Ramada Inn Seekonk MA Site of the Newport Dealeys first reunion August 19-22, 1999	First Reunion Chairman Chief Ernie Pina USS Hartley
Jim and Kay Moore USS Van Voorhis
Capt. Robert Flacke USS Cromwell
	Donna and John Turner USS Joseph K Taussig

Reunion Recap  22 August 1999  Hello Shipmates  For those of you who couda, wouda, and shouda – you missed a great time.Our Saturday night banquet had 44 in attendance including shipmates and guests. During the weekend 4 former shipmates stopped by to say hello (not included in the above numbers. OSCM Jim Geer, USN-RET (Dealey 1961) and (Van Voorhis 64/65) LT Frank Nekrasz, USN-RET (Van Voorhis 60/62) – former SOC BM1 Ken Rich. USN-RET (Courtney 56/58) MM2 Legrande Van Wagenen (Lester 1959) Shipmates started arriving early on Thursday. The earliest arrival was perhaps retired RMC Ivan Rock (Lester 59/61). Chief Rock drove in from West Carrollton, OH. He started out Wednesday afternoon and made it as far as Albany, NY. Made a head call at 3 in the morning, couldn’t get back to sleep, checked out of the hotel, and started his trek to Seekonk. I think most of us can relate to what he went through.. Refreshments were made available to us in the hospitality room where we could munch on goodies, meet new shipmates, check out some of the memorabilia brought in and of course tell sea stories.  Friday started out with a few of the troops making their way to Tin Can Sailors Headquarters in nearby Somerset, MA. I think over $200 was spent on various shirts, jackets, and a whole host of pins. From TCS we made the short run over to Battleship Cove in Fall River to go aboard the MASSACHUSETTS and JOSEPH P. KENNEDY. At around 1130 we were U/W for Newport, stopping at the piers. We did get to ride down pier 2, get out of the vehicle, breath the fresh air of Narragansett Bay, and look across and marvel at the size of the SARATOGA, FORRESTAL an IWOA tied up at pier 1. From there we drove over to Pier 1 for a closer look of these ships and obtained information pamphlets on all three ships. We then headed for the “O”  club for lunch before heading for downtown Newport and a tour of the city ( including Ocean Drive). Friday night dinner was back at the hotel with more of the same sea stories being retold. However the waves that batted these little DE’s apparently were getting bigger and bigger as time went on. Saturday was spent in Boston. First ship to be boarded was Old Ironsides. Some then scampered over to the CASSIN YOUNG (a Fletcher Class tin can in really good shape). Former BT2 Jack Considine (Hartley 67/70), former ET3 Gerry Rafus (Willis 58/61), and yours truly were given an “off limits” tour of the engine room. Jack was ready to reenlist, Gerry and I wanted to see daylight.  Upon leaving the Charlestown Navy Yard, we headed for downtown area. For those of you who aren’t aware of what is happening in Boston, it’s a real mess. A project known as “The Big Dig” is going on. It’s the biggest construction job in the history of the good ole US of A. Boston has gone underground. A complete change of its highway system is being constructed so you can imagine what we were faced with. Streets we wanted to go down were blocked off. Maneuvering these streets with its sign and equipment, was no easy task especially in a bus. But we managed and found our way to Quincy Market where we shopped and grabbed a bite to eat.  After lunch we headed for the JFK Library. “Impressive” is the only word I can think of in describing this building and its contents. As many times that I’ve traveled past, this was my very first stop. I wasn’t disappointed.  Saturday night’s dinner, like Friday’s left us stuffed. A few awards were handed out after dinner including one to former EM2 Jim Moore from Phillipsburg, NJ (Van Voorhis 60/62). He received the “Early Bird” Award for being the first person to sign up for the reunion. Former EM2 Mike Kabachenski from Orwell VT (Courtney/Lester/Taussig) received the “Cecil B. DeMille” award for bringing along some movies from the old days including some of his vacation trips including a birds eye view of Washington DC, which were taken from atop the Washington Monument. The last award went to my better half, Carol. Hers was entitled “Understanding Wife Award” in recognition of her patience and under standing with all the time I spent in getting this reunion off the ground. A memorial service highlighted the nights festivities when retired Captain Bob Flacke (Cromwell 56/58), serving as our Chaplain, led us in prayer and we had a moment of silence for those shipmates now serving on the Staff of the Supreme Commander. Movies were then shown and group pictures were taken. Sunday morning breakfast was served and then all hands headed north, east, south and west hopefully feeling a bit better having seen some of their “buddies”. But, guess what. We WILL be getting together again. There will be more of us next time because we now have the proper time to plan and grow with what we have. There are now over 300 on the roster and it will continue to grow. Our next scheduled reunion has been set for September/ October 2000 at Lake George, NY. We’re already getting ready for 2001. In that year we’ll be in Charleston, SC. Now how’s that for early planning?Military Locators has been contracted to run these next events as well and you will all be receiving information in the future. That is – if I have your address. There are some of you out there who still hasn’t provided an address. Former ET2  Marc Arsenault from Charlton, MA (Hartley  60/61 and Lester 61/62) has agreed to chair the next reunion. Marc can be reached via email at marc-a@ma.ultranet.comAny questions should be directed to him. However, I’ll be in the wings ready to lend a helping hand where need be. Well I guess I better end this thing before I take up too much of your time. In closing I just want to say what a joy it was for me to head up this reunion and how proud I was to have been among those shipmates from different ships. It was quite different from what I’ve experienced in the past.   Yours in Loyalty, Protection and Service  ERNIE PINA NCC, USN-RET

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