Mar. 2004-1

U. S. S. LOWNDES - APA 154

March 2004 Newsletter

Wm. “Bud” Kautz, CCBW- 34782 Hiawatha Trail, McHenry, IL 60051 (815)344-6326

e-mail: REDLABELBUDDHA@aol.com

Our 2004 Reunion will be in Branson, MO on Sept. 30 thru Oct. 3, 2004

Details to follow in future newsletters.

Please fill out the enclosed stamped and addressed post card as quickly as

possible, we need a count of the attendees to enable the reunion coordinator to

make the proper arrangements for a successful reunion. Your cooperation will be

appreciated.

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The rate for the hotel is $80.00 per night, this rate will apply for three days before

and after the reunion. When making reservations please be sure to

mention the U.S.S. Lowndes Reunion. As noted in the enclosed

brochure from the Radisson Hotel Branson each room has remote control TV, coffee

maker, hair dryer (important item for your editor) and an iron/board plus voice mail for

those so inclined to take advantage of it. Also for the health minded members, an

indoor/outdoor pool, sauna and hot tub. There are several eating places in the hotel.

Also 10 restaurants and shopping malls within 3 miles of the hotel. For the reunion

members flying in, they will need to fly to the Springfield/Branson Regional Airport. A car

rental or a bus is available to go to the Hotel. Information regarding the bus service and

prices will follow. The airport is approximately 59 miles from the hotel.

The average temperature in Branson during

September is 69 degrees in October is degrees.

Highs: September 76-85 degrees October 64-75 degrees

Mary has made the following suggestions regarding our stay in Branson, as of

this date they are only to give everybody an idea of the tours and activities involved for

our reunion. A more detailed itinerary will be forthcoming.:

Thursday: A meet and greet pizza or sandwiches around 6:00 PM.

Friday: Tour of the College of the Ozarks. Dinner theater.

Saturday: Tour of the Veterans Memorial and maybe visit museums.

There are so o o many shows to choose from and still not make a dent in

what there is to do and see.

Also looking into a cruise boat around the lake and see a show in the evening.

These are only possibilities that Mary is checking on.

We should have a great time in Branson as we did in Biloxi.

Mar. 2004-2

Bill Ramsey

Thanks for the newsletter this last

month. I find that I have little to contribute but I

was interested in Dr. Dunbar’s son wishing to

connect with someone who knew his Dad. III

try to do that connecting since I have a

snapshot of him. We will see what comes of

that. Rosemary and I are unable to do much

traveling anymore so we do what we can with

what we have and are grateful to be not

knocking at the doctor’s door for help.

David Brinkman

In the summer of 2002, I talked to

Lowndes Shipmate James Ross about the Joe

Rosenthal pillbox photo on Yellow beach of Iwo

Jima (which my Dad had identified, as the

medical evacuation station is of the Lowndes).

Jim said the only nationally published photo

involving the Lowndes (that he knew of) was a

photo that appeared in Colliers Magazine that

showed one of the Lowndes landing boats

broached in the surf at Iwo Jima next to a jeep

that was also stuck in the sand. Jim said he lost

the photo some years back. About a year after

talking to Jim , I came across a 1946 Colliers

Book in an internet auction (ebay) that included

a collection of their photos from WWII. I decided

to bid on it and being the only bidder, I got it for

$10.00. When I received the book, I went

straight to the Iwo Jima photos and there it

was...Just as Jim had described. I’ve attached

the photo and you can also find it on the Web

site at:

www.usslowndes.net/lowndes/misc/boat21.htm

Now the question is, who knows the

story of Boat # 21 at Iwo Jima? I’ll give an 11

inch Revell Model of the USS Haskell Class

Attack Transport ship (not built yet) to whoever

gives me the best information. Good luck.

Ed. Note: See Gordon Buck's article on

page 3 of this newsletter.

Ed. McKellar has made a donation to

the Lowndes model fund.

Office of the Governor

The Honorable Joseph E. Kernan,

Governor, State of Indiana

Requests the pleasure of your company

At the Indiana National Guard

Assumption of command ceremony

For Major General R. Martin Umbarger

On Saturday, the twentieth of March, 2004

At eleven o’clock

Indiana War Memorial, North Plaza

431 North Meridian Street

Indianapolis, Indiana

Reception follows in the

Indiana War Memorial

The above invitation was received

announcing the promotion of Marty. As you will

recall, Marty and his wife Rowana hosted the

2002 reunion in Indianapolis. Unfortunately we

were not able to attend this function.

Congratulations.

How many hot dogs dQ. Americans

consume each year?

Mar. 2004-3

Reta Freitas

Just received an e-mail from David

Brinkman as follows: “It’s official, the

Lowndes model will be back in the South

Carolina State Museum in June for a year

long D-Day exhibit. She will represent the

APA’s.”

From Fritz Hamer, director Museum.

“Great timing, David. Yes, we still

want to borrow the Lowndes model. I would

like to get the model sometime in the middle

of May. We open June 5.”

Julia Jurica

Hope everybody is Ok. As for us,

we’re doing well so far. Only think old age is

coming too fast. John caught after me now,

he is 85 and I made 86.

Don’t remember you two carrying that

many years, keep it going.

Darby Hinton

Yes, Lt, Ed. Hinton was my father and

thank you (David) for the picture of him. He

married Hal Roach’s daughter. He was killed

in a plane crash in 1958, when I was only a

year old. So I don’t know too many stories

about him. I guess the wife that went on the

ship during the cake incident was his first

wife, Maggie. It would be great to hear more

about him. David, I checked out the website

on the Lowndes. You have done a great job.

Thanks for your time and effort.

Ed. Note: The cake incident was

described in a previous newsletter. I’m sure

Ed. McKellar was the individual that sent the

tale to me. Also on page 5 of this NL is a

brief tale I have quoted for the benefit of

crew members. Darby was the little blonde

boy in the 1960’s show “Daniel Boone”.

Another tidbit re Lt. Hinton, He was “Errol

Flynn’s Double and stand in. More

information about him will be in a future

newsletter, along with other notable

Lowndes shipmates.

Well, here it is spring again and feels

good to be up. (They must be in California.)

\Ne would like to be able to come to this

year’s reunion in Branson but do not know if

we could make it. We would enjoy it but, It’s a

long trip. Our good friend arthritis just does

not seem to want us to go far. Would like to

come but I’m not able to walk as far as I used

to. Joe is better at walking then I am. Our

family is growing too, have three great

grandchildren and another one do this month.

They all are doing fine and in good health.

Good luck and may God bless you all.

Gordon Buck

In response to David Brinkman’s

question regarding Boat #21, I remember

seeing it idling 100 yards off shore waiting for

a signal to come into the beach to pick up

casualties. When it nearly reached the beach

and lowered its ramp it took a nearby mortar

shell which damaged the ramp so that it

wouldn’t raise. The waves shoved the stem

toward the beach which made it impossible for

the coxswain to back out. I think he jumped

overboard and tried to shove the stern

seaward but was unable to budge it by

himself. I think he climbed aboard the next

LCVP that hit the beach...I don’t think it was

one of the Lowndes’. If anyone hears from the

coxswain that was piloting #21, I would be

curious to know if this is the one I remember

or is this stage III of dementia?

Ed. Note: I have incomplete records

that show W. Proctor, G. Kindle, G. Dudash,

C. Schaffer, H. Robles & Johnson as

members of that crew. Too many? Can

anyone set the record straight?

Aoccdmig to research at

Cmaabrigde Uinervtsy, it deosn’t mttaer in

what order the Itteers in a word are, the only

ipmoetnt thing is that the frist and Isat Itteer be

at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total

mses and you can still raed it wouthit porbelm.

This bcuseae the human mind deos not raed

ervey Iteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Mar. 2004-4

Mitchell Chasteen

Immediately after completing 30 days of

boot camp at Great Lakes I was sent to a small

Naval Base in Astoria, Oregon. That was in

November 1942. I was there almost 2 years.

During that time I saw all the CVE’s and then

the APA’s get their first crews. Kaiser built

them in Portland then came down to Astoria,

which was at the mouth of the Columbia River.

The base was actually built on a pier that the

ships tied up to on their short stay in Astoria.

While there I became a radio striker and

eventually made RM3c. My long stay Astoria

ended November 14, 1944 when I boarded the

Lowndes. (The rest is history). I was home (St.

Louis) on a 7 day leave when the war ended,

returned to the ship, of course. After our return

from Amori, Honshu, in October 1945 I was

discharged. The following April my wife,

Norma, and I married. We’ll celebrate our 58^th

wedding anniversary April 27, 2004. I retired

from McDonnell Douglas in 1987. We have 3

children, 1 is a retired Marine Captain, 7

grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.

(Fortunately Christmas only comes once a

year.)Norma and I are still in relatively good

health and very much excited about the

upcoming reunion in Branson, Mo. Hopefully it

will be in the early and warmer part of October.

At any rate, keep us posted on the details.

Always enjoy hearing from the rest of the crew.

Bill Bornhorst

In late November 1944 I was in Fort

Pierce, Florida in amphibian training. We were

assigned into landing craft crews of four men

and spent most of our time beaching and

retracting ALCMs. After Thanksgiving we were

shipped out by way of Chicago and went to

Seattle, WA. We arrived by troop transport and

were put up in Tent City. Most of our time was

spent unloading cargo ships. One day myself

and some other seamen (unknown) were sent

to the USS Lowndes. We were placed in the

deck crew - don’t remember what section.

Now comes my “training”. Later I was told I

was in the Beach Party, I was given fatigues

with a big yellow circle printed on them. I

thought I had finally got lucky because I had

heard of beach parties where we went ashore

and got some warm beer and played baseball!

But, when I started to see the Marines topside

looking at plans of an island with a mountain

on it, I knew it was “Iwo” and after several

group meetings, my balloon was busted and I

knew what I was getting into. I was issued a

carbine and the invasion was on. We went

ashore on the second day and the first thing I

saw when we landed was a Marine with one

leg missing! He was being evacuated on our

boat. We were on the beach for 7 days. I saw

the flag go up and then a larger one replacing

it. I spent my 19^th birthday, Feb. 28 on Iwo until

we were taken off on an LST. I went on liberty

with Shy, Hail and Seneras, who drew some

pictures for the captain. Shy was wounded on

Iwo but, did get back to the Lowndes. I was

about to be discharged when aboard the USS

Gentry (which by the way was cut in half by a

flat top). We were tied up in Norfolk and while

topside one day I saw the Lowndes being

towed in. Went aboard - she had been

stripped down and was a sad sight. Didn’t

know anyone there, but I will never forget her.

David Brinkman

Please note that in the Lowndes

calendar I used asterisks where there was not

enough space to list all crewmen arrivals and

departures on a certain day. If you look at the

blocks after the last day in the month, you will

see corresponding asterisks and all the names

listed there. Sept. ’44 and April ’46 are the

main places where I did this. Even doing this,

there was not enough room to list all the crew

so I limited it to the current muster list of the

reunion group.

Great job, David. Very interesting and

informative.

Don Lorenzi

Enclosed my 2004 dues. All’s great at

this end. Hope to make the Branson reunion

this year.

Americans consume 3.1 billion pounds

of hot dogs each yea, Yz the world’s production.

Mar. 2004-5

Notes from your editor

During the reunion in Biloxi, MS we

visited the National D-Day Museum in New

Orleans, Louisiana, “America’s National

World War II Museum”. The Museum

preserves many artifacts, documents and

history to educate the American people about

experiences in combat and on the home front

during World War II. This to ensure that

future generations will understand the

magnitude of the American contribution to the

Allied victory and sacrifices made to preserve

freedom and democracy. The National D-Day

Museum is the only one in the United States

whose exclusive purpose is interpreting the

American experience during 1939-1945 on

the battlefront by all branches of the Armed

Forces and Merchant Marines and the home

front. It is devoted to combat experience of

US citizen personnel in all theaters of the

war. The Museum has the largest personal

history collections of men and women who

fought in WWII and served on the home front.

Ed. Note: Repeat information, this is the

Museum where a brick has been installed

into the floor in memory of Martin. J. Rezza.

Also on display is an LC VP landing craft. I’m

sure that it brought back many memories to

the Lowndes crew members.

A little tale regarding an experience I

had with Lt. Hinton, took over as executive

officer after Lt. Comm. Berner was

transferred to a shore hospital. We had pulled

into Pearl Harbor and I was elected to go

ashore and bring back some goodies for the

guys hanging out in the evaporator room. Lt.

Hinton had put out the edict that anyone with

a beard was not allowed liberty. I decided to

contest this ruling and went into his office

proclaiming that it was properly trimmed.

Previously I had no problem when aboard the

Reid. The Lt. Asked me if I wanted liberty,

Liberty, no beard, no liberty, beard OK. As I

turned to leave the office I opened my big

mouth, “Mustache, OK?” His reply, “Sailor,

you are treading on mighty thin ice. “ I shaved

the beard, but kept the mustache, by the way,

it was a pretty good handle bar one, that I

wore until I was discharged. Stuart Hyde

among others may remember how Exec.

Berner was on the Lt. regarding his black

mustache and called him the mascara kid.

There are stories regarding my mustache,

but only I can relate the true one.

Lawrence Bandzak

You’re not going to believe this, but

here goes. I was in R division in the same

shop as the carpenters and motor macs were.

I was appointed to keep the smaller hand

bilge water pumps operating when we had

general quarters. Well to go on I’d like to tell

you my working life before going aboard the

Lowndes. Worked in Bremerton Ship Yard for

2 years before joining the Navy. I worked on a

few ships that were damaged at Pearl Harbor

at first and fastened a stainless steel panel

about 10 feet wide all around one of the 3

inch dual turrets on one of the decks of the

carrier USS Enterprise CVN 65, she was on

the other side of the dock of the USS West

Virginia and USS California Battleships. We

worked on a new escort carrier that

transported new planes and pilots into the

troubled areas. Then the aircraft carrier USS

Lexington came in, she had a hole in her two

or three times bigger than was in the USS

Cole with the biggest I beam welded across

it. An airplane came in about 10:00 o’clock at

night with a torpedo and just cleared the flight

deck. It was quite a mess in the in the last

hold where they kept cold storage supplies.

Another fellow and I had the job of tearing out

the galvanized metal. All this work was done

while she was in dry dock. That’s quite a trick

putting a ship into dry dock , like magic.

**Have you seen how they do that? That took

us a long while fitting the sheet metal with

phenalic screws, etc. After that I felt I was out

of the service long enough, so I went to

Seattle and enlisted. I tried getting an S/F rate

while on the Lowndes but my officer wouldn’t

think of it. He finally gave me the test and told

me I had passed. He asked me how come I

knew so much about ships, I told him he didn’t

listen to me before.

Ed. Note: **Yes, Larry, I’ve been

through that experience twice with my

destroyer, the USS Reid.

Mar. 2004-6

Duty Medical Officer: Lt (jg) Dunbar. Duty SK: McManus, SK2c.

Duty PhM: Nerison,' Phlilc. Duty MAA: Schaffer, UoMM3c.

Duty Yeoman: , Chilcote, Yle.

0320 Call PPO’s and DU'3.

0330 Reveille. Call all hands’. Trice up bunks.

0345-0515 Breakfast.

Davit boat crews, davit winch crev/s, and Demonstration debarking troops

will eat at tha head 01 the chow line.

0430-0515 Breakfast will be served to officers in the wardroom.

0515 General quarters (morning alert).

0600 Approximate time for setting condition 1-Able.

0630 Approximate time for arrival in the transport area.

Demonstration troops will be embarked and davit boats will be lowered

away as ordered.

0815 Sick call for ship's company.

0?00 Sick call for troops.

1115 Mess gear.

1130 Chow. Troops will eat immediately after ship's company.

1300 Turn to—continue ship's work.

1400 Wardroom will bo reserved for marine officers for briefing period.

1600 Evening sick call for troops.

1615 Moss gear.

I63O Supper. Troops will eat immediately after ship’s company,

1730 Supper for officers in the wardroom.

15 minutes prior to Sunset: Darken ship.

Sunset General quarters (evening alert).

1900 Evening sick call for ship’s company.

1930 Eight o’clock reports to tho Executive Officer.

2125 Tattoo.

2130 Taps.

Memo randuras:

1

1. Besides regular watch standers, all hands on deck will keep alert and

vigilant at all times for any suspicious objects in the water, day or night,

such as floating boxes or floating mines. The enemy have approximately 500

20-foot motor-torpodo boats in this area and may be expected to approach the

ship at any time of day or night at either high speeds, or possibly stealthily

at night under power of muffled oars. ANY MAN NOTING ANYTHING 17HATEVER OF A

SUSPICIOUS NATURE IN THE i.’ATER SURROUNDING THE SHIP ’/ILL REPORT SAME TO THE

BRIDGE AT ONCE.

2. All hands must be prepared to expect a possible attack by air-craft, by

surface craft, or by submarine, suddenly, without warning. All hands will wear

their life belts or have them witliin handy reach at all tines.

3* While we are in this objective area, NOTHING WHATEVER will be thrown

overboard from this ship at any time, day or night.

4. DO NOT REMOVE BATTLE LANTERNS FROM THEIR BRACKETS. Those lanterns uro

located in important places for use in emergency only. They may well prove to be

the means for saving your life.

5. Blue hats and dungaree trousers and shirts will be worn at all times on

weather decks. Mutilated or sleeveless shirts will not be allowed.

CONSERVE FRESH WATER.

Any man wishing to strike for Quartermaster, please report to the ship's

- 7

HARRISON GARDNER, Executive Officer.