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Newport Dealeys Chairman’s Message Dear Shipmates
I’m delighted to
report that our 2004 reunion in Warwick RI was an overwhelming success. With an attendance of 176 shipmates and guests at
the Crown Plaza Hotel, a five star reunion facility, our Newport Dealeys sixth annual reunion was the best ever. We had tours
to the Newport area including the mansions and a viewing of our former home, Newport base piers 1 and 2, which now berth the
decommissioned aircraft carriers Forrestal and Saratoga. Despite the rain on Saturday, the tour to the Battleship cove in
Fall River was still enjoyed with enthusiasm. Friday evening
I presented the conclusion to our Search for the Hartley project and was pleased to announce mission complete. This past year,
we had made contact with a former Colombian naval officer LTJG Luis Castro, who served on the ARC Boyaca (the former USS Hartley).
In May 2004, Luis traveled on our behalf to its final resting place (an abandoned museum project) in hills of Guatape, Colombia.
He photographed and video taped the remains and returned to us a few artifacts for display at the reunion. Luis also sent
us an ARC Boyaca ships plaque for presentation to the Newport Dealeys in his name.We
had a photo display of Tony Arnold’s USS Courtney model he is in the process of building. It’s a large scale model
and he hopes to have it ready for display at our 2005 reunion in Jacksonville. I’m
happy to report that we now have a Newport Dealeys insignia. Jerry Skorch of the USS Joseph K Taussig took the majority of
the votes with his preliminary design. As you know we had a contest open this past year to all our shipmates to submit a design
which would encompass the Newport Dealeys of the past and present. I would like to thank the originators of the 14 entries
we had to choose from. I know that it took dedicated thought and effort to arrive at a design but it gave us a challenge to
select a winner from some excellent submissions. Jerry will now rework the design using suggestions from the floor and have
it available before the next reunion for our review. Our
Saturday night banquet was a very entertaining and enlightening evening. First with the colors presentation by the North Providence
High School Color Guard, then a short talk by Chief Ernie Pina on the origin of the Newport Dealeys. He was followed by Captain
Rodgaard who spoke on the Cortron 8 exploits in the Med 1970-73 and then LTJG Bill O’Keefe, who kept us in laughter
with his stories of DE races and German language interpretations. Captain Maury Werth also entertained us with Navy stories
and anecdotes. Our Newport Dealeys plaque collection project
is moving forward. We now have plaques from the Hartley, Van Voorhis, Cromwell, Dealey and the Courtney. They have been refinished
and will continue to be on display at our future reunions. If you have a plaque that has been put in storage years ago and
would like to donate it to our collection, please contact me. The condition is not important since we can repaint it during
the long New England winter. We also started a ship’s patch collection display this year which now has a Hartley and
Lester along with patch photos of the remaining ships. If you have an original patch that you would like to donate to the
display project, again contact me. I have several cruise books that have been donated and will be available for future reunion
viewing. Our next reunion will be in Jacksonville FL on the 20 to 23 Oct
2005 at the Holiday Inn Airport with Charlie (Shoe) Holzschuh as Chairman. The
shipmates voted to have the 2006 reunion in Baltimore MD, on a date to be determined. Sincerely Marc Arsenault USS Lester Newport Dealeys Reunion 2004 Chairman 98 Oxbow Rd. Charlton
MA 01507
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