Chet Headley was a Navy Sonar Tech who came aboard the Michelson in July 1964 as a STGSN after having attended Fleet Sonar School Key West
and Guided Missile School’s Spec Tech at Dam Neck Virginia.
Shortly after arriving aboard Michelson he was promoted to STG3 and in 1965 was promoted to
STG2.
He left the Michelson 13 December 1965 for the USNS Bowditch. After taking leave he met the Bowditch in Lisbon Portugal February 1966. After the Bowditch
returned to Hoboken New Jersey for dry dock he was transferred to Brooklyn Receiving Station 13 December 1966 to await separation.
His history of assignments is:
Enlisted NAVCRUITSTA Cleveland OH - 24 Jan 63
USNTC Great Lakes IL - 25 Jan 63
US Naval Hosp Great Lakes - 08 Apr 63 - 05 Jun 63
Fleet Sonar School Key West FL - 22 Jun 63 - 13 Mar 64
GMS Dam Neck VA - 14 Mar 64 - 19 Jun 64
USNS Michelson T-AGS 23 at Bayonne - 06 Jul 64 - 22 Dec 65 - at Yokosuka
USNS Bowditch T-AGS 21 at Lisboa - 20 Feb 66 - 12 Dec 66 - at Hoboken NJ
Brooklyn Rec Sta Release from Active Duty - 12 Dec 66 - 15 Dec 66 - at Brooklyn NY
After separating from the Navy he went to work for General Instrument Corporation
as a Tech Rep and was assigned to the USNS Michelson. He arrived back aboard Michelson 17 March 1967 while the ship was dry docked in Yokosuka Japan. He served 13 months
aboard Michelson then returned to CONUS April 1968. In September 1969 He returned to General Instrument Corp as a Tech Rep for a return assignment to Michelson. He arrived
19 November 1969 and remained until 22 June 1972.
RTC Great Lakes – Company 39 1st Regiment 15th Battalion
Commenced Training: 05 Feb 1963
Completed Training: 11 Apr 1963
Front Row L to R:
Robert T Simmons
Kenneth C Loud
Back Row L to R:
Larry L Tucker - Atlanta Georgia
C J Headley - Munroe Falls Ohio
This is a true story, not a “Sea-Story”, about the 1955 Plymouth Plaza Station Wagon my buddies and I bought while we were attending Fleet
Sonar School Key West, Florida, from July 1963 to March 1964. We were in class 22-63. My ultimate duty station was Oceanographic Detachment Three embarked aboard USNS
Michelson T-AGS 23, with an intermediate TDY assignment at the U. S. Naval Guided Missiles School Dam Neck, Virginia Beach, Virginia, from March 1964 to June 1964.
In the photo above I can only remember the name of the third person from the left, Robert Saunders. Bob was prior service (Navy), having reenlisted in England where he had
been living since he left the Navy after his first enlistment. The guy to the far left with the sunglasses was from Virginia, Richmond or Winchester I believe. The second
guy from the left was from New Jersey. Sorry I can’t remember their names; it has been 44 years since we went our separate ways. This picture was taken in the fall of 1963.
The car is a story in itself. Four of us bought the car, the three guys facing the camera and yours truly. Three of us went to Miami one weekend to buy a car that we could
use to go to Miami on weekends. The idea was to take other sailors to Miami for five bucks apiece up and five bucks back. We figured we could carry five guys in it so we’d
take in about $50.00 on a weekend. That was the plan. As fate would have it our plans kind of went awry.
After the three of us (the guy with the sunglasses, Bob and yours truly) arrived in Miami we started “kicking tires”. I can’t remember which road we were on, but it seemed
like the one we chose was nothing but wall-to-wall used car dealers. We especially liked the kind that had a big sign saying: “We Tote the Note.” They were our kind of “used car”
lot (known nowadays as Pre-Owned). After what seemed like an eternity we finally stumbled upon the white-over-green 1955 Plymouth Plaza Station wagon you see in the picture. It
seemed like the ideal car to haul sailors between Key West and Miami. In theory it was a great idea, in practice, well, that is the story!
We took the car for a test ride, which wasn’t too impressive as the engine was only running on five of its six cylinders. While on the test drive we stopped to have a look in
the engine compartment to see if we could figure out why it ran so “well”. It turned out that one spark plug wire was off the plug. As soon as we returned it to its rightful
position she ran like a top. Of course, being the wise chiselers we thought we were, we took the plug wire off before we returned to the dealer’s lot.
We put our little beanies on and started bargaining like real pros (read that “rank amateurs”). We managed to get the price down to $200.00. With our $80.00 down payment
($20.00 from each investor) the dealer toted the note for the $120.00 balance, our first foray into the world of high finance. Darn we were good, wheeler-dealers extraordinaire;
look out world, we were on our way!
Once the paper work was completed we drove off the lot, and as soon as we were far enough away that we couldn’t be seen we stopped and
reattached the plug wire. We then commenced tooling around Miami Beach proudly showing off our “new ride”. While so doing we noticed that the floor seemed to be a little lumpier
than it should have been. We figured there must be some trash that had worked its way under the fine OEM “designer” rubber floor mat. As we proceeded down the road with Bob behind
the wheel, I decided to lift the mat to see what it was that was causing all the strange contours on the floor. Low and behold the lumps were garbage can lids, which were substituting
for the floorboards that had rusted out. When I lifted the lid on the passenger side the only thing visible was moving road surface and the remnants of the bracing that once served
as support for the now disintegrated floorboards. These braces were all that kept the garbage can lids from dropping out the bottom of the car, and they were in pitiful shape themselves.
Obviously we couldn’t put much weight on the floor, especially while she was underway, or at any time for that matter. All of a sudden this slick deal we pros had pulled off was
looking like a snooker job with us being the ones snookered. Yeah, it looked more like the dealer got the slick end of this deal.
To make the best of the situation, we started dreaming up ways to make use of the convertible floorboards. The first idea we came up with was that we could relieve ourselves on
those long trips without having to stop at restrooms, and secondly it would make a great way of disposing of empty beer cans without being seen throwing them out the windows (you
have to remember we were young and full of ourselves). Last but not least, if the brakes failed we could do a Fred Flintstone and use our feet to stop the beast.
After coming up with a bunch of great uses for the convertible floorboards the deal didn’t seem so bad. We continued driving around Miami looking at the great scenery. For some
reason all the scenery we waved at just stood there laughing. Maybe they knew something we didn’t. I got the feeling this set of wheels had been around the block more than a few times
in Miami and probably had a reputation that we had yet to hear about.
One of the things that attracted us to this car was the fact that it had three rows of seats, the last
row facing the rear. It could seat a lot of sailors (read that paying customers) and still accommodate a couple of the investors. As luck would have it we decided to head up to Fort
Lauderdale to check out the scenery there. On the way we saw a couple of sailors in dress whites hitch hiking. We passed them by, and then decided to go back and offer them a ride
north. When we got back to where they were we asked them where they were headed. They said Fort Lauderdale, which is where their ship was docked, a carrier whose name escapes me after
all these years. At any rate we said we’d take them to their ship. Since the rear seats were folded down the three of us had been riding in the front. We got out and pulled the middle
seat up from the folded position. The sailors got in and off we went to Lauderdale. The trip up was uneventful until we got to their ship. They got out of the car and started walking
away from us heading towards their ship. The backs of their uniforms were black from all the dust that had been covering the seats and was now covering the backs of their whites
from their shoulder blades to their knees. These guys were absolutely filthy and they were about to climb the gangway to their ship. I wouldn’t have wanted to be in a uniform that
looked like theirs when I reported back aboard my ship, especially a carrier. Those things usually have an Admiral lurking around somewhere.
Now that we had a fine reliable means of transportation we headed back to Key West. Once back we commenced detailing it so it would be ready for the next weekend,
which was when we were to commence our transport operations.
That weekend arrived none too soon. We needed to get things moving so we would have a cash flow that would enable us to
make our car payments. We didn’t bother with such niceties as insurance as that would just subtract from the bottom line. Of course the lack of it, among other things, is why you see
the car parked outside the base; they wouldn’t allow it inside. The first trip to Miami turned into a disaster, two blowouts on the way up which used up our spares (it came with two
which should have been a clue that something wasn’t exactly kosher). We finally made it to Miami; needless to say our paying customers weren’t overly impressed with the service.
On the return trip to Key West we lost another tire and had to buy a used one (which we could barely afford) to make it back to KW. That was a 75% failure rate. Somehow this
venture was getting off to a rather bumpy start in more ways than one. We were out of spare tires and the tires on the ground didn’t look up to another Miami / KW round trip.
Fortunately we did manage to make it back to Miami to retrieve our passengers. Once we were back in KW we rethought the whole idea of using the car outside KW.
The green and white 55 Plymouth wagon henceforth became known as “Old Shitbag”. We continued to use it around KW, though never again venturing off the island with her. It wasn’t
long until additional problems developed with the car, so it ended up sitting outside the base. We’d go visit her once in a while but never to go anywhere in it because it couldn’t go.
We actually started to feel sorry for her just sitting there; of course she had plenty of company as there were other similarly fine cars like her parked close by that were also banned
from the base.
Eventually Bob went to Miami and bought another car (Bob was the wealthy one of the bunch, with him being an E5 with over four years longevity. The rest of us were
so low on the pay scale we had to use a microscope to see the amount printed on our checks.). This time it was a ‘54 Caddy convertible that was in nice shape. Needless to say, with this
being our new ride “Old Shitbag” was ignored big time.
One day we decided to pay the old gal a visit. To our surprise she was gone, like vanished. We figured someone must have
stolen her because the guy that was toting the note wouldn’t have come all the way to KW to repossess a piece of junk. The thief must have been desperate to take something like her. We
kind of felt bad that we didn’t know exactly what had happened to her. We had some great times with her and all we could now do was hope she had a good loving home. We resigned ourselves
to knowing we’d never see her again.
Late one afternoon, for some unknown reason, we decided to drive the road that circled the island of KW. What we least expected was
that we were about to learn the fate of the “Old Shitbag”. As we were traveling along we came upon a junkyard. Sitting high atop a pile of crushed cars was none other than our beloved
“Old Shitbag”. She was at the pinnacle of that pile of flattened cars. The stack was at least 40 feet high and she was sitting there, the only uncrushed car on the pile, like the crown
on Queen Elizabeth’s head. She actually looked kind of happy sitting way up there. She seemed to be smiling at us as if to say goodbye and to thank us for the good times. I think she
knew she would once again become part of something new.
Come to think of it we never finished paying off the note; in fact we never made a single payment. Just think how much interest
has accumulated on that $120.00 note in the 45 years since we “bought” her. I hope the statute of limitations has run out.
I hope everyone that reads this realizes that when we named her “Old Shitbag” it was out of fondness for her, not malice. We were young Sailors who used profanity differently than
normal folks. It was our way of referring to her in an endearing manner. We had a lot of fun with her and got a lot of laughs from all the trials and tribulations we experienced
with her. My memories of her and our adventures with her will remain a source of pleasure. I’ll never forget her or my buddies, even though time has blurred some of their names.
NAVOCEANO, c. 1964-65.
b. 06 Mar, 1936
d. 02 Jul, 2002
Sign commemorates 50th anniversary of canal's opening (1914-1964)
Supervising canal operations from atop the 04 level
Approaching Miraflores Locks
In Miraflores Locks
Here I am writing about the trip we took through the Panama Canal on our way to our new home port in Yokosuka, Japan (sort of home port, I believe Norfolk was
always our “Official” home port), with a side trip into an Oakland dry-dock (Willamette Iron and Steel Works, if my memory isn’t in fabrication mode), 44 years
after the fact. Better late than never.
(Note: At that time East coast MSTSLANT home port was New York, West coast MSTSPAC was San Francusco - Admin 1/22.)
I reported aboard Michelson in Bayonne, New Jersey July 1964 while the ship was docked at the Bayonne Army Terminal. She had been undergoing sea trials approximately
every two weeks. Our schedule was two weeks in, two weeks at sea, Caribbean Sea to be precise. Most of our operations were for testing the new equipment that had been
installed during the recent overhaul. The equipment that we were testing consisted of LORAC, LORAN C, SINS, BRN-3 and SASS. When LORAC worked it was fine. One problem
was that when you lost tracking you had to return to a known position to pick up the correct “Lane Count”. Needless to say, this piece of navigation equipment did not
sail with us when we left Bayonne for the final time. SASS was also experiencing quite a few “teething” problems. In other words it didn’t work worth a darn and could
hardly stay up long enough to make a single pass. But, it was the latest in Sonar so it stayed.
I have digressed from my original intent, which was to write about
the trip to and through the Canal, so here we go back on track.
It was, I believe, sometime in early September 1964 that we sailed from Bayonne for the last time
and headed for Panama. After what seemed like a week at sea we arrived (during the evening or very early morning before first light) at the canal entrance, which is in
Limón Bay. Once there we joined the other ships anchored in the bay waiting for their scheduled passage through the canal.
Eventually a canal pilot came aboard.
It was now our turn to head South East through the canal. I’ll digress a little here to explain something a lot of landlubbers, and sailors alike, don’t know. When
traversing the Panama Canal from the Atlantic side you travel from the North West to the South East where you exit into the Pacific Ocean. Doesn’t seem to make sense
but that’s the way it is due to the geography of the Isthmus of Panama. If my memory serves me correctly we started through late in the morning. From the time we
entered the canal and passed through it and sailed under the Bridge of the Americas at the most eastern end, approximately nine hours had passed. It was dark thirty.
The first set of locks on the Atlantic side are the Gatun Locks, a series of three steps up, or down, depending on which direction you are headed. In our case it was up 85
feet above sea level during mean tide. All locks but one are the same size, 110 feet wide, 1000 feet long with seven-foot thick gates. All ships passing through must pass
through six locks, during which 52 million gallons of fresh water are used. I’m sure that varies with the displacement of the ship.
Once we exited the last of the Gatun locks, we were in Gatun Lake at which time the MSTS crew began washing (hosing) down the ship. We were in fresh water for a change so
it was a great opportunity to wash the salt off our trusty old C2 Victory hull. This was probably more of a ritual than anything practical; the big salt-water pond called the
Pacific Ocean was approximately 51 miles South East and we were heading for her. In all likelihood we were destined to spend many years sailing around in it with little or no
chance of ever returning to the canal for another “fresh water hose down”. So, in some respect it made sense. To the best of my knowledge, Michelson never sailed the canal again.
The passage through Gatun Lake was relatively slow; we probably never went over ten knots, if that. It was a slow and enjoyable 23-mile trip through the lake. The scenery
was beautiful, like lush jungle almost everywhere one looked. There were signs of human encroachment, there had to be for the canal to exist. And of course, the weather was
perfect. Another aside: Lake Gatun is one of the worlds largest man made bodies of fresh water, 166 square miles.
As we passed through the canal we entered Gillard Cut,
one of the narrowest portions of the canal. We came to a very picturesque spot where a waterfall on our port side was cascading down the hillside into the canal. I managed to
take a picture of it with my trusty Kodak Brownie Hawkeye.
Some of what you see in the pictures may no longer exist due to “improvements” to the canal’s capacity.
Recently I viewed a time-lapse transit of the canal from the Atlantic to Pacific and I did not see the waterfall shown in picture 08 nor did I see the Panamanian Railroad Bridge.
I’m assuming these items have become victims of the “progress” (expansion) that has taken place since our 1964 passage.
Unfortunately the only camera I had was the
Brownie Hawkeye. Considering the camera, the time that has elapsed since the pictures were taken, and the cameraman, they are relatively decent. I still have the negatives
but they turned out to be useless; there has been a drastic deterioration of the dyes. The pictures here were scanned from the original 44 year old prints.
Commentary: One last item most people probably don’t know about the Michelson. She saw combat in the Pacific as the SS Joliet Victory and was attacked by Japanese aircraft,
two of which she shot down. There were two “Meatballs” painted on the side of the bridge during her service during WWII to commemorate the event. She had guns on the forecastle,
fantail and on both sides of the 04 level. She carried a couple of US Navy or Marine guards and a contingent of convicts that manned the guns. To get the convicts to accept these
assignments they were offered commutation of their sentences once the war ended if they survived and served honorably. I was told of her exploits by one of our Chief Mates / First
Officers, Mr. Jack A. Rath who sailed the Michelson during WWII when she was SS Joliet Victory. I got to know Mr. Rath fairly well during my three tours aboard the Michelson. He was
the Chief Mate / First Officer during the SS Grand rescue and in my opinion, was one of the best officers aboard the Michelson.
Hopefully other former crewmembers of the Michelson
have pictures of the Canal transit and the many other voyages she and her sister ships made and will share them and their memories with this Web Site. Earl Adams was thoughtful
and kind enough to create it. This is history, if we don’t save and share it, it will be lost forever. Once we are gone it will be irretrievable. And let’s face it; none of us
are getting any younger. We owe it to those that steamed ahead of us, with us, those that followed in our wake, our descendants and those interested in these ships. Long live the
memories of the Michelson, Bowditch and Dutton, our seagoing homes.
General Instrument Corp. Tech Rep USNS Michelson c. 1967-68
The Officer's Club in Yokosuka. Chet Headley (left) and George Glotzel of NASL
Start of the August 1967 Cruise |
|
Storm During the August 1967 Cruise |
|
Stop at Iwo Jima, July 1967 Cruise |
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Unscheduled Excitement, July 1967 Cruise |
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Killing Time, July 1967 Cruise |
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Chet Headley General Instrument Corp. Tech Rep, USNS Michelson, c. 1970
January 22, 1972 at Yokosuka
"The Char-O Snaps are real doggone good!"
Taken during the December 1970-January 1971 Cruise. Inside the Pilot House of the Bridge. It was cold and the sea was rough. If anyone had fallen overboard they would surely have perished.
On the way to Fatima Hank Mullaney decides to check the highway’s suitability for a High Speed Test Run in our rented “Sports car”.
The goal of our road trip.
We dodged the wall, that’s success!
What is an Armadillo from Texas doing in Portugal?
Thank goodness the wipers are OK.
Thanks for the help gentlemen.
During the Bowditch’s July 1966 port call in
Lisbon Portugal, Hank Mullaney (GI) and I (Navy) decided to visit the shrine
at Fatima. During most of our imports Hank and I would share a rental car
except when we were in Belfast. Hank, having been born in Dublin, had family
there so he usually rented a car and drove down and stayed with relatives. I
would rent one and drive to the Embassy Club where I would stay with the,
uh, local virgins.
The day of our trip to Fatima was bright and sunny, perfect sports car
weather, especially for a car that had a top that could be lowered. We found
the perfect car rental agency that specialized in high performance sport
touring vehicles. The Triumph Herald immediately caught our eye. Its
low-slung chassis and ultra wide stance made it the perfect road car for our
trip, or so we thought.
We signed the papers and off we went. The trip to Fatima was quite enjoyable
though uneventful. The scenery was rugged but beautiful. Traffic was light
so we didn’t have to contend with other drivers that thought they were Grand
Prix racers; we already had two of our own.
After we arrived at the shrine we walked around
taking in the sights. It is a beautiful and very sacred place. In my
infinite wisdom I decided to make a few sacrilegious jokes and or comments.
Chalk it up to stupidity and more stupidity. Pay back wouldn’t be long in
coming.
The shrine is quite large so it took a good bit
of time to walk around and see the sights. Needless to say we got a bit
hungry in the process, and a bit thirsty too, if you know what I mean. The
next order of business was to find a nice restaurant where we could have a
good meal and a bit of refreshment to “re-hydrate” ourselves.
We found a place close by where we could sit outside while enjoying our meal
and refreshments. Well, after a couple bottles of wine each, we were ready
to tackle the High Speed Test Run of our rented Triumph Herald “Sports Car”.
Don’t ask what we had to eat cause I’m not sure we ate. Drinking wine is
basically the same as eating grapes, right? Let’s just say we had a
liquefied Fruit Salad.
Feeling quite confident in our sobriety (read that as “feeling No Pain”) we
hopped into our rented “Sports Car” and headed for Lisbon. I was flying
co-pilot so I didn’t have access to any of the controls except the emergency
brake, which I don’t think worked. Hank was flying the thing and I was
navigating, so to speak. As I said, we weren’t feeling any pain. When we got
to a section of the road that looked like a good place for the High Speed
Test Run, Henry put the hammer down and let her rip. I was watching the
speed-o-meter climb past 100 clicks. Seemed like we should have been
airborne momentarily.
As this highly stable racing platform hurtled down the highway at a
blistering pace we noticed that just ahead the road no longer went in the
same direction we were pointing. There was a major “jag’ (as we say in
Texas) in the road. It went to the right and when I say right I mean
immediately, hairpin style. Henry began applying the brakes to slow our
guided missile. The only problem we encountered was that the brake pedal hit
the floor with a resounding “thud”. Henry’s only comment was “I think we
have a systems failure”.
He began pumping that pedal like he was afraid we might hit a wall or some
other stationary object. Well guess what, there was a stone-wall looming
straight ahead. As we arrived at the curve Hank turned the wheel to the
right but our rented “Sports Car” ignored the turn command and kept going
for the wall. It was about this time I came to the conclusion that we were
going to wake up dead. “Payback Time”!
Just as the car went off the road the frantic pumping of the brakes finally
forced a few drops of fluid into the brake cylinders. She started to slow a
little then she seemed to remember something about a command to turn right
and made an attempt to get back to the highway. We slid sideways through the
grass and dirt finally sliding sideways onto the roadway. The only problem
now was that our inertia was 90 degrees off center. You guessed it, as soon
as the wheels hit the pavement our rented “Sport Car”, with the low center
of gravity and ultra wide track racing suspension, showed us what a stable
platform it was. It flipped like a tossed coin. Over we went and of course
our momentum carried us down the road a bit in the inverted mode. I enjoy
“Blue Side Down” while flying but not when driving.
Without a top and no seat belts it was going to
be a miracle for us to remain in the car. But miracle of miracles, we
weren’t tossed out. As the car rolled over the windscreen shattered into a
zillion pieces. The only thing that saved us from being trapped inside was
the windshield frame and the small vent window frame on the passenger door.
They held the passenger side up enough to provided us with an escape route.
As our rented “Sports Car” came to a halt, I realized I wasn’t dead yet; I
looked out the opening between the door and road surface to a dreadful
sight. My Nikon Camera was rolling down the road, bouncing as it went. As
soon as our inverted slide stopped, I crawled out and started to run after
my camera. Before I could get two steps away I heard Hank yelling “Get me
out of here”. I went back and pulled Henry from the newly modified rented
“Sports Car”. As soon as he was safely out we both retrieved our cameras and
commenced taking pictures of the outcome of our just completed “High Speed
Test Run” in a rented “Sports Car”.
We were pretty much in the boonies, though it
didn’t take long for a crowd to gather. I think most of those folks came out
of the woods though they may have been hiding behind that wall just waiting
for some fools to come flying down the highway in a rented “Sports Car”.
Fortunately a couple of gentleman that spoke
perfect English came along and offered to help us. They advised us not to
call the police, as that would just “complicate” matters, like maybe JAIL.
They helped us push the car into town where we shoved it into a parking
space; they then found a taxi willing to haul us back to Lisbon so off we
went.
It was already dark thirty when we arrived back
at the ship. Good old Doc Peacock treated our wounds and made sure we were fit for
late night sports. Once he cleared us as being medically fit, we did what
any normal American male would do; we headed back to town so we could enjoy
some additional refreshments with our shipmates.
The Bowditch was set to sail the next afternoon; before leaving we called
the rental agency and told them their rental “Sports Car” was in Fatima with
a few “minor mechanical problems”. They weren’t too happy when they arrived
in Fatima and saw the extent of the “minor mechanical problems”. They called
the American Embassy and raised hell about how we treated their fine rental
“Sports Car”. We were gone and the Dutton was still in port. Any guess as to
which ship got the nasty call from the Embassy? Our apologies to Dutton and
Ocunit Two, 41 years late.
The moral of this story is “Careful what you say and think. The folks
upstairs know everything”.
At the shipbreaker's yard.
Click on photo for a full screen photoscroll of Chet's visit.
These pictures of the USNS
Dutton T-AGS-22 were taken at All Star Metals, Brownsville, Texas on Tuesday
morning 16 October 2007. Photos are by Melvin J. Francis.
The USNS Dutton T-AGS-22 is slated for the cutters torch. Her condition is
such that this is her fate. I was on the Dutton several times during 1966
while my ship the USNS Bowditch T-AGS-21 and Dutton were in port together.
Seeing her in this condition was a heartbreaker. It appears that when she
was taken out of service she was gutted to the point it would never be
feasible to return her to service.
I’m glad I was able to visit her before dismantling. It was my way of saying
good-by to the Triplets. Remember her as she once was, not as you see her in
these pictures.
The folks at All Star Metals were very gracious. They provided us with unlimited access to the ship, hard hats, safety glasses, transportation and a guide. They understand how we feel about our old ships and went out of their way to accommodate us.
An employee of All Star Metals found an item belonging to a former crewman of Dutton Merchant Mariner John Gallagher and turned it in to the office. They gave it to me so that we could try to find the rightful owner and return it to him or to his family. If anyone knows Seaman Gallagher or his family, please contact me through the Administrator of this web site.
For those interested in climbing, check out "Recreational Tree Climbing" on the Internet; it is a popular sport and also great exercise.
If you don't believe that's Chet up there, here's a closer look!
From a corporate meeting, mid-February 1981, almost nine years after I left the Michelson for the last time.
With my friend Capt. Ross Burgess USNR-R.
Late October 1995. I'm the one with the Navy flight jacket, the same jacket as in the picture of me with my two pups.
With their pet Geezer, taken around Christmas of 2003.
From the summer of 2005.
