Blaine reported to MISSISSIPPI upon graduation. He served as an Engineering JO and as Third Division Officer until December 1941. In January, 1942, he joined SAN DIEGO (CL-53) in Boston. Also in Boston, Blaine and Margaret Shirley Weakley were married on April 25, 1942.

In July, 1943, the family was reunited in Philadelphia when Blaine reported to CABOT as First Division Officer. After about two months, it was back to the Pacific.

The family was reunited for a few weeks in San Francisco after VJ Day, until NEREUS departed for Sasebo with Blaine as Navigator. Meanwhile, Shirley reported to Georgetown Hospital in Washington, D.C., where daughter Karen was born on June 30, 1946.

Blaine was Provost Marshal at Bainbridge from September, 1946 until it was put in moth balls. Then it was on to Op-32 in D.C. in June, 1947. Blaine reported as Exec of GOODRICH in December, 1948.

From 1951 to 1954, he was in Ordnance and Gunnery at USNA. Command of AMMEN and then DALY followed until July, 1956, when he joined AEW WING ATLANTIC in Argentia. Final duty, 1958-1960, was as OinC, FSTS, Norfolk.

Blaine finally retired in 1979 after 18 years of teaching Math at Newberry College. The Eaders have a grandson, age 16, and a granddaughter, age 10.

Phil joined NEW MEXICO (BB-40) in late June, 1940, after spending portions of his leave in Washington, Minneapolis, and California. He along with a lot of '40 had a good sampling of the Pearl Harbor routine before the Japanese attack. In April 1941, NEW MEXICO and her two sisters, IDAHO and MISSISSIPPI, were abruptly and secretly transferred to Mr. Roosevelt's Navy during night transits of the Panama Canal -- all over a period of ten days. After arduous duty in the Atlantic, too lengthy to narrate here, NEW MEXICO returned to the Pacific in early January 1942 and headed for the foot of Market Street in San Francisco. Heeding a call for submarine volunteers, Phil left NEW MEXICO to attend Submarine School in New London; the officers' course was shortened from six months to three, during the period April-June, 1942.

After graduating from sub school, Phil made seven successive (and successful) war patrols, one in ARGONAUT (SS-166) and six in NAUTILUS (SS-167). Over a twenty-month period, he saw action in waters abutting Japan, Alaska, the Gilberts, the Marshalls, the Solomons, the Marianas, and Australia. During a six-month break in 1944, he married Mary Anne Donnally, of Washington, and was assigned as XO of SEA ROBIN (SS-407) for commissioning and fitting out at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Upon return to the Pacific, he made three more successful patrols. He took command of GAR (SS-206) at Saipan about three days before the A-bombing of Hiroshima.

After the war, he commanded HALFBEAK (SS-352) and HAILEY (DD-556). His postwar assignments included tours of duty at the Newport Torpedo Station, COMNAVEASTLANT and USCINCEUR staffs in London, Frankfurt, and Paris; and a Pentagon stint in OP-60.

After retirement in 1960, he picked up several graduate hours of mathematics and taught modern and traditional mathematics at the Landon School in Bethesda and a summer course at St. Albans in Washington. From 1962 through 1985, he worked on a technical information contract for NASA Headquarters. He was attached to the NASA Scientific and Technical Information Facility in middle level management positions for over 23 years under five different contractors. Since retiring a second time, he keeps busy on '40 Archive work, Civil War and World War II history, home maintenance, lawn care, Castine, Vermont, and book collecting.

The Eckerts have three children - Phil, Jr., in Richmond; John, in Cermantown, Md.; and Sally, in Kensington, Md. They also have a beautiful four-year-old granddaughter, Kathleen, in Richmond. Their permanent address is 6813 Florida Street, Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815.

Sam took up Electrical Engineering at the University of Washington after his physical discharge from the USNA in June, 1938. By fall, his eyes had improved enough to enter the Naval ROTC, but the degree came before completing the NROTC course. So in February, 1941, Sam was ordered back to "square one" at the Academy, where the "V-7 Reserve Midshipmen" were quartered in the old Fourth Battalion Wing. In May, he received his reserve ensign's commission.

That summer, Sam was included in a group of regular and reserve junior officers, who had EE backgrounds, to form the first radar school class. From November, 1941 throughout WWII, he was a staff radar officer, first in the North Atlantic, and then with Amphibious Commanders landing troops at Sicily, Salerno, Normandy (Omaha Beach) and Okinawa.

In 1946, Sam reported to the Postgraduate School (then at Annapolis), and while getting his Master's in electronics, he "augmented" to the Regular Navy as an EDO. There, Sam met Jean, who was a Navy nurse Lieutenant at the hospital. They married, and from 1949 through 1956, were busy producing and raising four sons at the Puget Sound Shipyard and at Pearl while Sam was on COMSERVPAC's Staff. There had to be time out in between for a vear while he was with COMSERVRON-3's Staff in Japan during the Korean War.

After a tour with BUSHIP's electronics R&D division, Sam was Production Officer at SRF Guam. While a Captain, his most interesting duties were INDMAN-IO in Puerto Rico, and becoming the first Director of the Western Division, Naval Electronics Systems Command at Mare Island.

On retirement in 1969, Sam and Jean settled in Medford, Oregon. He received an MBA at Southern Oregon College in 1972. After two years as a Trust Officer for an Oregon branch bank, the second retirement came, followed by serving as a Medford city Parks and Recreation Commissioner for two years. All their sons are married and there are ten healthy grandchildren. They kept busy with trips abroad, visiting their children's families, and pursuing their hobbies. The Navy gave the Edelsteins a full and rewarding life, enjoyed by both of them together, until Jean's death in January, 1989.

After graduation, Ace joined USS PHILADELPHIA (CL-41). She was transferred from the Pacific Fleet to the Atlantic in April, 1941, and commenced immediately "Neutrality Patrol." Ace's entire stay aboard, to January, 1945, was in gunnery. During this period, PHILADELPHIA participated in troop convoys, and the landings in North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio and Southern France. Her luck in combat was phenomenal, having sustained only minimal damage from a host of near-miss shells, bombs and mines, including the first German use of radio-controlled bombs.

In April, 1945, Ace commissioned USS BOXER (CV-21) as gunnery officer and participated in post-war occupation duties in Japan, China and the Philippines. Upon return to the United States, he met and married Barbara Annette Luten, daughter of Captain and Mrs. John Ford Luten (MC) USN. Their first shore duty was with the NROTC Unit at Princeton University. It could not have been a better assignment!

Back to sea in July, 1949, Ace served as X.O. and C.O. of destroyers. This was followed by duty in BuPers as Head, Officer Candidate Section. In October, 1955, he was transferred to Naples, where he served as Senior Aide to CINCSOUTH. This was a totally fascinating experience. Unfortunately (for his naval career) it all ended in a head-on automobile collision - both Barbara and Ace should have been killed! After seven months of hospitalization, he was assigned as X.O. of the M.I.T. NROTC Unit. They settled down in the historical colonial town of Marblehead, MA. On June 30, 1960, he was physically retired from active duty.

After one year as Administrative Assistant to the M.I.T. Dean of Engineering, Ace joined the M.I.T. Instrumentation Laboratory - now The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory - world famous for inertial guidance, navigation and control (including the Apollo and Fleet Ballistic Missile guidance systems). This was truly a fantastic place to work, because of the caliber of the people involved and state-of-the-art research. In September, 1987, Ace retired for physical reasons. Their leisure time was spent in reading, gardening, and above all, sailing in their 30-foot cruising sloop "SIMPATICA", until Ace's death on 19 July 1989. He is survived by his widow, Barbara, their two sons, Arthur and Christian, and his sister, Gertrude Edwards, of Summit, NJ.

Jim's first duty was in SARATOGA as Assistant Navigator. Torpedoed twice, SARA was in Bremerton for battle repairs in April, 1942, and Jim and Carol O'Neal of Waycross, Georgia, were married there. In 1942, Jim earned his wings at Pensacola, and reported to Wildwood, NJ, to commission VB-88. As Exec, and then as C.O., he received the Distinguished Flying Cross for operations from YORKTOWN. In Tokyo Bay at the end of the war, Jim participated with his squadron in the aircraft fly-over of MISSOURI during the surrender ceremonies. The Elkins' first daughter, also a Carol, was born at Daytona Beach in October, 1942.

Jim spent the remainder of the forties after WW II in various aircraft carriers: ATTU, VALLEY FORGE, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT and MIDWAY. In May, 1947, Judy, girl number two, arrived at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital. Next came staff duty at Pensacola where Lynn joined the family. The longest time the Elkins spent in one place was from 1951 to 1955 in Norfolk: Armed Forces Staff College; command of VS-26 (which won the fleet competition); and Air ASW Officer on Staff COMAIRLANT.

Jim served his time in the Pentagon from 1955 to 1957 in DCNO for Air, then to Exec of ANTIETAM. For the next three years, Jim was Aide to Admiral H. D. Felt, CincPac, with twelve hour work days and half days on Sunday. Jim spent about half the time traveling with the Admiral, visiting nearly all the countries of Asia. After attending the National War College in 1961-62, Jim commanded the ammunition ship MAUNA KEA from 1962 to 1963, spending most of this time in the West Pacific. During this period, with CVA ENTERPRISE, his ship set a new record for transfer of ammunition. His next job was with the Operations Division of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, The Elkins' move from California to Washington was classic "NAVY", the kind that blows the minds of civilians: ship arrived from WESTPAC on August IOth; change of command on August 14th; oldest daughter married on August 17th at Treasure Island chapel; left for Cleveland in new car where they dropped off the children with a sister; on to Washington, and with help of Nan Myers, bought a house; back to Cleveland for the children; back to Washington and into their new home so that the children could start to school on' September 3rd. At JCS, Jim participated in the first hectic, undermanned, days of gearing up for the war in Vietnam. During this period, he received a Masters Degree in International Affairs from George Washington University.

Jim retired on August 1, 1969. His second career was at the University of Georgia, as Director of The Governmental Research and Services Division.

Jim was retired from the University on August 1, 1980. Their three daughters, Carol, Judy and Lynn, and their families, with eight grandchildren, from a recent college graduate to a two-year-old, keep Carol and Jim on the road and on their toes.

Tom's first ship was ENTERPRISE. Idyllic life in the Hawaiian Detachment ended with the Japanese attack, and was followed by two more years of not-so-idyllic war in the Pacific.

In 1944, Tom commissioned DULUTH as Assistant Engineer, and the following year became Chief Engineer of ATLANTA. The last several war months and most of the first several postwar months were spent in the Far East: Manila, China and Japan.

In 1946, Tom went to Postgraduate School at Annapolis. On a field trip to Philadelphia, he met Miss Dorothy Jean Fuller, of Evanston, Illinois. They were married in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, on December 11, 1948. Their first home was a small apartment in Norfolk, where Tom commissioned NEWPORT NEWS as Chief Engineer. Two years of choice sea duty followed, with cruises to the Caribbean, the Arctic, and the Mediterranean. During one Med cruise, Tom took leave for a delightful tour of Italy with Dot.

In 1951, Tom became Exec of COMPTON, his first destroyer duty since 1935. Back to the Med, this time without Dot, who went back to Evanston to have their first baby.

Tom's year in COMPTON was his last sea duty. During a three- year tour in the Bureau of Ships, he became an ED officer, and then went to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Dot and Tom thoroughly enjoyed four years in Portsmouth, making many new military and civilian friends in Tidewater.

The Elliotts, now five, went farther south in 1959, to Jacksonville, where Tom was Resident Industrial Manager. After a year, Tom swallowed the anchor, and the Elliott family came back to Chicagoland, where their fourth child, third daughter, was born.

As a civilian, Tom continued in engineering, first at Fansteel Metallurgical Corporation, and later at Abbott Laboratories, both in North Chicago. He retired from Abbott Labs in 1981.

Home is 1680 Dartmouth Lane, Deerfield, Illinois. Both Dot and Tom continue active in St. Gregory's Episcopal Church, and Tom putters around in his basement workshop, ever trying to build a better steam engine.

"Dutch" retired from the Navy because of physical disability while a Captain in 1962, and spent the next twenty years affiliated with Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Company and CDI Marine Company in various administrative engineering capacities.

After graduation, he initially served in USS PHILADELPHIA (CL-41), and during early World War II, the ship participated in the Atlantic convoys and the invasions of North Africa, Sicily and Italy. Later, he commanded USS LERAY WILSON (DE-414) and USS HICKOX (DD-673) in the Pacific Theater, participating in the Battle of Leyte Gulf; the invasions of Lingayen, Okinawa; operated with the Fast Carrier Task Forces against the Japanese Home Islands and remained in the Far East at the conclusion of the war while operating in support of the Chinese Nationalist troops in Manchuria.

Following World War II, Elaine and Felix got their first taste of shore duty while he was an instructor in Seamanship at USNA and while attending the Postgraduate School in Annapolis. Completing the Ordnance Engineering Curriculum, he was awarded a Master of Science Degree in Chemistry from Lehigh University.

During his naval career, Felix also served on several carrier division staffs deployed in the Mediterranean, as Assistant Officer-in- Charge of the Ordnance Engineering Curricula at USNPG School in Monterey, California; commanded USS MASSEY (DD-778); was a member of the Faculty at the Armed Forces Staff College and was the Readiness Officer on CINCLANTFLT Staff. His numerous awards include the Bronze Star with Combat "V" and the Navy Unit Commendation .

Elaine and Felix chose the Springfield, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, area for retirement, to be close to their roots. Since their children have left the nest, they have enjoyed much overseas travel and many cruises. They are both engaged in local volunteer work. Elaine is a USO volunteer at the Philadelphia International Airport and is also a docent at the Esherick Museum. Felix divides his time between the Navy Relief Society and the Retired Affairs Council at the Philadelphia Naval Base.

The Englanders have two children and a grandson. A daughter, Denise, who is a dedicated World Cultures high school teacher married to a lawyer, is a mother of a two year old. They live close by in Chester County. Son, Keith, is a Senior Aerospace Engineer at NAVAIR and lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with wife, Jana, a Contracts Administrator at NAVSEA.

Art first joined LOUISVILLE: a flag-showing cruise of South America, then to Capetown to haul $148 millions in gold to New York. On to Honolulu, Borneo, Manila and Australia, and back to Hawaii. After "Pearl Harbor", LOUISVILLE joined ENTERPRISE to search for the Japanese attacking fleet. With Lady Lou back for new gear, Art called his Number One from the Top of the Mark-proposing, to Jo Ireland of Washburn, Illinois; first met Youngster leave, courted the following June Week and madly pursued ever after. More salt, Aleutian style, before altar hopes in Mare Island came true on 28 October 1942 in St. Peter's Chapel.

With salty flair, the LOU was in most Pacific actions, including the Battle of Surigao Straits, evacuated prisoners from Darien, took surrender of Jap ships at Tsingtao. A crown prince was born 29 August 1944: A.G. Jr. Dad was six months late. From 7th Fleet Flag Lieutenant, to Law School in Washington, to Exec of RICH in Norfolk, to-great day: command of POWER in Trieste, time flew. Cecelia Anne was born 6 October 1950, Dad at Sea! Ashore in a Washington congressional slot, Art went to Supt's staff at USNA, then X.O. of NORTHAMPTON in Genoa; ASDEFORLANT; ComDesDiv 282 with ASW Task Group ALFA. In 1960: BuPers Plans; National War College; a Master's in International Affairs at GWU. On to Norfolk as ComDesRon 2, then back to Washington, as Chief Planner of Op-60. While there, the Great News of the new Broad Stripe, and Art was off to CINCSOUTH in Naples, as AC/S for Logistics. Jo followed a month later with Harv, their Welsh Corgi Wonder Dog, after the scramble of what Navy wives might term a Par-For-The-Course- Move. Next, San Diego, as ComCruDesFlot 11. Ecstasy! He also commanded the Cruisers and Destroyers of 7th Fleet during Vietnam. Next stop: Tingey House, as Commandant, Naval District Washington. After 3-1/2 busy and interesting years, Art decided 'twas time to retire from his beloved Navy, and did so with uniform only.

After retiring: consulting, and lots of volunteer work. The later years were divided between the tennis courts of ANCC and his volunteer posts (VP of Education for Navy League, National War College, Naval Historical Society). Sorrowfully, "Esch of Navy" (his favorite signature) died suddenly June 5, 1987, and is buried in Arlington Cemetery. He was eulogized by Classmates Vince Healey and Fr. Dick Heath, and Admiral John McNamara, Navy Chief of Chaplains. Two scholarships named for Art by D.C. Navy League-one at USNA, the other at GWU. His tennis cronies dedicated a handsome clock-barometer with inscribed plaque. An anonymous tribute to Art on the Club Bulletin Board bore such phrases as: "A great human being; a friend to all, an enemy to none; big heart; his love and humor were a permeating warmth to his fellow man."