg22.com.
ITEM
Pocket T-shirts
Golf shirts
Embroidered emblem T-shirt
Property of DDG-22 T-shirts
New ball caps
Past reunion ball caps (07-10)
Sew-on patch
White ship’s patch
License plate holders
Past reunion mugs (07-10)
2011 reunion mug
Jacksonville
Challenge coins
Key rings
Stoddert enameled pin
PRICE
$15.00
$20.00
$14.95
$10.00
$10.00
$9.95
$3.95
$3.95
$10.00
$5.95
QTY
TOTAL
$8.00
$10.00
$5.00
$2.95
Total
Name
Address
City,
State
Zip Code
Okay, I’m having major difficulty in getting
these pictures to stay where I put them, so I’m
going to quit while I’m ahead, and won’t even
attempt to put captions under each item. You
can visit the web site and click on “Ship’s Store”
to get the full treatment. The order form is
above—be sure to include your check for
payment.
We’ll be working on this page for the future
newsletters.
You contact our Storekeeper, Bill
Christensen on Facebook or on the bulletin
boards at the DDG22.com website.
Page 5 of 6
Benjamin Stoddert Association
Fall Edition 2011
Volume 7 – No. 4
We found this interesting statue just
a few doors away from the hotel on
the riverfront walkway.
You never know what you’ll find until you go
exploring, like this memorial statue to the US Navy
sailors. The Benjamin Stoddert Association
strives to house the reunions in hotels that have
easy access to the sights of the locale, as well as
places to eat, shop, and discover. We really hope
that you can join us at the next reunion—we can
always use help in exploring.
Benjamin Stoddert DDG-22
Art Hansen, Newsletter Editor
5800 – 30th Ave.
Kearney, NE 68845
Page 6 of 6
Benjamin Stoddert Association
Fall Edition 2011
Volume 7 – No. 4