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++++USS Laws DD-558 PLAQUES - ENGRAVINGS - GIFTS - PRODUCTS ++++
Vince Ferrante
Years Served: Sept. 1961 to Aug. 1963
I have some good times on the Laws. iN 1962 WE DID A West Pac cruise. Saw alot while we were there. 1962 we were at the Worlds Fair in Seattle Washington. 1963 we did a cruise to Mexico and my final cruise was to Hawaii. :D :D
Francis (Frank) W. Proulx
Years Served: 1952-1954
I served aboard the Laws during the Korean War as a storekeeper. My nickname was Frenchie. The ship ran up an down the Korean coast up to the Russian border, shelling supply trains out of Russia into North Korea. I was sent ashore as a spotter during that time for a few days.
While in the Task Force we ran with an Australian destroyer as well as the other main ships of the Task Force. We put into Hong Kong, Formosa as well as other ports that I don't remember. :(
If any of this is familiar to you, you can contact me, or leave a post.
E.L."Pat" Ful
Years Served: '62-'63
Spent my 19th birthday peeling spuds in Buckner Bay, Naha, Okinaha.
Saw 47degree rolls during a monster storm off Canada.
And Vince, I remember a deck ape doing a 5 minute drum solo in Mike's Union Bar in Hong Kong......My oh my, Were we ever that young
Ken Grabowski
Years Served: 1963-1964
Served under Captain Weise one of the finest human beings to sail the seas.
God Bless you Sir!
William K. (Ken) Streiff
Years Served: 1958-1960
Reported while the ship was still homeported in San Diego and shortly thereafter went into reserve training at Treasure Island, San Francisco CA. During most of my time on board the CO was Cdr Archie C. Kuntze. Spent the two years making reserve training cruises up and down the west coast with a couple of visits to Mazatlan, Mexico, also to Victoria Canada, San Diego and Long Beach.
J. H. "Bud" S
Years Served: WWII Era
John Howard (Bud) Smith is my beloved father. He served on the USS Laws, before it was decommissioned and then sent to Korea. He has very warm, heartfelt and amusing stories of his fellow shipmates & friends that he served with aboard the Laws during WWII. I do not know specifics, except one friend he spoke of by name was Jerry Shields who resides in California and someone with an italian name who caused the Thanksgiving turkey to slide overboard after many months of SPAM. Great story! I plan to give Bud the framed, engraved display for Christmas and thought I would inquire as to any info on his fellowshipmates during their time in the Pacific. So, if any of you (or your knowledgable spouse/children) are out there, I would love to give him any updates on those living or passed on to Heaven. God willing, there may be a few remaining. Bud lives in Pasco, Washington State, and is 84 years old, striving well and in good health. Should I receive no responses, I wish a very merry Christmas to all family and shipmates of the USS Laws. November 2011. Kristi Harman (one of Bud's many kids).
Ken Grabowski
Years Served: 1963-1964
Served under CMDR Weiae, one of the finest people you will ever meat,
God Bless you My Captain.
2 comments
After basic training and Class A Radar School I transferred to USS Laws in late December, 1955, when she was being refitted at Hunters Point Naval shipyard, San Francisco. I made two WestPac cruises that included Yokosuka, Kobe, and Sasebo Japan; Hawaii, Midway Island, Okinawa, Guam, Kaohsiung Taiwan, Hong Kong, Subic Bay Philippines, American Samoa, Melbourne Australia, and Manus in the Admiralty Islands. Operations included fleet training exercises (west coast and western Pacific), task Force 77 in western Pacific, training with Japanese and Taiwanese navies, Taiwan Patrol (2), and operations off south Vietnam with USS Lexington providing flights over Saigon for moral support to French Forces departing Vietnam . Our first skipper was Commander Thorne, who was replaced in late 1957 by Commander Kuntze (who I learned was court marshaled in the sixties for black marketing activities as “military mayor of Saigon”. I was transferred in January, 1958 to USS Stoddard, DD 566, as leading Radarman and OI Division Petty officer. I advanced to RD1 in July….and mustered out upon return to San Diego from WestPac on December 10, 1958.
Served on Dee Dee Go Go Hachi in early 60’s:
Blew the skit out of Viet Nam; Cruised through the Straits of Formosa to piss of the Chineese. And it did – They threatened to blow our tin can out of the water; We went south and played as H-Bomb dummies while they, whoever “they” are, exploded high altitude nukes above us. I remember the huge snap from the EMP, followed by the daytime, undulating eerie green sky. AND SO MUCH MORE. Hmm, is all this stuff unclassified.