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The entries on this page
date back to 1997 and email addresses might not be current. If you try to email someone and it
bounces, try to send your message from the Crew List.
****
Harry Felder
Email: BluGrsSand@aol.com
I served aboard the USS Henry W. Tucker from Feb.
1952 until Sept. 1955. During this period of time the Tucker was
home-ported at Long Beach,
CA.
We made 3 cruises to the far east. The Tucker was in
Korean waters when the armistice was signed in the summer of 1953 ending
the Korean War.
I was a radarman (RD2) when I left the Navy in 1955.
Harry Felder
210 S. Sunset Blvd.
Gulf Breeze, FL. 32561
(850) 932-3734
****
Charles M. (Chuck) Ruth
Email: cmruth39452@yahoo.com
I'm Charles M. Ruth, (Chuck) I was on the Tucker '63-'65 Came on in Boston
during FRAM and left in May 1965 while the ship was in Yoko.
I retired from the Navy in1980. My last tour
was as Engineer Officer on the White Plains
also homeported in Yoko.
I was an MM2 in the Forward engine room on the. She
was one of 10 ships that I had duty on and was certainly the best.
****
James J. Bloedorn,
LCDR, USN Ret.
Email: JJBAZ@cs.com
I served aboard Tucker during the period '58-'60 in
Operations. I'm unable to make this year's reunion. The list of COs omits the name of CDR R.(Ralph?) M.? Hanson or
Hansen, who came aboard in early 1960.
****
Daniel Lionberger
Email: daniel.lionberger@verizon.net
I boarded DD875, the U.S.S. Henry W. Tucker, in February, 1973 at the 32nd St.
naval base in San Diego the day she got
back from being on the gun line in Viet Nam. She sent thousands
of rounds from her five-inch guns into the Mekong Delta, by one account,
earning her the nickname "Hammerin’ Hank" in honor of
Hank Aaron who was still hammering away at the home-run record then.
However, we knew her mostly as the "Happy Hank" while I served
aboard her under less strenuous conditions. I was "cherry-boy"
at that time as the Tucker was my very first ship. Completing
Radarman/Operations Specialist (the name change occurred while I was
there) ‘A’ school at Great Lakes NTC and finishing in the top
twenty of my class I earned a limited choice of assignments. Somehow I
was lucky enough to gamble on the old "tin can", though my
classmates warned me she was probably a "rust bucket". I might
feel ambivalent about it because during the seven months I spent aboard
her, three were spent as a mess-cook, doing dishes and killing
cockroaches, and a good portion of the remaining four months were spent
hanging over the side chipping paint. However, except for being
rightfully ‘written up’ by BTC Jackson (sorry, Chief) for not getting a
haircut when he told me to, and the old destroyer almost getting sunk
while tied to the seawall during my quarterdeck watch, I have only good
memories to support the "Happy Hank" legacy.
The cruise-hardened C.I.C. crew that greeted me
included Lt. Kauffman(?), or Lt. Kinnaly(?), an Operations
Specialist Senior Chief (OSSC), OS2 Wiggins, short-timer OS3 Joe Blomberg from Missouri, and OS3 Richard "Rick" Menegay from Akron, Ohio.
I also remember an OS3 named Ralph or Curt who had glasses, curly hair
and a goatee and a quarterhorse cowboy whose name eludes me from Idaho or
Montana but I lost the range and bearing on those guys. Soon joining us
in C.I.C. were OS1
(soon to be OSC) Akers
(Acres?) and an unrated Seaman from Boston,
who definitely had the accent, I believe named Fleck.
Some Oregon homeboys
I remember from the "Happy Hank" were Sonarman PO3 Thomas Dewey (not
positive about the name) from Waldport, Oregon and RM3
Steve Harvey of Tigard,
Oregon.
Some of my buddies were Rod Elfring whose nice Dodge
Coronet SuperBee incurred some right-rear fender damage while I was
driving it on a munchy run (sorry, Rod) and Frank ? (with the brown
"63" Dodge pick-up) from Bakersfield,
California who amused many
on duty in homeport one day with his "RUN, Toto, RUN!" P.A.
announcement while on quarterdeck watch. Rick ? from Huntington Beach, California,
Tom A? (with the Camaro) and fellow mess-cook "Smitty" Smith, are other
friends I remember, I apologize to you guys I forgot. I don’t
remember any feuds though Tom A. and I rolled around on the mess deck one
day before they tore us apart when I replied "Your Mama" to one
of Tom’s remarks. Sorry, Tom. Actually, Tom and I were pretty good
friends after that, cruising around San
Diego in his Camaro, I just never mentioned his
mother again.
Besides drinking beer and playing cards, being only
an OSSA - chipping paint and painting was my main naval experience in D’ego.
I couldn’t believe how many paint chips could accumulate in your
hair, ears, nose, boondockers, and crack of your ass; don’t ask me
how. Speaking of which, I owe one heavy BM2 a kick in the butt. One day
we went to work on the aft end of the front smokestack and I went up it
in a bosun’s chair. The so-called Bosun’s Mate, or maybe he
was a Radioman which would explain his lousy knot, tied me off halfway up
the stack. I was an artist with only navy gray on my pallet when the
bottom dropped out of the picture. Dropping faster than seafarers in
Olongapo, I tattooed my ass on the deck or a locker top. My first
instinct was to clobber the guy but reasoning got the better of me for
once. I believe I did practice a string of common nautical terms on the
guy. I hope he reads this, I’ve still got a sore ass.
A refueling training-exercise north in some
semi-rough seas got a little salt on this sailor when we dragged lines
hand over hand along the side to pull the fuel-hose across nearly getting
washed overboard in the process. This trip encouraged me because I
didn’t get seasick even when some "old salts" were
holding on to bowls or whatever was handy. Unfortunately, the other
mess-cooks were holed-up in the head and I did all of the work. Some
target practice where we formed a human chain passing five-inch rounds
the length of the ship, a trip to San Francisco, and a cruise to the
Puget Sound, where the smell of fir trees (nonexistent in Southern
California) was a true joy to a homesick kid, to be a part of the
Everett, Washington Fourth of July celebration closed out my DD875 cruise
log.
Later in the summer of 1973 a major S.N.A.F.U.
happened that might have hastened the end of the U.S.N. career of the
U.S.S. Henry W. Tucker. The Tucker was tied to a seawall at 32nd St.
Base and I was on an afternoon quarterdeck watch when tugboats towed a
guided-missile cruiser into the pier our stern was facing. No one was
paying much attention to our port side and the incoming ship because our
duty was to the quarterdeck and gangway on the starboard side against the
seawall. We gave it a glimpse and were aware of it but it was nothing
new. Next thing we were knocked off of our feet, or practically at least,
when the cruiser sliced into our port aft-section. The son-of-a-gun cut
right through our hull like a knife through butter. Only luck in the form
of a steel girder, one of the ship’s ribs in the right place, kept
us from sinking right there in homeport. One of my buddies, I think it
was Fleck, was in the top bunk immediately forward of that steel beam and
he was thrown from the bunk. I know he and others below would have died,
except for that relatively narrow beam standing alone amidst maybe twenty
feet of the bulkhead. You figure the odds. The whole aft end could have been
severed and old "Henry" would have went down like a stone. I
believe what really saved those guys was the old girl’s
determination not to end in tragedy, to preserve her title as the
"Happy Hank".
In only a month or two we received word that our old
destroyer was going to be decommissioned a few months later, in December,
1973. I was among the first to be transferred, in September of 1973 I
went across the bay to the Naval Amphibious Base as the first Operations
Specialist in Tacron 1, an amphibious air control squadron. Not only did
I have to deal mostly with airdales, but pilots and liaison officers from
the army and air force had to be reckoned with also, as if the Marine
Corp. officers there weren’t bad enough. Those guys were flyboys
not sailors. My new assignment was considered good duty, one year ashore
and six months overseas, and I enjoyed Coronado but I missed the "real
navy" that I had the thrill of knowing thanks to the Tucker. My
detachment hopped ships to Subic Bay and another to Okinawa to board the
Seventh Fleet flag ship, the USS Paul
Revere, where we spent most of the time. On a temporary
exercise on the U.S.S. Tripoli I met up again with Henry W. Tucker
shipmate and fellow CIC crewmember OS3
Richard Menegay. I was on phone watch duty in Yokosuka, Japan when they piped
Nixon’s resignation speech over the P.A.. Can’t say I was
sorry.
I made OS3 a few months later, one year after I left
the "Happy Hank". Although my presence was only a mere seven
months of the U.S.S. Henry W.
Tucker’s proud twenty-eight year history in the U.S.
Navy I have always been grateful and honored to be included in it.
I’m pretty sure everyone who served aboard her had all their stuff
in one ditty bag, no holes, when they left.
Playboy’s comic "granny" was painted
holding a torpedo on one of the U.S.S. Henry W. Tucker’s forward
structures with the caption: "I may be old, but I can still
deliver" …and she did.
****
RM3 Walt Arnold
Email: Shogun90@hotmail.com
My name is Walt Arnold RM3 I reported aboard while
she was still in dry dock in Long
Beach in 1967 I
believe it was probably May. I was airlifted off in the Tonkin Gulf by helicopter around the Oct
1, 1967.
Every day I spent on the Tucker I enjoyed please
include my name on your roster.
****
Burr C. Wilcox, CAPT USN Ret.
Commanding Officer, Nov. 1963 to Dec. 1965
It was a pleasure to find a date for a reunion for a ship
that probably spent more engine miles in the South
China Sea than any other.
First shore bombardment by a US ship about 35 years ago
and kept two SAR helos in the air all day Thanksgiving '65. I was there
the whole way.
I know the West Pac tours for DesRon 3 before 1962
were probably pleasurable than '64 and later but hardly more satisfying.
Capt. Burr C. Wilcox
6231 Bayford Rd.
Franktown, VA 23354-2327
[Note: CAPT Wilcox has passed away. See Memorial List.]
****
Mike McDermott
Email: pmmcd@optonline.net
I served in TUCKER from June 68 (end of Long Beach shipyard period) thru November 1969 (Sea
of Japan deployment), when I departed in Sasebo.
During that time we transited from Long
Beach to Yokosuka via Honolulu and Midway,
then made Yoko our homeport. We were involved with SEA DRAGON operations
off of North Vietnam
in summer 1968,
Apollo VIII recovery operations in the fall of 1968 (we were a
backup ship), then five more trips to the Zone, which involved naval
gunfire support, plane guard for several carriers, radar picket duty in
the northern sector of the South China Sea, etc.
In April 1969 we were sent to the Sea
of Japan when a US Navy EC-131 aircraft was shot down
ostensibly by the North Koreans (spelled U-S-S-R) and we picked up the
pieces and two bodies out of 131 men
aboard, then delivered the bodies and debris to Naval Intelligence
in Sasebo.
As far as liberty, we got to Sasebo,
Kaohsiung, Subic Bay ("one thousand pictures
equal one word"), Hong Kong, Bangkok
and Singapore,
as well as the traditional "Crossing The Line" ceremony in
August 1969. September 1969 was a ship repair period in Yokosuka,
followed by a Sea of Japan deployment -- the interesting thing there was
that the nationally known columnist, Jeanne Dixon, made one of her
predictions that "A US Navy ship with twelve letters in its name
would be shot at and hit in the Sea of Japan" so needless to say, we
were all on pins and needles until we made it back to Sasebo! And that's
when I departed.
Two other notes of interest -- I'd heard that TUCKER
had been turned over to the Brazilian Navy in 1973 and later sunk as a
target in 1992. Coincidentally, I had completed a master's thesis at the
Univ. of Southern
California on the history of the
Brazilian Navy in the spring of 1968 prior to reporting aboard
TUCKER. You may be interested to know that its new
namesake, MARCILIO DIAS, was similar to HENRY W. TUCKER -- both were
enlisted men who died in the thick of battle for their ships and
shipmates. Marcilio
Dias was a Brazilian Able Seaman (equivalent to an E-3) who
protected the Brazilian colors on the fleet flagship during a
particularly bloody and significant battle against Paraguay in the 1860s
-- he literally died on the stern to protect the colors, and helped the
Brazilian fleet win the decisive naval battle of the war (in fact, the
last major naval battle Brazil had to fight until WWII, when its navy
distinguished itself by sinking a number of German U-boats in the South
Atlantic).
And the final irony -- while I served in the TUCKER,
I often said that my lifelong dream was to retire to Rio de Janeiro "for all the right
reasons" --so guess what? I was down in Brazil
on business in 1991 and was flying into Rio's Santos Dumont airport, the
one in the middle of Rio's Guanabara Bay
-- and as the airliner was on final approach, I looked out the window at
the Navy fleet docks, and -- lo and behold, there was TUCKER!! She made
it to Rio before I did!!
****
EN2 James G. Williams
Email: jgwilliams00@hotmail.com
My name is James G. Williams and I served aboard the Tucker from May, 1968, thru April
1970.
I joined the Tucker while in drydock at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard.
I was in "R" Div and a member of "A" gang my entire
stay aboard the Tucker.
I look forward to hearing from my old shipmates and friends that I
proudly served with on the Henry W.
Tucker DD875.
****
MM3 Ronnie Miller
Email: barrnonejr@altavista.com
I served on the Tucker from July 1969 to 1971. I was
a MM3 in the forward engine room. I recall a lot of good times and great
friends.
Ronnie Miller
Midland Texas
****
Noel W. Bragg
Email: hometax@pixi.com
I served aboard the Henry W. Tucker from Oct 58 until some time in 1961
when I transferred within the squadron to the USS Eversole DD-789.
I went aboard a FTGSN and left a FTG2. I can remember
a FTG3 named Paul Ruthven
from Idaho and a FTG3 named O'Brien from Alaska. Also, my best friend was a
QMSN named John Orrelle.
John is retired in the Portland
OR area and is proud of the
fact that he can't use a computer. I remember that the FTG chief was nicknamed
"Rosie" and I think that the FTG1 was named "Jim".
I'm already stretching my poor memory. Maybe some of
the shipmates can help me refresh my memory.
Noel W. Bragg
900 Fort Street Mall #1405
Honolulu HI 96813
toll free 1-800-915-0052
office 808-521-6664
fax 808-545-4285
residence 808-625-8881
****
Glenn R. Lane RM3
Email: Xlent1980@cs.com
I was a radioman on hachee nana go (Spelling?) 67-69.
Still have my cruise books. Many great memories.
Will never forget the trip up near Vladivostok
to search for debris from our spy plane the Koreans shot down. Or the
night in Danang harbor when the cong were firing rockets across the
harbor and hit an ammo
dump.
Great liberty in Hong Kong, Subic (Olongapo), Yokosuka, Kaoshung.
Thanks for the blast from the past, it's very groovy. Glenn R. Lane (RM3-ustabe)
****
David A. Clayton
Email: TYLER77@email.msn.com
My name is David A Clayton, I go by Dave. I came aboard
the Tucker in San Diego around mid
73, GMG3 mount 52, it was near the end of Tucker's time.
After spending about 2 months in port, ( San Diego ) we went out for range practice on San Clemente island. Tucker was old at this time
and the top deck spilt from the pounding the 5" ( mount 51 & 52
) guns were giving her.
We went back to San
Diego. Our new orders, take the Tucker to Bremerton, WA
for a civilian open house, if I remember right it was for the 4th of July
celebration. We hit one hell of a storm going up the coast. (typhoon,
"worst experience of my life")
Next orders were to decommission the Henry W Tucker at the Long Beach ship yard
-- a very nasty job, I know I went through the whole job. My new orders
report to the USS Dubuque LPD leaving in 3
weeks for a Westpac. That is the best I can remember. It was nice reading
all the stories.
****
Joseph Catalanotto
Email: thwart99@aol.com
I was on the Tucker on Feb. 1960 - Nov. 1962. We were
on a WestPac. cruise home port Yokosuka,
Japan; we
were there for 31 months.
I was in supply as ship barber.
****
Robert A. Ayello
Email: RYRS@aol.com
I served on board The "Happy Hank" from
April 19,1967 until April 1970.
****
David Emerson
Email: dave.emerson@att.net
I joined Henry W. Tucker in January 1967 as the
Operations Officer in Long Beach
just as she was coming out of overhaul. We went down to San Diego shortly after for REFTRA
where a "good time" was had by all.
I remember one incident in San Diego where CDR Williams, the CO at the
time, put me in "hack" because the anchor light did not come on
at the same time that colors was sounded. It seems that the duty
quartermaster only had two hands and could not hold the 1MC mike key
down, blow the whistle and reach across the pilothouse to turn on the
anchor lights at the same time.
My most vivid memories and the most enjoyable, were
of the times we spent operating out of our homeport in Yokosuka, Japan.
We had a great crew, especially my Operations Department (of course I am
prejudiced).
I remember with deepest respect and pleasure our CO, CDR Shel Kully, and XO, LCDR Larry May. They provided
stern guidance tempered with understanding. I believe most everyone on
the ship sincerely enjoyed serving with them. I saw many names and
stories that I recognized in the TUCKER Muster List.
I am currently living in northern Virginia with my wife, Mila, of 32+
years. We have 4 children and 2 granddaughters.
David Emerson
6396 Phillip Ct.
Springfield, VA 22152-2800
Tel. No. 703-644-6255
****
Leo Dale Leaser
Email: d.leaser@comcast.net
I served on the Tucker from May 1949 to June 1952. I was a
B.T. in #1 fireroom. My brother, Billy W. Leaser (now deceased), served
with me from 1950 to 1953.
We served with the destroyers Bush and Rupertus. We evacuated Hungnam in 1949 to Formosa
at the time China
came into the Korean Conflict. We served as carrier duty on the West
Coast of Korea and shore bombardment on the East Coast with the
Battleship Missouri (BB63).
We also went in to challenge the Russian Navy at
Vladivostok Naval Base. Our home base in Japan
was Yokosuka.
From there we went to China,
Formosa, Philippines, Hawaii,
Guam, Okinawa, Pegan, Eniwetok, Midway and Wake
Island.
Leo Dale
Leaser
1514 Phyllis Court
Irving, TX 75060
972/790-6866
****
Charles Monroe, SSCS (Ret.)
Email: cmonroe@tgti.net
I served on board the Tucker from 2 July 1955 through 5 January 1958, I was
in the Supply Department as a SH1, I made chief along with a shipmate Dickenson MM1 on the Tucker on 16 May 1956, crossed the
equator on her on 6 December 1957 and shortly after we arrived back from
Brisbane, Australia I was transferred to U.S. Naval Air Station, Cabaniss
Field, Corpus, Texas.
After several other Ships and Naval Stations I
retired June 1967 as a Senior Chief Ships Serviceman.
****
Bill Spencer, SMCS USNR (Ret.)
Email: bill.smcs@sbcglobal.net
I was aboard from Nov. 45 to April 46 for her first
deployment to Japan
as a radar picket ship in the southern Ryuku Is. at a place called Amami
Oshima.
We were on the flight line between Okinawa and Japan
proper. Search and rescue. We were equipped with a 36" carbon arc
search light and new radar to locate downed aircraft. Fortunately we were
not called on. I was designated SM striker. I had been to class A SM school at
Great Lakes.
Prior to the Tucker I was at ATB Oceanside ,Calif. I
remember Capt. Barney Meyer, Ens.
Corbin, Signalman Wally Auffermann, but that's all right
now.
****
Franklin B. (Frank) Brooks
Email: fbrooks@cfi.net
I was a Chief Radioman when I reported aboard the Tucker in July of 1965. I arrived
via Helicopter early one morning in the South China
Seas. Cdr Wilcox was the C.O. and LCDR Barber was the X.O. I left
the Tucker about a year
later for shore duty. I was qualified as a CIC Combat Watch Officer and a
deep draft underway OOD from a pervious ship.
Just after arriving aboard, I was paged to the bridge
to report to the C.O. He had my service record and noticed the
qualifications. He told me to take the Conn. I did and after a few minutes
running at 21 knots, we spotted a couple junk boats ahead and the skipper
said to go between them, I lined up the junks and set course for them,
almost immediately we could see a fishing net between them, and I advised
the skipper and he said to avoid them, by them we were right on top and I
did a hard right rudder to avoid them, even then our rooster tail some 16
feet high almost turned them over.
I looked around and there was the XO with food on him
from top to bottom, he asked what happened and I told him, he advised me
that you never use more than standard right rudder when traveling above
16 knots. I had cleared the ward room table onto the XO. More fun.
I remember the long days at sea and the many days
trying to learn how to refuel Helo’s while they were in flight. We
got it done. Port time was short but a lot of fun. The Tucker was one of the few ships
that I really enjoyed being aboard, both with Wilcox and then with Williams.
I was on the Bowling team and we had a pretty good
team. The thing that surprised me was after refueling or rearming, we
haul up a yellow flag with red letters HIYA and played charge over the
speaker system. I was advised that HIYA was southern for Hi You All,
until one night a skipper off one of the tankers advised us via radio
that the last time he seen a flag like that it stood for "Hang It In
You’re A—" we didn’t fly that flag anymore. Also I
didn’t really know what the ships motto was until Cdr Williams relieved Cdr Wilcox, "Have Gun will
Travel". And that it did.
I can tell you a lot more stories but will keep this
short, but again the Henry W. Tucker
was probably the only ship that I served on that I enjoyed every day. I
have looked for years in the reunion section to see if there would every
be one for the Tucker and yesterday I was surprised and found one. I live
about five hours from Biloxi
and will do my best to be there in November.
I would love to hear more from the sailors that
served on her from 1965 through 1966, Officers, Chiefs or enlisted.
I am a Real Estate Broker and Mortgage Broker in Crestview, Florida
and hope to retire completely in about two years. My e-mail address is fbrooks@cfi.net and you can also reach
me through my web page www.frankbbrooks.com
and there is a picture of me that shows my age. Oh well. I have a son in
the Navy, he is an E8 and is in charge of the Boneyard in Tucson, Az.
Frank Brooks
46 Kemper Ln.
DeFuniak Springs, Fl. 32433
850-892-9299.
Toll free outside Florida
1-800-239-8335
****
Thomas L. (Snake) Nazworth, BTCM
USN (Ret.)
Email: snakengin@netzero.net
I served aboard the Tucker from Sept. '64 to July '66, and was the BT1 in
charge of the Aft Fireroom. BT1
John King had Fwd Fireroom, MM1 Jimmy Combs had Fwd Engineroom, and MM1 Jack Brown had Aft
Engineroom. Also, who could forget characters like MMC Donny Green, MMC Mac McCracken, MM1 Queen,
EM1 Witkowski, and a machinery repairman that could make
almost anything with a lathe, drill press and grinder, MR2 Gestalter.
During the time I spent aboard, we conducted carrier
screening, market time operation, keeping
Vietnamese junks under scrutiny against infiltration of weapons,
personnel and supplies to the Viet Cong, and acting as mothership to
small US boats also on market time.
On the night of 16 May 1965, Tucker became the first US Navy
ship to furnish gunfire support in Vietnam. Tucker, not only had been the first
to fire, but had spent more time on NGFS missions and fired more rounds than
any other destroyer assigned to the Seventh Fleet.
Another Tucker
first was becoming the first destroyer to conduct in-flight refueling of
a helo at night; fueling one that had less than three minutes of fuel
onboard when we made our hook-up. Of those who served during that time,
who could forget the large banner that proclaimed, "TUCK'S TAVERN -
GAS - EATS - OPEN ALL NIGHT."
And never forget our fearless leaders: CAPT Smiling, CDR B.C. Wilcox,
"White Glove Inspector"
CDR/CAPT J.H.D. Williams, XO's LCDR "Heavy Weather" Kinsley,
and "Stay off the Starboard Side"
LCDR Barber, EO LT "What's a bearing?" Varner,
and a real old shipmate of mine, LTJG
Sumo Sam
Ellis. With the fine crew we had during the period I
served, we were not only the best in the fleet, we were
the cleanest and best looking in the fleet!
One last first was our 25 knot approach, to fullback,
to take station on replenishment ships. I am proud to have been a small
part of such a great crew and a shipmate on the USS Henry W. Tucker DD 875.
Thomas L. Nazworth
2504 Weatherford Drive
Deltona, FL 32738-8828
[Note: Tom Nazworth has passed
away. See Memorial List.]
****
Ted Unander
Email: Tunan@aol.com
I served on the "steamin' T" from 1/59 until
5/61. My first ship. Went aboard as a SA, left as a CS3.
****
Bill Lubitz
Email: WJLubitz@aol.com
I served aboard in 1955 and 1956 as a second class
ET. I look at my 1955-1956 cruise book often. I
served with Chief Ecoff,
LT(jg) Tallet, Bill Meadows (deceased), Milne, Levings, Raber and Ruberg.
Are any of those guys out there?
The far eastern cruise was a memorable one with
liberty in Yokosuka, Nagasaki,
Hong Kong, Kaohsiung Subic Bay and other
memorable places. We chased carriers and looked real tough on the old Formosa
patrol.
What I remember most was bad weather North of Luzon
and green water over the bridge and down the forward stack. The only
place one could get fresh air was behind the radio room on the 01 deck
and then it was full of stack gas.
Also, I can remember the Chief being transferred on board via
helicopter one dark evening. The fantail was coming out of the water and
you could feel the vibration of the screws. The chief wasn't real excited
about trying to hit a target bouncing up and down 20 feet and under water
half the time. He made it just fine though and we all felt good about
getting him on board.
Before reporting to the Tucker, I spent about a year
and one-half on the USS Frank E.
Evans, DD754 and before that ET school at Treasure
Island. After leaving the Tucker I spent about 6 months on
the USS Bremerton CA130
before discharge in November 1956.
Bill Lubitz, ET2
W305N6947 Linda Ann Drive
Hartland, WI 53029
****
Philip R. Costlow
Email: pcostlow@mindspring.com
I served on the Tucker
from Feb. 1968 to Oct. 1971. I was a MM3 in the forward engine room when
I left the ship. I am planning to attend the reunion, and would like to
here from any of my old friends that will be there. I live in Breaux Bridge, La.
****
Erik B. Mezger
Email: e.mezger@3dag.ch
I reported aboard USS
Henry W. Tucker (DDR-875) on 23 Nove | 
