Reunion 1997

The Eleventh U.S.S. Nassau Reunion was held in Schaumburg, Illinois on September 24-27, 1997, with 111 in attendance.

The tours included a visit to the Navy Pier with lunch aboard The Spirit of Chicago, as it took an excursion on Lake Michigan, on September 25th. On September 26th, we rode the elevator up to the top of the Sears Tower which is over 100 stories. From there we went to south Chicago to the Museum of Science and industry. We also went aboard a captured German submarine. A CVE in the Atlantic, during World War II was instrumental in its capture.

On September 27th, we took a tour of The Cantingy War Museum located on the north side of Chicago.

At the banquet we had a Navy band and Color Guard from the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. This is the only Naval Training Center left in the United States.

I had written a letter to the Commander of the Naval Training Center requesting the Commander to speak at the U.S.S. Nassau banquet on September 7, 1997. About a month after I had written the letter I received a phone call from the Commander Adjutant saying "she" would be glad to appear. I was so shocked that I readily agreed to Captain Cory Whitehead coming to speak. After I hung up the phone I asked myself...what my Navy was coming to.

When time came for the banquet I received a phone call that Captain Whitehead was ill and could not attend but she would send LCDR S.E. McCarty in her place, who was also a woman. All shipmates at the banquet were pleasantly surprised as she was "all Navy."

Shipmates in attendance were F. Bahl, J. Bahm, H. Barber, H. Barger, P. Begley, K. Berger, E. Bishop, C. Blaich, J. Bowe, E. Brown, A. Calleo, W. Cebula, D. Christensen, J. Coe, R. Crow, F. Czaja, J. Duncan, S. Ferguson, W. Fry, E. Gaston, S. Gault, L. Guptiti, J. Hartzheim, J. Holmes, B. Ingraham, C. Jordan, W. Kennedy, R. Kteinspehn, 0. Kollar, E. Koszut, J. Kruis, E. Lamb, R. Lingerich, H. Lewis, S. Longo, J. McClain, N. McGuire, F. McLain, N. Mabry, V. Manning, J. Marino, S. Moore, E. Morris, M. Norris, L. Novotny, G. Oberst, P. Oliver, C. Ramsey, J. Rappenecker, C. Ross, E. Schneider, E. Simon, B. Smith, F. Spisak, L. Svoboda, I. Thomas, D. Troutman, L. Vandermeulen, W. Zink, and their wives.

At the 1997 reunion. Chaplain Wilbur Zink remembered those who had passed on since the last reunion. They were Theron Grissom, George Hegwood, Lennie Johns, Don Keselburg, James Mohr, George O'Keefe, Robert Sill, Roderick Vantuyl, Ross Vaughn and Gene Wilcox.