THE WARDROOM CLUB Monthly Newsletter · Monthly Newsletter Into Our Second ... hear a very...

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Monthly Newsletter Into Our Second Century · Organized 1899 · Boston, Massachusetts Board of Governors President �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� CAPT Randall D� Preston, USN (Ret) Vice President ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������CAPT Mary Jo Majors, NC, USNR (Ret) Secretary �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������CAPT Michael A� Cicalese, USCGR (Ret) Treasurer ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������Presently Vacant Member-at-Large����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������Maj� Richard D� Brown, USMCR (Ret) Active Services Liaison���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������CAPT James "Brett" Millican, USCG Immediate Past President ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������Capt� Jules B� Selden, USMC (Ret) Wine Steward ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Mr� Reid Oslin Chaplain ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� COL John W� Steiner, USAR (Ret) Assistant Secretary �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������LT Larry M� Post, USCG Assistant Treasurer ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������Col� David F� Wall, USMCR (Ret) Historian ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� LCDR John H� Lok, USNR (Ret) Newsletter Editor ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������LCDR David W� Graham, USNR (Ret) www.wardroomclub.org THE WARDROOM CLUB MAY 2017 NEWSLETTER Also available online at www.wardroomclub.org MEETING DATE: WEDNESDAY – 17 MAY 2017 (Please note: Third Wednesday in May) LOCATION: Coast Guard Base Boston 427 Commercial Street Boston, MA – The Function Hall TIME: Social Hour from 1800 Dinner at 1900 PRICE: Members, Guests and Prospective Members of the Class of 2018 - $45.00 Walk-ins - $50.00 NO SPEAKER: The Month of May will be the Club’s Annual Meeting ENTRÉE: Roast Beef – Family Style by Talk-of-the-Town Caterers MESSAGES FROM THE PRESIDENT The weather in April was certainly more cooperative than it was in March, which was fortunate indeed, because it allowed us to hear a very interesting presentation from Jim Hornfischer, our guest speaker. Using his recent book “The Fleet at Flood Tide” as the basis for the presentation, Jim brought to light our strategic frailty in the Pacific theater following the Allied victory in Europe. He placed into new light President Truman’s decision to employ nuclear weapons for ending the war in the Pacific, as well as the underlying reasons for that course of action. Additionally, Jim’s insight into the strengths, weaknesses, and characters of the major Allied players in the Pacific was fascinating. Thank you Jim! Photo credit: CDR John Cahill, USNR (Ret)

Transcript of THE WARDROOM CLUB Monthly Newsletter · Monthly Newsletter Into Our Second ... hear a very...

Page 1: THE WARDROOM CLUB Monthly Newsletter · Monthly Newsletter Into Our Second ... hear a very interesting presentation from Jim Hornfischer, our guest speaker. Using his recent book

Monthly NewsletterInto Our Second Century · Organized 1899 · Boston, Massachusetts

Board of GovernorsPresident ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������CAPT Randall D� Preston, USN (Ret) Vice President ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������CAPT Mary Jo Majors, NC, USNR (Ret) Secretary �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������CAPT Michael A� Cicalese, USCGR (Ret) Treasurer ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������Presently Vacant Member-at-Large ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������Maj� Richard D� Brown, USMCR (Ret)Active Services Liaison���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������CAPT James "Brett" Millican, USCG Immediate Past President ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������Capt� Jules B� Selden, USMC (Ret)Wine Steward ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Mr� Reid OslinChaplain ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� COL John W� Steiner, USAR (Ret)Assistant Secretary �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������LT Larry M� Post, USCG Assistant Treasurer ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������Col� David F� Wall, USMCR (Ret) Historian ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� LCDR John H� Lok, USNR (Ret) Newsletter Editor ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������LCDR David W� Graham, USNR (Ret)

www.wardroomclub.org

THE WARDROOM CLUB Monthly NewsletterInto Our Second Century · Organized 1899 · Boston, Massachusetts

Board of GovernorsPresident �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������CAPT Michael E� Field, USN (Ret)Vice President ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� CDR Colby Rottler, USNR (Ret)Secretary ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������COL Joseph F� Collins, USMCR Treasurer ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������CAPT Paul P� Daley, USNR (Ret)Member-at-Large �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������CDR Robert J� Zemaitis, USNR (Ret)Active Services Liaison���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������CAPT Scott Keene, USCGImmediate Past President ��������������������������������������������������������������� CAPT James L� McGuinness Jr�, USMCR (Ret)Wine Steward �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������CDR Charles W� Collins, USNR (Ret)Chaplain ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������CAPT George A� Ripsom, USNR (Ret)Assistant Secretary ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������CAPT Robert D� Holland, USN (Ret)Assistant Treasurer �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������LCDR Stephen T� Witowski, USN (Ret)Historian ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� LCDR John H� Lok, USNR (Ret)Newsletter Editor ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������LCDR David W� Graham, USNR (Ret)

www.wardroomclub.org

MAY 2017 NEWSLETTER Also available online at www.wardroomclub.org

MEETING DATE: WEDNESDAY – 17 MAY 2017(Please note: Third Wednesday in May)LOCATION: Coast Guard Base Boston

427 Commercial Street Boston, MA – The Function HallTIME: Social Hour from 1800 Dinner at 1900

PRICE: Members, Guests and Prospective Members of the Class of 2018 - $45.00 Walk-ins - $50.00

NO SPEAKER: The Month of May will be the Club’s Annual Meeting ENTRÉE: Roast Beef – Family Style

by Talk-of-the-Town Caterers

MESSAGES FROM THE PRESIDENT

The weather in April was certainly more cooperative than it was in March, which was fortunate indeed, because it allowed us to hear a very interesting presentation from Jim Hornfischer, our guest speaker. Using his recent book “The Fleet at Flood Tide” as the basis for the presentation, Jim brought to light our strategic frailty in the Pacific theater following the Allied victory in Europe. He placed into new light President Truman’s decision to employ nuclear weapons for ending the war in the Pacific, as well as the underlying reasons for that course of action. Additionally, Jim’s insight into the strengths, weaknesses, and characters of the major Allied players in the Pacific was fascinating. Thank you Jim!Photo credit: CDR John Cahill, USNR (Ret)

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In addition to Jim’s presentation, the April meeting also feathered the election of a bumper-crop of new members to the club. Thanks to your efforts in recruiting and our Vice President CAPT Mary Jo Majors’ able skills at managing the membership process, 28 new Regular Members were added to our ranks, along with 9 Active Service Members. Well done to all and a hearty welcome to all our new members.

As you know, this coming Annual Meeting will not feature a guest speaker, but will focus on Club business. Not as thrilling as the conclusion of the war in the Pacific, but necessary, none the less. The meeting will feature the election officers for the coming year, plus reports from the Board of Governors, and several issues with which the Board has been dealing. On one of those issues, the Board would like the advice of the membership before making a decision. This should be an interesting discussion.

Just a word more on the election of officers, Jim McGuinness, Harry Weinberg, and Bob Brown, who collectively make up the 2017 Nominating Committee, are searching for a new Treasurer. If you are interested in being considered for this important position, please make that known to one of the members of the committee. The Club is always looking for talented and dedicated members to step forward and assist in leading the club forward.

Fair winds and I hope to see you at the May Annual Meeting of the Wardroom Club.

Randall D. Preston, President126 George Hill Road

Grafton, MA 01519-1416E-Mail: [email protected]

Phone: 508-839-9080Daytime Phone: 617-955-6725

NOTES FROM THE VICE-PRESIDENT

Hello everyone! I hope that you have all been healthy and doing well since last month.

The April meeting went very well and all who attended seemed to enjoy another evening of friendship and networking, a good meal, and a great speaker.

The 28 new “Regular” category members of the class of 2017 were voted into the Club by a unanimous vote of the members in attendance and were given a very nice warm WRC welcome by everyone in attendance! We are so happy to have them all as new members of the WRC!

We also welcomed the nine new “Active Service” category members who are all on active duty and serving in the local area. The nine were voted into the Club by the Board of Governors last month.

Roster updates: I will be updating the WRC roster and the list of members and addresses over the next few months with our Secretary before the start of the first meeting of the new 2017-18 season in October. So if there are any changes that you want made to your personal information that you see on your monthly response card, please make those revisions on the card and either mail them to our Secretary with your May meeting response or send them directly to me at my e-mail address posted below within this section. (Please note: If you are not planning to attend the coming May meeting but you still want to update your information, please return the card to our Secretary anyway, by including your requested updates. This will make it easier for you.)

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As this will be our final meeting of the 2016-17 season, I want to wish you all a safe, happy and healthy summer. Please play it safe, as I will look forward to seeing you again in October at our meeting on 18 October, 2017!

I look forward to seeing many of you this month for our important Annual Meeting! Take care of yourselves and be well!

Mary Jo Majors, Vice-President30 Dudley Street

North Cambridge, MA 02140E-Mail: [email protected]

Cell Phone: 617-285-2571

NOTES FROM THE CLUB SECRETARY

What we lost in attendance during March, we certainly gained back in April. We had a full-house with 150 attendees, including last-minute reservations and walk-ins, and a record number of inductees into the Club.

Due to March’s canceled meeting and with concluding our club season in May, we have nearly 40 vouchers and checks being credited to May, our final meeting of the 2016-17 season. Accordingly, the following club members presently have credit with a voucher or a check: John Bowen, Kevin Bohmiller, Joel Culver, Bart Cilento, Leo DiLorenzo, Len Dorrien Robert Donaghue, William Doyle, Joseph Fanale, Edward Finerty, Steven Gagin, James Holland, Michael Hennessey, John Lawrence, Gresh Lattimore, Bill McHugh, Peter McLoughlin, Peter Merry, Thomas Morris, Josiah Morrill, Peter Mulcahy, William Palmisciano, Robert Pelosi, Robert Pickett, Robert Pride, John Steiner, Carlton Siegel, James Stokes, John C. Thompson, Jack Thornton, Joseph Turner, Jeff Warnock, Stephen Walsh, Dave Willey and Michael Yogg.

If you have a voucher or check carry-over, please send in your reply card with a request to use it. All vouchers and checks must be used at the May meeting, as they will not be carried-over to the new 2017-2018 season. For those listed above, please take note of this!

ALL members and guests are asked to sign-in at the registration desk located in the foyer prior to entering the Function Room. Signing-in provides an accurate meal count for the caterer and thus, helps prevent charges for members who do not attend but who would otherwise be charged for that night’s event.

Your dinner reply card is enclosed within this newsletter. Our thanks are extended to the many members who complete their reply cards and send their checks in a timely fashion - - - as well as to those who pay for the guest(s) they sponsor. Reply cards must be sent, along with your dinner check, as soon as possible but must be received by me not later than forty-eight hours prior to the month’s meeting.

If you are receiving an “E-Newsletter,” you must download and print the reply card and mail it to me, with a check, in an envelope that you must provide.

If you have paid for a meeting but cannot attend, please contact me as soon as possible so that I may return your check. Also, please understand that if you do not attend and I am not notified of your absence, your seat may be counted within the guarantee we are required to provide the caterer and as a result, you will be charged.

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The Coast Guard Base security guards have a complete list of ALL Wardroom Club members and guests, for your arrival at the Coast Guard Base parking lot. All members and all guests will be required to show a valid photo ID at the gate-house prior to entering onto the Base.Please note: The caterer will gladly make meal substitutions for dietary reasons. However, the Secretary must have received all requests in this regard, not later than forty-eight hours prior to the monthly meeting of the Club.

Michael A. Cicalese, Club Secretary 35 Channing RoadBelmont, MA 02478

E-Mail: [email protected] Number: 617-797-3361 (C)

Alternate Phone: 617-484-8409 (H)

CLUB NOTES

CHRISTENING OF THE USS THOMAS HUDNER DDG-116 –

It was back on 7 May 2012, that SecNav Ray Mabus made the announcement that the Navy would commission the USS Thomas Hudner, Jr. (DD-116), a planned Arleigh Burke-Class destroyer. Construction of the $663 million ship was awarded on 28 February 2012 to Bath Iron Works in Maine.

Thus, it was on the snowy wet day in Bath of 1 April 2017 that the proud ship was christened by Mrs. Georgea Hudner, the equally proud wife of our Honorary Member and MoH recipient, CAPT Tom Hudner, Jr. USN (Ret). A full write-up of the ship’s commissioning appeared in the Boston Sunday Globe the following morning (2 April), complete with photos. For greater detail on the christening, go to Google and bring up USS Thomas Hudner DDG-116 - - - The ship’s commissioning has been programmed for the fall of 2018 and will occur in Boston. Stay tuned for additional information on her commissioning.

TAPS –

As you may have already heard if you attended the April meeting, in addition to our club treasurer, CAPT CARL “RICK” MOCKLER, USCG (Ret), we have recently lost our immediate past Assistant Secretary, CDR MYLES MCCABE, USNR (Ret). Myles passed into eternity on 7 April. For many years, Myles was active in the club, as well as being heavily involved in many civic activities on Boston’s South Shore. Myles McCabe became a member of the Wardroom Club with the Class of 2000.

While it is never easy to report on the loss of a club shipmate such as Myles, it is even more difficult for your editor when the shipmate has been a close friend for many, many a year! Thus, it is with an equally heavy heart that we must also report the loss of long-time member, CAPT LEO LAZO, USNR (Ret). At age 90, Leo was able to attend - - - and to enjoy - - - our recent meeting of Wednesday, 21 April. The following Monday, Leo slipped his mooring and passed into eternity. Leo Lazo had been a senior member of the Wardroom club, having joined back in April of 1970.

“Parting, due to death, is inevitably painful. It is much like an amputation, where I feel as though a limb has been surgically removed and without which I shall be unable to function. And yet, once it is done, it seems that life rushes back to fill the void, occasionally richer, often as vivid and at times, as full as ever.” - - - Anne Morrow Lindbergh - American aviator and author

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FROM YOUR NEWSLETTER EDITOR –

Over the years, I have been guilty of requesting input from those members who have some interesting and pertinent information that can be added to our monthly newsletter editions. As a result, and as our monthly meetings are jam-packed to the degree that we have not had the time for any recent “Sea Stories”, a decision has been made to include a new series of such articles relating to the subject, from time-to-time, within our various editions of your monthly newsletter. The first “Sea Story” has been placed below and was contributed by club member Paul Mawn. For doing this we are extremely grateful to Paul. The next planned “Sea Story” will appear in our October newsletter and will have been contributed by new member from the Class of 2017, Dick Finocchio. Please stay tuned!

Best wishes to you and yours during the coming summer months. Until we meet again in October, safe travel, everyone!

David W. Graham, Newsletter Editor7 Batchelder Road

Marblehead, MA 01945E-Mail: [email protected]

Cell Phone: 617-335-2198 (with voice-mail)

THE MAY SEA STORY – By WRC member Paul Mawn

The USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) was a USN Thomaston-Class landing ship dock. She was named for Spiegel Grove, the home and estate in Fremont, Ohio of Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th President of the United States.

On 26 March 1964, LSD-32 was chopped from the 6th fleet and dispatched to ComMidEastFor to participate in Op Delawar [not a typo] with the Imperial Iranian Armed Services for an invasion of the Kharg Island in the northern part of the Persian Gulf. In transiting the 121 miles of the Suez Canal, I was taken off the JOOD watch list as the Intelligence Officer and positioned on the signal bridge to search for and report any Russian MiGs at Egyptian air bases, along with any passing Soviet ships. As in the entire canal, an Egyptian canal pilot had our conn when a sharp bend to port appeared just before the Great Bitter Lakes. This area is about 75 miles south of

Cairo. Despite the necessity of a hard turn to port, LSD 32 kept surging ahead and smashed into the rocks lining the canal. This resulted in a large dent in the bow just about halfway up to the main deck from the ship’s waterline. Three days later on 30 March, the ship’s company was granted two days of liberty in the unlovely port of Aden on the lower heal of the Saudi peninsula. This was our first time ashore in over two months, since leaving Bermuda where we had unexpectedly stopped for emergency boiler repairs and then to sail to the Med where we continuously steamed off the coast of Cypress in the event we were required to land the Marines and evacuate all the Americans from Harm’s Way due to the local civil war.

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Sixteen days after the Suez accident, the CO of LSD-32 (Captain Joseph Foley USN) was relieved on an accelerated and unexpected basis by Captain Richard Dupzyk USN on Bahrain Island in the middle of the Persian Gulf. The Navy doesn’t fool around, since a collision at sea or a grounding anywhere can ruin your entire day, especially if you are the CO.

ComMidEasFor evidently had never been involved in an amphibious assault. Just three days before the assault landings on Kharg, we discovered that the OP Order had no beach survey. So, an emergency Intel team was put together from LSD-32, including three former frogmen in ship’s company who were tasked to develop beach gradients from the water’s edge out to a mile off-shore, so as to ensure that the landing craft did not broach and/or ground-out slightly off-shore. Our waterside survey team consisted of one officer and two enlisted men.

As the Intel officer and a former geology major at Harvard College, I had the responsibility of surveying the topographical conditions from the water’s edge inward for one mile. The survey ended on the day before the invasion as a full-fledged geological report in our overall recon report. While working on the beach, I was approached by a herd of senior Iranian officers inspecting the beach prior to our joint landing. As the group marched closer, I saw the Shah of Iran in the middle of the pack who passed about 15 feet away from me without so much as a nod.

After two months in the Gulf, we returned to the Med where the Navy generously made-up for our nearly four continuous months at sea, by allowing us to pull liberty in Athens, Naples, Corsica, Genoa, Barcelona, Rota, Cherbourg (France) and Portsmouth (UK).

Perhaps that Intel report of Kharg should be or has been recently reviewed from the Intel archives.

MEMORIES FROM THE CLUB HISTORIAN

Over the years, mention has frequently been made of the old training ship Minnesota. However, little has been written of her history; that is, until today.

As it developed, the Minnesota was constructed as a wooden steam frigate for service in the United States Navy. Launched in 1855 and commissioned eighteen months later, the ship served in far east Asia for two years before being returned home and decommissioned. She was later re-commissioned at the outbreak of the United States Civil War and returned to service as the flagship of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

Our Wardroom Club founder, Captain John Weeks, served with the Massachusetts Naval Brigade for over 10 years upon his Navy retirement from active duty in 1901. At the time, the Minnesota had become the training ship of the Naval Brigade and its wardroom played a role in the history the founding of our Wardroom Club. In the recent book, ‘Dawn of Iron‘, the USS Merrimack (later the CSS Virginia) and the USS Monitor became the subject of the book. For reasons explained below, their epic battle

of March 8, 1862, ties directly into our own club history.

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Interestingly, the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimack was the first between two ships made of iron and also the first between two steam-powered ships.

Earlier, several European nations had been building ships of iron construction, with several “on the ways” - - - but not the Union. The Confederacy, on the other hand, had built an iron-clad floating battery and had it anchor one-mile off Fort Sumter. With decades of growing strife between the North and the South, fighting erupted into full-fledged civil war on April 12, 1861 when Confederate artillery opened fire on the Federally owned Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. The fort was subsequently surrendered some 34 hours later and lay in ruins. The United States Civil War had begun.

By the end of the month, the Union’s Naval Ship Yard in Gosport, Virginia was destroyed and all Union ships there were either burned and/or scuttled - - - but not the Merrimack.

The Confederacy took over the yard and commenced reconstructing the Merrimack on May 30. The Union got word of the project, 100 days along, and in desperation commissioned an eccentric inventor named John Ericsson to build the USS Monitor, a revolutionary iron warship. Rushed through to completion in just 100 days, it mounted Dahlgren guns in its rotating turret.

On March 8, 1862, the CSS Virginia left Gosport and entered Hampton Roads where she promptly destroyed two Union frigates before retiring to re-arm. Two days earlier, the completed USS Monitor was underway from the Brooklyn Navy Yard and with no sea trials and no testing of its cannons (and nearly sunk twice on the voyage south), she arrived at Hampton Roads to find the smoking destroyed frigates. By then, it was 10:00 PM on the evening of March 8th.

Promptly at 8:00 AM on March 9th, the Merrimack was underway and steaming towards the Minnesota, now also at Hampton Roads. The thinking by the crew of Merrimack was to make “short-work” of the Minnesota. Suddenly, the dark object of the Monitor moved slowly out from near the Minnesota. The Monitor then maneuvered herself between the Minnesota and the Merrimack where she let go with her two guns, subsequently bringing the Merrimack, in a thunderous four-hour battle, to a blazing standstill, thereby saving the Union cause while all along keeping her station to protect and save the Minnesota.

Some 35-plus years later, we find the then aging Minnesota in her final safe port of Boston where the Wardroom Club was founded. Here, she is seen tied-up to a wharf along Boston’s waterfront during the early 1900s, her proud rigging of Civil War days, gone.

Her crew by then was composed of the Massachusetts Naval Militia, with Captain Weeks in-command.

Today her ship’s wheel, some 162 years after her commissioning, remains in our custody at MIT, for all to view.

We thought you might be interested in this tid-bit of our club’s very early history.

John H. Lok, Club HistorianE-Mail: [email protected]

Cell Phone: 508-525-7605

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