NOT TO LEAVE THE SHIP – THE FALL 2011 EDITION

2012 REUNION = VIVA LAS VEGAS!!

BACK TO THE ORLEANS  

The Fifth Bi-Annual Reunion of the USS HULL Association returns to Las Vegas and the Orleans Hotel & Casino. The dates will be Tuesday-Thursday, October 16-18. 

Like the famous TV show, “The Price Is Right” thanks to hard work by Reunion Chairman Bob Modell.  The rooms are just $32 per night, single or double occupancy.

For registration and hotel details: reunion2012announcement.htm 

This full-service hotel & casino is located just minutes from the famed Las Vegas “Strip.” “We wanted to find a city and a location that was convenient and attractive for our shipmates, their spouses and their guests, “ Modell said.  “Las Vegas and the Orleans stood out once again over all other contenders, tossing in  it’s Presidential Suite as HULL’s  hospitality venue!” 

BUILDING ON A BIG 2010

The 85 attendees at the 2010 Reunion were treated to an expanded program  of both information & entertainment sessions.  Shipmate Gary Jones spoke about the on-going joint effort between the U.S. and Vietnam in the search for POWs and MIAs on both sides of that long war.  Shipmate Rich Schulman presented a video of two early ‘60’s HULL Westpac Cruises – what a trip down memory lane.

The Way We Really Were

Attendees received an update on combatant shipbuilding from retired Navy Captain Jim Jefferis.  And we all had a great time hearing about the way it really was in WWII from “Greatest Generation” and DD-350 shipmates Archie DeRykhere and Pat Douhan.

Archie & Pat Hold Court

FROM THE PRESIDENT

HULL Shipmates:

The 2012 Reunion is less than a year away    – see the attached!  And remember, it’s ALL about getting together with shipmates, reliving the good times that always seem to outnumber the other kind.   On a personal  note, Dora is making good progress since her liver transplant a year ago.  We thank you for all your prayers.

MMCM (SW) Michael A. Gallegos, USN-Retired

President, USS HULL Association

HULL CO’s MEET – AGAIN

Captains Rex Tallent (’64-’65) and Bob Weeks (’65-’66) haven’t seen each other since their change of command in 1965, but you’d never know it by their conversation over lunch at March AFB in Riverside, CA in August arranged by John McKechnie and George Tomek. 

 SKIPPERS LUNCHEON IN AUGUST

L to R: CO Bob Weeks, John McKechnie, CO Rex Tallent, George Tomek

Each commanded HULL during the height of the Vietnam War.  Both were highly complimentary about the ship and professionalism of the 945 crew.  We’ll have excerpts of their video-taped conversation on the HULL website.

WEB/HISTORIAN’S NOTE

Hull Association Web Surfers:

As you browse the site, you’ll find many links to a plethora of information.  For those of you not familiar with identifying links, they appear as underlined colored text: Reunion 2010 Picture Slide Show or, a picture with instructions to click the picture to view.

For example:

       (click to view)

If anyone has a question regarding how to browse the site, just drop me a line.  Also, the What’s New Log Room is a great way to track new entries to the web site.  Check it out and perhaps you’ll find something of interest you’ve yet to come across.

        Lou Colella - IC2 ’60–‘63

        Association Webmaster/Historian

NOTES FROM THE TREASURER

Dues of $20 per reunion period are due. If you paid at the Reunion or since then you are PAID UP.

EMAIL

When you email the Association including the Reunion Chairman remember to unblock your email so that we can answer. Some members block email and require incoming mail to ask permission/identify self – very difficult to do with the number members we have. If you don’t receive an answer to your email it is because of you are blocking.

Forward:

Typhoon Cobra was a deadly storm that claimed nearly 800 lives in the Philippines Sea during World War II – including 62 aboard the USS HULL (DD-350), among three destroyers that sank December 18, 1944.  They were sent unwittingly into the teeth of the storm by Admiral “Bull” Halsey.  The Fleet Admiral’s decision was based, in part, on inaccurate data.  Halsey was so incensed afterward, he demanded a ‘weather station’ or forecast center be created to prevent another disaster like Typhoon Cobra.  Shipmate Pat Douhan visited that space-age facility.  Here is his poignant account:

On a recent visit to Honolulu and Pearl Harbor, my wife Kay insisted I call the Navy Weather Station.  It was a place she knew that I had always wanted to visit. When I called telling them that I was a Typhoon Cobra survivor from the USS HULL and would like to visit, they said "WOW! YOU are the reason we are here. We’d love to have you".

The next day they sent the cutest little ensign (where were they in our day!) to pick up Kay and me. She took us to lunch at the yacht club and then to the weather station - they call it the Joint Typhoon Warning Center or JTWC. We were met by Captain Angove, the JTWC Commander and Mr. Falvey, the Director. As we entered - there it was, spelled out in large letters over the entrance “WELCOME, PAT AND KAY DOUHAN!” It made me feel so honored and humble knowing I represented all of those lost in the typhoon and those of us few survivors. They asked me to talk to three different groups and answer a few, turned out a lot of questions about Typhoon Cobra. We saw a large room filled with computers and monitors covering two walls. We saw the whole Pacific Ocean from the North to the South Pole and ANY weather disturbance that was happening. Admiral Halsey would have been very proud of this wonderful facility. Captain Angove escorted us during the entire visit and, as we were leaving, thanked us so much for the visit. He then presented me with a beautiful medallion marking the Center’s 50^th anniversary. They only had one hundred of them made and he wanted me to have one. 

It was a day I will always remember – and DD 350 is not forgotten.

Pat Douhan

Kay and Pat shown at the Oahu JTEC