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Jan. 2008-1 |
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January
2008 Newsletter Editor: Wm. "Bud
Kautz-CCBW-34782 Hiawatha Trail - McHenry, IL 59951 |
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Jan Trober reports: “That
everything went well at our reunion in St Charles, MO
and I want
to thank all at Military Reunion Planners for all of
their help. The hotel we used for our home
base had a wonderful staff and pool area. Had I known, I would have had the
“Meet & Greet”
there because it was so beautiful with a waterfall that fed into the pool
area. The hotel’s
dinner show was a blast And a very good choice so that our group didn’t have
to leave the
hotel. There was a grocery store right behind the hotel that made it very
easy for me to purchase
snacks and things for our group’s hospitality room. I would recommend the
hotel in St. Charles again”. Theme of the dinner show was 7 love
Lucy.” The performers impersonated Desi and Lucy
and circulated the dining area and passed out slips of paper denoting the
role that some members
of our group became participants involved in the show which helped to add a
bit of hilarity to the event. |
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Now to a more serious topic. We are looking to October
16, 17 & 18 (Thursday thru Sunday)
to host our 2008 reunion in San Francisco, California. Stuart Hyde (Iwo Jima
Author) our
West Coast representative will assist Jan regarding the points of interest to
visit. There will
be a bus and boat tour of the San Francisco area, and naturally a banquet and
possibly a show,
just to name a couple of events in the planning stages. More details will
follow in a future
newsletter. Even though this is a long time in the future, please keep it in
mind and place it on your agenda. |
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Our home base will be the Whitcomb Hotel, located at1231
Market St. After the1906 earthquake ruined the
city, the hotel served as the San Francisco’s City Hall from 1912 to 1915. Curious guests can
arrange a tour of the old jail cells in the basement. |
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Jan. 2008-2 |
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Thank you, that was beautiful. We enjoyed
the reunion very much. I was told there
are dues to pay, how much and where do we send it. God willing we will be
at the next one.
We are sorry we missed so many of them, we did
not know about them until our daughter found
it on the Internet. We enjoyed seeing everyone. Roger and his wife Lee were first time attendees
to our reunion group. Just a line this holiday season to let everybody
know I’m still kicking, but not as easy
as I used to. Had a stroke last November 14th,
went to the hospital in town here and they sent
me to Mesa for a month. Came home Christmas
Day. My left side was affected. Leg is
mobile now and I can use a walker but my left
arm is out in another galaxy as my great grandson
said I haven’t found out which universe
it’s in. Nice to hear from Sally again and certainly wish her a speedy recovery. I was working as a circulating nurse in surgery
in a Naval Hospital in Philadelphia and had
finished my chores for the moment. I laid down
on a metal gurney in the tile floored hallway.
A nurse came up to me while I was partly
asleep and tickled me in the ribs. WOW! I
jumped up and the two of us rolled on the floor
laughing. The gurney turned over with a bang.
All this happened at 3:00 AM in the hospital
and people came running out of rooms and
the surgeon came out. Embarrassed? You bet.
Such is the life of a corpsman. I like getting the newsletters and would like very much to make
the reunions but health |
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problems
prevent it. I was a signalman First
Class in the Beach Party When I went aboard
the Lowndes in 1944. When we went to
Pearl Harbor Billy Biggers and I transferred into
ship’s company and made Chief with the help
of Dr. Dunbar. When we arrived off Iwo Jima I
volunteered to go ashore but they wouldn’t
allow me to go since I was no longer in the
Beach Party. Don Bowman was a very good
friend of Billy and I and it hurt when he was
killed on the island. Well, here’s to smooth
sailing for everyone and may the wind always
be at your back. Hey fella, you just hang in there and keep
in touch. Receiving the USS Lowndes newsletters
brought back all the memories back.
The pictures are great. John would also have
wanted to see them. We miss him all the time
and can’t believe it is over two years since
he left us. Every time he got a newsletter
he had tears in his eyes. He loved his
ship and all his friends. Well, here I am alone
and wish I could attend the reunions, but my
age comes to fast. I will be 91 October 21st.
I live in my own apartment. I loved San Francisco
and think of all the good times we had
there. All the Comments regarding John’s former
shipmates are great to read and it feels
like it was just yesterday that it all happened.
I am doing the best I can and am still
diving and shopping on my own. Our reunion this year will be in San Francisco.
Dates have not been carved in stone
as of this date. The Golden Gate Bridge is 1.7 miles long.
Remember the pools we had betting on what
time we would pass under the bridge? According
to the Almanac the weather in San Francisco
in October will be , high of 68 degrees
& low of 55 degrees. |
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Jan. 2008-3 |
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Here
is some information that may be of interest
to the Lowndes crew members who were aboard the ship at
Iwo Jima: American Campaign Medal Navy Occupation SVC
Medal with 1 Asia Clasp World War II Victory
Medal Honorable Service Lapel
Button Asiatic-Pacific Campaign
Medal with 2 Bronze star Attachments These medals can be
obtained from: Bureau
of Naval Personnel Liason Office Room 5409 9700
Page Avenue St.
Louis, MO 63132-5100 |
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\Ne had a pleasant
trip home. The St. Louis
reunion like all our reunions has to be considered
a great success thanks mainly to Jan. Shirley and I had a
great time, especially Shirley. Like you, Bud,
she has bad wheels and hasn’t been able to
travel much these past two years and getting out
and meeting people is a special treat for her.
She made a special attempt to attend this
reunion in St. Louis so that she could take
advantage to visit a friend she hadn’t seen for over
50 years. Hope she (and you Bud) will be
able to make the San Francisco reunion. Sorry
Don, I have been unable to find an Iwo
Jima lapel pin. Will keep you in mind if and when I locate one. Mail to: Mrs. Chuck
Munson June
Zinkgraf Has been returned. |
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It was nice seeing all in St. Louis and
looking forward to San Francisco, the good
Lord willing. Even though the reunion group
was smaller it is always nice to see old
friends again. Thanks to Jan and family
for all their hard work and putting up
with us old codgers. We were glad to see
Don and Shirley Lorenzi but sorry that Bill
and Amelia couldn’t make it. The stint with
Lucy and Ricky Ricardo added some humor
to the banquet. She really did sound like
Lucy. We are still trying to recover from hurricane
Katrina. Repairs to our home are going
slowly. We have all become do-it- yourself
people. Everything has to be ordered
and takes about 8 weeks to arrive. Oh
well, we are getting used to camping inside
our house. Thanks again for the newsletters
and e mails, especially the funny
ones, we need to laugh. The D Day museum
has changed their name to National
War II museum. I think it was in 1975 or 1976 that Maggie
and I along with Walt and Jackie Umbarger
were on a tour that included the island
of Alcatraz, “The Rock” and the locale
of the movie, “Escape from Alcatraz” Starring
Clint Eastwood, one of our shipmates,
Ed King had a small part in. I spent
a very , very short time in solitary confinement
and to say the least it was dark
and gave me a real spooky feeling. I can
only imagine how the inmates who spent
time in there for some punishment that
caused them to be put into that cell felt. Just be thankful, Jim, that it was only
for a brief period. |
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Jan.
2008-4 |
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Sorry to report that my Dad Connie has Alzheimer’s and Mom took care of him at home until June of last year; it took us a couple of tries to find the right place for him but Buckner Villa seems to have worked out well. Mother would appreciate the notes and letters be
sent to her. She visits him every couple of days and gladly takes anything that comes for him. It’s just that the staff does not help him to open his private mail, so it frequently sits there until she comes. It is a good place, he has rapidly become one of their favorite residents and has made some progress since being there. He is now back to walking to meals with his walker (he had been wheel chair bound for a while), has a great appetite, loves anything, dessert/sweet and loves to take naps in the afternoon after lunch. He is the ‘quarterback’ of ball toss and really likes the live music presentations they have. He still
has a great sense of humor, likes jokes and loves anything about automobiles, the Navy or Boston
Terriers (their dog is a Boston). We decorated
his room for Christmas with a theme of
‘Santa’s toy delivery’- every ornament was some
kind of car or truck as were the decorations
on his door wreath. He always recognizes
mother and me but is confused about some
things. Yesterday he was sure he needed to go
to work and was late. He wasn’t convinced we
were right when we told him that he was retired
and didn’t have to go to work, he had retired
when he was 80, that wasn’t so surprising.
Although it is sad and not surprising that
many of his cohorts are having problems. Dad is
94. There was a time years ago that Connie owned
a cream colored 1917 Maxwell with black top
& seats and wooden spokes Maxwell. During
a rain the windshield wipers had to be operated
by hand. He and Jerry were involved in an
automobile scavenger hunt. They went the whole
bit, wearing dusters, etc of that vintage era.
To refresh memories, Connie and Jerry hosted
the 1995 reunion in San Antonio, TX with the
very able assistance of their daughter Renee.
During that reunion plaques in memory of
Donald Bowman and Norman Richards were placed
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the
wall at the Admiral Nimitz museum in Fredericksburg, TX. Donald and Norman were both KIA on I wo Jima. Another little bit of trivia: At our very first reunion
back in 1989 I brought USS Lowndes hats
to be purchased by crew members. Well, Jim
Ross bought one and passed it along to his son,
Charles who wore it on every one of his missions
during the first gulf war in 1991. There are many interesting sites to visit in San
Francisco. For those who will have the availability
of a car, better have good brakes, Frisco
is very hilly. One street that Jean and I drove
down, very carefully, was Lombard St., the crookedist street in the world. It is a one way
street and has umpteenth hairpin curves. Absolutely amazing. First, I thought the reunion was great. What was really great was the chance to associate and talk to
crew members. We enjoyed the
comedy/dinner evening, and we spent a good part of one
day in St. Charles, which was awesome!
Especially the Lewis and Clark Museum. The
banquet went well, we thought. On the downside
was the cancellation of the tour! We were
really excited about it. On Saturday, we took the
train to St. Louis, and saw nothing but the
Arch. Couldn’t find a tour bus anywhere. I guess
St. Louis is not a tourist town, or there would
have been ads and pamphlets, and hawkers
all over the place. We have
to make
sure that doesn’t happen again. Stuart is assisting Jan Trober
in setting up our
next reunion in San Francisco. I’m sure it
will be one to be enjoyed by all. It’s that time of the year to pay our dues so we can keep the Lowndes newsletters coming
our way. Dallas and I enjoy reading old friends
remarks and what they are up to. We spent
two weeks at our son’s home in South Carolina. Dallas
is still playing ball in the summer. |
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Jan. 2007-5 |
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As we entered the banquet hall we noticed a small table,
in a place of honor. It is set for
one. The military is filled with symbolism. This table is our way of symbolizing
the fact that crew members of the USS Lowndes are no longer with us so
we remember them and their dedication to our country. The
table set for one is small to symbolize the frailty of one sailor alone against
his enemies. The tablecloth is white to symbolize the purity of their
intentions to respond
to our country’s call. The red roses across the plate
reminds us of the blood shed in battle to protect
the liberty so loved by our country. The
yellow rose displayed in the vase reminds us of the families and loved ones
of our shipmates who keep their memories alive lest we forget. There is salt upon the bread plate to symbolize the tears
shed by their family
members. The
glass is inverted for they cannot toast with us tonight. The
chair is empty for they are no longer with us. Remember all of you who served with them. You, who
depended upon their might, friendship, their aid and relied upon them,
remember. |
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Credit
Jan Trober for the above. |
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Jan 2008-6 |
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TAPS |
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January 27, 1926
December 30, 2007 Bom in Tamaha, OK. Enlisted in
the Navy March 24, 1944 in Tulsa,
OK. Boarded the Lowndes September 15,
1944 at Astoria, OR as a Sl/c. Watch station,
Division 3 boat crew and was a member of the Beach
Party that landed on the beach of Iwo Jima during
the battle of that island. Left the Lowndes May
1946 in Norfolk, VA. Honorable discharge from
the Navy, was a civilian for two years.
Re-enlisted in the Army Air Corps.(Became the United
States Air Force) Received a number of medals and Certificates. Served in many theaters
of WW II Including Iwo Jima and Okinawa
Campaigns. He was a member of the Iwo Jima
Survivors Association. Last active duty, January 31,
1966 at Condon AFB, Oregon. After his
retirement he enjoyed traveling, rock collecting,
gardening, furniture refinishing and telling war stories.
Jim got sick on his way home from the Biloxi
Reunion and could never overcome all the COPD
problems. He is survived by his wife Ina Mae, son
Charles Ross, daughter, Ann, 3 grandchildren,
and 1 great-granddaughter. |
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January 2, 1924 June 30, 2007 Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Enlisted
in the Navy on April 26, 1944 in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. He boarded the USS Lowndes
on September 14, 1944 (becoming a
Plank Owner) At Astoria, Oregon. He left the
Lowndes April 17, 1946 as a Shipfitter 3/c.
Larry worked with sheet metal for many years,
then was forced into early retirement when
we decided not to move with the company
to Colorado. Hr had no trouble finding
things to fill his time. He loved building model
airplanes. Still have one hung from the ceiling.
He also fixed up old cars. His favorite project
was restoring a ’57 Ford. Also enjoyed fishing
with his son David and granddaughter Marie.
They always came home with fish and stories.
He talked fondly of the crew and that the
USS Lowndes was a wonderful ship. He would
pull out the photo album and share stories
from his days on the ship. He is survived
by his wife of 56 years, Isabell, 4 children,
8 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. |