U.S.S.Lowndes (APA 154)

Fourth Annual Reunion

June 25 thru 28,1992

Location:

HARRISBURG MARRIOTT

4650 Lindle Road

Harrisburg,PA 17111

(717) 564-5511

The MARRIOTT is located 10 minutes from HARRISBURG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.

Upon arrival at the airport,use the MARRIOTT courtesy phone to advise them

of your arrival and a MARRIOTT driver will, pick you up at the airport.

By automobile,the MARRIOTT is 5 minutes from Exit 19 of the Pennsylvania

TurnpikeCRt. 76).At Exit 19 get 1-283 North to Rt.441 (Exit 1)

The MARRIOTT is 15 minutes from 1-81.From 1-81 take 1-83 South (Follow airport

signs),take Exit 1.

Reservations for the MARRIOTT must be made with the MARRIOTT by June 4,1992.

Rates:

$69.00 Single occupancy

$69.00 Double occupancy Note:These rates are subject to

$69.00 Triple occupancy 6% tax.

$69.00 Quadruple occupancy

A 20% discount in Ashleys,the MARRIOTT full service restaurant,will be given

to everyone associated with the U.S.S.Lowndes reunion.

Schedule:

Thursday 6/25/92. Registration & check-in at 3:00 PM.The evenings

activities in the hospitality room will include

our auction.

Friday 6/26/92. Tour Dutch country 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM,Business

meeting will be held starting at 8:00 PM.

Saturday 6/27/92. Tour Gettysburg 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM.Our banquet

will be held at 7:00 PM,preceded by picture taking.

Sunday 6/28/92. Breakfast Brunch at 8:00 AM.Room check-out is noon.

Note: The Dutch tour includes a ’’Pennsylvania Dutch Dinner”.

The Gettysburg Battlefield tour does not include lunch,but a lunch

stop will be made at a fast food restaurant.

Our bus is a motor coach with air conditioning and. toilet facilities.

Little walking is necessary on either of these tours.

Due to advance payment being required by the bus company,payment for

the tours as well as the banquet and breakfast will have to be made to

me by April 15,1992.Make your check payable to William L.Taylor.

U.S.S.Lowndes Reunion order Form

Amount

Enclosed

Pennsylvania Dutch Country Tour.$33 per person------------------------- $

Gettysburg Battlefield Tour.$20 per person----------------------------- $

Saturday’s Banquet & Sunday’s Breakfast.$33.50 per person — $

TOTAL $

Send check for total to: Bill Taylor

609 Sunset Drive

Elizabethtown,PA 17022

Please print your name and address on the back of this form when ordering.

(3)

As stated in a previous news letter, our "FOURTH ANNUAL USS LOWNDES

REUNION" will be held in Harrisburg, PA - June 25th thru June 28th,1992.

Our hosts will be Bill & Amelia Taylor. See page 2 for details. For your

convenience registration cards are enclosed. Anyone arriving in RV

vehicles, there is space available in the parking lot. No hook ups.

Harrisburg East Campground is located approximately 1 mile from the

Marriott. Full service facilities for motor homes & campers. A 15% discount

will be given to USS Lowndes personnel. Phone (717)939-4331.

I contacted the postmasters in Nebraska City, NE & Pueblo, CO in an effort

to locate relatives of Norman Richards & Donald Bowman. Did locate Mrs.

Dorothy Haling (Don’s Sister) & Mrs. Florence Richards (Norman’s Mother)

and she is a very charming person judging from the letters I have received

from her. She also gave me the addresses of her 3 children plus Fred

Brinkman’s address and through Fred's endeavors we were able to locate

Mrs. Haling. They have all been contacted and brought up to date with

past issues of news letters. Clark Martin has been in touch with the

Nimitz Museum and they suggest an earlier installation then 1995 for the

proposed memorial plaque. Will have to finalize the motion at our business

meeting in Harrisburg.

One thing that's really good about

procrastination is that you always

have something planned for tomorrow.

I have, once more, asked Agnes Bensie - CEO of the Lowndes Lovelies to

take charge of the auction this year.It was a great success last year

so let's get humpin' and make this year's better. If unable to attend

the reunion, send items to Agnes or me (Bud) and we will see that they

get to Harrisburg.

We are still looking for those favorite recipes to get the Lowndes cook

book on the road. How about it?

Hey! What is a 4-point Buck Farrow Hog? That's what John Jurica bagged

plus a coyote.

Answer to riddle in last news letter - "Nothing"

As curator of the Ventura County Maritime Museum I want to thank you

(E. Pilchard) for your generosity in sharing the two volumn history of

the USS Lowndes. It will be assigned to a place in our research

Collections. Richard W. Cunningham

Ventura County Maritime Museum

Oxnard, CA

Changing times: During the Gulf War 36 female sailors aboard the USS Acadia

Became pregnant, resulting in the ship being dubbed "The

Love Boat"

Clark Martin informs us that Bill Malloy, prior to WWII used to sneak

swims with the dolphins and has dubbed him Flipper.

Otto Walker says"Since all of his kids went to college he has to leave

the room, I'm not smart enough to converse with them"

State of W VA gave Otto and 110 veterans in the state free license

plates with the Pearl Harbor logo on them.

Congress has authorized a special medal to be given to Pearl Harbor

survivors.

(4)

RECOLLECTIONS OF SHIPMATES

BOB HENKELS- After watching MASH for years - I figure we did a lot of

meatbail surgery, especially after the Iwo Jima invasion. We picked up

a lot of casualties and the surgeons worked all night as we went out to

sea. I'm sure a lot of lives were saved as a result of the skills of the

surgeons. We didn't have too many seriously wounded after Okinawa.

JOHN VERNALE - We were carrying troops aboard ship. Gene Engle & I needed

money to gamble with the soldiers. We were partners and we tried to sell

shares in our venture, no one was interested. Gene & I sold our raincoats

for $10.00 each. Gene went towards the bow & I went towards the stern.

What a night that was, I made $600 & Gene made close to $1000. The guys

were sorry they didn't join us.

GEORGE KINDLE - We went to shore to pick up the mail in the Philippines.We

didn't return in time and the ship was underway, so we had to keep the

motor of the boat at full speed and pull up beside the Lowndes to

be picked up.

The funniest thing or one of the funniest was the night before we went

across the Equator and we got to pour it on the "Old Shell Backs"

"How well I remember" Bud.

Remember when they dropped my boat (#19) and the ship's boom fell

across my boat?

GENE ENGLE - About Vernale & I and the money we won. John was a better

poker player than I but I had better luck shooting craps. We decided if

we could get any money we would split what we made. We tried to sell shares

in our enterprise but could find no takers. To raise the needed funds

I sold my raincoat for $10.00. Armed with my ten bucks I got into a crap

game in #1 hold with some marines and sailors. When the game was over

I had won $780 and we were off & running. I won more & Vernale won. At

the end of the trip we split $4200. We thought we should rub it in a

little on the ones we tried to sell shares to, so when we were all together

John & I lit our cigarettes with dollar bills. When we got back to Frisco

we rented a suite at the St. Francis hotel and lived it up a little. I

think we were the only white hats in the place. More about Gene later.

JOHN JURICA - Bill Taylor & I had a 72 hour liberty so we decided to get

us a hotel room that night. If my memory serves me right it was in

Portland, Oregon. That night around 11 o'clock we bumped into Rauseo look

ing for a room so we told him to look us up if he didn't have any luck

getting one. Gave him the information. So some time after midnight he

wanders in. Bill let him in, never did wake me up. In the morning I was

first to get up. Walked into the bath room, there was a man sleeping in

the bath tub. Not thinking straight that early in the morning, went back

to the bedroom to ask Bill "who is that sleeping in the bath tub?" He

told me he opened the door for Rauseo. It made headlines when got back

aboard.

BUD KAUTZ - Yes, I have one too. Remember, we were served ice cream twice a

week,then it was cut down to once a week, then even less than that?

Brokenshire was in charge of the ice cream machinery. It was decided by

"A" division that something very mysterious had gone wrong with the ice

cream maker and we had to transport the containers of goodies to the

evaporator room to prevent spoilage. Sure had a feast, never saw anybody

pack it away like Dallas Stratton. Gee! We all felt sorry for the officers

at ward room mess, they weren't able to have their daily refreshment.

Fellows, dig into your memory banks & send me your recollections.

(5)

WHERE WERE YOU ON DECEMBER 1, 1941?

GENE ENGLE - I and three friends were out car riding. I was at the tender

age of 16 and really knew very little about Pearl Harbor. After hearing

that the Japanese had bombed. We got to a radio to find out what was

going on. After things got settled down a little I was afraid the war

would be over before I got in. Watched too many John Wayne movies I guess.

JOHN VERNALE - My wife was at home and I was with my buddies, it certainly

was a shocker.

OTTO WALKER - I was at N.A.S Kaneche Bay, Territory Hawaii. Experienced

three air raids, two fighter and 1 bomber raid. Whew!

BOB HENKEL - I was aboard the USS Astoria (CA 34) south and west of Pearl

Harbor - We were part of a task force with Admiral Bill Halsey and the

Enterprise. I wrote to my family on Dec. 5th telling them we were getting

underway the next day at 1000 hours. Our group without the Enterprise

had recently returned from Manilla around Thanksgiving. When the word

was received about Pearl - SM Officer decided to inoculate the crew with

tetanus toxoid. That is how I spent the day, working with the surgeons.

GEORGE KINDLE - This is merely a guess, I was either in a CC Camp or

Working for Lee C. Moore Co. in Tulsa

JOHN JURICA - I was a telephone operator on duty at a 2 man switchboard

in San Diego. When Pearl Harbor was attacked the board lit up like an

XMAS tree. Later that morning there was an incoming call, "This is the

President of the United States let me talk to the Captain of the

base".John "Yes sir" I couldn’t very well tell him the captain is too

busy fighting a war. What would he have said?

JIM FRIEDEN - The whole family were sitting in the living room listening

to the radio and Walter Winchell came on saying the Japs had bombed Pearl

Harbor in Hawaii. I was only sixteen at the time.

MAGGIE FRIEDEN - My brother and Ihad gone to the picture show and the

show owner shut the film off and came in and said the Japs had bombed

Pearl Harbor and everyone should go home and all boys 18 and older should

report to their draft boards. Well you can bet they all went home first.

GEORGE TUPPAN - Went to a flying strip to watch a friend of mine take

lessons. He was up in the air when another plane came from no where and

motioned my friend to land. We were standing alongside the radio shack

and were informed that Pearl Harbor had been bombed and only military

planes were allowed to fly. I raced home, my parents had not heard the

news until we turned on the radio. About 3:00PM the President came on

with the news.

BUD - I was home and just one word to be said "STUNNED !”

MORE RECOLLECTIONS

ART RAUSEO - I, Taylor & Jurica transferred from the USS DEEDE #263 in

the Philippines to Seattle, WA. I went to the NAS for guard duty. Met

Bill & John on liberty, I couldn't find a place to stay in town,went tothe

hotel they were staying at. No place but the bath tub to sleep in.

Woke up a little stiff but none the worse for wear.

GEORGE TUPPAN - It was the day I walked up the gang plank of the Lowndes

and became one of the crew.

(6)

ADDITIONS TO ROSTER

Mrs. Dorothy Haling (Donald W. Bowman’s Sister)

5000 Red Creek Springs Road

Space 189

Pueblo, CO 81005

(719) 544-7840

Mrs. Florence Richards (Norman R, Richard’s Mother)

1303 6th Corso

Nebraska City, NE 68410

Fred P. Brinkman PhM

1140 Greenvalley Lane Columbia, SC Roberta (803) 772-5296

Fred Executive director, South Carolina Department of Parks & Tourism

retired last December

Pete Cisneros

P.O. Box 1261 Hidalgo, TX Ercilia (512) 843-2611

Henry McNamee Winter Address

725 Kingsway Circle 1708 Heron Point Lake Suzy, FL

CHANGES

Dorothy Groh 653 Dane St. Woodstock, IL 60098 (815) 337-6909

Alice Pollock P.O. Box 66 Pleasant Valley, NY 12569 (914) 635-3720

Bill Ramsey 925 S. Davis St. McMinneville, OR 97128

George Tuppan

Area Code 213 to 310

Jerome Robert Frieder

William H. Pollock July 10, 1991

Joseph G. Young December 26, 1991

We extend our sympathy to the families.

Joe Young- Went to college (GI Bill) BSBA 1949. Middle-mgmt, in trucking

Ind. for 3 major firms from *49 to '71. Hired as college professor.

Organized, promoted & taught a transportation Mgmt, program '71 to '84,

retired. Consulting at Daley College & industrial firms.

Delta Nu Alpha lifetime member. MED(votec) '79 University of Illinois.

Good luck to Bob Hazelett with his new pacemaker & Cliff Schaffer (Cataract surgery)

Hope all is well with Rhonal Shy after his stay in the hospital. S. Brokenshire

had floating objects removed from his back & also lost about 1 inch of his ear. Take care.

THE FOLLOWING ARE PLANNING ON ATTENDING THE 4th REUNION

Fred & Roberta Brinkman Bud & Jean Kautz Dallas&Lorene Stratton

Jim & Margaret Frieden Clark & Eve Martin Bill & Amelia Taylor

Alonzo &0neice Hodgson Leo & Margaret O’Brien John & Sally Vernale

Bob & Florence Henkel Art & Margaret Rauseo Dan & Lera Wisdom

"That’s It"