USCGC ANDRSCOGGIN (WHEC 68) Reunion
Shipmates,
On Wednesday evening I attended the annual reunion of the USCGC ANDROSCOGGIN (WHEC 68) in Charleston, SC. I was joined by CAPT Bob Wagner, CO USCGC DALLAS.
I reported to the ANDY in July 1971 as a brand new ensign and was assigned as Gunnery Officer, Assistant First Lieutenant, and Oceanographic Officer (ocean station mission). I was transfered in 1973 to the Rescue Coordination Center in San Juan, Greater Antilles Section.
This reunion started a little over five years ago to celebrate the ANDY's Vietnam deployment in 1967-68 (see: www.fishing-boating.com/androscoggin/). They have since expanded the event to include those of us who did not make the deployment.
This year's reunion was particularly poignant because in this last year we lost RADM Bill Stewart, the CO during the deployment. Bill Stewart has been a friend and mentor to me since I was a LTJG in 1974 (after a short tour in GANTSEC) and assigned to LORAN Station Lampang, Thailand. "Then" CAPT Stewart was the Chief of Operations in the Fourteenth District. We were thrilled and pleased that Paulette Stewart, his widow could join us. Her remarks of gratitude hushed the crowd.
It was clear from the remarks that evening that Bill Stewart was a remarkable CO who still evokes respect and admiration from his 67-68 crew. From naval gunfire support to land combat operations to interdictions at sea (and some liberty in Subic Bay), they hung together and completed the deployment without a major casualty or injury.
Bill Stewart's spirit was with us and I was proud to be with CAPT Bob Wagner who guided DALLAS through a superior out of hemisphere deployment last year, including the delivery of relief supplies to Bitumi, Georgia.
I received an unusual gift from the group. A plaque with a ship's patch and a fire ax.
The gift was symbolic of an event that occurred in the fall of 1971 in the Coast Guard Yard when a fire broke out in lower crew berthing (aka the Snake Pit). I was trapped with four other crewmen by the smoke and flames several decks above as the fire vented through the air castle. As we were nearly out of oxygen we cut away the insulation on the bulkhead and used the emergency destruction ax in the Radio Room to pound SOS. We were lucky, a crewman on the pier heard the beating and advised the Engineering Officer who himself donned an Oxygen Breathing Apparatus (OBA) an led our rescue. The EO was/is retired LCDR Oscar Poppe, a mustang Boiler Technician and someone I owe my life to.
Definitely a memorable evening.
Thanks ANDY Crew, thanks Paulette Stewart, thanks Oscar Poppe (living well in Texas), and, above all, thanks Bill Stewart.
ADM A
On Wednesday evening I attended the annual reunion of the USCGC ANDROSCOGGIN (WHEC 68) in Charleston, SC. I was joined by CAPT Bob Wagner, CO USCGC DALLAS.
I reported to the ANDY in July 1971 as a brand new ensign and was assigned as Gunnery Officer, Assistant First Lieutenant, and Oceanographic Officer (ocean station mission). I was transfered in 1973 to the Rescue Coordination Center in San Juan, Greater Antilles Section.
This reunion started a little over five years ago to celebrate the ANDY's Vietnam deployment in 1967-68 (see: www.fishing-boating.com/androscoggin/). They have since expanded the event to include those of us who did not make the deployment.
This year's reunion was particularly poignant because in this last year we lost RADM Bill Stewart, the CO during the deployment. Bill Stewart has been a friend and mentor to me since I was a LTJG in 1974 (after a short tour in GANTSEC) and assigned to LORAN Station Lampang, Thailand. "Then" CAPT Stewart was the Chief of Operations in the Fourteenth District. We were thrilled and pleased that Paulette Stewart, his widow could join us. Her remarks of gratitude hushed the crowd.
It was clear from the remarks that evening that Bill Stewart was a remarkable CO who still evokes respect and admiration from his 67-68 crew. From naval gunfire support to land combat operations to interdictions at sea (and some liberty in Subic Bay), they hung together and completed the deployment without a major casualty or injury.
Bill Stewart's spirit was with us and I was proud to be with CAPT Bob Wagner who guided DALLAS through a superior out of hemisphere deployment last year, including the delivery of relief supplies to Bitumi, Georgia.
I received an unusual gift from the group. A plaque with a ship's patch and a fire ax.
The gift was symbolic of an event that occurred in the fall of 1971 in the Coast Guard Yard when a fire broke out in lower crew berthing (aka the Snake Pit). I was trapped with four other crewmen by the smoke and flames several decks above as the fire vented through the air castle. As we were nearly out of oxygen we cut away the insulation on the bulkhead and used the emergency destruction ax in the Radio Room to pound SOS. We were lucky, a crewman on the pier heard the beating and advised the Engineering Officer who himself donned an Oxygen Breathing Apparatus (OBA) an led our rescue. The EO was/is retired LCDR Oscar Poppe, a mustang Boiler Technician and someone I owe my life to.
Definitely a memorable evening.
Thanks ANDY Crew, thanks Paulette Stewart, thanks Oscar Poppe (living well in Texas), and, above all, thanks Bill Stewart.
ADM A
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5:29 PM
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