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USS McMorris (DE1036) Volume 1, Issue 11 (Fall/Winter 1999) |
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Inside This Issue: New Arrivals Editor's Note Reunion News Reunion 2000 Basic Itinerary Email/Snail Mail Web Site News |
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New Arrivals
Stand-by to Pipe Our New Arrivals Aboard!
The growth of our roster continues to climb at a pretty good rate of speed, thanks in part to our tremendous internet presence and from the help of many of you out there. Friends and former shipmates continue to find us and the search is constantly on to locate as many people as we possibly can. Your help is always desired and requested. The slightest bit of information can be helpful in tracking down your old shipmate. Give us what you got. Scott or myself, and others will track them down. The goal is to have 200 plus names on the active roster by the beginning of 2000. We currently stand at 180 people that we have pretty good contact information on. If your contact information has changed, please let us know by dropping a line. Help me welcome aboard: Jim Abrego 66-70 Is your old shipmate’s name missing? Are they deceased? Either way they were crew and we’d like them listed here or in Taps. Post via E-mail or snail mail in Navigational Aides. (Or you could actually use the phone.) The Vision
To Bring a little joy and happiness to our crewmembers and families. To be ever mindful that our culture and our heritage while diverse, is the foundation that makes the McMorris Reunion Group so special in the hearts and minds of everyone of us. And to respect each and every member of our group. Our Mission
There is no agenda behind our efforts, nor is any intended, other then to keep our Reunion Group members well informed through the newsletter and our Website. In addition, the purpose of our group is to locate as many former crewmembers and family as we can and bring them together on a periodic basis at a reunion for fun and fellowship. In today’s world of disassociated peoples we are UNIQUE. We are fortunate to know the real meaning of “shipmate.” This place, this ship, this USS McMorris was the experience that brought us all together once and this Millennium celebration does it again. See You! Skip
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Editor's Note
Holiday Greetings!
At this special time of the year, allow me to provide a warm and heartfelt holiday greeting, wishing all of you and your families, a joyous and happy holiday! I hope that this newsletter finds everyone healthy and in great spirits! There are many things to be thankful for, and each and every blessing is a gift of love. We are moving ever closer to our "second" reunion in October of 2000. I know that many of you are making your plans to join us in San Diego, and this "Special Edition" news letter outlines the festivities and everything that needs to be done to insure all steps necessary to "officially" register for your "Cruise Into the Millennium" with USS McMorris. The insert provides you with the form for registration and is necessary to complete in order that your wants and needs are met in San Diego. Tons of stuff has been happening since our last newsletter in the spring/summer. In my travels I have met up with LCDR Joe Pine, QMC Al Bittenbender and his wife. I know we spent time with Doc somewhere in there, and Michele was able to spend time with Captain Ralph & Mary Spencer in her travels. It is just great to get together with new and old friends a like. Come reunion time, I know you will feel the same, so please make your plans to join us in San Diego. The reunion will be a fabulous time for all. Even if you live in the area, I encourage you to stay with us at the hotel if at all possible. This will allow us the ability to spend as much time together and will give us more flexibility with the hotel. By the time you get this, the holidays will be upon us. In your gatherings with family and friends, don't forget to take a moment to remember those who are less fortunate and possibly having health problems. Some of your shipmates are not as well off and I am sure would welcome your thoughts and concern. The roster of new arrivals is growing as you can see and many of them I know are anxious to hear from their "ol buddies" and former shipmates. In the "Spirit" of Goodwill and "Peace", to the crew and family of the "Mighty Mac" - HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Skip WANTED!
VOLUNTEERS
REGISTRATION DESK DUTY HOST(S)/HOSTESS(ES) SET-UPS HOSPITALITY SUITE DUTY SHIPS STORE Contact Skip ASAP! Hanalei Hotel Web Site: |
Reunion News
Official Registration Begins Jan 1, 2000!
There are a number of things you will need to do in order to insure your reunion is a most memorable moment. With a good understanding of what needs to be done and a little planning, you should not have any problems getting to and enjoying this reunion. Reunions are fun, and knowing what to expect is important. Officially, this is a four-day event. Registration for the reunion begins at 4:00 PM on Oct 12th, 2000 in the lobby of the Hanalei Hotel San Diego, CA. A registration desk with people from the ship to greet you and answer questions will start you off in the right direction. You MUST make your reservations directly with the hotel, not with me. The room rate will be held three days before and three days after the reunion, should you decide to arrive sooner or leave later than the reunion dates. Shuttle service is available from the airport. If you are reading this for the first time, I am excited to say that our 2nd reunion in San Diego is shaping up to be a wonderful event. We have already exceeded the number of shipmates that attended the first reunion in Charleston, SC. I expect that we will reach 100 to 120 total people at this event. Let me first address this newsletter. I know that some of you have no access to the World Wide Web and your only means of news is this newsletter. Our presence on the web has become very strong and for those of you who have seen the WebPages, some of this information may be redundant. My apologies. More on this in the future. On with it! We will have four planned activities. These are all optional, and your presence is what counts, however should you plan on joining us for any or all of the events, payment must be made in full by September 1st, 2000. This payment should be made by check or money order to the "USS McMorris Reunion and sent directly to Skip Reynolds 1020 Pross Road Lansdale, PA 19446. You are of course responsible for making all traveling arrangements. Once you are settled in and ready to relax, the "hospitality suite" will be open poolside on a regular basis. We will insure that snacks and beverages are available. Assuming we are enjoying a great "second summer", you can sit inside or wander outside to the pool area. The hospitality suite is our primary meeting area between activities and planned meals. It is also a place where we can show off our memorabilia collections. Knowing what showed up at the last reunion, it is a wonder the Indonesians had a ship left when it was turned over to them in 1974. Dress is casual throughout the entire reunion. At the Luau, if enough of you participate and wear "Hawaiian" shirts or "MuMu's" (for the ladies), we may just have a prize for the best-dressed "Mainlander" in San Diego. If our plans work out, it is intended to have the entire reunion videotaped by a local group of photographers. Additionally, we would expect to have professional still photos taken as well. Dress whites with ribbons are mandatory! (Not really), but it would be interesting to see who could get into their dress blues. I will not be participating of course. Our activities during the day start promptly at 9:00 AM with return time around 2:00-2:30 PM each day. This becomes your opportunity to visit in the "hospitality" suite, take a dip in the pool, or take a nap. When not on a planned activity, your time is yours. Do as you wish. "Fashion Valley" is also directly behind the hotel, and a golf course as well. The food is great at the hotel. There are two restaurants for your dinning pleasure should you decide to eat in. |
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Reunion 2000
Details!
The beautiful Hanalei Hotel will be our home from Oct 12th to the 15th, 2000. On the evening of the 12th, we will "kick-off" our reunion with a dinner "buffet" and social gathering to get aquainted or re-aquainted with new and old friends. This will be an informal gathering and will include a cash bar. Friday morning the 13th, we will begin our city tour of San Diego, Coronado, Balboa Park, and the historic Gaslamp district. We will visit Seaport Village and wind up on Shelter Island for a wonderful lunch at the Bali Hai restaurant, with a great view across the water of San Diego. With plenty of time to rest or mingle in the hospitality suite, you can plan your evening out for dinning. Options for your private venture includes the hotel restaurant, Old Town, or a trip back downtown to eat at the many outstanding restaurants in San Diego. Saturday the 14th, you have choice of heading to Tijuana for shopping and browsing via Coronado and the Silver Strand, topped off with an authentic Mexican lunch, including coffee, desert, and a complimentary drink to cap off the day of bargain hunting. If this is not your idea of adventure, you can opt to take a trip to the world famous San Diego Zoo. You will have plenty of time to take a guided tour and return to visit your favorite exhibits. Lunch will be on your own. A return to the hotel will again give you opportunity to rest up or hang out at the "hospitality" suite. Grab a beverage of your choice and swap war stories. We will once again show Rob Moore and Al Roach's outstanding videos of the Mac in Action, circa 1960 & 1965. View at your leisure. (continued next column) |
(Reunion 2000 continued)
The evening activities of Saturday the 14th, will be an event to remember. After feasting on the Hanalei Buffet dinner and maybe sucking on a Mai Tai or two, be prepared for the night's entertainment. After taking care of a few announcements and raffle items, we will hear from our honored guest speaker, LCDR Marion "Joe" Pine, USN, Ret., a former shipmate of many of you aboard the Mac. Joe came up through the ranks as a QMSN (when I knew him), and retired as a LCDR after 30 years of dedicated naval service. For the next hour after that, we will be entertained by the famous Polynesian Dancers and Drummers, "Motu Nehenehe", presented by Babe & Romeo Valero. This group has performed in Las Vegas and for many organizations in and around San Diego County. Sunday the 15th, will see us depart for home, but not before we take a few moments to remember our fallen shipmates in a brief Sunday morning service conducted by our Second Commanding Officer of the Mac, Captain Ralph Spencer, USN, Ret. This reunion has the opportunity to also bring together most if not all of the living Commanding Officers of McMorris. And a few XO's to boot. We are working hard at extending invitations to these gentlemen for what may be an extremely unique moment in time. We'll see! However it all works out, don't miss this wonderful opportunity to share the great joy of being a part of this family of friends and shipmates. See You in San Diego! Skip
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Basic Itinerary
Itinerary of Events
Oct 12th 4:00 PM Official Registration Oct 12th 7:00 PM Millennium Party / Buffet Dinner Oct 13th 9:00 AM City Tour / Lunch Oct 14th 9:00 AM Tijuana Tour & Lunch or San Diego Zoo Oct 14th 6:00 PM Luau Dinner and Polynesian Dancers Oct 15th 9:00AM Memorial Services There is also a short business meeting planned on Saturday morning the 14th prior to departure for the day's events. (Important!) (Whoever is in town on Wednesday and wants to get a game of golf up at the course by the hotel let me know and I'll put it together.) Navigational Aides
Reunion Coordinator/Editor: Snailmail: Webmaster: |
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Web Site News Finding People on the Net
So you want to find somebody and contact them? Using the Internet for locating people works very well. The best site that I've found is www.theultimates.com. This page has links to several phone, email, and business locating sites. For individuals, go to the ultimates and select "White Pages". You will get a screen with a form set up to send your inquiry to the phone and address databases. Fill in as much information as you have and press the search button and away you go! Don't be surprised if you get over 100 possible matches though. Even with seemingly unique names like "Harvey Cox" or "Virgil Morse" I've gotten over 200 matches. The more information you enter, such as city or state, the better it will narrow the matches down. If you get no matches, try using less information. Leave the city off or maybe leave off the city and state. This will take up a bit of your time, but if you want to find somebody it can work. Several of the people that have been added to the Reunion List were found this way. The U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation has a web site at: www.lonesailor.org that has a database called "The Navy Log". People may place a listing for themselves, or somebody else, for a $25.00 fee. The nice thing about it, you can search the log for shipmates, and if they are listed, send them a letter. We have also located several of our crewmembers through this site. Another way to locate people using the Internet is by a regular Internet Search Engine. Several good ones are available: www.altavista.com, www.profusion.com, www.dogpile.com, and www.metacrawler.com, for example. Just enter the person's name, using quotation marks or selecting "as a phrase", and search. Hopefully if they are mentioned on a web page somewhere you will get some "hits" on their name. Here again, be prepared for a lot more wrong answers than right ones. (continued next column) |
(Web Site News continued)
Happy Hunting! I hope this helps you find somebody that you'd like to contact. And remember if you find someone from the ship let Skip or I know. Wanted! Your old pictures or memories. We are always looking for new stuff to post on the site. If you have photos and can scan them yourself (try to keep them smaller than 1000 X 1000 pixels) email them. Or mail them (or a copy) to: Scott Vliek (If they are originals I will mail them back, usually within a week.) Let's get some more stories for the "Living History" page. Take a couple of minutes to drop a note about the time one a Bos'n tried to harpoon the Soviet Helicopter that was hovering over the motor whaleboat on SpecOps (a true story). Several people have already submitted stories that can be found on the web site. Take a few minutes to drop by and read them. Maybe the will remind you of the time… Everybody have a GREAT HOLIDAY! And remember the Service Men and Women who are away from their families during the holidays just as we were during our time. Scott
Ed note: Scott has done an outstanding job with this site, I'm glad that you have seen this award winning web page. Also we need you early guy's to help us ID faces from Ron Prentices 62 photo submission from Hong Kong. Who are these guys's? Also watch for an expanded ScrapBook section. Previous Newsletters
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Important Links
Reunion 2000 Registration Form
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