January 2008

As in the past, I hope that each and every one of us finds a place in our hearts to say a prayer for our country and for all our men and women in uniform. May God bless each and every one of them and may God bless America.

To each and every one of you who made the reunion in Charleston, it was great to see the old ones and to greet the new ones. Also we missed greatly the ones that were not there. Count wise, I think this was probably our largest gathering so-far.

For all of us who had never been to Charleston, such as my wife and I, it was a very informational place considering its place in our history. This reunion was hosted by Military Reunion Planners and seemed, all in all, to be well planned.

Day 1—Check-in at the Charleston Ramada, meet a few old friends and make some new ones. It was great to see a lot of new faces from the 42. To all of them "Welcome Aboard" and keep coming. It was also a first time for displaying the Association banner which was donated by Colonel John Mahan Brooks. A very hearty thank you to John for his generosity to the Assoc. We also had a collage of Mahan pictures dedicated and posted on the Tin Can Wall of the Ramada Charleston.

Day 2 started with a tour of old Charleston and then a very informational tour of the Citadel. Then it was lunch at the Market Place flea market.

Day 3 was a visit to the restoration site of the confederate submarine CSA Hunley which was lost in 1864 after being the first sub to sink an enemy ship in combat. She was found in 1995 and has been under restoration since. Then it was off to Patriots Point to have lunch aboard USS Yorktown CV-10, served in the Chief Petty Officers Mess, navy style, trays and all. Yorktown played a great roll during WW II, Vietnam and the NASA space race.

Day 4 was a ferry to Fort Sumter. The firing on Fort Sumter by the Confederates was supposed to be the first battle of the Civil War.

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Our Saturday evening banquet was highlighted by our guest speaker, Command Master Chief Mike Conran. To all of you who do not know, Mike was Command Master Chief for the DDG-72 and now has the new designation of Command Master Chief for all DDG.s, Atlantic and Pacific. This is a new designation but I am sure that he is up to the challenge and we wish him the best in his new billet. Mike talked about what it means to be an American and what a true American citizens' duties are. I wish everyone could have been there for his talk. I know that I am in complete agreement with him.

During our business meeting it was decided to go to Corpus Christi, TX for our 2008 reunion. Jim Storey will be our host.

Right after New Years I hadn't heard anything from Harold and Grace Ojalla so I called to see how they were doing. Seems that Grace and her Hula group decided to take a Gig in Alaska. The trip up and the Gig seemed to be alright but on the flight back Grace got sick. This was the first of October and therefore they decided not to come to the reunion in Charleston. Seems Grace has been sick with pneumonia and who knows what else till New Years. All you 364 people give them a call. I'm sure she would be glad to hear from you.

"Greetings,

I want to thank everyone who put in the effort to make the Charleston Reunion a success. It was particularly good to see all the new faces, especially the DDG-42 crew, so I am not the only one. We hope you will join us again next year.

I want to remind everyone we don’t have dues and we run our operating expenses on your annual voluntary donations. Please get your checks into the treasurer to help support the newsletter and other operating expenses.

I hope all had a Merry Christmas and Bev and I wish you a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year.

All the Best

Jeff"

At Roll-call, I am sorry to say, that the following members were not present:

Robert L. Arrington GM1, plankowner DLG-11, Jan 23 2007.

Walter Harvey Ward GM2, DD-364, April 13 2006

Joseph M. Knight FN 1/c, DD-364, April 14 2006

Renee Campbell, Widow of Capt. Scottie Campbell, DD-364, Feb. 25 2007

Jean Permatteo, Wife of Joe Permatteo, DD-364, March 30 2007

Dorothy Nybro, Widow of Ralph Nybro, DD-364, May 25 2007

Robert B Bacharach BTC, DD-364, Feb 3 1998

Thomas C. Kyger, ETN2, DDG-42 Date unknown

Donald Bertrand, LT, DD-364, Aug 22 2007

Henry Glover, FN 1/c, DD-364, March 1992

Elmer Goforth, RM3, DD-364, Nov. 6 1992

John C. Mathews, CDR, DD-364, Sept 9 2003

Earl Nunn, CWO, DD-364, Feb 24 2001

Autrey Z. Partain TM3, DD-364, Sept 26 2006

Christopher Stapelton, SM1, DD-364, Oct 30 2006

George Johnson, TM3, DD-364, Nov 7 2007

Estes I (Lucky) Jones CSC, DLG-11, May 30 2007

May they all rest in peace.

If anyone has any further information for Roll-call please let me know.

As you all know Jan. is the time of year that we mention that we are a non-profit organization and are sustained by donations. All donations may be mailed to our Treasurer,

Gary White

USS MAHAN ASSOC.

10534 Rippling Fields Dr.

Houston, TX. 77064-4298

Also any tax free donations or memorials to the USS Mahan Scholarship fund with the Navy League may be addressed to Mahan Scholarship Fund, c/o of Gary.

All donations and memorials will be acknowledged.

As I have said in all my responses to new members, if any of you have any information that you would like to have included in the newsletter, please let me know. Any and all contributions are appreciated. Also please make sure if you have any change of snail mail or e-mail addresses let me know these also. Any returns of snail-mail newsletters cost us the price of a stamp for returns.

I have been asked in the past about publishing a Mahan Association Roster. I asked a couple of times if anyone has any qualms against having their address in a publication to let me know and as of this date, have not had any objections. I am now in the process of putting this together and will let you know when it is available.

To many of you who do not know, Peter O. Holcomb was a member of the DLG 11 crew who was killed on board during operations off Vietnam. It has been an ongoing project to get his name included on the Vietnam Wall.

I received the following from Russ Owens who was aboard when Peter Holcomb was killed.

"It has been almost two years, if not more, since this effort to have his name engraved on the Vietnam Wall started, and there is still no final word or schedule from Navy, VA, or whomever is supposed to be in charge. I e-mail with his cousin in Minnesota now and then, and Ralph Fries, who first contacted me."

Some day, Peter O Holcomb will be there but not yet.

Russ Owens 12314 Woods Rd, Franklin, WI, 53132-9213 Telephone 414-425-9213

Russ is also working on getting the transom plate from DLG 11/DDG 42 taken care of. It was cut down to size and is in the process of being sent to the Tin Can Sailors Museum. Russ also took some small pieces of the excess metal and made small plates for plankowners of DLG 11and to others who helped to finance purchasing the Transom and getting it delivered. Thanks again Russ, mine looks great sitting on my memory shelf.

That being said I guess the end has arrived.

So once again smooth sailing to all and see you in Corpus Christi in 08

Jerry