Winter 2000                                                                                                     March 15, 2001

President
Ron Zimmerman Sr.
1000 SE Everett Mall Way
Suite 206
Everett, WA 98208
(425)710-2100
ae17assn@aol.com

USS Great Sitkin Association
Web Site
www.greatsitkin.org

2001 REUNION
13 � 16 Sept.
Mobile, AL

2001 Reunion Update: Final plans have been completed for this year�s Annual Great Sitkin Association Reunion. Shipmate Doug Hauser and his wife Kathy are our Host and Hostess for this year�s event and have done a fine job getting things prepared. Details are as follows:
  LOCATION: Mobile, AL.
  DATES: Sept.13th - 16th.
  HOTEL: The Lafayette Plaza Hotel located in the heart of Historic Mobile. Rooms are $68.00 per night, either single or double occupancy, and include Breakfast Buffet for 2. Prices will be good for 2 days prior to and 2 days after the scheduled dates for those taking an extended vacation. Reservations must be made no later than August 22, 2001 to guarantee these prices. Reservations can be made by calling (334)694-0100 or Toll Free (800)692-6662 � You must mention that it is for the USS Great Sitkin Reunion.
  EVENTS: Scheduled events include a dinner cruise aboard the Sternwheeler Cotton Blossom on Friday evening, 7:00 � 9:00 PM; a tour of the USS Alabama along with a Memorial Ceremony and lunch on Saturday from 9:00 AM � 1:00 PM; the Annual Business Meeting in the Hotel Hospitality Room on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 PM; and the Annual Dinner Banquet Saturday evening at the Hotel with Cocktails at 6:00 PM & Dinner at 7:00 PM. The Banquet will have a Mardi Gras theme and will include entertainment � costumes for attendees are not required. We are also looking into the possibility of having a DJ provide music for dancing and enjoyment � so bring your dancing shoes and get ready to party!!!
  Doug has also contacted a professional photographer who will be taking pictures during the different events. He will be offering a Reunion Photo Book for a small fee of $20.00 for those who are interested in purchasing one. There is NO obligation to buy and no cost to the Association for his services.
  There are also a couple of optional tours available for those wishing to attend them. One is a tour to the Pensacola NAS Museum on Friday from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The other is a tour of Historic Mobile on Sunday from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM.
  HOSPITALITY ROOM: We will have a Hospitality Room again this year. It will be located on the Main Floor of the Hotel close to the Lobby, Restaurant and elevators. The Hospitality Room will be available for people to relax and talk daily from 8:00 AM � 10:00 PM Thursday thru Saturday; and from 8:00 AM until Noon on Sunday.
  A USS Great Sitkin Association 2001 Reunion Registration form is available on the web site or you can call Doug Hauser at (334)277-2151 or e-mail him at JMcClane2@aol.com.
  It sounds like it will be a lot of fun and we hope to see you all there.
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Election of Officers: The Association Charter calls for the election of officers each year with the election to coincide with the annual reunion. All positions are up for election each year and officers may be re-elected. The following Articles of the Constitution apply:
  - Right to Vote: Only an ACTIVE MEMBER who is present or has submitted an absentee ballot is entitled to nominate and vote at the Annual Membership meeting.
  -Eligible to Serve: Only an ACTIVE MEMBER who is present or who has made a commitment on an absentee ballot is eligible to serve as an officer.
  -Active Member: One who has paid his Annual dues.
To ensure that absentee ballots can be mailed and received back prior to the reunion date, nominations for office must be received no later than 1 June 2001. Nominations may be sent to the Secretary/Treasurer either by e-mail or regular mail.
_____________________________________________________
2002 Reunion: With the 2001 Reunion well underway it's time to start thinking about where we want to have the 2002 Reunion. If you are interested in Hosting the next Reunion in a location close to you, here's all you need to do to get started:
  1). VOLUNTEER!
  2). Gather basic information on Place, Dates, Things to do (ie. tours, etc)., and approximate costs of Hotel rooms (gather info. on several different ones and what they have to offer), Dinning Out and the Banquet.
  3). Bring the information to the 2001 Reunion and present it to the Active Members at the Annual Business Meeting. If unable to attend, send it to the Secretary/Treasurer so he can include it in the Business Meeting.
  Once the area has been voted on by the members, the real work begins. A bank account needs to be established; contracts negotiated for the tours selected, hotel, banquet, etc.; a system set-up for keeping track of who is coming and what they are planning on attending; name badges and "Reunion Packets" made up; and a few other miscellaneous items.
  Now don't get scared off by this. You'll have all the help and support of the Association Officers and some others who have volunteered to assist anyone who wants to Host one of the Reunions. Shipmate Hauser said he would be glad to talk to anyone who is considering this and help them get started.  All you have to do is let us know what it is you need!
  We have a lot of shipmates from the west and south-west who have not been in attendance. It would be great if we could get someone out there to be the host. Maybe get a few more of our shipmates from out in that area to attend.
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New Web Pages: The Association�s web site has grown a lot in the past year, from just a little over 3MB to just under 12MB in size. As a result of this continuous effort to keep adding more information about the ship and the crew the Association�s web pages are almost constantly being updated and new ones added as the need arises.
  Several shipmates have requested that we add pictures of the crew members. We have commenced this project and additional pages are now being added for each of the Crew lists. So far we have a only a few pictures and we need more, as many as people want to send us! The pictures should be in "good taste", be taken during the time served, and have the "who, when and where" identified. Pictures can be mailed to:
  Ron Zimmerman, Sr.
  c/o All Star Management Co.
  1000 SE Everett Mall Way,Suite 206
  Everett, WA 98208
All pictures will be promptly returned after they have been scanned and made ready for the web pages. If you have access to a scanner and would prefer to submit them by E-mail, contact Ron at:  ae17assn@aol.com for specific requirements for resolution and file type.
  A few have already been posted on the web site to give you an idea of what we are looking for.
  ______________________________________________________
Found � now Lost: With each mailing we do we are receiving quite a few "Return to Sender" as either "Not Deliverable as Addressed", "No Such Address" or "Forwarding Time Expired". That means a lot of work for us in updating the mailing data base and changes to the web pages. With each one returned 4 separate updates have to be performed. It also means we have just LOST contact with another shipmate (over 32 returned as bad addresses and 10 with address corrections from the last mailing alone)! If you move, please drop us a line and let us know your new address. The following is the list of shipmates we have recently lost contact with:  
Alfred Terrien,   Denver Peschke,   Vito Scarna, 
John Schrope,   Frank Hausen,   Leondard Gresh,   Lowell Boggs, 
George Inch,   James Roudebush,   Clarence Aldridge,   Paul Rufty,
Lawrence Buswell,   Keith Nowlin,   Iggy Cortese,   Clarence GoKay, 
Bill Napolitano,  Joe Butch,  Lawrence Merwarth,   Charles Farr,   
John Jacobs,   Duane Cohen,   Arnold Lema,   Woodrow Prouty,   
James Wasklewicz,   Roger Croteau,   Charles King,   Dallas Tiensivu, 
Duke Tullo,   Armand Chiusano,   James Harrah,   Ronald Kropidlowski

In addition, the following is our list of "Bad E-mail" addresses:
James Georgi,   William C. Reed,   Charles Ross,   Larry Zarek,   
G. P. O�Neil,   David Mogill,   Kenneth Plasket   

  If anyone knows the whereabouts of these shipmates, or has current E-mail addresses for them, please contact us at the Association�s mailing address or by E-mail at ae17assn@aol.com. 
  ______________________________________________________
Honor Roll: Since the Cleveland Reunion we have received several notices that some more of our shipmates have passed on. Some recently, others a number of years ago and we have just now been notified by relatives who have found the web site and e-mailed us. All have been added to the web pages and will be added to the list for the Memorial Ceremony at this years reunion. They are:
Eric Ankarstran, SKC, �49
Samuel Chuckta, CHGUN, �55
Rafael Cirino-Rivera, PN3, �58
Warren Clute, BM3, �56
Paul LaPorte, GM1, �55
James McMenamin, SN, �51
Larnzie Porter, SD3, �71
Salvatore Recine, CS3, �51
Lyle Root, DK1, �56
James Smith, S1c, �48
Frank Sopo, FCFN, �48

Our condolences to their family and friends.
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New Finds: Over the last few months several more of our shipmates have been located. Several have found us while "Surfing the Net" and finding the web site for the first time. These new finds are:
Stephen Hall, DK2, �66
Doug Hinson, MM2, �57
Pete Homa, FA, �54
Edward Maguire, SN, �56
Joseph Miller, SD2, �70
Ed Morgan, PhM3c, Plankie
Robert Olsen, MM3, �49
James Palmer, ENS, �65
Kevin Petro, SN, �66
William Reed, SN, �64
Howard Rice, ETSN, �52
Michael Samara, S1c, �61
Joseph Savadge, SA, �72
George Sherwood, GMG2, �67
John Stoeffler, LTjg, �57
Joseph Sullivan, LT, �56
Breeman Thompson, S2c, �46
Edward Van Buren, SM3, �56
Rayford Watkins, SH2, �72
Richard Zimmerman, SA, �49
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Military Ocean Terminal Bayonne:
  Thought some of you might be interested in this brief history and an update on the ship�s last homeport. The information was obtained from a web site located by shipmate Mark Burfeind.
  In 1932, some Bayonne businessmen made basic plans to build a Port Terminal off the east coast of Bayonne into New York Bay to create additional industrial space. The plan was completed in 1939 and they began dredging and filling. Meanwhile, the US military became involved in World War II and the Navy was looking for a location for a port on the east coast. The Navy was very interested in this site for a large drydock and supply center. The Bayonne military base was opened by the Navy in 1942 as a logistics and repair base. In 1967, the peninsula became a US Army base. It was a huge shipping terminal and had the largest drydock on the eastern seaboard. Ships carried goods from this terminal for every major US military operation from World War II to the Persian Gulf and Haiti mission in the 1990's. At its peak, MOTBY employed about 3000 civilian and US armed services personnel and handled more than 1 million tons of cargo each year.
  With the end of the Cold War and lessened need for US military forces, the federal government began closing down US military bases all over the world. In 1995, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) voted to close MOTBY despite strong opposition from local, state, and federal officials. In 1996, the Army had 2500 employees at the base, many of which were civilians who lived in the area. These jobs were gradually phased out over the next 3 years. Some employees accepted transfers to other bases while others retired early. On July 1, 1999 Colonel Charles Beck, commander at MOTBY since July 1996, turned the command over to Colonel William Black, the final commander of the base. At that time, there were only about 300 employees remaining. The MOTBY flag was lowered for a final time during the closing ceremony on Sept. 23, 1999. All civilian jobs were eliminated by Sept. 30, 1999.
  ______________________________________________________
Trivia: What was the name of the other AE who also called Bayonne it�s Homeport in 1972?
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REPAIR 3 REPORT:
by George Kaiser, Sec/Tres
  Well, shipmates, here we are again. A lot of water under the keel already since I took this job on in September. I�ve been able to see just how much it costs to run an association like this, from sending out the newsletter to paying the routine expenses. Right now, we have about 60 crew members who are sending in their $15 on a regular basis. That�s $900 a year. We also make some money on ship store stuff, so it is coming in. We would really like to see more of you get on board the dues wagon.
  On the subject of dues, I�ve also had the very enjoyable opportunity to get correspondence from a lot of you. One of the more common statements, especially from career Sailors, is of how many ships they served on, and how many of the ships have reunion associations, all asking for from $10 to $30 for dues. If a Shipmate served on 5 ships, that would be $75 a year for dues, quite a chunk of change for a retired person.
  So, what else do we use your $15 for in the Great Sitkin Association? In past newsletters, I listed several things, but there is something new on the horizon that could be an exciting opportunity for us all.  About 2 weeks ago, I paid a visit to the USS New Jersey in Camden NJ. The old battleship is currently undergoing a million dollar facelift, and they are anxiously looking for exhibits to fill up the many spaces on board. When I mentioned the idea of doing something to honor the Navy ships that had a home port in New Jersey, they thought it was a great idea. Of course, my real desire is to get a place for our Great Sitkin memorabilia, but I couldn�t come on too strong. So any how, I hope to develop this project over this year. One of my desires is to get some of the items from the ship that the US Navy has in storage . When a Navy ship is decommissioned, the Naval Historical Society takes all kinds of stuff off, things like the bell, commissioning plaque, chronometers, life rings, and lots of other things. The Navy is willing to allow the stuff to go out, provided it has a good home to be displayed at. That guys, hopefully will be the USS New Jersey.
  OK, enough about the money. What else is going on? How about news from the fleet? Anybody up on the newest destroyers they are about to start building?  Known as the DD-21 class, they are being called the first ships designed for the 21^st century Sailor, as well as the 21^st century threat. Packing more condensed firepower than a WW2 era heavy cruiser, they will have a crew of about 95. The ships company will live 3 to a stateroom. Each stateroom will have computer capability, including full time internet and e-mail access. Mess management will be handled by a private, on board contractor. (Well, there goes mess cooking!) It will have the same top secret stealth capabilities of a lot of our modern war planes. They will be built with 50 year life expectancy. Wow, things have come a long way, haven�t they?
  I really hope a lot of you have internet capability. There are a lot of good web sites that let you get up to date with the latest happenings going on in our modern Navy. A couple I�ve enjoyed are; www.military.com   and www.hazegray.org  .  For those of you with an interest in the latest Damage Control and engineering stuff try; www.dcc-hunt.virtualave.net  . For a good source of contacts try; www.classmates.com . For those of you that were fortunate enough to make Chief Petty Officer, be sure to checkout; www.goatlocker.org  and don�t forget our own home on the net; www.greatsitkin.org . 
  OK Shipmates, I�ll stop now. Try to make plans to attend the reunion this year in Mobile. It really looks like a good time. If you�re planning on being there, and you still fit in your uniform, why not consider bringing it to wear. Navy uniform regs allow for the wearing of the uniform by former servicemen that were honorably discharged, for ceremonial occasions. I wore mine in Cleveland last year, and it sure felt good. See you all then!