rom ETCS Hugh Scriven  1 June 2010

Dave Mallett, the real estate magnate, is doing well.  He had a series of heart attacks several years back and had a quadruple bypass - since then he's been feeling really good.  Presently he's suffering enlarged prostate which had completely blocked his ureter so h's enduring the Foley Catheter (3 weeks now) while awaiting TURP (roto rooter) to hollow out his prostate and restore normal function (being able to 'pee' again.  Dave doesn't do computers or email, but he does answer his phone and enjoys chatting with old shipmates.  He sounds just like he did back in '77!

Call Dave at:  619 283-0285

Or snail mail him at:

4487  41st Street
San Diego, California  92102

Ralph McQuoid is 83 years old now, very active with his V-12 Pierce Arrow, works out at the gym each day, and loves to receive calls from old friends and shipmates.  Ralph was in the Navy during WW2 before he got on with RCA and in the Tech Rep business.  Ralph's wife passed away several years ago due to a stroke which left her greatly disabled.  Ralph is very spry for his age, his memories are very sharp, and he will be very happy to talk old times with any who desire to call him at:  619 698-4562

Ralph too sounds almost exactly as he did back in '77!

Or snail mail him at:

3705 Kenwood Drive
Spring Valley, California   91977

From ETCS Hugh Scriven  30 May 2010

Thanks for the prompt response Graz.

You've answered the question that has been in my head:  "Why does the name Graslie seem so familiar?"

You've 'rung the bells' that have brought clarity to my sometimes 'foggy' memories.  Yes, I now remember well our encounters at MOTU-7.  I lived in Yokohama Area I and Ron West lived there in Area II.  Consequently, since I made the daily drive, I provided transportation for Ron.  Yes, we were prone to make occasional 'pit stops' at the Windjammer on friday afternoons/eves or 'whenever.'

And, I remember your being at AESD too.  Yes, I was one of your 'initiaters' when you 'put on the hat' and still have the photos of that grand event.

Ah, as we grow old certain memories get 'tucked away' in odd crevices of the mind and it's only when we receive sufficient 'prodding' that we are able to access them once again.

You're correct.  O'Donnell was one of the several 'jerks' at the ol' schoolhouse.  Since I was a bit of a 'renegade' I was always on their 'shit list.'  Got some really unusual 'evals' as a consequence.

For some reason CWO4 Mora and LCDR Lechtenberg took a liking to me (as did CWO3/4 Foose)  so it all worked out in the end.  CWO2/3 Kirchner was a different story and we 'tangled' often.  But, at my retirement (very low key as I wanted no ceremony or formalities) I took him to the CPO Club Stag Bar and we had several brews together.  I hope that he learned in time how to 'manage' his stress responses.

I can't tell you how happy I am that you are in Japan and doing well.  Also that Jack and Scotty are doing well up in the Seattle/Bremerton area.  I've contacted
Scotty but not Jack yet - should send him an email today.

I've been 'navigating' your extensive web pages some more and have found the areas you mentioned.  It is always so sad to discover that shipmates have gone to the great beyond.  Considering all the 'alcohol' I've consumed it's truly a wonder that my body still has any working parts...

I doubt that any of the Shop 67/A-46 JN crew are still there, but when you have an opportunity, hoist one for:

Miyata-san
Yanagawa-san
Muramatsu-san
Watanabe-san

Those in the TTY shop whose names elude me just now,

And all of the other truly wonderful Japanese employees at SRF!

Yes, I'll stay in touch.  Best to you and yours.

From ETCM Jack Thomas  30 May 2010

Great email!!!  Hugh, I have always prided myself on my memories of names and pasts, but you are tops!.  Of course I remember nearly everyone you mentioned but we could have spent many days at the corner bar in the CPO Club in Yokosuka and still not come up with all of them.  The mention of Mike Judd and concerns about your drinking reminds me of a trip I made with Glenn Knox (whom you didn't mention) to Sasebo while Mike Judd was OIC at MOTU-7.  Glenn confided in me one evening at the After Five that CDR Judd has asked Glenn to keep an eye on me and report back on my drinking.  Glenn was mortified until I told him that Mike Judd had asked me to keep an eye on Glenn for the same reason.  I told him that even worse he asked FCCM Christ, who drank himself to death, to keep an eye on both of us.  CDR Judd is now retired, of course, and is living in the DC area and will soon move to Sequim, Wa.  I will be in San Diego for about a week in mid-July aboard USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN and would very much like see you again.  Keep in touch.  Jim Graslie has done a super job with his web site and from your email I can see that he will be able to add a few more names to the MOTU SEVEN roster.  Take care. 

From ETCM Jim Graslie 28 May 2010

Hugh,

We have had the pleasure of meeting, I remember you well and am really glad to hear from you.  I was a Second Class on the Parsons when I first met you and had a few beers with you at the old Club Windjammer (now the CPO Club) and you also you taught a QCMS course to me at MOTU.  I was also at AESD when you were at ET C7 School, believe you initiated me (1980) when I was teaching the DD 963 Comm System.  I'm here at SRF Yoko as the C4I (Communications) Division Head and see Scotty and Jack every year or so.  I've Cc'd them on this email.  Scotty was just here working on the George Washington, he's working for Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and retiring in September.  Jack is the AIRPAC On Site Rep for the Abraham Lincoln in Everett, he'll be back over in September for his annual trip over.  Your name always comes up over a few beers in the "Have you ever heard from" discussions.  I remember CW02 O'Donnell, had a poster of Farrah Fawcett on his desk, always thought he was a jerk.  Never was a fan of Jim Sears either, called me down to his office and gave me my second Good Conduct Medal with his feet propped up on his desk, eating an apple, handed it to me and said "here".  Taught  me a lot of the way not to be (as did ETC Doug McKee on the Parsons).  As you may or may not have noticed on my Graz-web.com website, Ike Weichman and Jim Harmon have passed on and now serving on the Staff of the Supreme Commander.  Ike passed around 1984 from a heart attack, my wife and I had just been back visiting him and Tomiko a few weeks before (she has since passed also).  Jim Harmon passed a couple years ago from cancer.  Both Jim and Bob Caton (former EMO on the Midway when Jim and Ike were there), have memorial benches purchased by their shipmates on the flight deck of the USS Midway.  Visited it last year when I was there for my Grandson's baptism.  

I'll post your email on the site, also compare the names in your email to the Roster Page and ensure everyone is included.  Thanks for the email, solved another "where are they now questions" that always comes up.  Keep in touch.

From ETCS Hugh Scriven  28 May 2010

Graz,

We haven't had the pleasure of meeting personally but I'm grateful and appreciative of your web pages devoted to MOTU-7 and the 'gang' that spent time there over the years.

I arrived there in May of 1973 from Naval Advisory Unit Cat Lo Viet Nam.  Sam Curry was the Officer in Charge and we were located then in the upper story of the old building.

First tech assist trip was with ETC Turner to a 'gator' down at White Beach, Okinawa.  Following that I made a solo trip to Chinhae, Korea.

Later ETCS Anderson and I were sent to Subic for a contractor provided course of instruction on the SRN-15.  "Andy" was our TACAN guy who set up the local 'beacon' at the shop with an old ARN-21 that he'd gotten somewhere.

I was soon assigned to be ETCS Ron Sverduk's main assistant in setting up the Quality Monitoring and Control System console in the old shop and alternated with him in teaching classes on how to use the system.

It was exciting duty with numerous very challenging technical assistance opportunities with both the local fleet and TAD trips to Subic and Sasebo; and a particularly enjoyable trip to Singapore for a week.

ETC Burke and I were sent to NAS Le Moore for the Miniature Electronics Repair Program course and set up the MERP  lab upstairs in the new location at Shop 67.

ETC Hoagland was later sent and became one of the instructors for our very popular Fleet Soldering course.

Made many trips to Subic and MOTU-13 when CWO2 Steele was the OinC.  Initially he was promoted to OinC temporarily but did such an outstanding job that he remained in that position for a long while.

Lt/Lcdr Bob Carlson and Ltjg/Lt Don "Gunner" Vaden were an outstanding duo - in spite of their 'disagreements.'

ETCS/ETCM Jack Thomas, ET1/ETC Scotty Kniess, GMCS Larry Boyette and myself had been together at SRF some years earlier so our being together again at MOTU-7 was an incredible experience.

Yes, ETC Ron Kirk did some 'counseling' on occasion.  Shortly after my arrival we had a 'heart to heart' chat about my drinking.  It seems that ETCM(SS) Gus Schopper was concerned about my 'personality change' while drinking and urged Ron to have some words with me.  I appreciated their concern but continued on with the 'heavy drinking' for the duration.  Change came years later.  Although there is no 'official' statistic that I'm aware of, there is no doubt in my mind that I must have set some sort of 'record' for 'nooners' spent at the CPO Club Stag Bar or 'hours' spent in the Stag Bar after working hours.  Those notorious chiefs from the Midway (ETC/ETCS Brian Rader, ETC Jim Harmon, ETC "Ike" Eichmann, and YNC Kissinger) were really 'swell' drinkin' buddies.

Naturally, when Ron Kirk was transferred I was chosen to be the DAPA (Drug and Alcohol Program Advisor) for the unit.  It was a tough assignment, but I enjoyed ('hic) every moment of it.

One of my most memorable tech assist trips was to Kure for a job on the Bonefish.  She had hosted as JMSDF submarine in Pearl Harbor the year prior and the JMSDF Sub Command in Kure was able to 'swing' a special visit to their base there.  The only U.S. military then in Kure was a tiny U.S. Army detachment.  I'd never, until then, spent much time aboard a sub so this trip was very 'educational.'  Absolutely loved every second there and yes, we 'partied' pretty hard.  I believe the smell of the diesel fuel stuck with me for a couple of weeks after returning to the unit.

ETCM George Wedge and I had several very interesting excursions together.  GMCM George Brown and I both made COD flights to the Midway for tech assist.  George was 'high-lined' to a can accompanying the Midway and I stayed onboard and rode them into port.  Ah yes, those were the days!

Lt. Thomas A. McKean and I were together on the USS Vega (AF-59) as seaman ET 'strikers' in '61 and '62.  Tom went on to ET 'A' school and later got into the NESEP program.  It was good to see him again as I was departing MOTU-7 in April of '77.

When I got to AESD San Diego, ETCS Ron Kirk and ETCS Brian Rader were there.  Lt Jim Sears was OinC, although at that time I wasn't aware of his MOTU background.  CWO2 O'Donnell was branch head of the ETC-7 course (formerly ET'B' school) and he and a couple of the chiefs used to go over to the gym over lunch to play handball.  One day Lt Sears saw them depart the building together on their way to the gym and was apparently disturbed by it.  CWO2 O'Donnell later said that Jim Sears called him into his office that afternoon and 'chewed his ass' for 'fraternizing' with the chiefs in public view.  Yes, Jim Sears was that way.  He was promoted to Lcdr in '80 as he was departing for new duty and returned several years later as Cdr Sears.  Eventually he was promoted to Capt Sears and did a tour on Diego Garcia before he retired.

I was at Crypto Repair School, Mare Island, when ETC Mike Judd was selected for WO1 along with one of the ET1 instructors there.  Mike was a KG-14 instructor and a good friend of ETCM Al Riefer.  They were the 'deer hunters' of the command.  I arrived there in Sep. 1970 and briefly taught KWR-37 before departing in April 1971 for Defense Language Institute East Coast to study Vietnamese.

Lt Waters was our OinC and Miss (Ens) Moll was our RPS Custodian.  She was quite a sensation because she was a 'doll' (rhymes with Moll) and was 'unofficially' known as 'Miss Doll.'  I'm sure Mike Judd remembers Miss Moll!

This is probably enough for the time being Graz.  Again, many thanks for putting up the pages and memorializing an important saga of the U.S. Navy history.

Best regards to all who visit these pages,

From LTjg Bob Beyer  30 November 2009

Great site- brings back many memories.

I arrived in Japan on 22 Nov 1963, assigned to MOTU 7 as part of the Drone Anti Submarine Helicopter (DASH) support team. We were billeted in the Yokosuka Kanko hotel. The room had a small B&W TV. There were many images of JFK but I had no idea on what was being said. It was not until  a friend that had a radio told me of JFK's death. What a welcome to Japan.

Our team consisted of three Gyrodyne reps: Robert Beyer (me), Tom Waldron, and Clyde Valentine, Ed Wolf(Boeing), and Bob Smith(Babcock). I was just promoted to Lt JG USNR. My previous active duty was as an AT flying in PBM patrol aircraft. Destroyer duty was a new experience.

As the number of DASH ships expanded, our Gyrodyne team expanded to include John Vandenberg and Bob Allen.. In late 1965/1966, the DASH team was transferred to COMCRUDESPAC (CTU 70.8.1) Our office was in the old Stars and Stripes office located behind the CRUDESPAC office.

Memories exist of the Great Book Society. Lunch meetings were held in the O Club over 25 cent martini's. Members were from MOTU, SRF, Chase Manhattan Bank and the Navy hospital. One lesson learned - if you needed surgery, make sure it was before lunch.

The DASH program was canceled in 1969. I remained until May 1970 in support of the JMSDF.

Due to my Japanese exposure, I was selected as an escort officer for the Japanese delegation to the 1976 Bicentennial Naval Review in NYC. I was recalled again in 1977 and relocated to the Washington DC area. I retired as an 06 in 1993 and again as a civilian in 1999. I currently reside in Fairfax, Virginia.

Attached is a photo of the MOTU 7 group in 1964. I am on the top left, top right is LCDR Thorton. Seated from left to right are Jerry Barton, Jack Bailey, Fred Bybee, ?,?,?, Bob Smith,?, Clyde Valentine. In the middle is XO Chuck Leva???  to the left of Tom Waldron (the bearded guy)

Most of our team is deceased but the memories remain.

Keep up the good work.

From LCDR Mike Judd 28 August 2008

Jack Thomas told me how to get to your web site, and I was very happy to see all of the pictures, names, and stories. Thank you very much for keeping the memories alive. My name is Mike Judd. I am a retired LDO (Electronics) Commander living in Dunkirk, Maryland,  I was the OIC of MOTU SEVEN from March of 1984 to May of 1987, and had the pleasure of serving with a tremendous group of technicians throughout that period. LTJG Dave Fowler and LTJG Tom Brown were the AOIC’s during my tenure and they were both fine officers. The real champion of the team, though, was ETCM Jack Thomas, the finest Master Chief I ever knew in my 31 years in the Navy. He was the first-ever MOTU recipient of the Meritorious Service Medal in the Pacific Fleet in 1987 for his outstanding performance, and I am proud to say that I wrote the nomination letter sent to CINCPACFLT for approval. Another great member of the team was ETCM Glenn Knox. Glenn had an interesting habit that caused him some embarrassment one day when my spouse, LT Anne Judd (who was assigned to Fleet Activities Yokosuka at the same time), visited our office to say hello. Glenn had been losing a great deal of weight and his clothing didn’t fit well. He would often completely undo his belt and unzip, open his trousers a bit, tuck his shirt back in, and close things up again, all the time while holding a normal conversation. In our entirely masculine environment at the MOTU, this was accepted as a completely normal occurrence, since we had all seen Glenn’s act many times. My wife, however, had not. Needless to say, much laughter ensued as she beat a hasty retreat and another page went into the book of legends about CPO’s in the Navy. Please add my latest whereabouts to your web site, and I would be happy to hear from any of my old MOTU shipmates. My email address is mrjudd@aol.com. I am currently working at Mnemonics, Inc. in Alexandria, VA, but will be retiring to the Pacific Northwest in September 2009. One more sidenote…I made ETCS the year before Jack Thomas did, but he beat me to E-9 because I went the WO-1 Warrant Officer route, later also skipping O-1 and going straight to O-2 when promoting into the LDO ranks. My first shipboard division officer in 1961 was ENS Mike Boorda in USS Porterfield DD-682.  Years later, after becoming CNO, Admiral Boorda used to tell people that I wasn’t smart enough to be a Master Chief but at least I had enough sense not to be an Ensign. One of the finest tours in my Navy career was spent there at MOTU SEVEN. Thanks to all of you who helped make that happen.

From John Welch Jr. son of  FTCM John Welch, 26 July 2008

I was pleasantly surprised today to find a website dedicated to the "The Problem Solvers" of MOTU 7, and to see that someone is taking the time to pass on that history. Over the years I have heard many stories of how this group had to solve problems daily with very limited resources, so my hat off to all of you past, present and future members.  
 
My father was stationed at MOTU 7 from 69 to 71, FTCM John D. Welch; he loved this station more than just about any he ever served in other than teaching at Great Lakes Naval Training Center. His Children; Diane M. Owen, VT, Debra A. Peavler, MO and John E. Welch, MO enjoyed this station over most, learning the language was tough, but came easier to us then to our father. He enjoyed driving a taxi cab on base when not on duty, for he learned a lot of history along with important phrases of the language.
 
At note to currently family members, take many pictures, learn the culture and truly enjoy this station, for you will never forget, and you will truly miss this station once you are gone, for it gets into your blood and you will always strive to see it again.
 
I must regretfully tell you that my father FTCM John D. Welch (Ret) died on 11 Jan 1991, he was a proud Navy Man that supported our country and the Navy his entire life and is sadly missed.
 
He was interred in the Missouri Veterans Cemetery, Jacksonville MO Sec E: Welch, John Donald, b. 27 Jun 1929, d. 11 Jan 1991, FTCM, US Navy. http://www.mvc.dps.mo.gov/Cemeterys/Site/Jacksonville.html
 
Thanks again for this website and for remembering my father, I will dig deep into our photographs and scan some for you, for while we were stationed in Yokosuka I took all kinds of photo's along with the many my father kept in his album for I am sure you may enjoy some of them. Keep up the great work! I am sorry to have rambled on, but this was a special duty station for everyone, thank you.