USS Howard W. Gilmore (AS-16)
2000 Guest Book

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Jim Preston
Naval Surface Warfare Center
-Fri Nov 3 05:12:54 PST 2000

kgcrossroads@adelphia.net
Thanks Kimberly Kreitzbender
-Thu Nov 2 09:31:42 PST 2000

I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO LOCATE ANY OF MY SHIPMATES AND ONLY LOCATED TWO OF THEM-----JOE TOUHEY AND ALEX KROL. IF ANYONE KNOWS OF ANYONE AT ALL FROM THE OPTICAL SHOP,I WOULD BE FOREVER IN THEIR DEBT. IT MEANS THAT MUCH TO ME TO BE ABLE TO CONTACT ANYONE OF THEM.

MANY THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!!!!!
-Tue Oct 31 17:50:27 PST 2000

Thanks for the web site. Maybe I'll come back again and chat. Good times are not easyley forgotten. Solong.
-Tue Oct 31 13:11:00 PST 2000

Rupert F Pellett-Retired, dammit!
-Tue Oct 24 10:39:35 PDT 2000

I am currently a Staff Sergeant (E-5) in the USAF.(sorry) I am very proud of my dad and what he did while serving in the U.S. Navy.

Also, I was a member of the USAF Base Honor Guard at Ramstein AB, Germany during the cerimony for the arrival of the bodies of the USS Cole Disaster. It was a very emotional time for me. I don't care what branch of the service we hail from, we are ONE team and it hurts when we lose members of that team!
-Sat Oct 21 08:40:22 PDT 2000

All in all, a good, but tough tour.
-Tue Oct 17 20:54:43 PDT 2000

Thanks for all the good memories.
-Tue Oct 17 18:09:45 PDT 2000

The machine shop furnished people for the special sea detail as lookouts on the flying bridge. I remember coming into Havana Harbor once for three days liberty after an operation in the Virgin Islands. As we were approaching the sea buoy, seven destroyers came steaming up and signaled with light message "we will stand in" and the captain ordered send them back "WE WILL STAND IN". The destroyer sent back message "we have Capt.such and such aboard and "WE WILL STAND IN". Our Capt. said signal them back "Captain McClintock, (I think), is aboard and I am senior to him by three months and WE WILL STAND IN". The destroyer's had to wait for the pokie old Gilmore to waddle in ahead of them!!
-Mon Oct 16 10:02:37 PDT 2000

I boarded the "Happy Howie" in Jan of 72 and rode her through the yard periods in Mobile and Pascagoula, then on to the Rock in Sardinia. Stayed on till April of 74. Was an MR in the machine shop. What a fine, fine page you have created here. Talk about nostalgia! I even recognized a couple of names here.

Guess I'll have to do some emailing.
-Thu Oct 12 22:06:36 PDT 2000

Thanks Kimberly Kreitzbender
-Mon Sep 11 06:53:38 PDT 2000

The Disbursing officers I served under were Mr. Hamann and Mr. Bozzuto. Some other characters were DK1 Belangue, DKC Puppel (the pup), DKSN John (the kook) Coccurello, DK2 Dennis Orcutt, DK2 Mike Miracle, DK2 Barrett Meehan, DK2 Greg Augustine, and DK2 Sutherland. (Hope I didn't miss anyone.)

And yes it's true, the first thing everyone wanted when they got back to the states was a Big Mac. Yours truly included!

I remember the Capt. Kliendienst accident and am still saddened to this day. He was a fine officer and person.

Some other things I remember are (in no particular order): Mr. Purcell, Mr. Coon, Mr. Allen, Alfredi from Personel, Ens. Jensen (who liked punk music) and his LOVELY wife, the Circle Lounge, the ship's store where a bought great tape decks and cassettes from, (remember how the cassettes were under plexiglass?), the first class mess where I served my 90 days - man those guys were cool, we got to watch a different 16mm movie everyday while eating!

Well that's enough for now. Feel free to contact me if you dare.

Regards,

ex-DK2 Ken Schon
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AS I REMEMBER, THE CO WAS CAPT. VAN LUNEN, THE XO WAS CDR VOEGELEIN, THE DEPT HEAD WAS CDR HITCHCOCK, ENS WARR WAS IN CHARGE OF WR-2 WITH CHIEF HUGHES AND MAD DOG.

ANYWAY, FINDING THIS SITE DREDGES UP ALOT OF GOOD MEMORIES- LIKE OPERATION SPRING BOARD IN SAN JUAN AND THE SHIPS PARTY IN GITMO- AND THE "R AND R" CRUISE TO BALTIMORE- GUN SHOTS AT THE SHIP, THE RIOT ON THE PIER, AND THE RUNS IN TO DC WITH RAMIREZ, LEE PEDRO, HOMER FARRELL, RICK MEREDITH AND ALL.

KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK AND LET ME HEAR FROM ANY OF Y'ALL THAT REMEMBER!

JARMON SENDS!
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I WAS ON THE GILLMORE FROM 1956 TO 1958 AND HAD A GOOD TIME ON THAT SHIP AND IN KEY WEST.
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Dear Mr. Brown,

My name is John Nichols. My Dad, James Floyd Nichols served aboard the USS Howard W. Gilmore.

While my dad was serving on board the USS Howard Gilmore he was killed in a motorcycle accident somewhere in Key West around June of 1955 where the USS Howard Gilmore was docked at the time.

I was 11 months old in 1955 when it happened so I really do not have any actual memories of my dad. I only have some pictures and what I have been told.

I can't say how much I really appreciated seeing the pictures of the USS Howard Gilmore and knowing that I was looking at the decks my father lived and walked on. I also enjoyed reading the stories and getting a feeling of what kind of things might have went on back then.

If possible I would really like to know more about my dad and talk to anyone that might have known him. Of the few pictures I have of my dad one picture shows him playing a guitar with another shipmate of his. The shipmate in the picture was Bill Bailey. Bill Bailey had visited our house in Arlington, MA after my dad died when I was a little kid. I don't know if you have any information on Bill Bailey or if I am even spelling his last name correctly.

Here is some background on my Dad to hopefully jog a few memories.

My Dad first met my Mom in Boston on the Boston Commons when he was docked in Boston. I believe he use to like to go to a place named the Hillbilly Lounge in Boston and would not think twice about joining in with the band.

My Dad was born in East Prairie Missouri and I believe he enlisted in Pennsylvania. My mother's name was Ann and I have a brother Jimmy and a sister Annie and we lived about 6 miles northwest of Boston in Arlington MA. when my dad died.

I also have an old commissary/PX card that has some additional Navel information on my dad's classification that I could find if anyone could point me in the direction of any Navy department that may have any old records on my dad.

Again, thank you for the pictures of the USS Howard Gilmore.

John Nichols
costcnscious@Earthlink.Net

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I was very surprised (after going almost completely through ORION, which is moored next to GILMORE) to find a large part of GILMORE has been ripped out aft of the after engine room. I was headed aft past the AUX DIESEL that is located over the After Engine Room, and passed through a door, to find that she is empty from keel to upper deck! The decks were burned and cut out, except for a 15-20 foot area on each side. It was definately a weird feeling to see that much open space! One of our party worked his way aft and found that another section is also missing, though not as deep of an area.

I can forward pix if anyone is interested!
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I don't remember many names from those days but I do remember the Torpedoman Chief Petty Officer Smith. A slow talking,low talking, gentil man,from South Carolina,that this New Yorker had trouble understanding. I'm happy to say that we did not call our ship by any of the nick-names that I have read in the guestbook, but those were differant times. It must be a generational thing. I had the worst day of my life (up to then) in the spring of 1980 when I was on a trip on a pleasure craft going down the inter-coastal waterway when I spotted the Howard W. tied along side the U.S.S Bushnell in a Norfolk shipyard being dismantaled. I know that you all, the ex-crew, know how I felt.

I would love to hear from anyone that remembers me or served aboard at the same time.
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It was good to see the name Eldon Brown again.

Sincerely,
Dennis Raab
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Mel
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PHIL
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Any one that has been trying please try this new address.

I was an EM on the Gilmore from 1956 to 1959.

I went to the reunion with Ron Whodehouse that was on there the same time. He was an IC type.
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This site is really a great thing. I can't thank you enough for it. Thanks alot and keep up the good work.

Tom
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Charles L. R. Capito
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Charles L. R. Capito
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Howdy every one,

Jim (JC) Crenshaw, RMCS USN RET.
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Great site,
Thanks
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Discharged July 1954.
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I served aboard the Howard W. Gilmore from January 1979 until Decommissioning. I reported to the ship as a Dental Technician and left an Illustrator Draftsman. I was aboard the ship when we journeyed to Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, at the end January 1979 (one of the first U.S. Navy ships to visit there since the end of WWII). The day the Gilmore was decommssioned it would have run circles around the rust bucket that replaced us in LaMadd (the USS Orion), and to this day I do not understand the Navy's reasoning in decomming that fine ship when it did.

May God Richly Bless You All in 2000!
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Glenn Pryor CWO4,USN (Retired)
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I served with many great guys---Olson, Heinsohn, Koester, Jackson, Cusie, Mc Allister, Garafola, Sharron and many others.

Thank you --- Eldon Brown --- for providing this web-site so that we may contact our ship-mates.

God Bless and ---- GO NAVY ---- Jerry Bernard
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I put this web site together as a way of meeting other friends and family of the Gilmore.
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