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15
September 2001
Uniform
of the Day: A Smile
By "Rosie" Rosenlof,
RD3, 1950-52
Port Angeles, WA. The
three-day September gathering of close
to 200 former shipmates and guests of
the CGC Winona were, as
were the first two, a case-study of friendship
and brotherly love; and yes - tears
- not to mention the tours
and the ringing of the Ship's bell at
City Pier. Also highlighted was
a special letter from the Commandant of
the Coast Guard. This city's Naval Elks
Lodge was the venue. Shipmates from
as far as Florida, Maine, Alaska, Georgia,
North Carolina, Arizona, Ohio, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Nevada, Indiana, New Jersey,
Texas, Hawaii and of course, Washington,
Oregon, Idaho & California were in
attendance at this "Winebarge"
bash.
The event was the 3rd reunion
of the Cutter that called this city
"Home" for 27-years;
she has also been gone for 27-years, scrapped
in 1974 along with all the thirteen
ship fleet of 255- foot "Lake
Class" cutters. Those three
days also revealed the need for more frequent
reunions due to the fact that an even
dozen shipmates had "Passed
over the Bar" since the
crew's 1998 reunion.
Silent
Ship's Bell Rings Again
It is possible that
the highest point of the weekend was the ringing
of the Winona's ship's bell
- its clarion sounds being silent for 27-years
- at P.A.'s City Pier by QM1 Ron Khile ('59-64)
to honor those dozen shipmates. It was
followed by a heart-tugging bagpipes rendition
of "Amazing Grace" by Winona's
"68-70 skipper Robert A. Moss; not
a dry eye was seen! A tour of the city's
CG Air Base and the Cutter CGC Adelie had
preceded the ringing.
Emcee, RD3 "Rosie" Rosenlof
('50-52) opened the Saturday night's Program,
RD1 Marshall Wills ('66-74) gave
the invocation. The throng then
enjoyed a prime rib and chicken cordon
Bleu dinner.
Self introductions revealed
some had become unrecognizable because
of age. Their "sea stories" (some
were true) received tons of added laughs.
Six widows present were introduced and
Hollis Ryan, daughter of former skipper
Sam Guill, presented a beautiful Winona
painting. Also introduced were 18
members of the highly decorated 1968 crew
that had sunk an armed North Vietnam ship.
Two "plank-owners", RDC Gordon Penix ('46-54)
and SC2 Ralph Campbell ('46-49) were introduced.
CG
Commandant & Mayor Honor Rocheleau
The P.A. Mayor,
Larry Doyle presented a congratulatory
Proclamation from the City Council with
their hopes for
a successful reunion and thanks for the
2,000 total Winona
crewmen's dedication to that city.
And the highlight of the night, a special
appreciation award, was presented
by CG LCDR Fred Myer to reunion Coordinator
Cliff Rocheleau and his wife, Tina from
the Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral
James M. Loy.
Many raffles were held and
the grand prize was a Winona
quilt made by award winning Bonnie Gallagher,
wife of BTC Jim ('61-65). The happy
weekend sadly ended with an "Up
anchor" Sunday brunch with sad
"good-bye's" where it was revealed that
a unanimous vote decided the next gathering
would be held at Port Angeles in 2003,
and there are talks about attempting to
rename P.A.'s Railroad Ave. to "Winona
Ave.", "Winona Wharf St." or something
similar…… And, to the Winona: …
Thanks for the Memories!.
During this Reunion
we have been collecting quite a bit of
WINONA memorabilia.
Crewmates & the families of Crewmembers
have been donating photos, ship's menu's
from the 50's, letters of commendation,
& nostalgia from former Officers &
enlisted men. Screaming Gene
Davis has donated some of his photo's
and we will need to identify some of the
people in them. I'm working on getting
them identified for the next Reunion.
Gordon Penix, Plank Owner,
has donated original invitations to the
commissioning of the Winona, & a page
from the Log book that lists the whole
crew that reported aboard before the Commissioning.
Widows & children of former Crewmembers
have donated photo's & other Winona
memorabilia. The history of the
CGC WINONA lies with
the former crewmembers & their families.
I want to thank everybody for their donations
of money or memorabilia to the Winona
Reunion Committee.
I want to extend my special thanks to
Rosie Rosenlof for being our Emcee
& for all the PR work he has done,
and to our Reunion Committee members for
all the work they have done in making
this a Grand Reunion. I
also want to thank Bonnie Gallagher for
making the beautiful Winona Quilt
which we raffled off at the reunion
to increase our funds. Her husband,
Jim, has offered to produce a Winona
Newsletter to keep crewmembers
informed of events.
Hope to see you at the next Reunion
(2003). Thanks for attending
the Reunion & hope you can attend
the next one and have a great time with
former shipmates!
Cliff
Rocheleau, Chairman
Taken
at the 2001 Winona Reunion.
Left to Right:
Cliff
Reeves (47-49), Mel Hunter (47-49),
Gene Davis (47-forever), Jerry Allen (47-53)
In Center: Gordon
Penix (46-53)
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