ruary brought us some relief with milder temperatures, and I hope it stays this way until spring !!! Our $10.00 annual dues was due on Jan. 1, and if you haven't paid yet, and you want to continue receiving this Purdy Report, send your check made out to "Purdy Association" to Sec./Treas. James Meechan, 145 Laura Dr., Gahanna, OH 43230-2140. Jim will also be collecting dues at the reunion. You can pay him for this year, or for as many years in ad-vance as you want and Jim will give you a new membership card indicat-ing your new membership expiration date. VP Bill Dow still has top quality Purdy jackets, shirts and ball-caps, and if you would like to purchase any of these items, give Bill a call at 860-426-1278. He will also have some of these item at the reunion. If he has your size, you purchase the item there, or he will take your order and ship it to you after the reunion. Karen and I are looking forward to the Chattanooga reunion, and those of you attending, have a safe trip. Sincerely, Larry DiPasquale President , Purdy Association

_________

Hi again ship-mates, Purdy la-dies and friends. Our Chattanooga reunion is only a few weeks away, and Karen and I are looking for-ward to seeing

many of our friends once again. I hope that many of you have made reservations, and sent your deposits to ML&RS. I'm sure that they will ar-range another fantastic reunion for us, so plan on joining us in Chatta-nooga. There will be a short business meeting on Saturday afternoon to decide next year's reunion site, and our association offices of President, VP and Sec./Treas. will open for elec-tion/re-election. Those of you who still have a uniform, and can still get into it, bring it along to wear to the Saturday banquet. Those of you not living in the north-east have probably heard about the terrible weather we had during Janu-ary. Ice and snow at least once a week and low temperatures. My driveway was a 2" thick ice skating rink, making it almost impossible to walk for our newspaper and mail at the driveway entrance. I had to use my 4-wheel drive Jeep to get to those items, but Karen and I survived. Feb-

Message from the Prez by Larry DiPasquale

Special points of interest:

Larry DiPasquale ‘s news is our cover

story.

Chaplain Fred’s re-port is on page 2.

Photos from Hawaii are on page 2.

Your stories about your job while on the Purdy start on page

3.

Official Newsletter of the USS Purdy (DD-734) The Purdy Report

March 2011 Volume 21 Issue 1

USS PURDY REUNION

APRIL 13-17, 2011

CHATTANOOGA, TN

CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO HOTEL

Chattanooga Aquarium

Hi Mates, Well, Tenn. is ap-proaching: Judy-the-Cutie and I are ready. Got a call from Chet and Chubby. We are going to see them in June. They may have to come here and help us shovel out. Jim and Mary Meechan spent some time with Chet and Chubby. We have to try to get shipmates to the reun-ions. We are not getting any younger. I am?! Hi, Uncle Art. Hope you make it. I’m going on a buffalo hunt next week. 22nd. God, if you can’t help me, don’t help the buffalo. Saturday: Judy’s making breakfast and it’s snowing again. Stop

Page 2 The Purdy Report

Aloha from Chubby & Chester Kahapea and Jim & Mary Meechan in Hawaii

Volume 21 Issue 1

Chaplain Fred’s Report by Fred Harrington

please. Friday. Well, I shot a buffalo. It weighed close to a ton—900 lbs of meat. It is good. Don’t be surprised if Pe-tits come knocking on your door. They are both retired. Got a call from Cletus. May make it. Just talked to D.W. Barlow. Says to have you all call him. Here is his num-ber: 1-843-399-4396. Just talked to Eileen Gerardi. She said to tell all they will be in Tenn. They may arrive by snow sled. Bob Johnson, call Barlow. He has been trying to reach you. Bugs and Russ, are you coming? I must be losing it. I can’t think of anything bad to say about Doug Harvey or Joe DePace. OK. I will say

something. Judy-the-Cutie and I are praying for you two and we both love you guys. June Vella, bring that old guy Dom with you. Hi, Mom and Dad Zavisza. Tony and Judy are going to be in Chatta-nooga. May bring Barlows with them. Hi Sweetie and Moose. How’s the waterfront? Where are we going next year? Think about it. Judy says hi. Isabella Strauss, we all miss you. Ernie and Gus, we will be thinking of you with fond memories. We will be missing the Sharps and Rebeiros, but we will see them in Au-gust. Can’t find Rodger Boise. Ray Long?? Well, I can’t let this go. The Red Sox are trying to buy an-other pennant!! This will

make Van and Bill Dow sit up. Thanks to our offi-cers. They are doing a good job. Larry told me he would break down if he wasn’t president. Brad, give me a call. No sweet bread? Pumo’s have your hot relish. Jean and Harold (Harry) N u n a m a k e r l o o k younger than the peo-ple they served with. Well, can’t talk about everyone. Keep God in your every thought. Je-sus will guide us into his Harbor of Safety. God bless, we love you all, Chaplain Fred and Judy-the-Cutie

__________

Published by: Military Locator & Reunion Service, Inc P..O. Drawer 11399, Hickory, NC 28603 Phone: 828-256-6008 or Fax: 828-256-6559 E-mail: dina@mlrsinc.com or karen@mlrsinc.com On the web: www.mlrsinc.com/purdy Our reunions work so you don’t have to.

Editor’s Note: By e-mail we asked for stories de-scribing your job while on the Purdy, including your training, men you worked with, advantages or disad-vantages of this job, dan-gers, mistakes made, proud moments and rec-ognition for a job well done and if it had an im-pact on your civilian job. Here are your responses: I reported aboard the USS Purdy DD-734 on my 31st birthday, 16 Dec 1959 as EM1 in the Re-pair Division in charge of the electricians. The Chief MAA and I talked a lot when he came to the ma-chine shop. I kidded him about some things the MAA force should be do-ing. One day he came to the shop and held out his hand to me, and in it was a MAA badge. This put me on the MAA Gang. Richard Cohagan rtrdemcs@aol.com

__________

My time on the USS Purdy was relatively short, in part because of the timing...right out of boot camp...and in part due to the rate I was assigned. Where I worked while on-board, and the length of time before I left are the reasons I didn’t get to know very many of the crew, or them to know me. I met the ship while she was in port in the Boston shipyard in Febru-ary 1968. Having just left

Boot Camp at the Great Lakes, I was assigned to the area below decks where the boi lers were...the Boiler Room, or Fire Room, if I remember correctly. During this pe-riod, while most of my shipmates were above deck wearing every piece of Navy issue clothing they owned to fend off the severe cold, I was in the sweat box below, where steam was leaking from pipes and valves, and very little air at all, let alone “fresh air.” I believe I was as-signed this job because somewhere on my enlist-ment application I wrote that I enjoyed working with tools, since I had a part time job as an auto mechanic’s assistant in my home town gas sta-tion. But before enlisting I also had a full time job with the Bell Telephone Company. Due to that “experience” I was able to put in for Radioman School, a several month long communications school in Bainbridge, Maryland, which was pre-ceded by an 8-week Elec-tricity and Electronics School back at the Great Lakes. I never got to re-turn to the Purdy, and following my schools I was assigned to Naval Communications Sta-tion—Adak Island, in the Aleutian Island chain. It was a hotbed of Vietnam War Naval Fleet commu-nication transmission and relay.

happened was the rescue of a lost small boat with a grandfather, father and son on board. Terry Wright villagebarber48@aol.com

___________

I went aboard the Purdy DD734 in June 1956 after boot camp in Baunbridge, MD. I was drafted in March, 1956 after two years of college. We had to go to Albany, N.Y. to be sworn in, we thought we were going into the Army, but the Navy wasn't get-ting enough volunteers, so we were off to Bain-bridge. I tried for NAVCAD, but my eyes were not good enough to fly an air-plane. The Purdy was in Newport, R.I., so I reported there for duty. My first as-signment was to the deck force, next was to gunnery on a 5" battery. One day one Yeomen was trans-ferred, another was in a car accident and my GCT's were quite high, was a good typist and reported to the ship's office for duty. I had two very good yeoman to learn from, Joe Posik and Joel Fried. I had a lot of duties while I was there. Personnel records, liberty cards, photo ID's, plan of the day, typing each day ship's log, with-out a typing mistake to the Bureau of Ships at the end of the month, all Captain's Masts, all Captain’s in-spections of the ship, phone talker leaving and entering port, for the cap-

(Continued on page 4)

Page 3 Volume 21 Issue 1

So I guess my work experience, as short as it was, aboard the Purdy, had a tremendous influ-ence on my life, since I ended up back with the Tele-communications In-dustry after my discharge from the Navy, for a 35-year career. Funny how decisions that seem so insignificant at the time can change or shape your future for so long a period of your life. Dan Katze, RM2 1968 dankatze@hotmail.com

__________

I joined the Navy be-cause I knew that the Navy was the only branch to have barbers. I was a licensed barber by the State of Illinois prior to enlistment. I was fortu-nate to be assigned to the USS Purdy, thanks to Captain Champion, CO of the Purdy at the time. The crew on the Purdy was glad to see that they had a barber for the next two years. Barbering was my regular job, but I enjoyed underway watches more than anything. My watch station was always on the bridge, sea and anchor detail, as well as general quarters. I got to know officers, quartermasters and signalmen very well. The USS Purdy won a lot of awards in its last days, including the “E” award. Couldn’t ask for a better crew to work with. Except for sea sickness, I can’t remember a bad experi-ence. The best thing that

My Job While on the Purdy

tain’s mail-man for the ship and one of the Captain's phone talkers for general quarters. Captain Venne was his name, and well liked by the men of the ship. Two experiences I remember really well were going to the Captain's Masts when a man got in trouble for some rea-son. Some of the stories they told were so funny, The Captain would have a little chuckle after they left the proceedings. The second experience was the night off the coast of Scotland, we ran into a fishing boat and sank it. The Captain of the fishing boat was drunk and they ran right in front of our ship. Mr. Bendell had the Con that night. It was early in the morning, but was still dark out. They sent one of the other Destroyers to our aid, but we only had damage to the skin on the bow of the ship. It was cool that night, and I was asleep but the collision alarm woke every-body up real quick. I put some clothes on and ran to the bridge. Captain Venne had the con and he was bringing the ship around. The fishermen were all safe in a large round rub-ber raft that had a top on it. We stayed there until the trawler sank and we headed for England to have the bow r e p a i r e d . Don Rabideau SN lockportdon@hotmail.com

__________

I was a Storekeeper on the Purdy. After I got out of Boot Camp they sent me to Storekeepers school in New-port, RI. It was a 12 week course. The one thing I re-

(Continued from page 3)

TAPS The Purdy Report was notified of the following shipmate’s death since the last newsletter. Not all members died recently, but we just learned of their deaths. The entire crew sends our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of the de-ceased. Please let ML&RS know if you learn of the death of a former shipmate so he can be recog-nized in here and on the Honor Roll at the reun-ion.

Page 4 Volume 21 Issue 1 The Purdy Report

member was you took a test every Friday. You were al-lowed to Flunk one week only. Second time you were out of school and sent to a ship, and became a Bos’un-mate. On the Purdy I went on as a SKSN. Worked with ordering repair parts. We had many storerooms. Be-came 3rd class on board and ran the Ship Store. A little 2x4 space with lots of items. That job had its bene-fits. Like early chow, no lines for me. Stood no watches. Even on days we replen-ished had to basically keep track of everything and make sure they got to the proper storerooms. But some food always seemed to disappear, especially canned HAMS. On the Med Cruise we got many items from each country and sold them on board. Tea Sets, Irish Linens, Stereo Equip-ment, Wedding Rings and Cuckoo Clocks. To this day I still have a Bavarian China tea set, and the Cuckoo Clock. Made 2nd Class also on board the Purdy. Left Ship Store to more or less oversee the running of Sup-ply Office. I enjoyed doing what I did. After I got out of the Navy I went into the Printing Business. You’re always ordering supplies in that business. I think the Navy (Army, Air Force, Marines, and Na-tional Guard) teaches you to be responsible for your own actions, which carries you though your life. Bill Dow SK2 (PS: John Mustokos lived on Shoestring Potato Sticks and Beef Jerky.) William Dow janetbilldow@sbcglobal.net

__________

Thomas Clark (1953-55) TE3 O Div Died December 2009

Rudolph (Rudy) Cote

(1944-45 Plankowner) BT2 Eng Div

Died February 7, 2011

Fred Ruprecht (1951-55) EN2

Died November 2007

David Lee (1954-59) DK2 Supply Died Sept. 30, 2009

Charles Krause (1952-55) MM3 E Div Died Nov. 11, 2010

Ted Olcovich

(1944-45) CMM Eng Div Died July 25, 2010

Robert Squire (1945) Died Feb. 12, 2010

George Istvan

(1963-65) Died Nov. 6, 2009

George Walters (1964-66) MM3

Died Jan. 1, 2011

Financial Report This Purdy Report is being sent to 181 dues paying members only. Please send your annual $10.00 contribution (checks made out to “Purdy Association” ) to:

Jim Meechan 145 Laura Dr

Gahanna, OH 43230 The following shipmates have contributed to the newsletter since the last issue: John Herbein, Charles Gerardi, and Meryl Nelson The cost of this issue is $265.15

___________