Comments

We'd like to know what you think about our web site. Please leave your comments in this public guest book so we can share your thoughts with other visitors.

After you submit your comments, you will need to reload this page with your browser in order to see your additions to the log.

• Date: 27 Aug 2004
  Comments:
  Dear Bob,
  The website looks great, and as I said before the newsletter is great - You're really pouring a lot of effort into the reunion and simply getting people together. I just hope it doesn't wear you down. Again, I'm one who appreciates all you're doing in getting us all together.
  I noticed in the most recent roster that there are two XOs listed, but I'm disappointed that there aren't any COs on the list yet. I would think that from all the sources you've gone to that at least one of them would have surfaced by now. Hopefully at least one will surface before too long.
  Every once in a while, we pick up a copy of the Sacramento Bee. Next time I do that I will take a look for reunions and place an ad if it appears that they take reunion ads. I'll send you a copy if I get to that point.
  Again, thanks for all your efforts in bringing us together.
  Sincerely,
  Bill Stone

Date: 06 Sep 2004

I got you letter yesterday and Robert Hawkins from Port Huron, MI, called me last night. We haven't talked in 44 years. Boy, we had a lot to B.S. about.

This reunion is going to be great with a lot of good friends getting together after so many years. There will be lots of sea stories.

Your shipmate,

Floyd Colvin

Date: 06 Sep 2004 Time: 10:15:44

Bob, Great work! Thanks for your commitment! John

Date:14 Oct 2004Time:08:49:34

The water applet really makes the photo come alive. Great work, Beamer!

Date:14 Oct 2004Time:21:34:28

Thanks, Blessings, Bob

Date:30 Oct 2004Time:06:38:58

This is a great job and a lot of work. Thanks for your time and see you in June in Las Vegas. Dave

Date:30 Oct 2004Time:08:54:24

Sorry to see Captain John Flynn is no longer with us. Sorry I don't have any pictures of any of my crew members (1973-76) to send in and I didn't see any already posted, either. The web site looks great so far, keep up the good work.

Eng. Kenneth Hartwell

Date:31 Oct 2004Time:01:37:15

Thanks for the e-mail, looking forward to meeting you in Las Vegas, thanks for keeping up with the web page. Gus Grijalva

Date:31 Oct 2004Time:16:47:17

Nice job on the page, good work. (why not the best?) RICK FLOCK

Date:31 Oct 2004Time:17:11:38

Thanks for some great memories. Crew member 1977 to 1979 BM2 Mikeska

Date:01 Nov 2004Time:16:42:53

This is great and brings back memories, Thanks. EN-3 Jim Harbin Mo Boat 1968-1970

Date:01 Nov 2004Time:17:54:43

Great looking website, thanks for contacting me Bob! I hope to see more shipmates get the word, GMG3 R.W.Miller (1977-1980)

Date:02 Nov 2004Time:06:40:30

Wow! How cool is this! It's amazing how much 3 and a half years stays with you. Two west-pacs and a lot of cool folks. I wonder if the Mo-Boat band mates still play music? It'll be nice to see and talk to old friends who actually experienced the ride of their lives with you. Excellent job Beamer!!! I'll send you some excellent pictures. b.c.

Date:02 Nov 2004Time:18:06:56

Fantastic web site, great job. I have lots of photo's from 1978 to 1982. Let me know how I can send the pictures to you so everyone can enjoy them. EN2 Lewis 1978-1982

Date:05 Nov 2004Time:23:41:30

Thanks, I really enjoyed reading the history of one off my old Ships. I like the web site. Now Living in Houston, Texas OS1/NC1 Michael Tyrrel USN Retired

Date:06 Nov 2004Time:20:32:58

Bob, Thanks for maintaining this great site. I went aboard while she was in dry-dock in Long Beach, late 58 or early 59, can't remember which. Served aboard for about 2 years, when I made 2nd class MR I was transferred to the USS Calvert. I worked with Harry Perry and Walter Handy, Harry was also ship's MA. I have many fond memories of MO. Homer Teitsma

Date:06 Nov 2004Time:20:58:52

Nice site, I served 1962-64 EN2, Dennis Murphy

Date:06 Nov 2004Time:22:46:47

Beamer, God Bless you for all your work! I’m sure you had to do some research to find me and others I’m sure. A friend, and I, were sent to the MoBoat right out of “A” school training in Chicago. This was 1980. Seems like so long ago! I have sent emails to 3 shipmates and will try to find more. I plan on making the reunion. Thanks again! Craig K. Monin

Date:06 Nov 2004Time:22:49:17

I too think that you did a great job. Even though I didn't see any picture of the time I was on her. 1960thru1964 Bill Tannhauser BMSN

Date:07 Nov 2004Time:09:27:31

In the summer and fall of 1962, I served in Monticello LSD 35 with BLT 3/3 US Marine Corps.I enjoyed the ship's crew, we got along fine. The chow was good, and we had good liberty calls. I wish all of you crew members the best the Lord has for each of you. Johnnie Markley, jmarkley77@aol.com Yelm, WA

Date:08 Nov 2004Time:18:28:56

IT'S GREAT TO SEE SOMEONE PUTTING TOGETHER A REUNION. I GET TO TALK TO A FEW OF THE GUYS I WAS WITH IN MY DIVISION, PHILL ISSACS, EDDIE STRICKLAND AND CLYDE SMITH. I DON'T BELIEVE EVERYBODY KNOWS THE WEB SITE IS AVAILABLE. I WILL TRY AND GET TO EVERYBODY I CAN AND RELAY THE DATES. IF ANY ONE IS CLOSE TO EAST TENN., LET ME KNOW AND WE MAY BE ABLE TO MAKE SOME TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS. RON HUGHES

Date:09 Nov 2004Time:06:08:41

Great site. Really brought back alot of memories. My brother-in-law now was a shipmate on the Moboat. Will try and dig up pictures and get them sent it. Really great work, keep it up. Ron Reckner RM3 1967-1969

Date:11 Nov 2004Time:09:47:56

I was stationed on the Monticello at Tood Shipyard in San Pedro, CA on Aug 25th 1975 and a Third Class Gunner's Mate and left the ship on July 6th 1977 as a Second Calls Gunner's Mate. I have sense retired as a 1st Calls Gunner's Mate Oct 31, 1991 in Long Beach, CA at SIMA as the Shop Master. I'm now medical retired at 100% disability and an active member of VFW Post 184 Riverside, CA where my wife and two daughters live. Thank you for posting a tribute to one of the best ships that I had the pleasure to have served on. GMG1 Jim Alvarez, USN, Retired.

Date:11 Nov 2004Time:20:44:14

A great web-site and a great contribution to myself and our fellow shipmates. By the date of your service on the Moboat, you must have come aboard just before or while we were in Bremerton shipyards. I was discharged in Sept. of '69 while we were in drydock. I'll be sending along my $30.00 within the week. God bless you for your tremendous efforts. Ronald J Earl, SFM2-USN aboard the Moboat, 1966-1969

Date:12 Nov 2004Time:15:52:03

GREAT JOB BEAMER. HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL AT THE REUNION. HOPE ALL THE PLANKOWNERS MAKE IT. AND ALSO THE GANG THAT WAS ABOARD WHEN WE WENT TO BIKINI IN 58. SEE YOU ALL LATER LEROY BURSCH GUNNERS MATE AND ONE OF THE FEW PLANKOWNERS

Date: 25 Nov 2004

Not a shipmate, I was USS Davis DD 937. I am looking for Richard Yost RD1. He got out some time in the mid 60's. He is my wife's brother. My email is tlbeinke@cybersouth.com

Date: 27 Nov 2004

Comments:

I was a crew member from Nov 1970 to Aug 1973. What a wonderful site.  Jim Gilbert RD3

Date: 28 Nov 2004

Dear Robert Behm,

I have checked the internet several times in the past for information about the USS Monticello LSD 35. I found a few pictures and downloaded them. I was pleasantly surprised to find your website.

I don't think that I will be able to attend the reunion.

Here is a little about myself.

I am 60 years old and served on the Monticello from '64 to '67. The cruise book '65 - '66 was made while I was aboard. Some of the pictures in the book were taken by me. I am pictured on page 32. "M" Division. I am in the first row kneeling, left to right the forth person. R.L. Faust MM3. I have two of the cruise books. I have received the "National Defense Service medal", "Viet Nam Expeditionary Metal" and the "Viet Nam Service Medal" (with three bronze stars).

Like most 22 year olds, when I got out, I got rid of most of my memories of the military. Now, I am trying to get in touch with my past.

After my 4 years in the Navy, I spent the next 30 years in Law Enforcement. I retired about 6 years ago. I am currently a courier for a local hospital.

I want to thank you for what you have done and what you are doing.

If there is anything I can do, please let me know.

Best wishes for the coming year.

Respectfully yours,

Ronald L. Faust

Date: 14 Dec 2004

WISHING ALL THE SAILORS WHO SERVED ABOARD THE USSS MONTICELLO LSD 35 A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR.    FROM LEROY AND BARBARA BURSCH   BULLHEAD CITY AZ.   MONTICELLO PLANK OWNER

Date: 16 Dec 2004

Thanks for a great job. Looking forward to seeing you in June.

Date: 17 Dec 2004

Hello Bob,

My name is Robert (Bob) Schlittler.  Funny, that while I was perusing this site, I was reminded of a few lines from Bronte:  "Often rebuked, yet always returning to those first feelings that were born with me, and leaving busy chase of wealth and learning for idle dreams of things that cannot be."  I found myself reliving many of those old memories from my days as a Monticello crewmember.  I can't say they were the best of times for me, but they were good and bad days for me to meet new friends, and learn what it was to be a man.

The highest rank I made was OS3 while on the Monticello back in 1978-1980.  It was supposed to be my first and only tour in the Navy.  Sufficed to say, I was out as a civilian for perhaps a year or so, became a manager of a restaurant, even owned a home.  But destiny drove me...yes, drove me back into the Navy, where I spent another sixteen years, to retire as a chief.

The memories that your website brought back to me in a flood were memories of another time -- a time of great turbulence for me, a time of discovery, a time of remembrance.  Like the days of the old knights, I was but a simple squire on the Monticello, and she was my mistress, constantly reining in my visions of unrealism, to dash me into her bulkheads with what was then, the real world.

Yet, I sometimes find myself missing those turbulent times, my friends, those shipmates that helped to shape my life for the next sixteen years of success and growth on future commands in the Navy.  It was because of the lessons I had learned from people like Jim Wolfe, my associations with Michael Gulbranson, Ken Furtaw, Dana Ellis, Paul Cherry, OSC Dalrymple, Bob Berry, Arte Jappe, Chuck Forshey, and the rest of the crew, that I grew into a well-rounded manager, capable of inspiring, teaching, and leading young men and women to realize their goals.

I believe that you have created a great virtual monument to our past, a link that we as former crewmembers can use to share our own personal vision of what it was like to serve on the "Mo-boat".  You have done an excellent job with this website Bob, and I commend you on the expertise and effort you have put into this website.  It is a wonderful tribute to the Monticello, her exploits, and all of her crew that sailed on her.  By making these past cruise books available for display (for example), I can now show my students what it was like to serve in the Navy.  Thank you.

Robert Schlittler
OSC (Ret.)

Date: 3 Jan 2005

   Bob,
   I was on the Monticello from 1964-1967.
   I didn't know how good a Ship she was till I got transferred to the Montrose in 1967.
   Having a problem finding Cruise Books so any thoughts appreciated.
   Also, I am looking for a Former Ship Mate by the name of Leon Rathke.
   Have been all over the Net looking for him with no luck.
   So, if anyone can get me in the "RAT" reads this get in touch. Also, Danny Lay from Utah.
   Reunion a great idea but doubt if I'll make it.
   Gary Schneider  gdsnide@hotmail.com
 

Date: 11 Jan 2005

Robert--

The Monticello was my first ship right out of boot camp in October of 1959.  I was not married and asked for a ship that did a lot of traveling and got what I asked for.  The first four years  we made three, 9 month cruises to the far far East.  I was a Second Class Quartermaster.  I was in  X, N and H division.  My chief was Chief Burch and really enjoyed my tour and have a lot of fine memories.  From there I tried civilian life for a couple of years, but returned to the Navy. Upon reentering the Navy I put the OGDEN in commission and rode it to San Diego then I put the John F. Kennedy in commission in 1989,  but decided to go Army Warrant for three years and got out, after I got hurt in Viet Nam.  I ran LCUs and Tugs while in the army and was let go with the cut backs when Viet Nam was coming to a close .  But the service was a big part of my life and I still have fine memories of my shipmates and the good and bad times. I am a member of the DAV and always look in the Navy listings of reunions to see any ships that I might know and a couple of times the Monticello's name appeared. Even though I won't be able to attend.  Its just nice to touch your pass . I  hope that there is big turnout in Vegas. Mention my name and maybe some old Salt will remember me.. Maybe if you have time keep me informed as to who attends the reunion, it would be nice to see if I remember their names. I am from Biloxi, Mississippi and reside there with my second wife of 29 years. I retired in October of this year from the very shipyard in Pascagoula, MS, that built the Monticello in 1957.  Respectfully Nick Cefalu

Date: 24 Jan 2005

You're doing a fantastic job, keep up the good work!!

Date: 14 Feb 2005

Dear Bob,

You can`t imagine my excitement when i found this website. I ran the shoe cobbler shop and worked in the laundry with Henry Mc Guffin and Ed Caffey from the day we commissioned her until I got out Jan.14 1959.Some of my buddies were Carl Butzin, Floyd Colvin, Frank Connors, Don Schmutte, Louie Cornell, and Richard Ward. I think about those guys a lot and the good times of those two years.

Arlis Tyner Plank Owner.

I'm sorry I can't make it to the reunion it would be great.
 

Date: 15 Feb 2005

I'm doing this for my dad, Stacey Winn. We're looking for some of his friends from 1981-1984.
thanx

Breeonna Winn
winnpetra@yahoo.com