MOORE MEMORIES
USS BELL
ASSOCIATION (DD587)
APRIL, 2002
IN THIS ISSUE:
HAPPY SPRING
IN MEMORY
NOW HEAR THIS
MAILBAG
OF INTEREST
HAPPY SPRING TO EVERYONE
Well, here it is. Time to mark your calendars for another
good time reunion!
The dates for the reunion this year are
Wednesday October 23 through
Saturday October 26, 2002. The reunion
will be in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at the
Radisson Hotel. I am enclosing the
form for you to use to register or you can just give them a call. All the information is listed on the
form. The hotel is very nice and
provides complimentary airport shuttle to and from the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport. The Radisson is conveniently located at
I-10 and College Drive. Just ten minutes from
the airport and five minutes from the Central Business District. Shopping, dining and nightlife are all
within a three-block area of the hotel.
The room rate also includes a full breakfast in the hotel restaurant. I can tell you it is good. I tried it all!
All the activities haven’t been
completely arranged yet. I plan to
get everything set up in the next two or three weeks but wanted to get this
information out to you now. You
should receive the rest of the agenda very soon.
Top of page
IN MEMORY
Shipmate Tony
Calabria
passed away February 13,
2002. Tony passed peacefully at home with his loving wife Betty, his
six children, nine of his ten grandchildren and his great-grand daughter at his
side. The funeral was February 18th
in North Syracuse, NY.
I wish to advise you that my husband,
Graham M. Thorp died on 20 December
2001. It was all very
peaceful, as he never woke up after a heart operation. He was 82.
We both very much enjoyed our association with the USS Bell. I have many treasured memories of our
time with you all at the reunion at Baton Rouge. Thank you all for your friendship. Yours sincerely, Jennifer Thorpe
It is with great sadness that my
brother, sister, my mother’s dear friend Charles (Pete) Chapman and I announce
the sudden death of our mother and special friend, Irene, on Wednesday, April 3
after her return home from her annual six week vacation in Florida. Funeral services will be Monday, April 8, 2002 at 10:00 AM at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, 52 Spruce
Street, Winchendon, MA 01475. In lieu of flowers, the family request
memorial donations be made to one of the following charities in memory of Irene
Brouillette, Sister of the Presentation of Mary
Retirement Fund, Provincial House, 209 Lawrence Street, Methuen, MA 01844 or
Theresa N. Beauvais, Treasurer, Winchendon Historical
Society, P.O. Box 279, Winchendon, MA 01475-0279 or Winchendon Ambulance Fund,
P. O. Box 125, Winchendon, MA 01475-0125.
Many thanks to those who have already expressed their
sympathies and condolences on our sudden loss of our dear mother and friend,
Irene. Marc
Brouillette.
(Irene is the widow of Shipmate Albert
Brouillette)
Top of page
NOW HEAR THIS
TO ALL YOU BABY BOOMERS!
How nice it would be if you
would bring your father and/or mother or grandfathers and/or grandmothers to the
Bell reunion and find out more about World War II and what
these wonderful men sacrificed for our country.
We should show them the utmost honor and respect and celebrate with them
the reunion of shipmates from all across the country. You would have the best time of your
life! Think about it.
I want to thank
all of you that came to the reunion last year.
It was a wonderful time and I appreciate you bringing so many family
members. I do hope you will be able
to make this reunion and bring even more family.
I have to tell you it was wonderful to see the fourteen members from the
Capitanio family.
It was also great to see the Jimmy Faith family. It was his first reunion and he was
accompanied by his wife Louise and four daughters. And, many thanks to Michele Brice for
bringing her grandfather George Adams to his first reunion. Also attending for the first time was Ed Klenka and Jack and Roseann
Ogden. Looking forward to seeing
everyone in Baton Rouge where the Fais do do (fay-doe-doe) always has a
little Lagniappe (lan’-yap) especially after you’ve
had a big helping of boudin and crawfish gumbo! In other words, in Baton Rouge where the traditional Cajun dance is
something extra after a big helping of hot, spicy pork mixed with onions, and
herbs with a bowl of crawfish gumbo.
Top of page
MAILBAG
…...I want to let you know that I moved
from Colorado Springs to Boston as part of a
job change. I also wanted to let you
know I enjoy reading the history of the Bell and it’s various engagements in WWII. The Bell saw a lot of
action. My uncle Don Peters spoke very little about it but it was clear that it
affected him greatly. My father (the
youngest brother in the family) is now quite elderly and can’t recall much about
his own experiences in the Aleutians so it’s a
treat to see the recollections and stories. I was wondering if anybody has any
stories about my Uncle Don Peters? I think you had said most folks remember
him but not much about him. Any info
or stories would be appreciated.
Thanks for keeping us all up to date on the Bell. It’s a labor of love that is well
appreciated by friends and family of those who served on the Bell. Happy New Year and Best
Regards.
…..Greg Peters
NOTE:
If anyone has any information on Don Peters and would like to send it to
Greg, his address is: Greg Peters, Operations Manager –
Agilent
Technologies, Inc. – 101 Billerica Avenue, Building 4, North
Billerica, MA 01862-1256, or you can
send it to me and I will get it to him.
…...Dorothy and I really enjoy getting
the “MOORE MEMORIES” newsletter and we also appreciate the great job you are
doing. After leaving the Bell and the Navy
in Jan. 1946, I went to work for General Telephone Co of Mich., which became
GYE and more recently VERIZON. I
retired from there in 1977 after 31 years.
Dorothy and I have 4 children, 12 grand children, and 14 great grand
children and no end in site. I
thought you might like to know that I followed up on your very helpful
information last year and applied for the Ribbons & Medals for my time on the BELL. I received all them OK last fall but no
stars to go with 1 silver and 1 bronze.
But I got 2 COMBAT ACTION RIBBONS about a week apart last fall from D.C. so if
anyone needs or wants one, I’ll be glad to send it to them or maybe the
association could have some use for it.
Neither one of them had any way of fastening it to your clothing, just a bar
without a fastener. But, we all know
there is a right way, the wrong way and the NAVY way don’t we? By the way, there was another Hatch on
the Bell. I’m fairly sure his name was Elmer O.
(E.O.) I think he was from somewhere in Ohio. No close relative to me. He was an Electrician’s Mate. That’s about all I know about him. Well, by now I guess you can tell I’m not
much of a letter writer. Have a good
year and thank again for the Newsletter and a job well done.
…..Clyde & Dorothy Hatch
NOTE:
I have been looking for an Edgar O. Hatch. Possibly I have been looking for the
wrong person. My records are very
difficult to read for the most part and it looked like Edgar and I could read Indiana near his name.
I will try to locate an Elmer and maybe I will have some luck.
…..I enjoy receiving your MOORE
MEMORIES, thank you in advance. I went to one reunion in Cleveland. Maybe I’ll see you at some later reunion.
…..Arthur
Arbogast
…..I dialed 1-800-842-Bell and had the
pleasure of speaking to you! You
sound as charming as I expected the author of Moore Memories would have to be. You are doing an outstanding service. Thank you in advance for sending me
information on getting the awards due my husband, Edward.
…..Fran
Vershowske
Top of page
OF INTEREST
I have just
received from Clyde Hatch a copy of some correspondence between Graham Thorpe
and Shipmate Doug Wetherby. It seems quite appropriate at this time
and I would like to pass it along.
Dated
January 18, 1988
Dear Doug:
Many thanks for
your Christmas card and I hope that all goes well with you both in the New Year,
and that you enjoyed a happy Christmas.
Thank you for your note and I have inquired about David Cruickshank who
did live in Melbourne, some distance away from here. Unfortunately David died of cancer in
February which is a great shame. He
was, as you know, an extremely good soldier and an equally pleasant companion. Although we did not keep in close touch, everytime we did see each other it was as if we had always
been in touch. He did however live a
very cheerful and useful life. We do
hope to make one of the USS Bell reunions – this may not be for two years but we
are always hoping.
In the meantime best wishes to you all.
Kind regards, Graham.
From Doug to Graham…
Needless to say,
we all will miss David tremendously.
It was so great to have him attend the two reunions, Tulsa and St. Paul/Minneapolis. He always seemed to have a good time. Those of us who were able to attend those
reunions, I know, enjoyed him very much.
It was Wally Moore who eventually was able to locate David some 36 years
after David first came aboard the Bell on July 3, 1945.
We were in the Balikpapan, Borneo area supporting Australian Army landing
operations. Although he was aboard
the Bell for about 4 days, David left a lasting
impression on the officers and crew of the Bell.
Who could ever forget that great handle bar moustache that he had? He was a Captain in the Australian Army
and attached to the Australian Naval Bombardment Unit as a Bombardment Liaison
Officer. In David’s own words, he
described some of the events of those 4 days aboard the Bell.
As I recall the
Balikpapan operation, the Australian Battalion was
held up by Japanese fire on the airstrip.
My spotter ashore with the Battalion Commander called for fire on the
Japanese gun positions and after ranging in he called for continuous broadsides
from the
Bell to keep the Japanese heads down while
the Battalion regrouped, which it did very successfully. It was a very critical part of the
operation and is an excellent example of inter-service cooperation. It should be mentioned that the spotter,
Lieutenant Graham Thorp, received the Military Cross for bravery for his part in
the operation. He was located on a
tower on the airstrip and Japs did their utmost to
shoot him down, without success, fortunately for him and the Battalion. If I may, I would like to include an
amusing side to serving in United States ships.
Almost without exception, they were very proud of the ice cream they
produced and I was frequently asked how it compared with the ship I had just
left. This called for a diplomatic
answer in case what I said got back to the previous skipper. My stock reply was simply that “It’s
great”.
Undoubtedly,
most of us will remember what a treat it was when we did have ice cream. I don’t recall whether or not we did have
ice cream when David was aboard. I
think we all agree, however, having David aboard was “JUST GREAT”. Sincerely, Doug &
Terri.
****************************************
The following is
a dialog from a Tonight show with Johnny Carson and his guest Lee Marvin.
It goes something like this.
Johnny – “Lee,
I’ll bet a lot of people are unaware that you were a Marine in the initial
landing at Iwo Jima and that during the course of that action you earned the Navy
Cross and were severely wounded”.
Lee – Yeah,
yeah, I got shot square in the butt and they gave me the cross for securing a
hot spot about halfway up Suribachi. Bad thing about getting shot up on
mountain is guys getting shot hauling you down.
But Johnny, at Iwo I served under the bravest man I ever
knew. We both got the Cross the same
day but what he did for his Cross made mine look cheap
in comparison. The dumb cluck
actually stood up on Red Beach and directed his troops to move forward
and get the hell off the beach. That
Sergeant and I have been life long friends.
When they brought me off Suribachi we passed
the Sergeant and he lit a smoke and passed it to me lying on my belly on the
litter. “Where’d they get you Lee?”. “Well, Bob, if
you make it home before me, tell Mom to sell the outhouse.” “Johnny, I’m not lying, Sergeant Keeshan was the bravest man I ever knew. Bob Keeshan. You and the world knew him as Captain
Kangaroo.”
Top of page
Stay tuned … More
to follow very soon.
Remember: Keep It Simple!
