Michael was the Oceanographic Unit TWO C.O. in 1979 and 1980.

In 1985 when I was director of the Defense Mapping Agency Office of Distribution Services, I made a visit to my distribution office at NAS Cubi Point in the Philippines. I took the occasion to call on Michael who was the officer in charge of the meteorological office there. He related this story.

His mother was a “Rosie the Riveter” worker at the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation yard in Portland, Oregon. She worked on the SS Tuskegee Victory in 1945. At the time she was carrying unborn Michael. So when he reported in September 1979 to assume command of the Oceanographic Unit, it was his second time aboard.

The Dutton Deactivation Ceremony booklet was prepared expressly for the DUTTON inactivation, held at Gulfport, Mississippi on September 12, 1989.

There were at least a dozen OCEANODETACHMENT officers in charge and OCEANOUNIT commanding officers at the ceremony, including the first two officers in charge. I was one of oceanographic unit ones. Regrettably, no arrangement was made for a photographer. What an opportunity missed. This was before the days of smart phones when everybody would have been snapping photos. At the ceremony each of the guests who had served aboard was given a memento. It was a two-inch piece of wooden hand rail from the unit compartment mounted on a piece of wood with a brass plate. I misplaced mine in our last move.

In a late 1980s conversation with LCDR William Kelly, the Oceanographic Detachment officer in charge in 1966, I agreed to try to confirm for him that the detachment and DUTTON rated an award for participating in the search and recovery operation. I was successful. The detachment and DUTTON personnel were authorized to wear the Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon. All aboard at that time rate the award.