MOORE MEMORIES

USS BELL ASSOCIATION (DD587)

 

APRIL, 2007

 

 

IN THIS ISSUE:

 

Ø      WELCOME SPRING

Ø      MAILBAG

Ø      IN MEMORIAM

Ø      ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Ø      MEMORY JOGGER FROM WWII

Ø      USS BELL COOKBOOK

 

 

 

 

WELCOME SPRING

 

Springtime has arrived in Georgia and so has the pollen count.  Almost 6,000 this week and it truly is the season for sneezing.  Rain is promised this week and will be a welcome sight.  My yard is ablaze in color with azaleas and dogwoods in full bloom.  I have planted lettuce, peppers and tomatoes and they too will love some rain. 

 

Plans for San Antonio are almost complete.  Our host hotel is the Holiday Inn Riverwalk.  It is located directly on the Riverwalk and very convenient to restaurants and places of interest.  Check-in is September 12th and check out is the 16th.    The phone number for reservations 210-224-2500 and ask for the USS Bell Group.  Rooms will be held until August 13, 2007, after which they will be provided on a space available basis.  Individual reservations must be guaranteed for late arrivals with a credit card or first night’s deposit.  Should you need to cancel, it is necessary to cancel no less than 72 hours prior to arrival date.  Rates for single, double, triple, and quad is $105.00 per night.  All room requests will be accommodated to the best of the hotel’s ability.  It is always best to make reservations well in advance of the reunion dates and if you find out later that you cannot attend they can always be cancelled.  The hotel is conveniently located 8 miles from the hotel.  Transportation to and from the airport will be of no cost to the members coming in by air.  When you return your activities list, you will be asked your mode of transportation and those flying in will be mailed a coupon for transportation to and from the airport.

 

Planned activities include a city tour on Thursday leaving the hotel at 9:00AM and returning to the hotel at 12:30M. Afternoon is free to visit in the hospitality room, take a walk on the Riverwalk, take a nap, or whatever you feel like doing.  About 6:00PM, we will walk down to the Riverwalk and take a barge ride on the river.  Barges pick up at the hotel stop.  Upon return, you will be free to choose where you want to have your evening meal on your own. 

 

Friday we will travel to Fredericksburg, Texas, for a visit to the Admiral Nimitz Pacific campaign of World War II Museum.  Admiral Nimitz was one of the most respected leaders of the Pacific campaign of WWII.  I was told recently by a Navy person who served in the Korean War on the USS Irwin, that his reunion group’s reunion was held in San Antonio a couple of years ago and they went on the Nimitz tour and he felt it was one of the best WWII museum he had every seen.  We will board our bus at 8:30AM and will return to the hotel at 3:30PM.  Lunch will be on your own in Fredericksburg. 

 

Saturday will gather for a brief business meeting and memorial remembrances.  Afterwards, we will have our usual bit of entertainment and laughs with the raffle and exchange of gifts of those who want to participate.  We will wind up the morning with our auction.  Saturday night we will gather for our farewell banquet.

 

Hearing from a number of our members and family members this reunion looks to be another great one.

 

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MAILBAG

 

 

…..It is not Christmas, but I get lovely gifts.  Thank you.  Les, Donna and I are doing fine here in Florida.  My health is good.  I’m 83 now, but I don’t feel like it.  I go all the time and stay busy.  Thanks again and I hope we get to San Antonio.  With love and thanks for all you do.                              …..Neysa Blagg, 7811 Berkshire Pines Drive, Naples, FL 34104

 

.....Thank you for your generous donation and photos.  We enjoyed performing for the Bell group in Indianapolis.  With a dance in our hearts! 

                                                …..Myrna Sommers – The Continettes

 

…..I found this letter today while going through some old papers and want to let you know that my husband, James Austin Arbuckle, now age 84 was on the USS Bell.  Hoping this reaches you.  Please let Jim know of any of his shipmates that you can.  He is in good health and would like to hear from them. Thank you.

                        …..Mrs. James (Liz) Arbuckle, 766 Maple Street, Meadville, PA 16335

 

…..How nice it was for Jim to get that surprise box in the mail the other day.  We appreciate your thoughtfulness and effort!  He will wear the hat on our excursions hoping someone will recognize “BELL” and that the license plate holder will bring a toot or two.  Thank you again.  P.S. We could never make it to Texas this year, but maybe some other reunion.  It would be wonderful. …..Jim & Liz Arbuckle

 

…..You may already be aware of Bennie Green’s health problems, but my mother wanted me to email and let you know just in case.  My aunt knows Bennie and his family and live a few blocks from him.  She called my mother and said Bennie had a heart attack recently and had been in the hospital.  Bennie is home now and seems to be doing okay.

                                                …..Greg Grimes

*Bennie’s address is 9351 Whiskey Bottom Road, Laurel, MD 20733

 

…..I just recently found out that my uncle, Alphones Boiarski, may have been a member of the USS Bell crew.  I would like to confirm this before I do more research and resent my findings to my Aunt, cousins and his grandchildren.  As you all know, veterans of the War did not discuss their experiences openly.  My uncle as well as father and his brothers rarely opened up about the war.  Any help would be deeply appreciated.  Thank you                          …..David Boiarski – david.boiarski8@aleris.com or leftyb4@netzero.net

Please email David if you have any remembrance of Alphones Boiarski or if you don’t have email, send to me and I will get it to him.

 

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IN MEMORIAM

 

…..I have some news to let you know that my husband John Pike died on July 7th.  We celebrated our 60th Wedding Anniversary in March 2006.  We had a quiet dinner with our daughter.  His health deteriorated from that time on.  The newsletters kept us in touch and he enjoyed them.  I would appreciate it if you mentioned this in the newsletter.  Thank you so much.  Love.            …..Dottie Pike, 6941 S. Kenwood Dr. Charleston, SC 29406

 

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

 

Thank you for your donation to the VITAS Hospice Charitable Fund/Foundation for End-of-Life Care.  We are grateful to you and the USS BELL Association that you have chosen to support the work of hospice honoring Michael J. DiVeronica.

 

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MEMORY JOGGER FROM WWII

 

ABC-1 – Defensive plan devised by U.S. and British staffs prior to Pearl Harbor for concentrated effort against Germany and holding action against Japan.

BABY BLITZ – Three-month German blitz against Britain in 1944.  Called “Baby Blitz” because it was far less successful than the 1940 blitz.

CADILLAC – Code name for U.S. Navy experiments with airborne radar to give extended range to a fleet’s protection.

DEAR JOHN – A letter of rejection sent to a serviceman by his wife or sweetheart at home.

EAGLE – Code name for 1940 German operation aimed at destroying the RAF.

FAT MAN – The 10,000-pound atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.

GALAHAD FORCE – U.S. Infantry combat team trained to help Chinese establish a supply team across Burma.  Commanded by Brig. Gen. Frank D. Merrill, the force was also known as “Merrill’s Marauders.”

HATSUZAKURA – The war-worn Japanese destroyer that guided the battleship MISSOURI through the minefields of Tokyo’s Sugami Bay for the final act of the war. Japan’s surrender.  

INVASION FUNNEL – Pattern of the courses Allied ships in the Normandy invasion took across the English Channel, converging at one point (code-named Piccadilly Circus), to follow mine sweepers across the Channel to the Normandy beaches.

JOHN BIRCH – An OSS officer killed by Chinese Communists while trying to get Japanese occupation troops out of China after the Japanese surrendered.  His name is now used for the anti-Communist society founded by Robert H.M. Welch, Jr.

KACHIN – A fierce tribe in Burma that aided the Americans fighting in the Southeast Asia Jungles.

LADOGA LIFELINE – During the siege of Leningrad, the only route by which food could reach the starving city was by truck across frozen Lake Ladoga.  One in every four trucks was lost to enemy fire.

MAGGIE’S DRAWERS – A red flag waved from the target pits of a rifle range to indicate a complete miss.   

NAME, RANK & SERIAL NUMBER – The only information U.S. servicemen were told to give enemy interrogators if they were captured.

OKA – A flying bomb used by Japan for kamikaze attacks.  The Oka was dropped from a “mother” plane and guided to its target by the pilot.

PALM SUNDAY MASSACRE – USAF-RAF attack on German transport planes flying supplies to North Africa.  Fifty-one transports and 16 fighter planes were shot down April 18, 1943

QUISLING – A traitor who is a tool of occupying armies.  It was taken from a name of a Norwegian politician who collaborated with German occupation forces as nominal head of the Norwegian government.  Later executed for treason.

RELOCATION CENTER – One of ten U.S. detention camps set up in March 1942, to hold some 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry, most of them U.S. citizens, solely because of irrational fear of all “Japanese-looking” people after Pearl Harbor.

SAD SACK – A woebegone comic-strip GI that was drawn by Sgt. George Baker for Army’s YANK magazine.

TAIL-END CHARLIE – Tail gunner on a bombing plane – a lonesome, cramped and dangerous job.

U-BIRD – Nickname of the powerful U.S. Navy single engine fighter plane (F4U) whose wings were shaped like inverted gull wings.

VECTORED OUT – Pilot’s jargon for “checked out,” meaning a pilot or plane crew had received instructions for reaching the target of a mission. 

WEST WALL – A wide line of fortifications along Germany’s western frontier, called the Siegfried Line by the Allies.

YANK – A magazine written by and for U.S. enlisted men, published from 1941 until the end of the war in 1945.

 

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USS BELL COOKBOOK

 

I would really like to do a cookbook but recipes are not coming in like I had wished.  If you have a couple of favorite recipes, please send them in.                            

 

HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON!

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