WHS - Family Gram of 14 August 1971



USS William H. Standley (DLG/CG-32)
WHS Family Gram
14 AUGUST 1971

14 August 1971

Dear Family and Friends,

The time is ever so slowly drawing near to STANDLEY'S home coming but you at home know as well as we do in STANDLEY that we are definitely coming home.

Since being relieved for the final time in the Gulf of Tonkin by USS TRUXTON, which in the eyes of your Steamers was the grandest DLG to ever sail that 23rd day of June, our homeward travels have been quite relaxing and most enjoyable.

STANDLEY'S first rest stop was Sattahip, Thailand. Sattahip is a small port city which we must confess was toured only by bus as the eager Steamers made the three hour transit, over land no less, to Bangkok. Bangkok like all the other large cities we have visited showed off our Western architectural influence with her high rise buildings and modern hotel facilities. These modern hotels were first on the agenda for many of the Steamers who were free to spend their every hour in Bangkok until duties required them to return to Sattahip and STANDLEY.

As in all our ports of call STANDLEY tour director LTJG Terry CULLEN arranged several tours for the shutterbugs. One of these tours included a full course Thai dinner that caused some mixed feelings both in the minds and stomachs of some of those who partook.

Bangkok is truly a splendid city but you just can't keep some of those STANDLEY Steamers away from the water! For such cases Thailand also had the cure, Pattaya, a beach resort some forty miles from Sattahip. Here the sandy beaches, clear water, skin diving, water skiing and the quiet restful breeze at night amply satisfied our beach-combers.

The morning of 7 July found us taking in our lines, preparing to set sail southward to the island city of Singapore, our next destination. It was between Thailand and Singapore that the STANDLEY celebrated her fifth birthday in festive style. Competitive games and a fine steak dinner, which was topped off with ice cream and cake, were the highlights even though we were at sea. Each department on the ship held their own preliminaries in Acey-Ducey, Chess, and Pinochle sending their best into the ships championships for the cash prizes. CS1 "Charlie" BROWN and his apt partner SK1 Jimmy WELLS defeated RD2 Chester ALLEN and RD3 John BAILY for the Pinochle title; the final battle of the minds went to SN Don MEADE who out maneuvered RD3 Robin ERVEN for the Chess championship; and the Acey-Ducey No. 1 position went to Ensign Marvin SCAMIHORN, who defeated his wardroom adversary LTJG Dan COWAN. Due to inclement weather the deck tennis matches were out of the question so bingo on the mess decks filled in easily. A few of those who didn't complain about the weather or bingo were GMM3 Ray REYNOLDS who won a polaroid camera, DS1 Wiley BREWER who picked up $20.00 extra pocket money and LCDR Frank HORN and LTJG Jim EULISS who won $10.00 apiece during the games played.

The entire crew were winners at the dinner table as CSC Frank BOYETTE and his commissarymen outdid themselves once again. Later as the last of the "original Steamers", plankowners GMCM Tony CALABRESE, RD1 Aruthur RUSSELL and RD1 Al CRICK, cut the ships birthday cake. Those who saved a little room for the ice cream and cake were not sory. CSSN Dan GWINN and CS1 Charlie BROWN had as much confidence in their cake recipe as did the White House bakers for Tricia Nixon's wedding cake, but Dan and Charlie are one step ahead, no one from "Womens Daily" doubted their recipe!

After two days at sea and a blessing in the form of a special payday from our "Master of the Monies" DK1 Pete MICHAUD those Steamers who might have been caught a tiny bit short of recreational funds were now ready to go as we dropped anchor the morning of the 9th in Singapore harbor.

Singapore proved to be as big a shopping bonanza as did Yokosuka, Japan and Hong Kong. No matter what street a person walked he found it to be an endless string of shops with every item imaginable at every price range depending upon the buyers extravagance. The Steamers proved this fact daily as they returned hourly on one of the liberty launches carrying more packages than they could safely handle. Safety was also optimum during liberty launch shuttles from STANDLEY to the pier and back by our coxswains, BM2 Robert WADE, BM3 Dave HAKOJARVI, SN Reggie HARDMAN and SN Steve Harrell. These men and their boat crews worked extra long hours to ensure every member of STANDLEY'S crew had sufficient time ashore to relax and shop while in Singapore.

By far Singapore proved to be the cleanest of all ports of call during our deployment. Every area of the city, from the downtown business and hotel district over to the east side where a large part of the populous dwelled in the highrise apartment complexes, gave the view the appearance of just being cleaned no matter what time, day or night.

The Republic of Singapore was thoroughly enjoyed by all but on the morning of 15th of July as we weighed anchor Singapore became a memory and Mayport became a little closer.

Homeward bound on a southwestern course it bacame inevitable that STANDLEY would enter the sacred domain of "Neptunus REX". Bonded by their pledge of allegiance the "Trusty Shellback, 80 strong, had the dirty task of initiating some 240 lowly Pollywogs into "The Solemn Mysteries of the Ancient Order of the Deep". At 4:27 A.M. the morning of the 19th of July STANDLEY'S bow had broken the equator and crossed into the Southern Hemisphere, by 5:00 A.M. the trusty Shellbacks had broken the sleeping silence of the Polywogs and started them on a long and eventful day to be remembered.

FTCS Donald HARRINGTON portrayed "Neptunus Rex" who passed final judgement on each Pollywog through his Royal Scribe "Davey Jones" enacted by YNC Gordon BLIEDEN. The remainder of the royal court consisted of the "Queen" SKCS Bruno BRANDYS, the three "Royal Babies" RD1 Jerry LEBLANC, EMCS James WOODSON and MM2 William BURNS. The royal servants led by the "Barber" GMG1 Darell GOINS, "Dentist" RD1 Al CRICK, "Doctor" BTC Cleophus JOHNSON, "Nurse" RD3 Michael MORRIS, "Royal Garbagemen" RD3 Neil VEZZETTI, RD3 Harold SULLIVAN and RD3 Ken MARTIN, and the rest of the trusty Shellbacks helped ensure each and every pollywog showed his humility and loyalty to their leader of the raging main, "Neptunus Rex."

July 22nd, STANDLEY again dropped anchor. This time the city of Victoria, the largest city of the Seychelles Islands, acted as our host. For two days, the Steamers enjoyed the pleasant climate, sandy beaches and solitude of the tropical island. The Steamers were not the only ones to enjoy the STANDLEY'S visit to the islands. The afternoon of the 22nd found a group of the city's children on board giving STANDLEY the so called "once over" before settling down to ice cream and cake accompanied by several cartoons thanks to the quick work of Ensign John PEETZ and IC3 Dave CARMACK. The morning of the 23rd a dedicated committee of Standleymen left for the Victoria children's preschool to spend the day working there when it would have been just as easy to have spent the day at the beach. Under the direction of Noble "Pappy" PRESLEY, BM1, EMCS James WOODSON, ET1 Larry JOHNSON, RD1 Dave WEAVER, STG2 Mel BARMORE, STG3 Dave FLETCHER, FTM3 Danny MOORE, IC3 Dave CARMACK, GMM3 Richard ZILLY, STGSN Kent SINGLETON, and ETNSN Ashly THIGPEN, painted the interior of the school and cleared much of the surrounding area of the school to the delight of the children and appreciation of the city and school officials. The STANDLEY-men added the Seychelles to their list of places they have been but more important the Seychelles added STANDLEY to their list of friends to the West.

Saturday, July 24th, STANDLEY'S hook came up to dry as we headed southward towards Lourenco Marques, capital city of Mozambique, on the eastern coast of Africa.

Lourenco Marques, not the deepest and darkest, was a not so brief fuel stop that afforded everyone, except for the hardworking boilermen, an opportunity to visit and tour for a few hours. The boilermen, keepers of the fuel, spent nine hours replenishing the oil that was burned while traveling between Singapore and Lourenco Marques. The African city was a very interesting stop and we left wishing there had been more time.

However, Rio de Janeiro, the famed Brazilian seaport, disppointed no one during STANDLEY'S four day stay in South America. The excitement began as we entered port on 6 August on an approach course directly in line with Copacabana Beach, just around the corner for Ipanema. The ship passed very close to the scenic "Sugar Loaf" while conforming to the deep water channel. The giant statue of "Christ the Redeemer" high atop the mountain of Corcovado is very symbolic of our reception in Rio as he opened His arms in welcome.

Many invitations from local residents, both American and Brazilian, provided a unique opportunity for the crew to shop, sightsee, sail, sun, enjoy the beautiful beaches, watch the national sport of soccer and just relax. The four days passed quickly and soon it was again time to "cast off all lines" and get underway - this time for Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico and Mayport, Florida - HOME - just a couple of days after that.

Every Steamer is looking forward to 21 August and reunion. Many will be taking leave to travel to other parts of the country and several others will be leaving STANDLEY either to be transferred to another command or to be discharged from military service. All can be proud of their personal part in STANDLEY'S accomplishments while so long separated from their families, homes, and loved ones.

I would like to take this opportunity to extend my personal invitation to each of you to visit the ship at any time and if at all possible on 24 September whe we expect to spend a day at sea with the STANDLEY family. All dependents and parents are invited except children must be over twelve years of age. Hope to meet many of you then.

s/A. L. Blanks

Courtesy Sara Standley