Can you believe it that our tenth annual reunion is coming up fast. It
will be in Nashville TN on Sept 25-28 and is now in the planning stages.
The notices from Military Locators should be out around mid June.
As I look back, what a ten years it has been. It was about ten years ago
this spring that Chief Ernie Pina YN3, USS Hartley 1960, found a small
USS Hartley web site on the internet and began making phone calls to
pass the word. When I got his call after being out of the Navy for 37
years and we began reminiscing about our short time on the Hartley, I
felt my Navy experiences resurfacing and knew this was something that I
wanted to be part of. The internet was in its infancy back then with
very little historical information available on line. The Hartley page
had been posted by Allen Lloyd BM3 of the USS Hartley 1966-67. I
contacted him and offered photos to add to his site including many USS
Lester photos. He accepted, and created a USS Lester page. The timing
was perfect. Shipmates began searching the internet with their new
computers and found Allen’s site which eventually had to be expanded to
accommodate the additional shipmates from other Dealey class ships. A
few months later, Ernie called again to report that a good number of
shipmates had checked in and were inquiring about a reunion. With his
past reunion experiences and previous organizing relationship with
Military Locators and Reunion Services, our first reunion was held in
Aug 1999 at the Ramada Inn in Seekonk MA., with 45 shipmates and guests
in attendance. Ernie took on the roll as our first Chairman. At the
conclusion of the festivities, he asked us if we would like to continue
with annual reunions. Of course everyone said yes, then, he asked for a
volunteer to chair the next one. With our basic Navy training that told
us to never volunteer, the room was quiet. However, I got the feeling
that this was too good to let go, so with agreed assistance from Ernie I
accepted the Chairmanship for our 2000 Lake George reunion. It was an
over whelming success with 148 shipmates and guest in attendance
including Mrs. John H. Willis whose husband was killed in the battle for
Iwo Jima in 1945 and is the name sake of the John Willis DE 1027. Mrs.
Willis has since adopted us as “her boys” and has attended all our
reunions since.
After the second reunion, our subsequent Newport Dealey’s gatherings
have taken on a life of their own, we have had annual reunions in
Norfolk VA, Charleston SC, Lancaster PA, Warwick RI, Jacksonville FL,
Baltimore MD and Philadelphia PA, with Bob Kitchens, USS Lester, Charlie
Holzchuh, USS Hartley and Jerry Skorch, USS Joseph K Taussig serving as
chairmen. Our success to date is directly related to the dedication of
these individuals, our reunion committee and the experiences of our
reunion organizers Military Locators. We have also adopted the name
Newport Dealeys, created our own web sites and designed our unique
insignia. Shipmates continue to find us on the internet and have
generously forwarded to us many copies of photographs and other
memorabilia to share with reunion attendees. Our master listing
presently consists of over 1900 names of shipmates that have served on
our nine Newport Dealeys ships (including deceased).
A comment that I encounter frequently from new shipmates checking in, is
that they are concerned that if they went to a reunion they wouldn’t
know anyone. I generally convey to them that I personally, along with
other shipmates have gotten reunited with shipmates that we never
thought we would ever see again after leaving the Navy. We relived the
old days (on dry land). As many shipmates served on more that one Dealey
class DE and we’ve all experienced joint squadron exercises, there is
much more in common to reminisce than one would first imagine. In
addition, it’s interesting to learn what shipboard life and deployments
were like under different commands prior to your reporting for duty and
again after you left until its decommissioning. I always caution them
that you can get hooked, this is “addictive”.
Marc Arsenault
Newport Dealeys 2008 Reunion Chairman
USS Hartley 1960-61
USS Lester 1961-62