“I came on the Mansfield as a rookie and grew up to be ( 3 years ) a 3 time Korea Cruise vet, a qualified Officer of the Deck underway before my 22nd birthday, the Navigator for both the ship and Desron 9, the anti-sub officer, the gun boss, the air defense officer and the one I’m most proud of, Officer of the Deck at General Quarters. I owe my college education to the U.S. Navy as a Midshipman in the NROTC program and frankly, my whole life to the U.S.N.”
2001 recipient of the Admiral Sidney W. Souers Distinguished Alumni Award presented by Miami University’s NROTC Unit to an alumnus who has distinguished himself within his chosen filed of endeavor.
2004 inductee into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame.
“Taken from a cruiser in Task Force 77 as the carrier on the horizon indicates.”
Hong Kong group photo: “This picture is one of my favorites. We had just finished about 100 days on the bomb line and in Wonsan Harbor, plus, the Formosa patrol. Our rear ends were dragging and ready for a little civilization in Hong Kong. The captain was McGillicuddy and I just got off the deck watch and was freezing in a jacket ( row number 2 – all the way to the right ).”
Tonga Room photo: L-R: Ens T.F. Theurkauf – YN2 Jack Giddens – Ens Don Harrington – RD3 Dennis McNeil – Ens Dick Larsen – Ens John Krause – Ens Bob Waddell – RD3 Bob Hays”The only sea story amoung these photos is related to the ship’s yeoman and several radar guys and about 5 of us Ensigns having a drink in the Tonga room of the Fairmont Hotel in Frisco. The next morning we sailed for Pearl and Korea at CONDITION 3 – I was brand new and thought those North Koreans are tough dudes for us to be manning guns in Frisco at Condition 3, but it turned out we escorted the USS Curtiss, a sea plane tender, to Hawaii. She was carrying the first hydrogen bomb to Eniwetok.”
