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PM3 Henry Warren Tucker
1919 – 1942

 

 

 

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Our ship was named in honor of  PM3 Henry Warren Tucker of York, Alabama, USNR. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for heroism during the Battle of the Coral Sea, 7 May 1942.

 

 

 

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Tucker was called to active duty in July, 1941, and reported to the Naval Hospital at Pensacola, Florida.

On 15 January 1942, Tucker reported aboard the tanker USS Neosho (AO-23) for duty. The Neosho had survived the Pearl Harbor attack despite being berthed on "Battleship Row."

During the opening phase of the Battle of the Coral Sea, Japanese naval forces launched an all-out aerial attack on what they believed was the main U.S. battle force. What the Japanese found instead was the Neosho and destroyer USS Sims (DD-409) waiting at a refueling rendezvous.

Facing a 60-plane attack, the fate of the two American ships was never in doubt. The Sims exploded and sank immediately with a loss of almost the entire crew. Despite its cargo of burning aviation gas and fuel oil. the Neosho managed to remain afloat for awhile.

 

 

 

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For his actions during the sinking of the Neosho, Tucker was awarded the Navy Cross. The citation reads as follows:

"For extraordinary heroism and distinguished service in the line of  his professionalism following the attack on the USS Neosho by enemy Japanese aerial forces on 7 May 1942.

"With complete disregard for his own life, Tucker swam between the various life rafts carrying tannic acid in his hands to treat the burns of the injured men.

"He hazarded the dangers of exposure and exhaustion to continue his task, helping the injured to boats but refusing a place for himself.

"Tucker was subsequently reported as missing in action and it is believed he lost his life in his loyal and courageous devotion to duty.

His valorous actions enhance and sustain the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service."

U.S. Department of the Navy
(1942)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome Aboard!

 

If you ever served aboard the USS enry WHenry W. Tucker DD/DDR 875, this is your website.  We hope that the site will help you reconnect with your shipmates and bring you to a reunion. Enjoy!

The USS Henry W. Tucker was in commission in the US Navy from 1945 to 1973 and saw service in World War II, the Korean Conflict, the “Cold War” and Vietnam.  Through much of her career she was a DDR (Radar Picket Ship) and was involved in many activities, such as the atomic bomb tests in the Pacific, the NASA Apollo program, and the U-2 flights.  in 1973, she was decommissioned and sold to the Brazilian Navy and became the Marcilio Dias D25.  She was in commission in Brazil from 1973 to 1992.  After nearly 50 years continuous service, she was decommissioned and was sunk in target practice by a torpedo of Brazilian design fired from a submarine of Brazilian design, which was an historic event.  One of her officers sent us a newspaper article and photos of the sinking.  To see the photos and a translation, please click here.  Thanks to Mike McDermott (LTJG, 68-69) for translating the article from Portuguese to English.  Click on “history” at the top of any page to view the history.

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Reunion 2012 - Nashville, Tennessee

The next reunion will be from October 9 to 14, 2012 in Nashville, TN. The reunion hosts are Ronald Holt and his wife Jerry Ann. They have put together an excellent reunion. Details can be found here. They can also be found in the January 2012 Newsletter. We discovered that the dates weren't in the newsletter and have inserted them.  We've already heard from some people who are making their plans to attend, including some "first-timers". We're looking forward to seeing all our old friends and making new ones.

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USS Forrestal

 

The USS TUCKER was accompanying USS FORRESTAL on the morning of 29 July 1967.  The crew of TUCKER rendered assistance to FORRESTAL that tragic day.  The crew of FORRESTAL wishes to invite the TUCKER crew to attend our 45th Memorial Ceremony. 

 

The FORRESTAL Association, Inc. will have their reunion this July 2012 and the forty-fifth Memorial Ceremony of the FORRESTAL Fire. All are welcome to attend. 

  

Thank you,

Ken Killmeyer, Historian

USS FORRESTAL Association

 

TWENTY-SECOND FORRESTAL ASSOCIATION REUNION

24 JULY - 30 JULY 2012

And

FORTY-FIFTH MEMORIAL CEREMONY

MEMORIAL CEREMONY WILL BE HELD AT THE EAST KNOLL OF THE VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL WALL

0900 SUNDAY 29 JULY 2012

 

REUNION HOTEL

Dulles Hyatt

 

2300 Dulles Corner Blvd.,
Herndon, Virginia, USA 20171
Tel: +1 703 713 1234 Fax: +1 703 713 3410

http://dulles.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp?null

 

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Newsletters

 

The April 2012 newsletter is now on the website.  Please click here to view the newsletter and all previous newsletters.

 

The next newsletter will have sign-up sheets with pricing for events at the reunion.

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Crew Information

 

The Crew Pages have been updated
as of April 17, 2012.

Please click on “her crew” at the top of any page to access the crew pages.  Please contact Bob Miller (MM3, 62-65) if you find errors in your listing.  If this is your first visit to the site and you are a crew member, please contact Bob, our Crew Locator, so you can be added to the database and mailing list and begin receiving newsletters.  There is now a crew page for Marcilio Dias shipmates.  If you served aboard the Marcilio Dias, please contact Bob with your name, email address, your rate or rank and the years you were aboard.

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History

 

USS Henry W. Tucker History book:  Gary O’Neil has the Tucker History books. This book is a high quality 8 ½ X 11 size. The History is named “HACHI NANA GO, An American Fighting Ship”. There are 234 full color images throughout the text, and it is printed on heavy glossy coated paper. Shipping is via media mail, and is very reasonable. For one book the price is $23, and the shipping cost is $3.75. If you want 2 books, the total shipping cost is $4.50. Shipping 3 books will be $5.25, and four books will be $6.00. He will fill orders upon receipt of payment.

 

Contact Gary O’Neil by email at goneil@new.rr.com, or Phone: 920-738-0634, or by regular mail at:

2519 O’Connor Way
Appleton, WI 54915

Many shipmates have contributed to the history of the ship and Gary O’Neil (FTR3, 63-66) has done a fantastic job compiling the information and verifying accuracy.  The history is separated into five-year segments.  There are also segments on the Marcilio Dias, statistics of the ship, medals the ship earned, the plankowners’ list, and the history of Henry Warren Tucker, for whom the ship was named.  Click on “History” at the top of any page to access these documents.  Please visit often as it is updated on a regular basis.  If you would like to contribute to the history project, please email Gary.  Copies of the history are available on CD. Please contact Gary to order a CD.

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Pictures

Tom Byrne (RM2, 60-62) has created pages for photographs on the site.  He has created an index to make them easy to find.  Please click on “pictures” at the top of any page.  If you have photos that you would like to contribute, please contact Tom.

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Cruise Books

Bob Miller is in the process of having cruise books reproduced on CD.  If you would be interested in getting a CD of the cruise book from your time aboard ship, please click here for Bob’s letter about the cruise books and to see images of the cover of the books.

If you would like to order a cruise book CD, please email Bob.

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Ship’s Store

Please check out the Ship’s Store for baseball caps, jackets and shirts.  After the reunion (Oct. 26-31, 2010), the ship’s store will be expanded to include the ship’s history book, “Hachi Nana Go”, cruise book CDs and coffee mugs.  Photos of most of the items will be shown.

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Veteran Information

High Priority!!!

TRICARE and TRICARE for Life (government health insurance for active duty and retired military personnel) will NOT be affected by the recently passed Health Care Bill.  No benefits will be lost.  Larry May sent this link from Military.com which explains.

http://www.military.com/military-report/beneficiaries-vets-shielded-from-health-reform

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Please visit the Veteran Information page for information that is of interest to all veterans. 

RAO Bulletins, newsletters full of useful veterans’ information will be linked from this page.  These are compiled by James Tichacek USN (Ret) who does an excellent job of collecting information and getting it out to a wide audience of veterans.  We thank Jim for giving permission to post his bulletins.

There is a link to a page of documents on Agent Orange Exposure and other health issues which were contributed by Jim Alvarez (GMG1, 69-70).

If you need a replacement DD 214 Form (needed to apply for VA benefits), there is a link to the form and instruction sheet.

Please visit this page often.  If you know of any information and/or benefits for veterans that could be included in this section of the site, please contact Pat Siler.

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Website Information


Our webmaster is Pat Siler, wife of James W. “Bill” Siler, Jr. (BT3, 62-64).  Pat also writes the USS Henry W. Tucker Newsletter.  Please email Pat with any information for the website or newsletter. If you receive your newsletter via US Mail and have an email address, please send your email address to Pat Siler.  With postage costs increasing every year, we try to send as many out via email as possible to save money. 

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Facebook Page

If you are on Facebook, we have a group page for shipmates.  Type USS Henry W. Tucker in the search box at the top of any page and then click on the name of the ship.  On the left-hand side of the page click on Join Group and you’re in.  If you’re not on Facebook, we invite you to join. Go to http://www.facebook.com and follow the instructions to join.

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The original website was created by Terry Williams (SK3, 69-71). We all owe a debt of gratitude to Terry. If he hadn't created this site in 1997, there would be no reunions and most of us would be still wondering whatever happened to the ship and our shipmates.

The current “second generation” of the website was created in 2003 by Kevin B. Skislock, son of the late John F. Skislock (SN1/c, 45-47).  Thanks to Kevin for creating this wonderful site.

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This website is neither authorized, endorsed by, nor approved by the United States Department of the Navy.  The sole purpose of this site is to reunite former shipmates, provide reunion information and is a collection of their memories.

 

This page was updated:  DATE \@ "d-MMM-yy" 16-Jan-12

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USS Henry W. Tucker
DD 875