USS TELFAIR APA

AHOY SHIPMATES!

No, the ship did not sink. It is still afloat and ready for battle. I wish to apologize for the delay in not getting a newsletter and the information on the 2010 reunion to you earlier and on time.

It has been a hectic year for me as a lot of you know, but I really have no excuses. I have not had much communications with many of you this past six months, so this will be a short newsletter.

This newsletter will be sent to all sailors that are on our roster. I will be sorting mail after the mailing because about 30 to 40 of them will be returned because some have moved, died or whatever. It will save us a great deal of your money if you will keep me posted as to US mail and email address changes.

2010 Telfair Re nion

Enclosed you will find all of the information on the Mobile reunion, including costs and activities that we will be having. Tony Prisco, from Mobile, has and is assisting me with some of the arrangements.

Tony has lined us up with the local American Legion for our banquet and possible breakfast before one of our tours. Please see the enclosed for all reunion information. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact John Tonyes, 3223 Titleist Drive, Anderson, IN 46013,

765-643-1060.

The will be our 20th Anniversary, and Grace Vogel from Wisconsin has agreed to be the chairperson for decorating the American Legion Hall and elsewhere. If anyone would like to volunteer to help, please contact Grace at 262-542-3834 or email her

at Vog330@yahoo. I am sure she will be willing to accept any and all offered help.

ALL INFORMATION WILL BE POSTED ON OUR WEB SITE SOON, SO BE SURE AND VISIT WWW.USSTELFAIR.ORG.

SEE YOU IN MOBILE, ALABAMA

OCTOBER --11, 2010

Crew’s

If you haven’t paid your 2010 crew’s dues, you can send them to John Tonyes, 3223 Titleist Dr., Anderson, IN 46013. Please make checks out to the “USS TELFAIR APA-210.”

Welcome Aboard

Alton Degenhardt, 4214 Western Dr., Corpus Christi, TX 78410

John J. O’Neill (wife Lori), 101 Elmwood Park West, Tonawanda, NY 14150, 716-694-6953, oneill101@roadrunner.com — RN3 who served aboard Telfair Aug 63 to Aug 66 -- found us through the American Legion magazine ad for the reunion.

C.J. Keller, 4553 Seedtick Road, Lakeland, TN 38002 -- Ensign 66-

67, A Div Officer — “Never thought I’d find this much information about

the Telfair online after 43 years. I

really appreciate your efforts to preserve some of our lives. It was truly wonderful to show my fiancée what I looked like at a younger age.”

Dr. Jack Smith writes: “John, I served 53-54 on Telfair in Dental Department. I had become a Christian just before coming aboard, felt called to preach, so I held Bible studies and church services. I worked with Dr. Harvey Urban,

LtCdr. Dave was a dental tech with

us. His dad was a dentist in

-yoming, I believe. I came out of the Navy in 55 and went to school forever to be a minister. I served as a pastor for 35 years. I live in Center, Texas on land that came from my great, great grandfather’s Spanish land grant before Texas

was a state.” Email js@fhtm.us

Lawrence Don 4agedorn, 559 E. Corte Castano, Camarill, CA

93010. 805-482-8280,

hgdmdn@verizon.net — Ensign

11-44 to 11-45, Boat Division

Larry Edward, — “On the Telfair from June 66 as the postal clerk until it was decommissioned — was sitting on the fantail of USS Hermitage LSD-34 while sitting in dry dock at the Baltimore Shipyard when the USS Telfair was towed in to be scraped. Have many photos that I will send later when I have time to dig out the slides and make prints.” Email tjdracing@thewisp.net (Editor’s note: Larry, we sure are looking forward to receiving them.)

Newsletter Contrib tions

If you have any items for the Tremblin T that you would like published, please send them to me. We always can use stories about the Telfair or interesting news about its crew members or anything else that you might think our fellow crew members might like to hear about.

Change of A$$ress

Vernon Seiler — new email:

sailorsi@comcast.net

Jim Rosenow (Susie), 3 Provecho Lane, Hot Springs Village, AR

71909, 501-915-8228,

jfrosenow@gmail.com

(Dated March 5) Bill Cements has been home from the rehab hospital for about two months now and is doing well. He attends a day hospital rehab program nine hours per week where he is learning how to use some of the skills he lost. He is working out and hopes to walk again soon. He still has double vision and finds it difficult to read, so he is not using the internet or reading emails, yet. He likes to get phone calls and visits from friends. His diabetes and blood pressure are well controlled. He is being very spoiled by his caregivers, but then I suppose he deserves it. If you have any specific questions or want contact info, please send email to: msn.texas@gmail.com

We still have shirts and hats for sale. If you desire either one or both, contact John Tonyes at 765-643-

I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down in my assigned seat. It was going to be a long flight. ‘I’m glad I have a good book to read. Perhaps I will get a short nap,’ I thought.

Just before take-off, a line of soldiers came down the aisle and filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding me. I decided to start a conversation.

‘Petawawa. We’ll be there for two weeks for training, and then we’re being deployed to Afghanistan.’

After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that sack lunches were available for five dollars. It would be several hours before we reached the east, and I quickly decided a lunch would help pass the time.

As I reached for my wallet, I overheard a soldier ask his buddy if he planned to buy lunch. ‘No, that seems like a lot of money for just a sack lunch. Probably wouldn’t be worth five bucks. I’ll wait till we get to base.’ His friend agreed.

I looked around at the other soldiers. None were buying lunch. I walked to the back of the plane and handed the flight attendant a fifty dollar bill.

‘Take a lunch to all those soldiers.’ She grabbed my arms and squeezed tightly. Her eyes wet with tears, she thanked me. ‘My son was a soldier in Iraq; it’s almost like you are doing it for him.’

Picking up ten sacks, she headed up the aisle to where the soldiers were seated. She stopped at my seat and asked, ‘Which do you like best - beef or chicken?’

‘Chicken,’ I replied, wondering why she asked. She turned and went to the front of plane, returning a minute later with a dinner plate from first class. ‘This is your thanks.’

After we finished eating, I went again to the back of the plane, heading for the rest room. A man stopped me. ‘I saw what you did. I want to be part of it. Here, take this.’ He handed me twenty-five dollars.

Soon after I returned to my seat, I saw the Flight Captain coming down the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he walked, I hoped he was not looking for me, but noticed he was looking at the numbers only on my side of the plane.

When he got to my row he stopped, smiled, held out his hand and said, ‘I want to shake your hand.’ Quickly unfastening my seatbelt I stood and took the Captain’s hand. With a booming voice he said, ‘I was a soldier and I was a military pilot. Once, someone bought me a lunch. It was an act of kindness I never forgot.’ I was embarrassed when applause was heard from all of the passengers.

Later I walked to the front of the plane so I could stretch my legs. A man who was seated about six rows in front of me reached out his hand, wanting to shake mine. He left another twenty-five dollars in my palm.

When we landed I gathered my belongings and started to deplane. Waiting just inside the airplane door was a man who stopped me, put something in my shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without saying a word. Another twenty-five dollars!

Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their trip to the base. I walked over to them and handed them seventy-five dollars. ‘It will take you some time to reach the base. It will be about time for a sandwich. God Bless You.’

Ten young men left that flight feeling the love and respect of their fellow travelers. As I walked briskly to my car, I whispered a prayer for their safe return. These soldiers were giving their all for our country. I could only give them a couple of meals. It seemed so little.

A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to ‘The United States of America’ for an amount of ‘up to and including my life.’ That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.

A statute in a park of a soldier on a horse with two feet in the air means the soldier died in combat. Only one foot in the air means the soldier died of his injuries from combat. The soldier died of natural causes if all four feet of the horse are on the ground.