USS MAHAN ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER

February 20, 2004

I don't know how many of you know, but our Secretary and Scribe, Cal Shugart, passed away this past September. This left us with the job of finding someone to take over and try to come up with a semblance of a newsletter compared to something that Cal has done in the past. At our reunion in Las Vegas, yours truly, Jerry Emmett, was elected to try. So here goes.

Our reunion in Las Vegas on Oct. 8-12 was a great success. Many thanks to Bob Moe for the hard work that it took to put everything together. I’m sure that everyone enjoyed the tour of Hoover Dam, the paddle wheel lunch on Lake Mead, and the lunch at the mountain retreat of Mount Charleston. Everyone had plenty of time to partake in the games of chance and some of us even made a bit of money. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as my wife and I did.  We will have photos on the web soon.

We all enjoyed seeing old shipmates although there were several of the old timers who didn’t make it. We did welcome several new members of the crews of the DLG 11 and DDG 42 who fit right in. I would like to give them a hearty welcome aboard.

We held our regular business meeting after the banquet on Saturday night instead of after Sunday morning breakfast and had some good discussions about the future.

Gary White of the DLG 11 was installed as the new Secretary. It was decided that we would split the job of secretary and scribe that Cal had held for so long and make it two jobs.

It was decided that the 2004 reunion would be held in the vicinity of Williamsburg, Va. with our president, Jeff Sweet’ as host. It is to be scheduled for sometime in Oct. 2004.

Also, I was asked by several people about Branson, Mo. Because Branson is booked up 18 months to 2 years ahead, we decided to check on what could be arranged for 2005. Because I had made the inquiries the last time, I volunteered to do it again. Let it be known that nothing for 05 is in stone, so we will take other recommendations at Williamsburg.

To all in the computer world, we now have a web site. The address is http://www.ussmahan.org . Dick Hallowell of the DLG 11 is the webmaster and take it from me, he has done a great job with a lot of hard work. We want to invite everyone to visit the site. Dick’s e-mail address is 2dickhall@cox.net . The website e-mail address is webmaster@ussmahan.org .

We also have installed a ship's store with hats, t-shirts, ship’s patches etc. Our vice president, Russ Owens, is the volunteer ships serviceman in charge of the ships store. His e-mail address for the ships store is: Mahanshipsstore@aol.com .

Prices for ships store are as follows: Ball caps, $12 each; T-shirts, $16 each; Extra Large T-shirts, $17 each. Ship’s patches are $5 each. We are also trying to get a price on sweatshirts if there is enough interest. These prices are plus shipping which, will depend on the size of the order.

You can also send all your requests to:

Russ Owens

12314 Woods Rd.

Franklin, WI 53132-1369

414-425-9213 home

414-425-9243 fax

414-861-9213 cell

A picture of the T-Shirt is available on the Ship's store page. I’m sure that everyone will be impressed with the shirts and everyone who served on DLG-11 and DDG-42 know what the ship's patches are.

A message from our President

Greetings:

Gary White, Bill Sumner and I spent a Saturday in Tennessee going through Cal Shugart’s association records. Thanks to the very kind hospitality of Dianne and Charles Taylor, I am pleased to report we have the membership records, meeting minutes and other documents involved with the Association’s operation.

I have been in contact with the Command Master Chief Petty Officer on DDG 72 regarding the reunion. I believe October will be the optimum time and we are looking forward to a day mutually acceptable for some interaction with the ship. We will have a letter out with all specifics in plenty of time for you to make reservations and travel plans. There is so much to do in the Tidewater Area, I’m considering an extra day similar to what we did in DC so we can cover more ground.

As you all know, our association sponsors a Sailor of the quarter and Sailor of the year for the DDG 72.

It seems that we have a fine bunch of sailors onboard.

The 4^th quarter SOQ were as follows:

Senior Sailor: EM1(SW) Rufus D. Bishop

Junior Sailor: OS3 (SW) Queen G. McEathron

Blue Jacket: SN Elizabeth C. Blanco

2003 Sailors of the Year were as follows:

Senior Sailor: SK1(SW) Jeffrey A. Cook

Junior Sailor: FC3(SW) Thomas M. Cooper

Blue Jacket: GSE3 Diedra R. Jenkins.

Petty Officer Cook hit the deck plates running. He unanimously won the Sailor of the Year for Destroyer Squadron 26, (This is the 5^th consecutive year Mahan has won). He will compete on the 9^th of Feb. at the Group level.

GSMC Eric Chandler, last year's Sailor of the Year and ultimately SURFLANT Sea Sailor of the Year lost out at COMLANTFLT. Hopefully SK1 Cook will compete at the same level.

MAHAN conducted Change of Command ceremonies on January 23, 2004 at Lynhaven anchorage. CDR Terry D. Mosher was relieved by CDR Charles (Bob) W. Wydler.  COC was informal with CDR Mosher leaving the flight deck by pilot’s ladder directly after the ceremony and proceeded to the Duck Inn via RHIB (that was a cold ride… 21 degrees before wind chill). Wishing you all the best.

Jeff

It is the sad duty of President Sweet to verify a list of those receiving their final orders:

Catherine Ward, wife of WO-1 Walter Harvey Ward 29 Jan 01 DD 364

CDR Edwin Bain, 23 Apr 01 DD 364

Seaman 1^st Arthur King, 28 Aug 02 DD 364

CWO Warren Leard, 17 Jan 02 DD 364

GMC Fred Burdge, 5 Feb 03 DD364

AKSA Eugene Beck, 21 Mar 02 DD 364

Coxswain Cal Shugart, 6 Sept 03 DD 364

CAPT Earnest G. Campbell, 10 June 02 DD 364

CDR Jack Tabscott, 30 Jul 02 DD 364

Seaman 1^st Louis Vatavuk 4 Nov 03 DD 364

Let us take this time to send our condolences to all their families.

CONTRIBUTIONS AND DONATIONS TIME

As everyone should know, our association is a tax free, non-profit organization, therefore if we charged dues, we would have to charge everyone the same amount and if they didn’t pay they would be dropped from the rolls. Therefore we accept donations to fund our organization.

Enclosed in the hard copy you will find an envelope addressed to Bill Sumner, our treasurer.

Please fill it up and return it.

Also the Mahan Association has a scholarship fund administered through the Navy League. We have a base of $50,000 dollars, of which the scholarship is given from the interest. As you all know, the last few years’ interest on monies hasn’t been very good. So anyone wishing to donate a tax free donation to the fund may do so. The donation may be sent directly to the USS MAHAN SCHOLARSHIP FUND in care of the Navy League.

By donating personally the individual will receive a contributory thank you letter from the Navy League. This letter can then be used as your donation proof, besides receiving a nice thank you. Send your donations to:

USS MAHAN SCHOLARSHIP FUND.

Navy League of Development, Veronica Brandon

2300 Wilson Blvd

Arlington, Va. 22201

At this time we would like to thank Harold and Grace Ojala for their donation to the association in memory of Cal Shugart. It was decided by the board of directors that we would donate it to the scholarship fund in Cal’s name.

I hope that this will qualify as a newsletter. If anyone has anything that they would like to include please feel free to send it to me, either by e-mail or by snail mail. All input would be greatly appreciated.

You can send e-mail to me at emmettmahan@netzero.com  or my snail mail address:

Jerry Emmett

6822 Shepherd Rd.

Shepherd, Mt. 59079

And so in closing, God speed and fair sailing to all.