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The third USS Henry W.
Tucker reunion is now history.
It was held in the beautiful, historic city of Charleston, SC.
There were many
familiar faces and many new ones in attendance. It was nice to see several daughters,
sons and grandchildren of shipmates.
The widow of Clint Williams (GM3 47-50), Anna Marie McCain,
daughter Deborah Afrakhteh, sons Clint, Jr. and Keith Williams attended
as well.
The tours of Drayton
Hall and Middleton Place
plantations and the city were enjoyed by all. Our tour guides did a great job of
explaining life on the plantations and the history of Charleston.
It is assumed, from
all the shopping bags in evidence, that our group boosted the economy of Charleston
considerably. Charleston has lots
of opportunities for shopping and wonderful restaurants.
On Monday night, there
was a very well attended social for the 62-66 crew members. From the volume of the talk and
the laughter, it is assumed many tall tales were told!
The trip to
Patriot’s Point to visit the USS Yorktown, USS Laffey (a Gearing
class destroyer),a submarine and Coast Guard cutter was a highlight of
the trip. We had a memorial
service on the hangar deck of the Yorktown
in which all 320 names of shipmates who are known to have passed away
were read by representatives from each era the Tucker was in
commission. A wreath was
thrown overboard. Prayers
were offered by Ron
Davis (GMM3 64-68). Then we
had lunch in the Chiefs’ Mess which was served on metal trays –
great nostalgia for the guys.
A business meeting was
held on Wednesday afternoon.
Much was accomplished, including a vote to begin the process of
becoming a non-profit organization.
The details will be in the next newsletter. Also, a committee will be working
on the next reunion, which will be in 2006, somewhere on the Gulf Coast
(probably Louisiana or Texas). A tour to Orange TX
where the Tucker was built will be part of the reunion. Watch for details in newsletters
over the next two years.
The banquet was held
on Wednesday night. The food
and conversation were excellent.
Ron Davis offered the blessing and Chuck Kass read “In Memoriam”, which
explained the “empty place setting” at the banquet, which
remembered those who had passed away and could not be there with us.
We had a guest
speaker, Alphonso Brown, who is a local “Gulla” tour
guide. He explained the Gulla
culture and language, the black culture of the South Carolina Low Country
and the Georgia Sea Islands.
His presentation was very informative and quite humorous.
There was a raffle of
a model of the Tucker and several movie DVDs which were donated by Carey
Asmundson, daughter of John Asmundson (BT2 57-59), who works at Paramount
Pictures. Tom McLaughlin (DC2
68-71) won the model and to say he was excited would be an understatement
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