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USS Francis Marion APA-LPA 249 “Swamp Fox News”News Letter #1
- Volume 1 - December, 2001
Web page: http://www.ussfrancismarion.comPresident/ Treasurer/ Secretary: Committee
Members: Vice President: Bob Martin Tom Clossey Wayne Rogers16 Staples St. Dick Gagnon 53 Fernandez Cir.Melrose, MA 02176 Steven Forgeron Randolph, MA 02368 (781) 665-9222 Robert Wright (781) 986-6603 Our Reunion in San Antonio was a “great success”! A fun time was had by all. (A list of all those that attended the reunion is listed at the end of this letter.) Extra activities were arranged for the few that came early. On Wednesday night, October 17th , we all went to the Barn Door Steak House for dinner. It was a “great time”! On the way out, Linda (my wife) sat on a “Saddle” that was attached to a railing inside the restaurant. She got stuck and couldn’t get off the Saddle! Thank you Marvin Brigman for picking Linda up and getting her back on her feet….the bus ride back to the hotel was filled with laughter!!
On Thursday morning, October 18th, a group went to the Historic Town of Gruene, Texas. This town lies along the banks of the Guadeloupe River. The group went wine tasting, shopping and toured the oldest dance hall in Texas.
Once everyone had arrived, the hotel hosted a complimentary USS Francis Marion “Welcome Reception” Thursday evening. Many beers and margaritas were downed to cool our mouths from the great and hot “Mexican Buffet”. After we had filled our bellies, there was entertainment performed by “Flamingo Dancers”. What a beautiful show they put on for us-they were great!! There was so much food, no one was hungry for dinner! Everyone had a wonderful evening.
On Friday, October 19th, we took a tour of San Antonio. The tour started with a boat ride on the River Walk, then we went to the “Alamo”. After the Alamo we went to the Sunken Gardens. The Sunken Gardens was followed by lunch at the Home Town Buffet. After lunch, we went to “SAS” to get some new walking shoes! From there, we went to the Mission of Concepcion! After all of that, we returned to the hotel to get ready to go to the 7A Ranch for a BBQ! The ranch trip was another great success!! The food, entertainment, and the hayride were excellent! (You had to be there to understand what a good time we all had that day). I do believe I had worn everybody out on Friday because the ride back to the hotel was very quiet!! The “BT Gang” kept me up till 1:30am every night in the hospitality room!! They would not let me lock up and go to bed! Saturday morning, October 20th, we were on the buses at 0830 sharp! We headed out to Fredericksburg,Texas for a day of touring the Admiral Nimitz Museum, a few hours of shopping and lunch in downtown Fredericksburg. I had to cut the day short because the “Old Folks” were tired!! We headed back to the hotel at 1330. The Ladies had some extra time to get ready for our Farewell Banquet that evening, while the guys held their Crew Business Meeting in the Hospitality Room. ************************************************************************ “Crew Business Meeting”à The meeting opened at 1600 hours by Bob Martin. à It was voted unanimously that Bob continue as President/Treasurer/Secretary. à Nominations for Vice President: Wayne Rogers was voted into that position. Curtis Stone said he would stay on as a committee member along with Tom Clossey, Dick Gagnon, Steve Forgeron, and a new member, Robert Wright. à It was voted to hold our next reunion in the Norfolk,VA
area, October 16,17,18,19, 2003. à Status of Treasury: Account, as of December 1st. 2001 $3,651.92 à Account records were circulated to members during meeting. If anyone that is a dues paying member wants to see the statement, just ask and it will be mailed to them. à It was agreed to send the next newsletter to all members, dues paying or not, but then only 1 for the next reunion in 2003. à Motion to obtain new web site of 25 MB from yahoo.com at $8.95 a month. (Approved by vote.) à Motion made to have 4 newsletters per year mailed to dues paying members. (Approved by vote.) à Motion to have Golf Style Shirts instead of Tee Shirts included in your reunion registration for next reunion. (Approved by vote.) à Motion to change format of next reunion to just 1 trip daily, morning or night. (The old folk can’t take it!) Bob will be contacting members in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area for help if he should need it. Meeting closed at 1700 hours. Dues were collected from those attending to cover them till the next reunion. “Our Farewell Banquet” A group picture was taken out by the pool prior to the start of our banquet. Captain Ralph Frame, Captain Lloyd Hoover and Captain Gene Masica had a few words to say to the crew and their wives. Captain Masica held a brief memorial service for all our deceased members including all those who were killed on September 11th. The food was very good and the hotel did an outstanding job! We had a cash bar so that no one had to leave the room to go to the bar to get their drinks. I did not want the reunion to come to a close. This concluded our third reunion, and everyone is looking forward to our next reunion in 2003!! Some last thoughts by Bob! I have had a lot of fun setting up our reunion-I really enjoyed it! I want to thank my wife, Linda, for putting up with me through these times! Thanks to my committee members for all the support over the last two years. Also thanks to Curtis Stone for being my eyes and ears in San Antonio during the set up of the reunion.-Thanks Pardner!! Thanks to all those who helped me in the setting up of the hospitality room and making it a warm place for everyone to hang out. Our ship’s store was a great success! All the items will be listed on the web page along with a list included in most of the newsletters. I restocked the hats and golf shirts. We still have some tee shirts with the ship’s logo on them in stock; I will list the sizes, and if they sell, I will keep some in stock all the time. ************************************************************************ “Oh” You thought I would forget to mention to tell everyone about the 10 BT’s from the early 60’s? “No Way”!! “It’s PAYBACK TIME GUYS”!! We had “10” BT’s from the early 60’s who came to the reunion. They want to challenge any other Division from the 60’s and 70’s to beat their attendance at the next reunion! Do we have any takers? These guys outnumbered my whole R Div. when I was on board! You got to help me here! It seems that when we returned to the hotel from our tours, these guys rushed me to get the hospitality room unlocked! By the second day, I found out what they were doing…. We had coolers in the hospitality room filled with ice and cans of soda for everyone to drink. Every time I went to get a soda, all I found was a bunch of cold beers where the sodas were supposed to be! I kept trying to keep the sodas separate so that you wouldn’t have to go digging in the cold water and ice to find what you wanted. They put all the sodas in one cooler and their beers in the other two! When I wanted to lock up the room at 2300 so that I could get some much needed rest, they told me that I would have to wait till they were ready to go! By Saturday night, my “Butt” was dragging. Saturday night after the Banquet was over they really wouldn’t leave! The Stories they were telling were unbelievable. We even had one new guy that was telling all the wives he was a Gynecologist! And then he told them a little later on that he was a Proctologist! Who was he kidding? Ha-ha. He even wore clear pantyhose instead of socks at the banquet! I can go on and on with this story but I don’t want anyone to get tired of reading this letter and put it down and not finish it. So, I will continue it in the next newsletter. I’m hoping I can get this one sent with one stamp! For those who haven’t paid dues and want to read more about the famous BT Gang of the 60’s and get all the newsletters, you know what you have to do about getting the next newsletter! Just make out a check for $10.00 per year dues and mail it to me. Make all checks out to: Robert Martin. Mail to: 16 Staples St. Melrose, MA 02176 |