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UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY

SIXTIETH GRADUATION ANNIVERSARY OF THE CLASS OF 1940

This is a transcript of "The Long Voyage of the Class of Forty-U. S. Naval Academy" taken from the book The Class of Forty After Fifty Years © W. M. Carpenter 1990. Original text by C. H. Hall and W. D. Lanier.

After Korea wound down during our first years of service as commanders, we continued to receive many varied sea duty and shore duty assignments, commanding destroyers and submarine divisions, serving as execs of heavy ships, cruisers and carriers, and commanding carrier air groups.

Tad Lothrop served as executive officer of WISCONSIN. When she was retired from service, Tad referred to himself, somewhat prematurely, as "the last exec of the last battleship."

Executive officers of cruisers included Art Berndtson, TOLEDO; Al Cook, ST. LOUIS; Mark Hanna, HELENA; Jonse Hughes, MACON; Art Esch, NORTHAMPTON; Vince Healey, also NORTHHAMPTON; Mac McFarland, WORCESTER; Tom Nicholson, COLUMBUS; Rue O'Neill, also WORCESTER.

Carl Sander had command of a DE squadron, as did David Lloyd George King. Bob Bogardus and Lonnie Roark succeeded each other in command of NEPTUNE, and John Wier commanded AEOLUS, both ships cable-layers. Harvey Vogel commanded REHOBOTH, an oceanographic survey ship. Bill Carpenter relieved Bob Pauli in command of WADLEIGH. Julian Burke commanded the presidential yacht WILLIAMSBURG. Gene Lamiman commanded Radar Picket Squadron Two, Liberty ships for our air defense radar screen. Stan Orser, Jeff Jeffrey and Sammy Forter commanded landing ship squadrons.

Our submariners moved up from commanding submarines to commanding submarine divisions. ComSubDivs included Harry Fischer, Al Bergner, Julian Burke, George Kittredge, Bob Kaufman, Roy Anderson, Roy Smallwood and Pat Gray.

Our aviators, having made the transition to jets, commanded air groups, and served as operations officers and executive officers of carriers. Air group commanders included Jack Boyum, John Lacouture, Bob Miller, Dick Parker, Bill Fly, Bill Bryan, Al Newhall, Mike Michaelis, and Will Morton. Serving as operations officers of carriers were Jim McRoberts, WASP; Abe Lincoln, ESSEX; Jack Longino, LAKE CHAMPLAIN; Dixie Howell, HANCOCK; Dave Marks, LEXINGTON; Ted Rodgers, KEARSARGE. Some of those who were execs of carriers were Jim Elkins, ANTIETAM; Ed Hayes, THETIS BAY; Jack Hinman, also THETIS BAY; Ted Hill, KEARSARGE; Bill Lamb, SHANGRI LA; Bruce Lloyd, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT; Mike Michaelis, RANDOLPH; Bill Laffey, TRIPOLI; Blaine Libbey, MIDWAY; Will Morton, RANDOLPH; Pete Peters, RANGER; John Hardy, PRINCETON; Lon Wellman, BOXER. Bill Clark commanded AirShip Patrol Squadon One.

Key staff billets went to Bob White, Sixth Fleet Communications Officer; Tad Lothrop, Second Fleet Plans Officer; Dick Parker, Aide to ComAirLant; Ike Peters, Chief of Staff, Attack Wing 1; Harv Seim, Flag Secretary, ComSecFlt; Dick Shafer, Operations Officer, ComSubForPac; Doug Clark, Plans Officer, ComAirPac; Bill Caspari, Flag Secretary, ComSixthFlt; Bill Keating, Flag Secretary, CincLantFlt; Bill Antle, Ordnance Officer, Com SubLant.

Gordon West served as aide to two Commandants of the Marine Corps, Generals Shepherd and Fate. Ed Hearn was aide to the president ofthe Naval War College. Dick Parker was Deputy Director for Military Training at the Air Force Academy.

We attended the service colleges, the Naval War College at Newport, the National War College and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington, and the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk. Forty-three of us went to one of the courses at the Naval War College, Norm Lee and Bob Miller to both "warfare" and "command and staff." Champ Champion, John Chase, Harry White, Jack Partridge, Gene Hemley and Bob Miller were on the staff at the Naval War College in Newport. Twenty-two of us went to the National War College in Washington. Twenty-one of us went to the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk and twenty-three to the Industrial College in Washington. Ash Little was on the staff of the Industrial College. Two of us attended the State Department's Senior Seminar in Foreign Policy.

A number went to TWO of these service colleges, some of them also completing academic postgraduate courses. Al Bergner, Doug Clark, Al Cook, Roy Joslin, Al Newhall, John Straker and Sal Walline completed both the Staff College course and one at the Naval War College. Jimmy Elkins, Mike Hanley, Willie House and Harv Seim completed the Staff College course and then, later, the National War College course. John Chase and Hugh Hanna went to both Staff and Industrial Colleges, while Bill Fly, Jack Holmes and Bob Kaufman added the National War College to their courses at the Naval War College. Ash Little went to the National War College as well as the Industrial College.

A few went to Army and Air Force War Colleges, and to British institutions. Stan Orser attended the Army Command and General Staff College, and John Straker, Doug Clark and Bud Newhall, the Air Command and Staff College. Bill Laffey went to the Air War College. In England, Mark Varland attended the Joint Services Staff College; Jack Newbould, the United Kingdom Staff College; Chief Ereckson, the Royal Naval Staff College; and Paul Paul the United Kingdom Joint Service College. Tom Nicholson went to the Military Assistance Institute. Bill Thorpe, Bob Quinn and Ray Watson, a non-graduate who augmented to regular Navy, went to the French War College. Bill Pennoyer attended the NATO Defense College.

We worked in Washington, in the Bureaus, OpNav, Joint Staff and OSD, and learned about the civil service. Some of us learned to live with the bureaucracy, and some of us didn't, but one way or the other, it was an educational experience.

The Polaris project was one of our victories, with Roy Anderson ably and expertly heading the progress committee that met weekly. John Chase, John Refo, Sammy Forter and Scott Goodfellow (deputy project officer) from the project staff; Pat Gray from ComSubLant; Ike Blough on guidance development at MIT; Bill Dobie at Lockheed, followed by Ozzie Osborne at Lockheed; Ray Koshliek at Pittsfield; Joe Rinschler at Sperry; Bill Benbow at the Dam Neck Guided Missile School; Terry McGillicuddy at the Applied Science Laboratory; and Cary Hall from CincLantFlt attended these meetings on occasion, and other classmates helped in their areas. The project came in on time and under budget, which puts it in a class of its own among Washington projects.

Resignations in the '50s dropped off to a relative few, but we lost some good men. John McMullen resigned in 1954 to serve with the Maritime Administration and then as head of his own ship repair and naval architect business and as president, United States Lines. He is the only member of our class (or any other class) to own his own major league baseball team--the Houston Astros. Frank Graziano resigned in 1955 to accept a senior position with Monarch Machine Tool. He later moved to American Can and advanced to Corporate Senior Vice President before being tapped by Crompton & Knowles as president and CEO. Joe D'Arezzo resigned in 1955 from the regular Army, where he was Chief of Special Weapons and Air Defense Research and Development, to be an American Machine and Foundry vice president for world trade development. He was promoted in 1968 to brigadier general, U.S. Army Reserve, and died in 1981 while in Italy on business.

Lucian Hunt left the Navy to become Vice President, Maintenance, American Airlines and then to become President, American Flyers Airline. Gene Dueber became a planning analyst for the University of California. Moe Mendenhall left to join the Manganese Corporation as Executive Vice President, and later became president of Arguello Construction Co. Rue O'Neill went with McDonnell-Douglas and John Mutty commenced a 30-year career with Raytheon. Bob Roberts began his 25 years with RCA, and worked, among other projects, on the design of the AEGIS system. Don Neddo became a civil servant at the Naval Equipment Training Center, Orlando.

As we continued to fly military aircraft, we continued to have losses. Jim Cannon was killed in a plane crash in October, 1955, and John Rockwell died in another accident a few months later, in February, 1956. Swede Goranson was killed in a Capital Airlines crash, while returning to Norfolk from a conference in Washington. Deacon Fickenscher's wife was killed in the same crash. Jim Milliken was killed in another commercial air disaster.

Arky Laster, who never fully recovered from wounds inflicted by a kamikaze attack on HANCOCK, died in 1952. Fred Jacobs was killed in an automobile accident in 1955. Dick Niles died trying to rescue his family from a burning house. Unknown to him, they had escaped through an upstairs window.

Heart attacks and other ailments carried off other classmates before their time. Art Wagner died in 1950, John Ela in 1955, John Bishop, Joe Wallace and Bill Robb in 1957, C.D. Smith, John Schaser and Abbott Street in 1958, George Tayoun in 1959, and Lou King in 1960, shortly after being promoted to brigadier general.