congressional medal of honor winner rufus g. herring - USS Landing ...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITORAll right! We start off with one to shame all of uswho have let our waistlines get the better of us!How many of you could put on the blues you wore62 years ago? Take a look at this picture and readEugene Allen's letterIt's both encouraging and challenging to get thiskind of letter from our good friend and shipmateJohn Crunkleton of Clayton, Georgia. John was oneof the most generous of our life member donorsand we are thankful to him for that. John, as youcan read here, has worked for a long time to promotethe reunions of his crew - long before the restof us began getting together. We're very happy thatJohn and the other surviving members of the crewor LCI (G) 80 will be joining us in Branson.Dear Comrade Cummer,Dear Editor,This picture of me was taken last week. I worethese same (tailor made) blues from Norfolkwhile in the Navy. Some cleaners shrunk myblouse and I just barely got it on! I weighed 185then and 138 now. I was a MoMM1c aboard USSLCI 524.After taking part in the Normandy D-Day andSouthern France invasions our ship ended up inthe Aleutian Islands of Alaska where we trainedRussian sailors and turned the ship over to them.Happy sailing, President Cummer!Eugene V. AllenLaJunta, COI'm saddened each time I receive a letter or telephonecall from one of my shipmate's widow orchild informing me of the death of another shipmate.My list has dwindled to a total of twentysix,including five officers and twenty-one enlisted.Originally I located sixty five members of thecrew of the LCI (G) 80, and we had many enjoyablereunions throughout the country. Our firstreunion, held in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1976,will always be a highlight of my life, with fortyfivecrew members attending. It was thirty yearsfrom the date we were discharged. The greetingof shipmates was an unbelievable experience forus all. Six former officers and thirty-nine enlistedattended the first reunion.Our second reunion was held in Kansas City in1980 and again we had forty five attend. Wedecided, at the 1980 reunion of our LCI 80, thatwe would set future reunions two years apartand select a state each time to accommodate asmany as possible for travel distances. We continuedour reunions until 2002, having only twelveattend that final reunion. At that time we decidedwe would make the effort to attend theNational LCI Reunion for as long as we had survivorsand the National continued to operate.We have had good representation at the nationalreunions and have also enlisted twelve of thewives and children of our deceased mates as10
Associate Members. I'm expecting a goodresponse to the Branson, MO, reunion.Looking forward to seeing all of you again in May.May God continue to bless America!Your comrade,John Crunkleton, QM1cUSS LCI(G) 80Here's one I have to share, because it gives me achance to show off one of the models I built backin 1996 for Joe Graham, of Tucson, AZ. Here's Joe'sletter:I also have a book entitled The Fighting Amphibsby Donald L. Ball. It is a very comprehensiveaccount of the LCS from its inception until postwarand the transfer of many of these vessels toother countries.The model of the LCI(FF) 786 that you made forme is still in a prominent place in our hallway,enclosed in a Plexiglas case and mounted on abeautiful wood base. It's the best reminder I haveof my days in the Pacific theater of operations.Best wishes,Joe GrahamDear John,The article about the possibility of combiningwith the National Association of USS LCS (L) s hascertainly made sense to me. They are anotheradaptation of the standard LCI (L) as much as theLCI (FF), on which I served, and the rocket launchersand other variations. I am especially interestedbecause my LCI(FF) 786 was assigned to LCIFlotilla 4, Group 12, under the command ofCommander Byron Vogelin all the time we wereat Okinawa from mid-May until late July. Wewere the last group of LCS's to leave Okinawa.We remained under the LCS Flot 4 commandeven after being assigned to the Port Director,Tokyo, as a housing and communications ship.You can see I have a special relationship with theLCS guys.In 1996, I had considerable correspondence withRay Baumler who was the Historian/Archivist forthat group. He gave me some valuable informationabout the activities and whereabouts of the786 during the Okinawa campaign that I couldnot find in our log book. I don't know if Ray isstill living or not, but he certainly had a greatdeal of information that I needed.Here's the picture of the model. It was a “first” forme - the first “FF” I built. If you look closely at thispicture you can see a couple of its identifying features.Most prominent is the extended flag bridgeadded just to the rear of the conning tower. Then,along the side of the deckhouse you can see manymore portholes than ever there were on an LCI(L).That's to take care of staterooms and offices for allthat brass a FF had to carry.Good old John Dimm, Springfield, Massachusetts,came through with encouraging support for theplan for increasing financial support for theAssociation. In this email which he sent to HalBleyhl, Frank Ruxlow and myself, you can see thathe is still hanging in there, although it sounds asthough he, like many of us, ought to count hisbody parts occasionally to make sure that everythingis still there!11
Page 1 and 2: OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THEUSS LANDI
Page 3 and 4: A Word from the EditorGreetings, on
Page 5: USS LCI NATIONAL ASSN. REUNIONMAY 1
Page 9: LCI 713 JOINS THE FLEET FORTHE PORT
Page 13 and 14: The Gunboats at Iwo Jima: Part IThe
Page 15 and 16: After wounded were transferred, shi
Page 17 and 18: 1117—Hit portside, Captain's cabi
Page 19 and 20: Deck Log, USS New York (BB-34):1352
Page 21 and 22: The Heroism of Rufus G. HerringComm
Page 23 and 24: “We Were There”Present Members
Page 25 and 26: The Homecoming of Flotilla EightByJ
Page 27 and 28: Carl Chapple Donates AnotherModel f
Page 29 and 30: Coastguard LCI Veteran Writes His M
Page 31 and 32: USS LCI NATIONAL ASSOCIATIONAPPLICA

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