Planckowners I would love to get together with

Here are a few names that I can remember;
how about EDDY JOE PENA,DANNY LEE FERGUSON,THOMAS KINKADE,VICTOR CAMPBELL,RODRICK WHITE,SCOTT BOWMAN,CULPEPPER a radioman,TONY RIDDLE,WAYNE COOPER, LEDBETTER,SAM GONZALES,JAVIER MARTENIZ,ALEX RODRIQUIZ,HARRY (TAZ) TRELSTAD,PETE NAGY,QM MCCLARY,JOEY D'ATTILIO,SMITTY
,the big Samoan MAULU,one of my best friend ALBERT (BETO) TORRES,
EDDY LOZZANO,HOOPER a snipe,SHIMALONUS,MULLHOLLAND,DOC JEFF BICE,JOEY AZEVEDO.JOHNNY MORACK,MELTON,MCCLELLAN

Help me mates remember more of the crew!!!!

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2004 08:23 Post subject:

Here's one that just missed being a Plankowner, but that I still think of every time I play certain songs on the ol' flat-top: Ron Hughes from Texas. FTGSN when I knew him. Looking through the Cruise Book for the first WestPac in '82 I see he later made FTG3

Man, that guy played a mean guitar! I think we may have been the only two at the time who had guitars on board, and we had some great times playing in the aft storeroom before the SKs filled it up. That space was like a big echo chamber while it was empty - real fun place to get away from it all and just jam. Smart guy too - it doesn't surprise me at all to learn he made 3rd Class in short order

Rick Hooper was my room-mate at PreCom. The kind of guy who could always find the silver lining in the the darkest cloud

I noticed two Bosuns that MadDog left out that I got along with pretty well myself- B.J Gaitan and BM3 McGhee

How could anybody forget 'Crash' Craft? What a character. The phrase 'Hell on Wheels' must have been invented with him in mind. During PreCom (?) he had gotten ahold of a dirt-bike and was doing wheelies in the parking lot of the building where the BB&G was located. Just like a lot of things Pat put his mind to, he wasn't satisfied with the first couple of attempts, which only covered half the parking lot. He went for the glory and ended up wrecking the bike and breaking his arm in the process. If I remember it right, he got written up for 'Destruction of Government Property' (his arm). He also made a big impression during the Cozumel port visit, and a couple of other places besides. Another familiar face I saw in the '82 Cruise Book - I guess he finally came back to the ship, one way or the other....

Willie Willhite was the exact opposite of Pat Craft. Basically a pretty quiet guy that had one really remarkable thing about him that (literally) didn't show on the surface: his internal organs were a mirror image of most people's - heart on the right side instead of left etc. We weren't close by any means, but that one thing always stuck in my mind. I asked a friend that was a nurse about it one time, and she told me that it wasn't unknown but it was incredibly rare

Other snipes I had many a good time with were Eric Shannon, L.B Farrell, Dennis DeClerck, my old sidekick during the Cozumel and Cartagena port calls Hank Krieger, and three that found this website long before me - Taz, Murph, and Harry Trelstad

There was also another guy who just missed being a Plankowner that I got along with pretty well (can't remember his name though). Real tall guy, who had started his Navy career as an ICman, worked his way up to 2nd Class, and then got busted all the way down to Boot (E-1). He wanted to stay in the Navy so he started all over again as an unrated Deck Ape. I remember two things in particular about him: one was that he was a small-boat driver - the Gig if I remember it right. The other was an incident that taught me an unforgettable lesson about attention to detail....

The ship was underway, and this Bosun and I were walking past the big WT door to the Sea Sparrow magazine, back aft on the 01 weather deck. He was closest to the door, and just as we were walking past it a gust of wind caught the edge of the door (which somebody had not properly dogged down) and flung it open, hitting him Hard and knocking him flat. After checking him over real fast, I closed the WT door (and dogged it down like it should've been the First time around!), got him back on his feet and helped him down to Sick Bay where Doc Taylor diagnosed a concussion and some pretty heavy-duty bruises all along his right side

Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2004 01:07 Post subject:

Pete;
think your talking about Berm Big Berm as we called him.at one time he had quite a collection of flip flops with a bonus to them they we stuff with pot.
BJ pulled a knife on someone one day and I went to stop him a got cut by him instead.
McGhee suxed he would sonner stab you in the back.
the ohter Mcgee was nicknamed Igore.the human scar,great guy.
more from Maddog

Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2005 17:08 Post subject:

anyone rememer A guy nicknamed Junior---or Jim Caughvaugh

Maddog, I've found one of the plankowners you were looking for. Alex Rodriguez BM3. He called me today asking about the Fletcher reunion and he says he hopes to make it to OKC this coming September.

He is excited about the possibility of meeting others with whom he served. Alex is a truck driver and lives in the DFW area in Texas. He only has Internet access when at his sister's house so no email yet, but he did give me permission to post his cell phone number in case any of you who know him would like to call. It is 817-676-8200. Give him a shout, I think he'd love to hear from you.

He also signed up for membership in the USS Fletcher Reunion Group under the first year (balance of) for free. Anyone who served on either Fletcher can do this by just furnishing me with the following basic info

Name as you'd like to have it displayed.
Spouse's name
mailing address
phone
email
years served on Fletcher
highest rank or rate while on Fletcher

The membership roster is available to all members. Just drop me an email at aloha@ussfletcher.org and I will send you the latest copy in PDF format.

And don't forget the upcoming reunion. Us DD-445 types are getting on in years and would like to get enough participation from you 992 vets so that you can eventually take over management of the group so us old farts can sit around and drink beer and swap lies without having to bother with all the administrative bullsh*t. Help us out!!

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 05:02 Post subject: Looking for

I'd like to get ahold of Ron Huges myself. Along with Roy Thomas, Andy Fletcher, and Jerry kemper. Or any of the guys who were on board through '82

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 20:51 Post subject:

anyone know what happened to Ic2 Odell(odie} he was a big SOB came on board @ 83 i think , also any word on a GSE named Jimmy Melton

Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 19:21 Post subject:

This post is for anyone who lives near Pearl Harbor, HI. I have a simple request and I need someone local to carry it out. When Fletcher was under tow out of the harbor for her sinkex, I noticed that the wood planks from the bridge area were removed. This could mean that these planks still exist in Pearl Harbor where they prep ships for sinkex's. If we could get just one of these planks or possibly a piece of one then we could cut them up and present them to the plank owners of the ship at the first reunion. So, if there is anyone out there that can help, please let me know. I provided a picture of 992 under tow out of Pearl for sinkex. Not the bridge wings are missing the wood. Thanks

Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 11:35 Post subject:

Chuck,

Dave Richert (DS2) lives on Oahu. I think his email addee on this board is good. If not, let me know and I think I have an email for him somewhere.

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 03:28 Post subject:

If you can send me the email, I will send him one outlining our request. I just know that those planks are sitting in Inactive Ships in Pearl.

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 09:16 Post subject:

Richert has a photography business on Oahu. Here is his website:
http://www.davidrichert.com/

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 16:11 Post subject:

Paul, I sent a email to Dave today, will see if he can help out, thanks

Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 18:15 Post subject:

Looking to get a hold of Larry Goodeux (think that is the spelling). I think he started out as a deck ape, but ended up as a QM.

Not sure if he was a plank owner or not but he was onboard when I got to the Fletcher during the retro in Pascagula.