The Seaweed

USS Champlin DD-601  

Fall 2001

ENLISTED MAN TO OFFICER

The following enlisted men serving aboard the USS Champlin were subsequently promoted to officers. We have attempted to provide their highest rating aboard USS Champlin, their highest rank in the US Navy, and the date first promoted to officer.

Collins, Arlyn Harold, MoMM1c to LT 4/20/44
Ezzo, Joseph Richard, Csp to LTJG
Geruntho, Emanuel (n), CRM to WO
Hammond, John Richard, QM2c to LTJG
Haskell, John Wesley, S1c to LTJG
Jones, Delmar Leslie, CFC to LTJG 10/29/43
Lathrop, Dorl Glen, CSM to LCDR
Malan, Henry Howard, CBM to LTJG 6/21/43
McKie, Preston Lanham, CGM to CWO 6/21/43
Mitchell, Howard Eugene, CBM to WO
Mondot, Laurence John, CEM to LTJG 8/11/43
Mothershed, Carlton (n), CQM to LTJG 7/15/43
Perry, Robert Byrne, RM1c to ENS 8/29/44
Rathke, John Edmund, CMM to WO W-1
Simmons, Willie B., CPhm to WO 12/10/42
Smith, Wayne Andrew, CTM to LTJG 10/29/43
Sutton, Oscar Bogart, CRM to ENS 3/20/44

It is believed only Wayne A. Smith CTM (LTJG)returned to the USS Champlin for duty following his promotion. If you know of other enlisted men who were promoted to officer, please let us know.

COLORADO SPRINGS REUNION REPORT

The following e-mail was received from Ted Johnson S1c/F1c, who attended his first reunion this year.

"At the annual reunion of the USS Champlin DD60, last September, those of us attending bowed our heads in silence. They were moments of silent memorial to our former Champlin shipmates gone since the last reunion."

"But these memorial moments expanded to honor our country's latest war casualties: the dead in the Pentagon, the men, women and children killed in the World Trade Center attack; the passengers and crews of the four airliners hijacked and turned into deadly guided missiles.

"No one at the Champlin reunion wanted to forget the horror of the week's events, but we wanted to go forward as we remembered.

"We couldn't forget if we wanted: first, the attacks shut down air transportation border to border and coast-to-coast and crew members couldn't leave home. Our numbers dropped by three quarters; instead of close to 50, we numbered only ten - five veterans plus their ladies. On the eve of the final day Larry and Margaret Suter arrived after four days camped out near the Houston airport, bringing our numbers to six and twelve.

"Then, sightseeing plans altered drastically. The September 11th possibility of visiting the North American Air Defense Command was scrubbed as the facility closed to visitors. The Air Force Academy shut its gates to visitors - including its distinctive Chapel. We viewed the campus from miles away parked on the shoulder of I-25.

"Even the U.S. Olympic Training Center, a fallback plan "B" shut down in fear of terrorist attack. We substituted Colorado Spring's Memorial Park, a sculpture garden of monuments honoring veterans of various wars and units with special ties to Colorado Springs.

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"But the instant unifying patriotism following the attacks made us warmly greeted and applauded everywhere we went. We ate lunch at the Garden of the Gods Trading Post and the restaurant gave each of us an American flag.

"Before dinner and a western music show at the Flying W Ranch the crowd gave us, and two other Navy reunions - the USS Savannah and the USS Charles Lawrence, a DE - long, sustained rounds of applause. The Flying W Wranglers added patriotic and religious songs to their program. (Try to imagine a Western band-two guitars, a mandolin and a drummer - strum and plink out the Stars & Stripes Forever. John Philips Sousa would be proud.)

"Everywhere we went people compared September 11, 2001 with December 7,1941,even though September 11's death toll may reach three times that of Pearl Harbor. This latest massive sneak attack on our nation intensified every aspect of the reunion, reminding us why we were in the Navy over half a century ago.

"The 22nd annual reunion was my first Champlin Reunion and I was a bit apprehensive the first day as I parked in front of the Embassy Suites Hotel. After all I was part of the crew for less than a year and I didn't transfer aboard until the war was over. But I needn't have worried. I was welcomed as a shipmate. Period. End of worries.

"If you were ever stationed aboard the USS Champlin, block out your calendar now for the next gathering in October 2002. You'll love the non-stop flow of Champlin stories. And, it will be in Kansas City, right in the center of the USA, easily accessible from every corner of the country. I promise you a rich rewarding experience. You'll be welcomed as a shipmate."

HOWARD L. NEWTON Y1C LOCATED

According to his nephew, Greg Iannolo, Howard L. Newton Y1c and his wife, Barbara, are now living at: 8929 Mountain Gate Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89134 (702) 254-9778. Greg found the USS Champlin web site and signed the web site log. We followed up by contacting Greg, and provided him with all the information we had on file regarding Howard. Part of that information was an appeal made by John Bamford Cowen CY requesting we try to locate his friend, Howard. John wrote he remembered, "Howard married a little Italian girl whose father owned a restaurant in New York City." We relayed that information to Greg, who replied, "Howard and his wife Barbara (the Italian girl you mentioned) have been married for 58 years and live in Las Vegas. Howard is now 83 and has four children, eight grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Healthwise Howard . . has a neuromuscular disease that has taken away his ability to speak and get around, but he still has his sense of humor.

"One story he has often told occurred during what I believe was the hunt for U-856 which you have described in your newsletters. Prior to the USS Champlin, Howard and his brother Bill served together on the USS Rowan. Bill was transferred and later killed.