seastories

The Denny J. upon which we so proudly served, sails on in our sea of memories.

I have enjoyed compiling this first edition of shipboard sea stories from her crew.

CONTRIBUTORS: Lew Rozolis 45-46; Frank Hemler 46-47;Fred Johnson 50-52; George Delaney 49-52; Bob Robinson 53-55; Eric Ellison 55-57;Ron Clawson 55-57; Ben Dolgin 55-57; Karl Stroh 55-58; John Morrill 56-57; Homer Evans 54-58; Richard Tarbuck 56-58; Yatchmenoff 57; Bob Terhune 56-57;Robert Anderson 57-58; Charles Bogart 58-61; George Estey 60-62; Frank Neuman 60-63; Jerry Cate 64-66; Ray Sorrell 62-63; Michael Wyatt 65-68;Mike Malloy 66; Harold Ferguson 68-72; James Daniels 70-72; Bob Moore 71-73;

LEW ROZOLIS YN3 45-46…. On returning to the ship we all had to pass through the gate which was manned by marines. Our Italian friend Morrazzini figured he could sneak on board a little wine. So he decides to stick it in his sock. When we got to the gate the Marines would tap our bodies with their clubs and when they got to him and tapped that bottle he was told to break it over a 55 gallon barrel. Oh no, he wasn’t going to have any part of that , so he decided to drink the whole darn bottle on the spot. Yep, we had to carry him up the starboard ladder feet first and rolled him into his sack, whereas you can imagine the expected happened. He swabbed that whole compartment the next day. I hope some of these guys are still around.

FRANK T. HEMLER, CAPT. USN RET….. 46-47 Scene - South China Sea; a beautiful sunny afternoon; the COLUMBUS and ten destroyers in company conducting flag hoist and maneuvering drills. Base course 270. Formation, circular offset, with DJB on the port side of the formation in the after sector. I have the conn, Captain Gralla on the bridge. ( Capt. Gralla is a perfectionist, but is willing to have learning people make mistakes. Magic words, if you think the “old man” disagrees, are “Do you have the conn, Captain ?” If he doesn’t take it, you still have it.) At that time there was a section of the signal book (the “Q” section, for trial signals.) After a period of time, the signal is incorporated into the regular signal book or deleted. ( I hope the signal in the following scenario has been deleted.)
The COLUMBUS used her port yards for the ship and the Admiral used the starboard hoists in order that the ship could participate. Flags: “signal in the air !” I read it as QUEEN, ROMEO and two more I can’t remember anymore. I assure you, the first two were QUEEN, ROMEO. Now it starts to get tricky. As all bridge personnel can tell you, flags recognizes the signal and puts it at the dip. Once the signal is understood, the OOD yells: “two-block it.” When the OTC sees all flags closed up, he closes up his and all ships await the execute signal, which is accomplished when the flag executes (hauls down) his hoist. Wait….remember I said that this is an experimental (Q) signal.
I read the signal as “when the OTC two-blocks the signal, commence a standard rate turn to the right (remember the ROMEO ?), then when the signal is executed(hauled down), continue for 30 more degrees of turn and steady up on the new course. (Oh Brother !)
“Mr Hemler - what are your intentions ?” “ When the starboard hoist is two-blocked, I intend to start a standard rate turn to starboard. When it is executed, I’ll continue 30 more degrees and steady on the new course.” “Mr Hemer, that’s ridiculous. Let me see the book.” The OTC two-blocks while CDR Gralla is reading the book. “Right standard rudder” “Right standard rudder, aye. Request new course.” “Stand by.” The Buckley is turning. No other ship is turning. “ Mister Hemler, what are you doing?” “Executing the signal Captain, do you have the conn ?”
“No, but the Buckley seems to be in the distinct minority.” “We certainly are.” At about 45 degrees in the turn, a couple of the other cans started their turns to starboard. I had to dodge one other can in my turn but not too drastically. Now as more ships started turning, it got pretty hairy up in the forward part of the formation, but by this time I was headed away from the pack. The COLUMBUS has now started a tight turn to starboard. “Mister Hemler. What are your intentions ? You seem to be headed away from most of the ships.” “ I intend to continue my turn until the OTC executes that signal, then go 30 more degrees and steady on course, Captain.” Watching the Columbus, I believe that the BUCKLEY is now the fleet guide.” “MISTER HEMLER !” “Do you have the conn, Captain?” “No, but I am greatly concerned about your mental competence.” “It is the usual practice to inform Combat about the flags, and our intentions.” In my angst, I had forgotten to inform them. Eleven ships are now spread around the South China Sea, steering various sundry courses. “Bridge, Combat. What the Hell, over?” A hasty explanation to Combat did not necessarily allay their justifiable fears. “Captain, I believe that when I reach 240 (330 degrees in my turn), the Admiral will execute the signal.” He did. I did. The BUCKLEY did, and Captain Gralla received a “well done.” I’m still recovering from the heart attack. (Bridge personnel will appreciate this one)

                          My Experience on the Dennis J. Buckley

James Still SN 46 - 47.... In 1947 I was on the Dennis J . Buckley DD 808 patrolling the China Sea. We anchored off the coast near a northern China village. The children on the beach touched my heart. I could not forget those little children. When I returned home, I felt I had to go back and to the children in China. Hong Kong became my point of reference because our ship had been in Hong Kong a few times. At home, I thought maybe I could go back as a YMCA director or a Boy Scout leader. I had played football in high school. I thought I might be able to do something physically to help. During the Summer of 1948, I made plans to enter the University of Houston. While waiting for school to begin, I attended a church camp as a sponsor for boys. There the pastor spoke on Philippines 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ who strengths me." I had felt that I could not do anything spiritual, but possibly I could do something physically. The pastor put it this way: "What I am plus Christ is enough." I committed myself to do what I could.

My pastor said that he would make plans for me to go to East Texas Baptist College. I did what my pastor told me to do. I thought I would go back to Hong Kong as a missionary. My church licensed and ordained me to preach. I served as a pastor for the next 50 years. Things never worked out for to go to Hong Kong. However, last October, 2001, I did go back to Hong Kong on a two week Evangelism Partnership. We worked with Chinese children who wanted to learn to speak English.

I greatly appreciate those days in China while on the Buckley. It changed my life like I had never thought it could.

FRED JOHNSON ETN2 50-52….Our recreation officer Lt. Stevenson decided to get a baseball team together. We were in North Ireland and it was raining everyday so we could hardly practice. We were going to Antwerp, Belgium. Now baseball was big in Belgium so Lt Stevenson decided to schedule a game with a Belgium team. So we get to Antwerp and the newspapers had headlines, “Belgium All Star Team vs the US Navy.” 20 sailors that had hardly practiced in several years and not played one game, not even a practice game, against a bunch of All Stars that had been competing regularly. We thought what a debacle this is going to be. We will get blown out and the Navy will be embarrassed. Lt Stevenson’s career will go down the tubes right here. Well the Belgium’s weren’t so advanced as ball players, and we had a pitcher who could really fire the ball. We called him “Greek” and I don’t remember his name. I think he was the laundry man, anyhow we won the game 2 to 1. A miracle. And the report of the game in the newspapers was funny because of the peculiar terminology they used. No American baseball expressions but I do remember they said the pitcher was the “Magnificent Greek.” It would be great if someone had saved those newspapers. With the internet and knowing the dates that the Buckley was in Antwerp, anyone good with computers could maybe get them. Find out if anyone else from the ship remembers this. Maybe you can find Lt. Stevenson.

PS….Most of the guys on the ship were not interested and I think most of them did not know about the ball team. Also I said Lt Stevenson but he may have been an Ensign. I think the guy that hit in 1 or both of our runs was named Greer. He was a red head so he was called Rusty. I think he was a Gunners Mate. We were at Antwerp June 16^th to 21^st , 1951. We thought the set-up was to play one local team. It was a shocker when the newspapers said All Star Team, which meant playing the best players. The newspapers were all hung on the ship’s bulletin board, so they should have been seen by all the crew. Bonin and Rohrick, do you remember anything about this ? The sports writing was humorous because it was written in perfect English, not in baseball terms. The sportswriters were agreed that it was a wonderful, exciting game.

GEORGE DELANEY FT2 49 -52… related to life aboard the USS Dennis J. Buckley…

I went aboard the ship in August 1949 at Newport Rhode Island fresh out of Class C Fire Control School in Washington D.C. The ship was part of Destroyer Division 102. The four-ship division consisted of the Benner DDR 807, Buckley DDR 808, Hawkins DDR 823 and the Fox DDR 829. We were also part of Destroyer Squadron Nine. Our call sign was Nan-Tare-Tare-Queen.

On honeymoon in Cannes France (1949) - The Buckley was making a port call at Cannes France at the same time that Liz and Nicky were honeymooning. The ship was parked inside the sea wall at Cannes.

The Buckley was the first American ship to visit Ireland since the end of WWII. While navigating Cork harbor the people living along the shore were waving American flags or table cloths and the church organ was playing the American anthem. The great grandson, of the hero who the ship was named for (Dennis Joseph Buckley), was welcomed aboard with side boys and full honors and dined in the wardroom with ship’s officers. During our stay the ship had open house for the town and many of the crew were invited to the homes of these visitors.

Downed C124 Globemaster in the Atlantic Ocean - While underway to Gibraltar at the start of a Med cruise, the fleet was diverted to support search and rescue of a missing C124 Globemaster transport. After two days of searching, the Buckley was ordered to cease search and head to port Gibralter and some Des Div 102 ships remained in the area to continue the SAR. There were no survivors.

About reveille time the ship was setting up for plane guard detail when a helicopter crashed after launch from the aircraft carrier. The motor whaleboat was in the davits facing in board. The laundry man who was an experienced deck hand and familiar with boat handling witnessed the helo going down, got on the PA system calling Chicken in the Water and had moved the whale boat in position for launch just as the Buckley’s rescue crew appeared. The ship’s crew rescued the helo crew in record time saving all aboard. The skipper of the carrier sent atta boy message with offer of ice cream for the ship but the Captain refused.

The ship was steaming in the waters of the Dardenalles on the way to Istanbul, Turkey. The Dardenalles are a narrow strait of water approximately a mile wide. You could smell the aroma from the flowers on the shore. About half way to Istanbul, we came upon what turned out to be a floating mine. It was crusted with barnacles and had protruding spikes. The ship's twin 40MM gun was connected to the main battery stable element and while the ship was stopped the mine was hit with single fire rounds and sunk without an explosion.

While taking on fuel, the ship lost power and steering causing the Buckley to make contact with the tanker’s anchor and putting a hole in the bow port side. The ship went to the Brooklyn Navy Yard for repairs and the crew enjoyed ten days of open gangway liberty. That was an unprecedented liberty time.

Naragganset Bay - Occasionally while steaming into port with the fantail anchor detail, the ship would be stopped near lobster pot fishermen. It was possible to buy one for a quarter. We put the lobster into a bucket and cooked it in the hot water from the after head and then shared the delicious results.

The ship was in La Spezia, Italy when the Korean war broke out. The ship sounded general quarters and brought ammo to the upper handling decks. Sometime later a bulletin was issued explaining the situation. Half of the division was sent to the Korean zone. The Buckley stayed in the Med.

The ship fired several depth charges one evening during exercises prior to going in to Portsmouth, VA for a scheduled yard period. The explosions were loud and caused the boat deck to lift several inches damaging the plumbing associated with the ship’s reefer. We never fired depth charges again while I was onboard.

The doctor for the division was aboard the Buckley for awhile. During his shipboard internship he became very proficient with circumcision surgical procedures. It seemed that several of the crew were inexperienced and were convinced that this was the way to go.

For those of you who are familiar with the trough in the aft head, utilized for relief, this may strike a note. There were four shipmates sitting in the aft head. One of them got up and while rearranging his uniform noticed three sets of bulging eyes on the other shipmates caused by the rising sea water in the trough. He realized that his white hat wasn’t in its usual place in his back pocket. He put 2 and 2 together, calmly reached into the trough drain, retrieved his hat and rescued his mates.

Bob Robinson PN1 53-55… In 1953 while the Buckley was in Cannes, France, I took a side visit to Valberg in the French Alps. I met three children about 5 or 6 years old along a path in the country side and gave each one a piece of gum. Twenty-five years later I wrote the local newspaper and asked about these kids. They sent me a photo of them taken at the same site - 25 years later. A picture of both are attached.

I have an original copy of the Buckley brochure on the ships goodwill visit to Barcelona, Spain, June 24,1953. I have the English and Spanish copies, which include the story of Dennis J. Buckley, Jr for whom the ship was named. In many ports each crew member was given two packs of cigarettes when going ashore. In my two years aboard, I traded these for decorated rugs and an oil painting in Italy, clocks and tennis at the Carlton Hotel in France and boat models and a Turkish Friendship ring in Turkey. As the leading Petty Officer in the ships office, I attended and recorded the results of “Captain’s Mast” under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. For our better crew members the punishment would often be confinement to the ship for two weeks - to begin when the ship left port for a two week or longer cruise………Cont…

ERIC N. ELLISON ET2 55-57…. You are asking about sea stories and you know at this point in my life some times I can’t tell if I dreamed some of these things or if they really happened. One of the things I remember when on the midshipmen cruise was we had a line break when refueling and we all got soaked with that heavy oil. The only way to get it off was with diesel oil. It was everywhere. I also think we ran aground in the Cape Cod canal around New Years. Does anyone else remember that or did I dream it. When we got to dry dock in the Boston Navy Yards the screws looked like tulips. That was a cold winter, we lived aboard ship during the stay in the yard. They had big holes cut everywhere, you froze your ninnies off standing fire watch. I wonder if any one else remembers any of this?

RON CLAWSON RM3 55-57…. Once upon a time aboard the Dennis J. Buckley. Summer, 1955 on the midshipmen cruise. Ron Clawson had recently been sent to “0” division radio gang from the deck force. After about a month or so “0” division had a call for a mess cook. I was the newest un-rated person and was elected. They made me a “spud coxswain”. As all you remember my job was to prepare the potatoes and other produce for the mess. We worked directly for the cooks as I recall and while the ship was in Malaga, Spain they brought local produce before we sailed for Plymouth, England. A day or two after leaving Malaga, another person and myself, who’s name I can’t remember, prepared a salad with Spanish lettuce. No one told me that in Spain they had snails and slugs. Yes we washed the lettuce but I guess we left one or two, or maybe it was many snails, in the salad and the cooks served it. You would never guess who the first group was to find the snails. Yep, the Chiefs mess. Well, this other sailor and myself had a new job in the afternoon, “The Scullery”. I did find out what snails and slugs were. Is my partner out there somewhere ?

KARL STROH MM2 55-58…. I reported aboard in October 1955 at Newport, RI. A few months later the DJB went into the Boston Navy Yards for some major changes before heading to Cuba and then to the Pacific fleet. I was in the Fwd. Engine Room as we proceeded through a narrow channel into the Boston Navy Yard. All of a sudden the starboard screw hit the side of the channel. The jolts as the screw hit bottom gave us a real scare. I still remember the “emergency stop signals” from the bridge and all the insulation dust from the shaking steam lines. We went into dry dock and the entire starboard shaft, props and bearings had to be repaired and realigned. We lived on board while in dry dock and it was cold. Probably the only time I can remember wearing my Navy p-coat.
When it was announced that we would be transferring to the Pacific Fleet, there was a mad scramble by many of the crew members to remain on the East coast by exchanging duty with sailors wanting duty on the West coast. After we left the Boston Navy Yards for the Cuba shake-down cruise I believe we had the smallest crew ever.

STROH MM2.. cont.. I have many memories of leaving the DJB on liberty call in many ports. However, in most of those ports I don’t have many memories of returning to the ship and it apparently was noticed. One day after leaving port I was standing top watch in the forward engine room, the messenger went forward to take refrigeration readings and upon returning told me that the XO (AD Wagner) stopped him at the top of the ladder and asked who was on top watch in the fwd. engine room, when he answered Stroh, The XO asked “is he drunk or sober”? This same XO later told me he thought I was Career Navy material and offered me OCS to ship over. At the time I declined but during processing out at Treasure Island I informed them that I would re-up if I could accept the OCS offer the XO made. They informed me that only he, the XO, could make that referral to OCS and that I would have to contact him. It had been four months since I left the DJB so I just let it go.

STROH MM2..cont… A case of tuna disappeared one time while taking on ships stores. XO A. D. Wagner and I believe Chief Cook John Morrill brought a crew of sailors down into the forward engine room searching for the tuna. They insisted that I had a hand in confiscating the tuna and if they found the tuna in the engine room I would be swabbing decks. Luckily they didn’t look in the bilges under the reduction gears. Just for the record, it wasn’t my idea, I just turned a blind eye to the caper. Soon after the ship started serving soup and crackers for those going on and coming off the mid watch.

JOHN A.MORRILL, JR MSCM 56-57…USN RETIRED. The original title Ships Cook is my preference but it was changed to Master Chief Mess Specialist. I retired Oct 1963 from USN but with combined USNR-USN-US Fleet Reserve I officially retired in March 1969 with 30 years service.

The Buckley was in Boston shipyard being refitted. She was to sail to the West Coast on refit completion. Consideration for exchange of duty rate for rate was authorized. Since I preferred the West Coast and the Chief Commissaryman on the Buckley preferred to stay on the East Coast the trade was made. Also the Commanding Officer received orders and Commander R.A. Norelius took command. A refresher training period at Guantanamo Bay was scheduled for the Buckley. The Work is finished and the Buckley sails for “gitmo” . Entering the Bay, the crew off watch is piped to quarters. Chief Montgomery And I are at “S Div” quarters and we notice a concrete wall at the head of the ship and a concrete pier alongside to which the Buckley will moor. The approach is faster than we feel it should be. The concrete wall is looming fast and Montgomery calls out “ all hands grab a stanchion and hold tight”. Cont….

We were expecting a jarring jolt on ramming the wall. A big surprise, there was no ramming. The Captain handled moorings with great skill, often waving off tug boats standing by to give assistance in gently nudging ships alongside piers. There also were a few time when a sister ship would be securing to a buoy and the Buckley would tie alongside her and liberty started before complete mooring was accomplished. As I remember the start of liberty was usually announced at the placing of the first line on a ballard; still had to wait on gangways, etc. I also remember a couple of BM’s or GM’s who seemed to get into fracases every liberty and wound up in the hospital with stab wounds. Do you remember such a duo.

STROH..MM2…55-58.. I was selected to attend a five day instructor school in San Diego. Since the ship was pulling out of Long Beach for a week of maneuvers and would dock at San Diego for the weekend, the Captain (RA Norelius) asked that I drive his car to San Diego and park it at the Navy Base. When I arrived at the gate the guards wouldn’t let me on the base, even though I explained it was a Captain’s car. I drove the streets looking but all the parking areas around the base were “authorized parking only” . I finally drove into one of the lots, parked and locked the keys in the car as instructed. Back at sea the Engineering officer informed me that the Captain could not find his car and called the San Diego police. They had his car impounded and it cost him a $50 fine. I guess the captain wasn’t mad about it because the car was in a safe place. I never did know why they wouldn’t let me on the base, the car had a base sticker.

STROH…MM2…55-58… While tied up at a pier in Long Beach for a short time, a movie was being made on a small Navy ship on the same pier directly across from the DJB. It starred Alan Ladd and Spencer Tracy and the name of the movie was Deep Six. Many of us DJB shipmates watched as Tracy and Ladd filmed several scenes on the ship and pier for several days. I never saw the film but the DJB and her crew should be in the background during a few of the pier scenes.

SPENCE GOLDTHWAITE SO2 56…. This isn’t much of a sea story, but I’m still smiling about it after 45 years after it happened. Prior to serving on the DJB I was stationed on the USS New DDE 818 out of Norfolk. In late 55 or early 56 we got notice that due to the fact 2/3 of the entire Navy was stationed in Norfolk, they were going to “break up the fleet”. If you had served on your present ship for a designated period of time (I think 18 months) and wanted to transfer to a ship in another port fill out this form and submit your request through proper channels. Well, being from the Boston area, I thought why not ? I had been in 3 years and while I loved attending Sonar school in Key West and Norfolk wasn’t all that bad once you got used to it, I thought why not serve my last year in the 1^st Naval District? So I fill out and submit the form and sure enough I get transferred to the Denny J out of Newport. Hey I think, the Navy has a heart after all.
I had my own car at the time, so I drive up to Newport and there she is, anchored out and she looks good. She has recently come out of the Boston Navy Yard and was a good looking ship. I reported for duty and was a little more than surprised to find that she was leaving Newport for Gitmo, where I had just came from with the USS New, and then was going to Long Beach, California! My Tour of duty was short lived in the 1^st Naval District, to say the least. My first thought was, they got me again. I was sure there was a Yeoman sitting out there somewhere laughing about the guy he sent to Newport, who was really going to Long Beach. Well I got the last laugh. I loved California and we went on a Far East Cruise that was great fun. I spent the last 6 months of my enlistment raising hell in Long Beach . When I got out I said to myself this would be a great place to live and sure enough in 1974 I moved to Huntington Beach, CA and in 1977 to Scottsdale, Arizona. I’ve lived in this paradise ever since and it’s all because of a cruel joke the Navy played on me when I was a kid.
Karl, I don’t know when you served aboard the Denny J., but when she came out of the BNY in 56 they had evidently transferred off anyone due to be discharged before she was scheduled to arrive in Long Beach. So, when I reported aboard in Newport there wasn’t much of a crew. I met with a 1^st class Boats, who I sort of became friends with (can’t remember his name) and we laughed about going to Gitmo with a small green crew. I remember we hit rough weather on the way to Gitmo and there would be very few guys eating in the mess deck, so there was plenty for the rest of us. We kept picking up crew members along the way and somehow we got through Gitmo without sinking ourselves, or anyone else and when we headed to the Panama Canal we weren’t just a good looking ship, we were a pretty good fighting ship as well. But it was a trip I’ll never forget. I was the leading Sonarman for the year I was on board and met some of the nicest guys I had met in my life. To have served on the Denny J. was an honor…………………..

HOMER EVANS GM3 54-58……. We were on a gunnery exercise and had just finished a firing run. The twin 3” had two empty ammo racks in the magazine and got permission to reload. The firing mechanism (pistol grip trigger) stuck causing a round of ammo to fire. The bridge was on the phone just as fast, “who fired that shot” and all I could think of was “I did”. Who is this asked LTJG Hickey (the gunnery officer) Homer Evans sir. What happened? The trigger stuck sir. Didn’t hear anymore from the incident. I was lucky that we were still in firing formation. Never heard anymore about the incident. I was mount captain on one of the twin 3” mounts.

STROH MM2…55-58… We left Kaohsiung, Formosa in September 57 to avoid a typhoon and I believe ran right into it. I wondered many times during those couple of days how the ship could survive as she rolled and pitched, waves slamming against her sides and props exiting the water shaking her to the core. The howling wind was enough to scare anyone. Water sloshed back and forth in the after passageway until it got deep enough, and then with a mighty roll of the ship, the water spilled over the hatch riser and came down the ladder into the engineer’s berthing compartment like Niagara Falls, wetting down the bunks and guys near the ladder. With choice words someone would then crawl out of their rack and close the large hatch cover. I never got sea sick but most of the crew did. I remember a lot more than sea water on the decks and the chow lines were very short. For the first time I watched the wide rubber seam at mid ships expand and contract as the bow buried itself into the sea. We were in other storms but I believe this one was the worst of all.

BOB TERHUNE RD3 56-57…. Would like to fill you in on an incident that occurred on the 57 deployment. After we had gotten underway from the beer bust and refueling at Midway and became a unit of the 7^th fleet, there was a policy change as far as emergency leave. If I am correct it said something to the effect that if you were not the sole surviving member or sole support of the family, that in the event of a death in the family no leave would be granted. I remember at quarters that morning thinking what a lousy deal that would be. A day or so later I was in chow line prior to my watch when one of the guys told me to see the OPS boss in his stateroom. Well guess what ? He handed me a telegram stating that my dad had died suddenly. He really did not know what to say except that he was sorry, etc. Well what could I do as we were days away from Japan. To make this story short, I never did get home until we returned in December. However my only concern was to get a message to my Mom in New Jersey saying god knows what but letting her know that I was thinking of her. Well I composed something and went to radio central to have it sent but guess what, we didn’t have a transmitter up or available to reach midway for the first relay. What to do. All my shipmates were with me and trying to figure out a way to accomplish this task. Finally one got the idea to ask either the Trathen or Watts if they could help us out. I don’t remember which ship it was but we got an affirmative on our request. I didn’t want it to go by voice so I asked SM3 Hickman if we could send it by flashing light. No problem, so off it went and eventually on to New Jersey. Well 44 years later I finally got in touch with Rudy Hickman, thanks to the DJB website. It was quite nice to receive that e-mail and to have him tell me that he did remember that night and that message. So that’s my story. I think of that incident and still remember the support I got from everyone. The XO LTCDR Wagner was particularly helpful and also very kind in explaining policy and making it just a little easier. Thats it and if you want to post on the web, go ahead. Thanks.

RICHARD TARBUCK LTJG 56-58 ….. We were on Formosa Patrol I recall, bouncing around in that narrow strait of water, tired and long on replenishments…ie nothing fresh on board. RD1 Smith had squirreled away a can of baked beans from the ships store, originally I believe….stores long gone. It was mid watch and I was JOOD on the bridge. With much pomp and ceremony Smith pulled out his treasure much to the envy of his watch shipmates. He opened the can…you guessed , it was all juice and one “stinkin” bean… he didn’t get the last laugh on his watch mates. As a result he wrote Van Camp of his embarrassment ….nothing heard. However upon pulling up in Long Beach, there was a case of beans from the man himself for RD1 Smith. Whether he shared it with shipmates is a story unknown.

RICHARD TARBUCK LTJG 56-58 …..reminded me of that 24 hr period in Sasabo, Japan that we painted the entire ship before receiving CNO Arliegh Burke on board at sea, transferred by hi-line from a cruiser with the entire seventh fleet surrounding the Denny J.. “ PAINT STILL WET”

KARL STROH MM2 55-58…… I was on top watch in the Fwd. Engine Room for the transfer of Admirals Burke, Rivero and Wilson. The 808 was alongside the cruiser with hi-lines across. Over the head phones I listen to the hi-line chatter top-side, GUEST is in the chair ready for transfer.

About that time we start losing steam pressure fast. I call the bridge and tell them we have an emergency, then call the after boiler room to cross-connect the plants. The throttle man closes the forward throttle valve to maintain steam pressure at 500 psi while we cross connect the plant. The 808 loses headway and all lines are released. The Captain and another officer came down into the engine room on the run demanding to know what happened. “I lost steam pressure and had to cross-connect sir”, back up the ladder they went. I was plenty worried because in another five minutes an Admiral would have been half way across in the chair. Although I thought at the time that I was in big trouble, I was reassured later by the MMC that I followed procedure and did the right thing. High water in the fwd boiler room was the problem. The Fwd Boiler room restored steam pressure and we soon split the plants and came up along side once again for a successful transfer of Admirals Burke, Rivero and Wilson. Although I didn’t know which Admiral was in the chair, for many years after, every time I saw or heard about Admiral Burke in the news I thought of that high line incident. Another five minutes and he might have been the one half way across on the high line.

STROH MM2 cont…. On liberty, Kaohsiung, Formosa… As we all had to be back on the ship by 2400, the liberty launch was full of very “happy” sailors. The Captain was among the group and we all were having a very unusual but great conversation with him. As the motor launch came alongside the ship, the captain asked if anyone was hungry, of course everyone was, so we all went to the mess hall. The captain told a shipmate to go wake up the mess cook and tell him to cook us some breakfast. A few minutes later the shipmate reported back to the captain that “ the cook told me

to go to hell”. The captain sent the shipmate back to inform the cook that this was “orders from the captain” and he had five minutes to get in the galley and start cooking. In only minutes an “unhappy cook” was serving breakfast to the “ Captain and crew “

STROH MM2..cont… One day during real rough weather I was heading up the inside passage way to the mess hall. As I passed the galley I saw the cook, with a shovel, scooping up beans that were spread all over the galley floor, he was shoveling them back into a large pot that had slid off the stove. I thought they would probably get thrown out, but you guessed it, beans were on the menu for supper.

BENJAMAN DOLGIN 56-57….. It had to be sometime in the spring of 1957, underway somewhere outside of Long Beach, CA, at approximate 1415 hours. We were steaming in a column type, follow- the-leader formation, the ship’s officers, as I recall, were learning how to maneuver the ship. I believe the BUCKLEY was the third ship in the formation. I was on the starboard wing of the signal bridge when I noticed that the ship in front of us was going much slower than us. We were coming up on that ship very quickly and it seemed certain that we were going to rear-end it. Captain Roy Norelius came rushing up on the bridge and yelled “what is going on here?” “ I have the con, I have the con !!” he exclaimed.
We were getting closer and closer to the ship in front of us. “All engines Stop !” “All engines stop !” The ship didn’t stop so fast. “Left full rudder !….right full rudder !!!” “All back full !…all back full !!” Commander Norelius yelled ! normally a fairly calm, soft spoken person. Finally the mighty DJB belched a big black cloud of smoke from the No.1 stack and began to slow. The ship in front of us, maybe it was the USS WATTS, hauled off to starboard and we all breathed normally again. Scary, needless to say….and the signal lights began to flash from evry ship asking “what happened ??……

YATCH …. At sea aboard the DJB. Yatchmenoff had the forward watch and he looked down and saw the XO throw the man-over-board dummy over the port side. Immediately Yatch reported to the bridge “man-over-board, port side forward” using his sound powered phones. Meanwhile the XO was intently watching what was occurring. The OD Mr xxx had the con and backed over the dummy completely shredding it. Yatch could hear the XO tell the OD, “if I fall overboard don’t come back for me.” You have only three places to go on this ship from now on, your stateroom, wardroom and watch station. You are to read and memorize the man-over-board procedures and report back to me when you have. All names except Yatch have been disguised to keep the peace. It is a true story. (Note: This story, reprinted as is, came from only a Yatch. Date is assumed.)

ROBERT ANDERSON xET2 57-58…..On the 58 cruise, you know how it went, the first interesting happening was the rare overnight stop at Midway Is. I had liberty so went with a group to the EM Club. There was a USO show going on in the theater which had the same entrance. The club was real busy so after a couple of beers, they were selling warm beer, a PFC Marine came in with a nightstick to clear the club. Going outside there was a line of Marines with pump shotguns at parade rest. That was no time to do much else but go back to the ship. There were lots of bicycles setting just outside the door so two or three of us guys grabbed bikes and rode them back to the ship. Upon getting back to the ship, there was the duty crew with grappling hooks pulling bikes out of the water. I do not know how much that cost the ships Recreation funds, but was probably the reason we went back to the states by way of Australia and New Zealand. Regards for now, Andy xET2.

FRANK NEUMAN RD2 60-63…We pulled into Subic Bay, Philippines during West Pac deployment. When going out the main gate, the BBQ smelled great. Being a good ole boy from Texas, I had to try some of it. Bought a BBQ-on-a-stick. Looked good, smelled good but I thought it was a little red and stringy for pork. I had eaten most of it when I was informed that it wasn’t pork but was monkey. Needless to say, I immediately lost my appetite and threw it away. We don’t eat monkey in Texas !

CHARLES H. BOGART RDSN(Bogey One) 58-61…Hong Kong, Mary Soo and her girls painted ships in the harbor, her only pay being leftovers from the mess hall. Mary Soo would station girls outside the mess decks with buckets, and as sailors exited the mess hall they handed their tray to the girls who would divide the food scraps into the various buckets. I, in my generosity one night, left extra meat on my tray, I thought they would appreciate the extra meat but they just took all of the Buckley’s food and dumped into one garbage can. Our cooks were not the best in the world to say the least. Just before we sailed for WESTPAC, the Marine Corps tested the Redeye Missile system from on board our ship. After the Marines ate their first meal with us, they broke out their combat rations and ate them for the rest of the week. Our Baker however was outstanding as long as he was drunk. The bread and rolls got heavier the longer we were away from port. The officers would turn their heads when at times he would be “happy” for a number of days at sea, from a hidden supply of booze. As long as he was happy the bread, rolls and cakes he made were heavenly. One of his specialties was making rum or brandy cakes for the Wardroom and chiefs mess. It is doubtful if little of the liquor actually went into the cakes. …..

CHARLES H.BOGART RDSN (Bogey one) 58-61 ….A story about the SCROUNGE…I Had to sign a report slip on xxxx for failure to relieve the watch and for sleeping in an unauthorized space. xxxxx was one of the odd balls transferred from another ship to ours. He was a scrounge. Never took a shower or washed. You could smell him down wind. We washed him down once with scrub brushes. He was put on permanent mess duty in the scullery until the Captain ordered he be allowed to stand watch in CIC. He was not allowed to sleep in our berthing quarters due to his body odor. While mess cooking he slept in the scullery on the deck. After being taken off mess cooking he slept on the floor in the SPS-6 transmitter room. One night he was given a bunk in the machinist berthing area, they threatened to throw him overboard if he tried to sleep there again. He was later transferred to another ship. Don’t know why he wasn’t discharged from the Navy as he was obviously mentally ill.

CHARLES H. BOGART (Bogey one) 58-61… I received the name Bogey one while standing mid watch (0000-0400). I had been sitting at the radar scope in CIC while we were operating in the Formosa Starits. An Electronic Technician came into repair a scope that was down. He normally referred to me as bogey one. A bogey being an unidentified aircraft contact. Upon entering CIC he shouted bogey one 000, 10 feet. The CIC officer had been laying in his chair asleep with his hand near the coffee pot. This cry caused the officer to shout “where” “where” and trying to stand up pulled the coffee pot down on himself. From this time on I was called “Bogey One”.

CHARLES H. BOGART RDSN (Bogey One) 58-61…. No matter what one tells you he saw at a ships party overseas, know that he is only telling half the story. It is impossible to describe some of the things I saw. As a matter of fact I must be fantasizing when I look back on those parties. I remember the first one I went to. The Shore Patrol was shaking everyone down before they went in, officers and sailors alike, to ensure no one had a camera. Normal procedure was for he ship to rent a bar for the night. The ship would supply the food while beer and booze was bought on the base. The bar would supply the girls and a floor show. These shows could even make a sailor blush. What food and drink not consumed during the party belonged to the bar. There is nothing like a bunch of drunk sailors having a good time. What I remember about this ships party is that the cooks took two 30 gallon garbage cans that had been well used and washed them out with a fire hose. Once cleaned they hot steamed them. They were then taken to the galley where one was filled with potato salad and the other with baked beans….these cans transported the food to the ships party.

CHARLES H BOGART RDSN 58-61…..The DJB insignia design displayed in the center of the Web Page - “Forewarn is Forearmed” was designed by Folkner RD3 and myself in early 1961. Cdr. Simcox, the Captain, wanted an insignia not based on a cartoon. He had a contest to design the new insignia. We originally drew a diagonal line across the shield, upper left to lower right, the bar sinister, herality sign of a baster, the captain knew what the diagonal bar meant. In the original the sword was in the lower left and the electron in the upper right. Thus while the Captain liked the basic idea he had the design redrawn into quadrants. Folkner got the credit for the design and the basket leave. Folkner gave me the money. ($10.00, I think)

CHARLES BOGART RDSN 58-61 …… Lying outside the main gate of the Yokosuka Naval Base was an area of bars and gift shops. The area consisted of two streets called Black Market alley and Thieves alley. It is hard to capture the flavor of the area. The total area didn’t stretch five blocks. Every other building was a bar, the other a gift shop. The bar girls all spoke some English and some were quite fluent. They would sit and dance with you if you bought them drinks every 10-15 minutes. Most of the girls were willing to make love after a mutually agreed fee was reached. The fee was split with Momma-San (older women) who chaperoned the girls. The fee depended on how long you wanted to spend with the girl. The act was performed at the girls sleeping room which was away from the bar. The problem of venereal disease required a contraceptive be shown to the OOD along with your liberty card when one went ashore for liberty. If not shown, the OOD would find something wrong with your uniform and not allow you ashore. Some objected to this procedure saying they would never commit adultery or fornication, but I saw many shipmates do something ashore they swore they would never do under any circumstances.

BOGART…cont….A few days later ! Some guys in OC division have the crabs so we had to air out all the mattresses and blankets, scrubbed bunk bottoms and cleaned the compartment with disinfectant.

BOGART…cont….May 13^th^. . Pulled into Subic Bay after operation Pony Express. All the ships and USN transports that took part in this operation were also in port at this time. Olongapol was so full of Sailors and Marines that the guards at the main gate would only leave someone out of the gate to go to town when someone returned to the base. I heard that Sailors and Marines were standing in line at the whore houses but thought it was a sea story until I saw it for myself. Lines of men stretching out into the streets from the houses waiting their turn with the women. It was, and still is, unbelievable. I had my share of drink and women but never like this. For a few days everything was lowered to the commonest level.

BOGART …cont……..in Kure, Japan, I found a local Japanese bar while wondering around by myself. When I went in and bought a beer I was the only non-Japanese in the bar. Some Japanese men were sitting at a table who spoke English and/or were learning to speak English. They invited me to sit with them and help them practice their English. I had a very enjoyable time with them. I got pleasantly drunk without spending a cent. What I remember most is that they sent out for some Japanese food. I don’t know what I ate but it was one of the best meals I ever had. The bar girls, while not Geishas, were of that quality. When I left to go back to the ship they ordered me a taxi to take me back and one of the girls gave me a neck chain that I still have today.

BOGART…cont..Upon returning to Long Beach xxxx was restricted to the ship on some charge. Waiting on the pier was his wife. It was decided by the crew that she would get to spend the night with her husband. That evening after the captain and most of the officers had left on leave or liberty, she and xxx were given the Captain’s cabin to use for their reunion. xxx was still restricted to the ship per Captain’s orders but the wife was not made to suffer. She departed the ship before quarters the next morning.

C. Bogart kept a daily diary of the entire 1961 Westpac Cruise. The above memories are only a few stories that I picked from the 113 page diary written by Bogart. Many Naval operations, sister ship names, ports of call, etc., can be found in this daily account of the 1961 Westpac cruise. Contact C. Bogart personally if interested.

GEORGE ESTEY, FTSN 60-62…..Were you on board when we were all awakened by this loud boom. We, in Fox Division all thought something had exploded in the ammunition stores below (if it had we would have all been dead) and ran up the ladder through the mess and started up the mess line ladder when we finally took time to look at each other. We were all covered with lint and dust. Quite a sight, a bunch of sailors in their skivvies looking as if they had been tarred and feathered. It seems that due to rough seas a wave had come over the ship in such a way that it had tried to enter the air intake for the ventilation system. The compression ripped the dust that had been collecting there since the ship had been built and sent it hurling through the vents into the compartments where we all slept. Whoever cleans out the ventilation ducts ? Well that day they got cleaned and we were wearing the dust. Our compartment was filled with dust and only the areas not covered were the outlines in our racks where we had been sleeping……………………

RAY SORRELL, STG2 62-63…..In the last of October 1962, while operating with the Bon Homme Richard during Flight OPS, one of the planes spotted a Russian Sub running on the surface. The Turner Joy and the Buckley were dispatched to investigate. In late afternoon we arrived at the location and an ASW plane was circling and started dropping flares to mark the subs position. Lining up on the flares we made contact along with the Turner Joy. We started a circle pattern and when the sub would turn into one of the destroyers, that destroyer would break off and the other one would maintain contact while the first ship would come about and swing back into formation. After two days the sub tried to snorkel indicating his batteries and air were running low. As we were in rough to heavy seas he could not snorkel very long. The third day brought on a new tactic. The sub dropped several decoys and a noisemaker. Our screen went almost completely blank. Bill Horton was on the stack; turning down the gain and asking for total silence as he tried to maintain contact. After 20-30 minutes when our screen cleared, Bill was no more than 50 yards to port of the sub. The next day the sub had it and surfaced. He ran on the surface all day and throughout the night. The following day we had taken pictures and finished our mission and said farewell to one Russian Sub that was probably more than a little embarrassed. We were all proud of doing a great job knowing we accomplished what we were trained for.

JERRIE CATE RMCS 1964-66 ….. during the one and only West Pac tour I made on the DJB, we spent a lot of time off the Viet Nam coast carving large circles in the water in the area know as Yankee Station, We monitored fishing boat activities, checking out the incredible array of antennas they all had, and documented them all. I, and a friend Skip Daniel, another RM2, spent a lot of time on the bridge during these encounters drawing large renditions of these vessels. The Polaroid pictures were too small to provide the definition the CO wanted. During all these encounters we were at GQ ready to roll. During more relaxing moments, when no other vessels were around, GQ was relaxed and we were allowed on deck. The weather was generally great, though hot and humid. The seas were typically pretty flat, causing the ship to barely roll.
During a day watch in Radio Central I took a break, just before noon meal, to go out on the ASROC deck and get a breath of fresh air. As I exited the hatch I was facing aft and the first place I looked was to my left, the starboard side. The sea was flat, as usual. I turned to my right to re-enter the hatch and some motion at the port side caught my eye. It was an enormous wave, out of the blue, about 100 yards away coming at us broadside. It had to be 60 feet high if it was an inch. I rushed to the hatch, threw myself inside, dogged the hatch and braced myself by stretching my arms across the passageway. There was a very loud rush of water as we rose with the swell and the ship seemed to roll over all the way over on it’s side. I was sure it was going all the way over which would put me on the bottem, but I later learned we went 52 degrees. This went on pendulum fashion for a long time. All the while I could hear things crashing around on the mess decks, three decks below. There was bug juice everywhere.
The wave broke on the signal bridge, right on top of an SM3 (I don’t recall his name). He was napping on a flag bag when he heard the noise and opened his eyes to see the wave coming down on him. He grabbed the sides of the bag and hung on for dear life. It was amazing that no one was lost over the side and there was no damage (that I’m aware of ). Everyone got a scare, however. After the wave departed, the sea returned immediately to it’s flat state and we never again had such an encounter.

It was during this cruise that the DJB, in company with the USS Hanson, relieved the USS Turner Joy and USS Maddox and their group. As you may recall, that task force was fired on in the early stages of the Viet Nam war. When we arrived off Viet Nam one of the first actions assigned was NGFS. To do this, DJB sailed up the Saigon River and maintained position in the stream with the engines after turning around. We could only get in and out at high tide, so once in we were there for the duration. Concussion grenades wee tossed into any debris floating near the ship to thwart possible swimmers. To my knowledge this was the very first NGFS mission during this conflict and the first time the USA fired before being fired upon. During this time we were of course at GQ and I was in radio central with most every other radioman listening to the spotter plane report hits and misses by our gunners. The 5” guns fired non-stop for hours on end and very accurate from all accounts.

After 40 days at sea during one stretch we were scheduled for a visit to Subic Bay. Everyone was on deck in dress whites as we pulled into port and singled up at the pier. Before we got the second line over, we were ordered to the refueling piers and to get underway for Indonesia. Not many on deck knew what was happening as we made the move to refuel. Even as we sailed past Grande Island, there were sailors on the fantail wondering why we were headed out to sea. The reason was problems in Indonesia that may have required removal of Americans from the area. The end was result was we sailed in circles, out of sight of land for two weeks, before heading for Hong Kong for a four day visit. Then it was back on line.

We had a beer party on one of the islands off the tip of South Vietnam. We had 200 cases of San Miguel beer on board and it was carried ashore for the party. I personally only remeber going over. I woke up the next morning in my rack, in dress whites. I lost some time on that one.

In company with the USS Okinawa, CG-?? And the USS Bon Homme Richard, we sailed into the Tonkin Gulf launching air raids each night. It was like watching a WWII movie with bombs dropping and searchlights sweeping the sky.

Wish we could attend the reunion but the timing is wrong for us. Well be thinking of all who goes.

MICHAEL WYATT MM3 65-68… I was on board the Buckley a few months after boot camp when I was assigned mess cook duties with the ships cooks. I was really in M division in the after engine room on temporary duty in the mess hall. Well….one day I had to unload pies and cakes from the pier to the galley pantry when I took the nicest cake I could find and took a detour through the engine room to deliver the stolen cake to my buddies…. When there I see a kaki uniform with his back turned and I thought it was just the Chief PO …..so I said “hey guys lookie what I got for ya”…when the kaki turned around it was the Engineering Officer. I swallowed hard and everybody got quiet. The Engineering Officer said “ sailor did you steal that cake” ? and I said yes sir…..(I was scared I was going to get busted) he said well don’t just stand there, lets cut it up so everyone can have a piece. I’m so glad I never took anything again……………….

MIKE MALLOY ICFN 66…. I flew to San Diego and reported on board the Buckley. This was my first time on a real Navy base and on a ship, so I felt pretty overwhelmed. The sights, and sounds. And the smells were something I had never experienced before. I came on board the DJB as a non-designated seaman, so naturally I was immediately assigned to the deck division. The division LPO was a Neanderthal BM2 named Hutchinson, who everybody referred to as “Hutch”. Life as a deck ape was an endless cycle of sweeping and swabbing, chipping and painting. We no sooner finished painting something, then we chipped it down and repainted it again. (I think it was job security). We left for WESTPAC in the fall of 1966. After a short liberty in Pearl, my first experience in a non-American liberty port was when we pulled into Subic Bay. Naturally I crossed the bridge into Olongopo. Talk about culture shock! Being a young boy who had never tasted alcohol, it didn’t take much of the stuff to alter my mental state. I’d had just enough to bravely return to the ship and tell “Hutch” what I thought of him( did I mention that this fellow had no sense of humor at all ). Hutch decided that the best way to thank me for my honesty was to have me assigned to a 6 month tour as a mess cook…………

Harold Ferguson SH2 68-72…… On 8 August 1969, the DJB arrived Pearl Harbor on the first stop of a Western Pacific Cruise (WestPac). It was the first time in Hawaii for most of the crew and excitement was high. We docked on the back side of Ford Island. A plaque on the pier proclaimed that the USS Raliegh had been damaged on that very spot 7 Dec. 1941 when the Japanese had attacked the base during their surprise attack. The liberty party gathered on the fan tail for a briefing…the do’s and don’ts for our stay in paradise. “The middle of the island is off limits” declared the XO. “All personnel will walk around the edge of the island to get to the ferry boat which is the only way to the mainland, the beer and the girls. It was a beautiful day and although the walk around the island was three times longer, no one minded. The excitement of being in Hawaii was fantastic. Two days and nights in the Garden of Eden was a dream come true. Returning to the ship a few days later was a different story. The ferry landed back on Ford Island full of drunk, broke and tired sailors. The lighted mast of the DJB was so close,,, directly across the middle of the island, just step over a rope with off limits signs hanging all over it… a short walk to a beckoning rack…and sleep. Everyone headed directly to the ship, after all the shortest distance between two points was still a straight line. Suddenly bright lights blinded all of us as jeeps full of SP’s converged on our group from every direction. They wrote us all up, taking our names, arresting a few of the louder ones in our group. They finally escorted us all to the ship and turned us over to the Officer of the Deck. The next morning the ship left Pearl and nothing was ever said. After several weeks on the gun line, the incident was all but forgotten. Cont…..

In 1988, nineteen years later, I had the opportunity to visit Captain Arthur Luskin, the commanding officer of the DJB when the incident took place. I asked him if he remembered that time so long ago when approximately 80 members of his crew were detained just for taking a shortcut and why nothing was ever said to us. He laughed and said “it was a bit of an embarrassing situation for me, you see the XO and I were also on the ferry boat that night.”

Two months after my visit with Captain Luskin at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, DC, I received a letter from his daughter that her dad passed away.He was a great skipper, and I have fond memories of my days on the DJB when he was her CO. The DJB was his first command. He shared much with me about her. I recorded our talks on tape and hope to share more of his insights about the DJB in the near future. He would be a big supporter of the reunion plans if he were still with us. He shared his stories and memoirs about the DJB which he sent me shortly before he passed away. He can still be an important part of the reunion, and the ships history.

HAROLD FERGUSON..68-72… I was on board the Dennis J. Buckley DD 808. My ship along with other ships in destroyer squadron one, including the USS Hanson DD 832, were in route from Midway to Guam. On 17 February 71 the squadron was in some of he roughest seas I have ever seen. The DJB was taking some of the worst rolls ever. Green sea water was breaking over the 02 level. The crew was walking on bulkheads. Suddenly alarms went off and “Man Overboard” was being yelled over the intercom. Everyone bolted topside even though the crew had been ordered below decks. Flares had been thrown from the bridge and were marking the spot in the hugh waves where a sailor was in the water. None of us who had been below deck knew what ship he was from or his name. I watched a drama unfold before me as all the ships began turning, trying to get back to him as he bobbed like a cork on the high seas. The Hanson got to him first. Everyone on the DJB was completely oblivious to the storm as we manned the lifelines, praying that he wouldn’t disappear under the water. I’ll never forget the relief as I watched him being pulled aboard, everyone around me cheering to see him safely on board the Hanson again. A few minutes later our captained announced to us that the Hanson had radioed that he was OK. Years later I found out his name is MM2 P.A. Smith. To this day I still remember the helpless feeling I had in not being able to help him. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for the Hanson and her crew.

( Note: Hanson letter condensed ) In a return letter to H. Ferguson from a HANSON sailor, H. Johnson GMG3, gave an account of what happened. MM2 Smith was on the signal deck, hanging onto the mast, without a life jacket, snapping pictures of the DJB and other ships as they broke waves. Johnson informed Smith to get inside but Smith waved him off. Johnson descended to the bridge and informed the OD, who donned rain gear and climbed topside. He ordered Smith inside and then his next words were “man overboard”. As Smith left the mast to obey the order, the ship rolled and Smith took a header over the life lines. You will never guess how the Hanson kept position on Smith. Remember the winds are blowing and the waves are 70 feet high. Well it seems a gooney bird, probably from Midway, was flying circles around him. Talk about the testament concerning sailors and lifesavers ( gooney birds and dolphins )

BOB MOORE RMSN 71-73 …One day at sea I had just taken up the last bit of messages from my watch as radioman. I gave them to the OD and went out to the wing and sat in the skipper’s chair (big no no) enjoying the nice sunny day and the ship gently rolling through the waters. I heard someone come up behind me but did not turn around. And with that I said “man if I were the skipper of this ship I would be sitting up here all the time !” The voice behind me said “ well I am the skipper and I would be sitting in that chair if your butt wasn’t in it !” Boy did I know that voice, it was Commander Dean’s. I jumped up and was all apologetic, but you know what, he told me to go ahead and sit back down! We talked for about a half hour up there that day. Commander Dean was an old mustanger, and he really did love his ship. I had the utmost respect for the man. One thing that really impressed me was how he brought her into the dock with no tugs, he just stood on the bridge and gave the orders, that ship just slid right up to the pier and stopped. It did not touch the pier at all……….

The next story is how I got the name “Hemmie”. We had been on liberty on Olongapo drinking and having fun. It was not unusual for me to get escorted back to the ship by the shore patrol for being stumbling drunk ! Well after a few times of this “behavior” the captain called me in to his quarters, he chewed me out big time and told me “your getting to be like a hemroid! A giant pain in the ass”, well the guys in the radio shack knew I got my butt chewed out and found out what he called me. When we got to Honk Kong a couple of them made a ships cap up for me and had them put “Hemmie” on the back of it. I still have the ballcap to this day. It has become quite the conversation piece along with some other memorabilia that I have.

The sadist day I had in the Navy was when they lowered the flag on her for the last time. That was her decommissioning . I never wanted to leave her and when they took her out of San Diego for the last time I watched her gracefully go. Man I loved that ship………

Station Ship Hong Kong 1971

JAMES DANIELS….STG 2…70-72…. Starting on April 27, 1971 the Dennis J. Buckley began station ship duties in Hong Kong. This assignment was to last 20 days. For those that may not know, during this time period the captain of a Hong Kong station ship served as the diplomatic equivalent of a US Ambassador. During our assignment in Hong Kong we were the only US ship in port for almost three weeks. Just imagine, the Buckley men were the only US fleet sailors in all of Hong Kong. The establishments in Hong Kong had a policy towards station ship sailors. They knew they were going to get all our money sooner or later. They also knew we were going to be there a long time and we might be the only business they had for parts of that time. Because of this station ship sailors got reduced prices on just about everything. There were many times on liberty I found myself to be the only person in a bar for hours on end. I remember sitting at tables crowded with bar girls. They were usually playing card games. Cribbage and Black Jack were popular along with a lot of games unfamiliar to me. Drinks and food were usually half price. I can remember getting a plate with a mountain of fried rice on it for 25 cents. The down side was there wasn’t much live entertainment anywhere because there wasn’t enough business. Poor us, we had to settle for jukebox music.

Spending so much time there allowed for a broadening of activities that sailors might embark on. You know, things like sight seeing, going to movies and finding interesting people and places. I saw my first Bruce Lee movie there and quite a number of other traditional Chinese martial arts movies. I made friends with a Chinese family I met and was invited to their home for a dinner. I was even polite enough to try a little of everything including the fish heads in the soup. Cont…

I poked around in a lot of shops and ate at nice restaurants. Some of the best Italian food I have ever eaten was in Hong Kong.

JAMES DANIELS STG2…It was during one of my searches for a nice place to eat that I was told of a Chinese food restaurant in Wanchai that served all varieties local delicacies. I had a hankering for something more on the exotic side so wanted to check it out. I don’t remember the name but it was in a basement off a small side street. The atmosphere seemed upscale but just a little dark. The smells wafting around were wonderful. The menu was quite large. It was mostly in Chinese but many of the items had a few words of English in them so that I had a pretty good idea of what the items were. There was one page, however, that did not have any English words on it at all. I ordered a beer and started wading through the menu to figure out what I was going to order. I saw most of the traditional dishes and had kind of set my mind on something a little more exotic. I soon started to notice that there was a lot of people getting up from their tables, walking through a, beaded curtain then returning empty handed a few minutes later. I could see the restroom sign at the back of the room but the beaded door was unmarked. When the waiter returned I asked what was behind the curtain. He told me that people were selecting their specialty items. I asked where these items were on the menu and you can probably guess what page he pointed out to me. I asked if I could go back and see what was there and he said it was OK. I went through the curtain and it was a rather large room filled with glass cages and aquariums. I wasn’t all that surprised that they would have live animals in cages and I had picked out live seafood in restaurants back in the States. There were chickens, ducks and all kind of other foul in the first section. Then was rabbits and small pigs. After that were fish tanks with many different types sea creatures such as fish, eel, crab, lobster and many more. It wasn’t until I got to the back of the room that things started to get a little too weird for me. You know the area I am talking about, where the baby monkeys, snakes, puppies, kittens and all other assortment of creepy crawlies were displayed. Now I am not one criticize the customs of others but this area was considerably beyond exotic for my tastes. I went back to my table and ordered bird nest soup and some fairly tame sounding main dish. Even though I didn’t order off that all Chinese page, I still had to go back to the beaded curtain room to pick out my bird nest and fish. Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it.

JAMES DANIELS..…We were told to wear civilian clothes if we were going on liberty on May Day. May Day is a communist holiday. The followers of Uncle Mao go out into the streets demonstrating and wave their little red books (Quotations of Mao Tse-tung), big red flags and wear anything red they can get their hands on. In other words we were to keep a low profile and stay out of trouble. Frankly I was surprised they granted liberty that day but not being one to miss an opportunity it was time to hit the beach. A short trip in a walla walla later I was walking the streets heading for the China Fleet Club. I went around a corner and there, fifty yards in front of me, was a sea of red filling the street from the walls of the buildings on one side to the walls on the other side. There must have been thousands of people. I remember seeing hundreds of red flags waving in riotous chaos. I saw Mao’s red books in almost everyone’s hand. They were chanting and marching almost in unison so it looked like waves moving back through the crowd. The worst part it was they were coming my way. I had no idea if there was violence in the hearts of any of the people in that march. I don’t know if I would have been an ugly American in their eyes. What I do know is I ducked back around the corner and ran like hell. I zigged left at the next corner and ducked into the first shop I could find. I don’t remember what kind of shop it was but I am sure I got more than cont….a few curious stares. I waited a good while before leaving the shop and eventually made it to the China Fleet Club. The rest of my May Day was thankfully less red and uneventful.

J.Daniels…cont.. Shore patrol was usually an interesting experience for me in whatever port I found myself. Shore Patrol in Hong Kong is usually pretty boring as we were normally just standing around the ferry terminals or at the pier where the walla wallas came to and from the ships. There was a very small unit, something like three sailors, that are stationed in Hong Kong doing shore patrol duty. When there is only one ship in port they generally don’t request any help but when a carrier or a significant number of ship come in they ask for more support. The station ship was responsible for providing this shore patrol support. I was picked for this duty after a carrier task group pulled into port. The shore patrol station is walking distance from the transit pier. We were told to report in at 16:00 and that we would be busy until late when things quieted down in town. There were two of us from the ship and we met with a BM1 from the permanent duty station that had the duty that night. A couple of British sailors, a British petty officer who seemed to be in charge of the whole affair, two British Royal Marines and a Hong Kong policemen eventually showed up. We all piled into a box van that was outfitted as a paddy wagon. It was similar to a UPS delivery truck. The Hong Kong policeman was the driver and the British petty officer kind of stood on the steps at the front entrance to the van. The whole back of the van was a double door that swung out. This was how we entered and exited the paddy wagon. There were bench seats on both sides of the van. By the time we were all loaded there was only one space left on the bench seats. . I thought we were a little over crowded with only one space for whomever we would be dealing with. The only weapons in the van were the billy clubs that each of us wore.
We began driving around the bar district and it was pretty boring at first. We eventually got a call that there was a fight at the Chine Fleet Club enlisted man’s lounge. With warning lights flashing off we went. When we unloaded we were told by the British petty office to follow them up but under no circumstances were we to enter the enlisted man’s lounge unless they called for us. I guess the British didn’t think kindly of any colonial interference. All I got out of it was a little exercise because by the time we got up to the lounge the situation had resolved itself and nobody was talking. We had a few more calls and mostly it was for British sailors. I soon found out why we didn’t need much seating space. The “guests” of the paddy wagon were usually lying on the floor between our feet. The British do not take kindly to any inappropriate behavior by its military men. If they were not already bruised up before the Shore Patrol got there they certainly would be by the time they made it into the paddy wagon. The Royal Marines were particularly savage when they were dealing with one of their own. We were strictly backup for most of the events of that evening. I think there was only one US sailor that got a ride that night and he was passed out drunk before we got there. We got to put him in the paddy wagon. I suppose our British counterparts thought we were not doing our part for not getting a few licks in anyway but they never said anything to us about it.

The most interesting event occurred around 20:00 hours. We headed out of the bar district and we were told that there had been reports of a peeping tom at the British military barracks. Of course like everything in Hong Kong the military barracks are high-rise buildings. There were two barracks, one for men and one for women. They were maybe 30 stories high and located maybe 50 yards apart. We all piled out of the paddy wagon and headed for one of the buildings. At the entrance I was stopped cold when I spotted the largest preying mantis I have ever seen in my life. It stood as high as my knees. This distracted us for only a moment and into the building and up the elevator we went. Somewhere near the top we got out of the elevator. We went down the hall to a locked door. A key magically appeared and we were soon out on an open deck or large balcony. We had a real eagle’s eye view of the other barrack building. A couple of pairs of binoculars appeared from somewhere and the British PO and the BM1 were scanning the other building. Eventually I was handed the binoculars and I immediately spotted the culprits. We were the peeping toms. I hadn’t noticed that we had actually entered the men’s barracks. All I can say of some of the women in the British military is that modesty was not high on their priority list. Not that I was complaining any.

JAMES DANIELS…cont..The ship was visited by a Hollywood type looking for help in the filming of three episodes of a new TV series. The series starred Shirley Maclaine and was called Shirley’s World. We were the only US ship in port and they were looking for sailors to act as extras. What would Hong Kong be without some US sailors wandering around in it? They even wanted to borrow some uniforms for some of their actors. Of course the whole ship heard about what was going on in a heartbeat. Word eventually got around that they were going to auditioning for dancers. My original thoughts were who were they expecting to be on board, Fred Astaire. Eventually we found out they wanted people who could club dance, you know like do the twist, the swim, the jerk or whatever. The announcement came over the PA for anyone interested to report to the mess deck for the auditions. The casting director was a woman and one by one we had to dance for her on the mess deck. She had brought a tape player and played some music for us to dance to. Of course there were always more than a few on-lookers to help us out. Some folks were a little shy about the prospect of dancing by themselves in front of her so she would offer to dance with them if they wanted her too. I don’t know if it was luck or my flashy gyrations and fast footwork on the dance floor but I was one of the ones selected.
The next day we reported early to a bar in Wanchi dressed in whites. They wanted us there early because it would have been more expensive to rent the bar at night when they would loose business. They wanted sailors at the tables, sailors at the bar and sailors on the dance floor. I was either lucky or not, depending on your viewpoint, to be one of the dancers. Those flashy gyrations must have clinched it for me. There were a number of scenes to be taken and numerous re-takes. The dancers were all paired up with Chinese girls for our dance partners. They were not employees of the bar but girls who applied through a casting agency. They were students, secretaries or whatever. They staged other Buckleymen at the bar or at tables. They blacked out the names on beer bottles and put glasses filled to all different levels at the tables and the bar. They told everyone to not drink the beer because they wanted a certain look. The dancers were told to exaggerate our movements because the dancing wouldn’t look good on film unless we did.
So the shooting began and I can tell you I just about dance my ass clean off. Now putting beer in front of a bunch of sailors and telling them not to drink it is never going to work. What were they thinking? It didn’t take long before the props began looking all the same, you know empty. The production people decided that, what the heck, it would look more natural if people were actually drinking. What could they have possibly been thinking? It didn’t take much time or acting skill for the drinkers to act like drunken sailors. During one of the scenes SK3 Dan King is dancing with Ms Maclaine and I am dancing with my partner right next to them. Between most of the takes a stagehand would wander around the set spouting some kind of powder out of a bellows. Just like the dancing in order for it look smoky in the bar it has to be exaggerated. During a break Dan, Ms. Maclaine and I were chatting on the dance floor talking about whatever. The man with the bellows was wandering around and decided to spice things up a little as we had done numerous re-takes on the same scene and people were getting a little rung out. At least the actors and those of us dancing were. He was puffing smoke under people’s arms and generally cutting up. He came up behind me stuck the bellows in my crotch and puffed a great big cloud toward Ms. Maclaine. The smoke had a slight smell to it and someone made the comment that it smelled like a cheap whores perfume. Ms Maclaine immediately responded that whores wear expensive perfume and only high-class women wear cheap perfume. I guess you learn something new every day. The day dragged on and I never did get off the dance floor. When we were done two Buckley men had to be carried back to the ship and we ran up a horrific bar bill that the production company wasn’t real happy about. But hey, what in the world were they thinking?

JAMES DANIELS …cont…Some of us were asked to go to Tiger Balm Gardens for a little more of the uniformed sailor ambiance. We were mostly in the background standing or walking through the background but I got my big break where I got to walk right past the camera at close range. I never figured that part would make it into the final film. When we got back home we saw both of the episodes that aired and to my great surprise there it was. I came walking down the ramp with SM3 Ralph Scalzi and I was on the camera side. The camera was at head height and I passed within a foot of it. On TV my face eventually was blurred and blown up like the Pillsbury doe boy on steroids. So much for my five seconds of stardom.
We had a little fun during a different scene where STG2 Dan Stahl and I were paired up with a couple of Chinese girls. We both had brought our 35mm cameras and we were to act like we were taking the girls pictures in the background of the scene. We were far enough away they told us to just keep it up all the time and they would come tell us when they were finished with the scene. We were at an empty swimming pool and we wandered around the area getting the girls to pose for us. Things were going along nicely until I opened my camera to change film. The two girls got all embarrassed because they didn’t know we had actually taken any pictures. It seemed pretty silly to me, we were being filmed in a TV series weren’t we. We were eventually “allowed” to take more pictures of them and not long after the scene was completed. When we saw this scene on TV, Dan I were just two white specs in the background.
Some of us were asked to come back the next day and the only qualification was that we had to have suits. As luck would have it I had just picked up my tailor made silver sharkskin suit. What can I say it was the 70s. We went to the Imperial Hotel in Kowloon to shoot scenes in the lobby and out in the circular driveway. They told us to sit in the lobby for a while as they were not ready for us yet. They said we could order drinks but we had to pay our own tab. I guess they actually had learned their lesson, however we were greatly disappointed. We had a fun day of shooting and we learned a lot about how they maximize the use of extras. We did a number of scenes where they wanted people moving through the background. They didn’t have lots of extras so we would walk back and forth through a scene a number of times. I went through one scene five times. Each time we went through they would have us swap jackets or pair us up with different people. Unless you are really looking for it when you watch it will probably go unnoticed. A couple of crew got to take part in a nighttime bar fight. I wasn’t involved but I hear they had a blast. All in all, a fun experience for many of us. I mean what’s not to like. We got some free lunches, rubbed elbows with some Hollywood types, got relieved from regular ships duty and got paid something like $18.00 a day as extras. It sure beat the hell out Navy pay but we got that anyway. If I just hadn’t been on the dance floor I could have had a hell of a good drunk too.
The whole station ship experience was one of the most memorable events of the time I spent in the Navy. Though these memories are not about combat, duty or honor they are a central part of what life in the Navy is. It is about friends and shipmates exploring new places and peoples. It is about strengthening our minds and souls for the challenges that we still needed to face.

JAMES DANIELS..70-72…On June 8 we were the Northern most ship on the gun line in I CORP, right on the DMZ. If you looked south there was a ship every half-mile clear to the horizon. If you looked north it was empty ocean and a long white beach. I was pointer in the gun director on Gold Team during gunfire support missions and a choice duty assignment it normally was. You could usually sleep, read, catch some rays, look around with the big eyes or BS with the signalmen. The gun director was also one of the most armored places on the ship. Like I said it was a sweet assignment. The pointers and trainer seats look very much like steel tractor seats. We usually didn’t spend much time in them unless it was raining. I was outside the gun director wearing the sound powered phones to monitor the weapons channel and chatting with a signalman. A lookout reported movement on the beach a mile north of us on the starboard beam. The lookout got on the big eyes then reported it was two trucks pulling some kind of trailers. The next report the trucks were backing down on the beach. The next report was "muzzle flashes". Two geysers of water then bracketed us 50 yards off each beam and shrapnel howled all around us.
We later learned they were 100mm guns. I have sometimes jested that I should have gotten a purple heart because I damn near broke my neck getting back into that gun director.
In less than a minute we got the director on target and the director officer had taken control of the forward gun mount. It was the only gun manned at the time. Ranging was problematic because of the distortion caused by heat rising from the warm surface waters. We got a couple of salvos off before we turned enough that the superstructure obscured the target. The black gang got the ship up to flank speed in a hurry and we got the hell out of there with geysers spouting all around us. We sustained some minor shrapnel damage and luckily there were no injuries. The bad news was we had fired into the DMZ without clearance from God or the Navy, I never learned which. I remember the ensign who was the director officer got re-assigned as the laundry officer or some other do nothing job. That’s a heck of a way to treat a warrior. I guess orders are orders regardless of how stupid they may seem. I regret that I didn’t thank him for trying to protect our butts.

JAMES DANIELS…70-72..We had a number of special ops experiences in the Tonkin Gulf during the first half of October. We were at GQ for those and I was usually in the sonar shack. Other than feeling and hearing our own guns firing and the obvious tension in the air, we could have been on a training mission for all we could tell in the sonar shack. I remember on one of the 28-knot O-Dark Thirty harassment and interdiction actions I needed to go out to CIC. I saw someone cracking open the hatch on the starboard side for some reason and I asked if I could look outside. I went over and stuck my head out. All I could see were tracers, muzzle flashes and missile trials all across the shoreline. There was a bunch of it aimed in our direction. This scene was periodically interrupted by the flash and blast from our own gun mounts. I didn’t stay to enjoy the view for very long. I guess I should have stayed in the sonar shack and kept my false sense of security intact. I think we were doing a good job because it sure didn’t look like there were many North Vietnamese along the shore sleeping that night. Then again, neither was I.

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*Note:… I know their are many more shipmates with memories and sea stories of their days aboard the Dennis J. Buckley DD/DDR 808. So instead of “The End” we’ll say…………………..….TO BE CONTINUED.

THANKS !! to Ron Clawson, Ray Sorrell and Homer Evans for all their work in making this 2002 DJB Reunion a success.