July 2007-1

U.S.S. LOWNDES - APA 154

JULY 2007 NEWSLETTER

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

E mail: redlabelbuddha@comcast.net

The photo below is just a reminder of one instance in the history of our ship during its

participation during WW II. Does it bring back any memories? Photo from D. Macpherson album

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right

l op Row - Combat Action Ribbon - American Campaign Medal

Bottom Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (1) - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Medal

I would like to remind all recipients of this issue of the newsletter that we should put our

thinking caps on to decide where and when our next reunion in 2008 will be. Jan Trober has been

doing a fantastic job for the last several years with the assistance of Mary Gebhart and Angela

Turin and we certainly appreciate their efforts. We shouldn t drop everything regarding our

reunions on their shoulders. I personally would not like this reunion to be placed among the past

historical memories of our great ship.

We have not received many postcards asking for the intentions of our shipmates and family

members attending our reunion in St. Louis, MO. Please return them as soon as possible so the

reunion organizers will be able to act accordingly for a successful get together.

July 2007-2

Harley Workman

I was a WT3c in B division under Lt.

Flagg. I boarded the Lowndes in Pearl Harbor

on her maiden voyage. Those years were a

special learning experience in my life. Lt. Flagg

was a very special person, an excellent leader

and understanding person. I was on watch in

the engine room with a sailor named Yantz

who was on condenser watch where sea water

is changed to fresh water. Lt. Flagg asked

Yantz what he was doing? Tm on condenser

watch, sir. The Lt. asked him, "Where is it?

Yantz replied, It s around here some place.

The Lt. smiled and said, Come with me and I ll

show you. He was one of the best. I also

noticed how fast the rubber heels wore out on

those steel decks and the water for drinking

was so pure it didn t quench your thirst. The

first time we returned to Pearl Harbor I bought

2 cases of heels and 3 cases of packets of

kool-ade. Boy! Did I become popular. I will be

87 next May and walk with a cane. I do miss

my old shipmates, Whitey Wahlberg, John

Veal and Frank Miller. Among others. I always

wanted to attend the reunions but something

always happened and so I hope some time in

the future.

Haven t located Wahlberg, veal and

Miller has since passed away.

Don aS'd Lore ms

Bud, you re asking the impossible, I

can t remember being on the ship let alone

what may have happened. What does come to

mind is the crossing of the equator and the

planned activities. A lot of sailors put on a great

show. Prior to the crossing and unknown to me

at the time, Meeker (my boss) was trying to

make an electric chair to be used on we

polliwogs being dumped into the make shift

pool. As I recall he was working with a Model T

spark coil and was having a problem and I

curiously stepped in and helped, again not

knowing what it s intended use would be. A few

days before the big day I got word that Meeker

was building an electric chair to be used on us

lowly polliwogs. I threw the damn thing

overboard. I strongly denied this dastardly act,

but Meeker seemed to know better. So my

punishment on the big day I had to strip down

to my skivvies, wear my pea coat and stand

watch down in the propeller shaft until I was

called upon. The only recall I have of this great

affair has been through pictures. I was totally

removed. Then came the big moment, I heard

like a POW and I was led to the garbage

tunnel. The executioners laid aside their

padded paddles and got out baseball bats. I

don t know how long they kept me in that

garbage but I went in 6 ft 3 in and came out 5 ft

6 in. However, when I got to the electric chair it

didn t work. I did however get dumped into the

pool and by this time I sure did need cleaning

Do the above photos bring back memories?

Good or bad?

July 2007-3

SPEAKER TELLS HOW JAPS WERE

FOOLED BY OKINAWA ACTION

One of the Now it can be told stories of

the war concerns the fooling of the Japs in the

invasion of Okinawa Capt. George L. Drennan,

USNR, in an address at the meeting of the

Lions Club told the story, as his ship, the

U.S.S. Lowndes, was one of the big fleet that

feinted a sham landing off the southwest

corner of the island. In this move 20, 000 men

were put into landing craft and started for the

shore. The Japs fell for the ruse and pulled

their artillery from the prepared defenses at the

spot where the real landing was to occur. The

troops which took part in the fake landing,

turned back to the ship a thousand yards from

the shore.

No Landing Casualties

Meanwhile the real landing was underway,

and the forces reached the beach without

encountering artilliery fire; there were no

casualties on the beach, due to the fact that

the Japs had been outsmarted. Before going to

Okinawa the Lowndes took 365 casualties from

Iwo Jima to Guam. Dr. Drennan, as senior

medical officer on the ship, had charge of the

work of 40 hospital corpsmen and five other

doctors in handling the casualties. All of the

wounded showed a good spirit and would not

complain. They co-operated with the medical

officers and were in turn given helpful

suggestions for rehabilitation. Dr. Drennan

made the rounds of the sick bay twice daily,

talking personally with the wounded men. The

loading of the ship, the training of the crew,

and the experiences on shipboard, constituted

an education. The Lowndes crew of 300, and

at the start only 75 had had sea experience.

There were additional men in the boat crews

and the beach party.

The above is an excerpt from a book

authored by Marjorie Black Drennan wife of the

Dr. Dr Drennan passed away just three days

after his 62^nd birthday in 1960. The good doctor

boarded the Lowndes Sept. 14, 1944 Making

him a Plank Owner, He left Oct. 24, 1945.

Jan Przybylski

I am the daughter of Ralph Pollard

Trafton (aboard the Lowndes during WW II

and Iwo Jima). My Dad passed away last

December and I am looking for photos of him.

David, I think I found one on your web site.

It s on page 5 of the pictures of the war?

(picture 10 ?) It s a group shot. I love the site.

It s awesome. I did not know until two weeks

before my father died that he was even on

the ship. He never talked about that to us. In

fact, he didn t even tell me. He told my

husband, who later told me. Since then, I ve

been researching info on the subject.

Does anyone remember Ralph and

have any photos of him that they can send to

Jan?

614 Lupine Drive

Moses Lake, WA 98837

jan.przybylski@juno. net

Bonnie Welker White

My Dad Harley Max Welker, served as

a coxswain (landing boat operator) on the

Lowndes from December 1, 1945 through

December 17, 1945. Can any of his former

shipmates provide information regarding

him? I would appreciate any sent to me.

Harley passed away October 1986 so he

didn t get a chance to join the reunion group

but I know he would be happy to see his

photos alongside the other great pictures and

information we have on the web site. Harley

mentioned in his notes the following buddies:

Cl;arence E. Whatley, Robert Ellis Tonge and

Jones, (Dick?)

108 E. State St.

Astoria, IL 61501

1-309-329-2669

bonbon@logonix. net

To view about 24 photos that Bonnie

has shared with us go to:

http://www. usslowndes. net/lowndes/welker

July 2007-4

Jack Lotsey

Doctor Dunbar taught four of us medical

subjects on the way to Iwo Jima every day.

Very interesting. However after the troops left

we were shoveling trash overboard and I

retrieved a pair of boots and cut them off as

shoes and he threatened to court martial me

and I said go ahead, and he backed off. Good

friends after that. Donald Bowman took my

place on the beach party. He wanted to swap

and I said to ask the commander and he got

the OK. I was sorry to learn about Donald at

Iwo.

A bit of trivia regarding Iwo Jima. Before

l/VW II the island was called Iwo To (pronounced

ee-who-toh ) by the original1,000 inhabitants

who lived there and want to reclaim an identity

they say had been hi-jacked by high profile

movies like Clint Eastwood s Flags of Our

Fathers , Letters from Iwo Jima . The new

name, Iwo To was recently adopted by the

Japanese Geographical Survey Institute in

consultation with Japan s Coast Guard. Actually

it was Japanese navy officers who moved in to

fortify the island mistakenly called it Iwo Jima

and the name stuck. Both versions have the

same meaning, Sulphur Island but with a

different sound.

Elmer Trevillyan

I found some news items I didn t

remember having. I m pretty well beat up. My

left elbow has a couple of bones rubbing

together and is kind of crooked,

Elmer sent several old California

newspaper clippings dated January 28, 1968.

The first page has a photograph of Bill Fox

playing golf with several other guys when 3 to 5

of snow fell. I guess that s what you can call die

hards. Bill has since passed away.

Marlene Rizza Schadler

Yes, Bud, I want to remain on the

Lowndes e mail and mailing lists. Ronald and I

really enjoy all of the informative items that you

send. I especially liked the one about the dollar

bill.

I can t take credit for the dollar bill info. I

received it from one of the shipmates via e mail

and merely forwarded it to Marlene.

David Brinkman

Every now and then I do some searching

on the internet for Lowndes related information

and recently came across this very interesting

Memoir of Marjorie Black Drennan (Wife of the

late main doctor George Drennan). This has a

copyright of 1980 but I think it was made from a

recorded interview in 1974. There can be found

some Navy stories of Dr. Drennan throughout

the document. This is a PDF file. I m sure Stuart

Hyde can open this. When I get time, I will

extract the Lowndes related stories and place

them on the Web Site (the document states that

it can be freely quoted from the text.

Lo and behold David, I was able to pull up

that Web Site. Will miracles never cease. See

page 2007-3 of this issue of the newsletter and

there is an excerpt from the document that David

is referring to. Sometimes this old geezer is able

to do something worthwhile doing, not too often

trying to master this computer business. Thanks

to the younger generation like David to keep

many details of the Lowndes activities during

WW II on the internet for all to be able to keep,

historically, abreast of our ship.

Sally Cary

I haven t been able to do much lately as

we only had one computer running and there

were four people using it and since I only read

my e mails about once a month I was never on it.

We have also been stricken with health problems

with my daughter, Bette. She can hardly stand

and uses a wheel chair most of the time. Just

heard from my sister-in-law that a large tree fell

on their house and they lost three rooms. The

den where a 2 year old was sleeping had a lot of

insulation on her, but she didn t suffer any injury

and was fine. Glad this happened in the summer

and not during the winter.

July 2007-5

Joe Erlandson

Joe was born

February 13, 1924 in

Minneapolis, MN and

passed away on

January 14, 2007

after a battle with

COPD. Enlisted in

the Navy November

1942 and boarded

the Lowndes Sept.

16, 1944 at Astoria,

Oregon

as a coxswain and left on December 1945 in

San Francisco as a BM2/c. His watch station

was on the bridge as BM of the Watch and

as lookout. General Quarters station was on

one of the 40 mm guns. He was a member of

the Beach Party. He served on the DD 527

previous to joining the Lowndes. In civilian

life he was a truck driver for 11 years and at

Brunswick Corp, a carpenter mechanic for 11

years, 20 years with Hennipen Parks. He is

survived by his Wife, Betty, 3 children and 5

grand children.

Donald Herbert Furth

Donald Passed away on March 11,

2007. He was with his Sue, his wife of 56

years. He was born and raised in Los

Angeles, California. He served as a RMl/c

on the Lowndes. Boarded the ship on

September 14, 1944 making him a Plank

Owner. Left the ship on April 17, 1946. He

returned to California to complete his

college degree in mathematics at UC

Berkley. Don joined IBM in 1954 at the

threshold of the age of computer

technology, transferred to New York in

1958 where he and Sue raised their three

children. When Don retired in 1986, he and

Sue moved to Surry, Maine, where they

reveled in life. He was an excellent tennis

teacher and a shrewd cribbage player.

Survived by his wife, three children and

five Grand children and three great grand

children.

No other information available

regarding his service aboard the Lowndes