FRAtoday August 2021
comunicaitons
FROM THE fantail	3
SHIPMATE FORUM	5
On & Off captol hill	7
FEATURE  STORies	
MEMBERSHIP MATTERSN/A
SHIPMATE NEWS20
TAPS21
AUXILIARY OF THE FRA23
FINANCE MATTERS24

COMMINICATIONS

Happy Birthday, USCG & Auxiliary
In addition to the August birthday of the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary recognized its 82nd anniversary in June. 
The auxiliary was established by Congress in 1939. The mission of the auxiliary is to promote and improve recreational boating safety, provide trained crews and facilities to augment the Coast Guard, and enhance the safety and security of our ports, waterways and coastal regions. 
The auxiliary conducts safety, security and pollution patrols, as well as vessel exams. Auxiliary members also participate in search and rescue, mass casualty or disaster response, homeland security, commercial fishing, pollution response and recreational boating safety operations. They also provide platforms for vessel boarding parties and recruit new Coast Guardsmen and Coast Guard Auxiliary members.
The auxiliary also assists those in obtaining vessel safety checks, participating in boating safety courses, how to file a float plan, interest in joining the CG Auxiliary, and additional boating safety information.
The auxiliary is comprised of 23,500 members who serve the nation and their communities in 825 local units called flotillas. Auxiliary members provide a collective 3.8 million hours of support to the Coast Guard each year, from the classroom to the ramp and pier. They operate 1,800 vessels, 1,400 radio facilities and 160 aircraft.
In November 2020, the Coast Guard Auxiliary published their “Strategic Plan 2020-2026,” summarizing their goals for the future of the auxiliary as follows:
“To be Ready, the Auxiliary will streamline background checks and leverage technology… allowing members to focus on missions and training. The Auxiliary will develop tools for Flotillas to use that enhance recruiting and retention at the deck plate level to meet (USCG) needs, and it will define national programs that support the… Coast Guard. The auxiliary will refine leadership training and nurture its culture via servant leaders. To ensure fiscal responsibility… standardized processes will be… implemented. The information system… will be modernized to provide a(n) accurate record of units, members, facilities, and activities. 
“To be Relevant, the Auxiliary will stress outreach… (to) enhance prevention efforts in water safety education to the recreational boating public — in concurrence with the Strategic Plan of the National Recreational Boating Safety Program… To provide the auxiliary and Coast Guard with young, talented, educated, diverse and well-trained leaders, the Auxiliary will expand by expanding the Auxiliary University Program. 
“To be Responsive, the Auxiliary will strengthen its relevance to local Coast Guard units and will establish new mission capacity to support Coast Guard initiatives… By doing this, the auxiliary will continue to provide a capable, well-trained, and mission ready workforce. 
As the auxiliary operationalizes this Strategic Plan, it will remain steadfast and committed to the watchwords ‘Ready,’ ‘Resourceful’ and ‘Resilient.’”
Semper Paratus – always ready since 1939.
In Loyalty, Protection and Service,
William D. Stevenson, Editor-in-Chief

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FROM THE Fantail

Getting Back to “Normal”
As we dive into the dog days of summer, a touch of normalcy is beginning to take form within the FRA.
Many of the regions within the association will be holding their regional conventions this month.  While most postponed or held abbreviated events last year, seven of the eight regions will be hosting in-person meetings this year.  The East Coast Region hosted a virtual convention last month and will be returning to an in-person meeting for their mid-year meeting in February 2022.
Much of the business of the FRA is conducted on the local and regional level.  Committee reports are judged, bylaw and standing rule changes are made, and elections are held.  The future leadership of the FRA is decided during these important meetings. 

Search for New Ideas
During these gatherings, ideas about the future of the FRA are discussed.  A simple idea on a local level can lead to major shifts in how we do business on a national level.  These discussions should be inclusive and not exclusive.  Asking new members to get involved, not only within the branch but also on a regional level, can lead to fresh ideas and an increased sense of value for that individual.
Newly elected branch and regional officers are charged with being good stewards of the association’s books and finances.  They are also looked upon in their communities as liaisons and leaders for the FRA. 

Being Involved in the Community
The FRA is a nonpartisan membership organization.  When anyone speaks for the FRA, never forget: it’s the service members, veterans, retirees, their families and survivors that we are advocating for, not a political party.  
Many branches in the FRA are actively involved in their local and state veterans organizations.  These strategic groups work with legislatures to improve the quality of life of those who are serving and have served our country.

93rd FRA National Convention
As I write this column, the national headquarters team is working hard to prepare for the national convention in Spokane Valley, Washington.  This one week in October takes months of preparation from the local committee and national staff.  
The business of the FRA is done during the national convention.  Standing committees meet to award Shipmates and branches for activities and programs that occurred during the previous year. Elections of national leaders are held, and the convention concludes with the installation of the new national board of directors for the incoming year.
If you are planning to attend, which I encourage you to do, be sure you make your reservations now.  For more information about the 93rd FRA National Convention, go to www.fra.org/convention.

Bring a Member Back
This past year we have lost many from the FRA family.  The pandemic served to ravage more than families.  As we start to return to monthly in-person meetings, look around your community, check in with a former member to see how they are doing, and invite them back to a meeting.  If we all do our part, we can return to a stronger association, one Shipmate at a time.

In Loyalty, Protection and Service, 
Chris Slawinski

Chris is the national executive director of the Fleet Reserve Association and may be reached at: NED@FRA.org.

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sHIPMATE FORUM

Chief Yeoman John Cooperider, USN
I read with great interest the recent article about Chief Yeoman John Cooperider. 
He certainly earned every good word said about him while serving at the highest levels of our Navy.
He was an example to all of us of what a life well lived is all about.
The article did him justice and left my eyes “misty.”  We should all try to be more like him.
Respectfully, 
C. Philip Nichols, Jr., Capt., JAGC, USNR (Ret.)

“Made My Day”
Shipmates and Auxiliary Members,
I sincerely appreciated all of the thoughts and prayers, cards and emails I have received over the past several months during my recent hospitalizations. It is so rewarding to receive them, and your kindness is truly remembered.
In Loyalty, Protection & Service,
PNP Jerry Sweeny

The Bedford Boys
Thank you FRA and Ann Norvell Gray for informing our members of the sacrifice that Bedford, Virginia made on D-Day. I grew up near there and heard of them from a young age and am pleased that the beautiful memorial stands today in their honor. The price of freedom is evident in the small towns across America who send their young men and women to defend it every day.
Regards,
Patricia Childers

Capturing Sea Stories
I joined the FRA in January of this year. What I’m about to talk about might be old hat so forgive me if it has been brought up before. My granddaughters asked me about my dad. It hit me then, I knew just about nothing about my dad. It was at that point I decided they wouldn’t ever be able to say that about me. So for my granddaughters, I set out to write as much about my life as I could, which included my 22 years in the Navy. After more than 300 pages and three books, they know as much about me as anyone. 

To get to the point, I told myself if ever I was to join anything like the FRA, it might be a good idea to see if they might be up to putting together a book of sea stories. It wouldn’t take a lot to put one together. All you need is someone who could type, proofread and an audio recorder. Each person could [provide] a chapter of the book. Finding somewhere to sell the books might be a problem but with the many people in the FRA, it might not be.
Since I have dyslexia, I wouldn’t be a good person to try and put this all together. The benefits of a book like that would be great all-around, but as I said before, I’m sure that has been thought of before.
David Lyle , Summerville, S.C.
   
The DEW Line
I read with interest Shipmate Baker’s almost complete description of the AEWBARRONPAC (Airborne Early Warning Barrier Squadron Pacific) story in the June 2021 edition of FRAtoday. He did overlook some very important folks called the Airplane Crews and ground maintenance crews.  We had approximately 33 airplanes that were scheduled as required to launch from Midway every 3 hours, 365 days a year. A plane captain, an Electronic Crew Chief (ECC) and 2 or 3 Avionics Flight technicians were assigned to each aircraft. They were supported by hundreds of maintenance mechanics, electricians and other specialized technicians on the ground.  I was an ECC on the barrier from 1962 to 1965. One or two flight techs flew every barrier cycle. Their job was to keep the search and height finding radars, scopes and ancillary avionics equipment up and running.  They could repair and fine tune just about every piece of accessible electronics aboard the aircraft in flight.  After the aircraft landed, the techs who hadn’t flown would repair any problems that could not be repaired or replaced in flight. The flight techs on the barrier were the finest technicians I worked with in my 20-year career in Avionics.

I was not new to the WV-2 (EC-121K) aircraft when I arrived at AEWBARRONPAC; my 1st Squadron was VW-1, the pioneer outfit, from 1958-60. The history of the development of Early Warning radars in collaboration with MIT would make a great story. The VW-1 association has lots of information on its website: www.vw1assoc.org
Dan Davey, ATC, Branch 289

Story About Midway
I was glad to see another story about Midway Island during WWII. I was also glad to see the letter from Rich Baker about his time and experience when he was in AEWBARRONPAC. But first I would like to correct a typo in my last letter to you. I was in AEWBARRONPAC from January of 1958 until September 1961, not 1965. Actually there were two different types of crews that were assigned to fly the barrier from Midway. There was the operational crew that Rich Baker described in his letter, which rotated from aircraft to aircraft during their deployment to Midway. Then there was the crew that was assigned to each aircraft. This crew consisted of two electronic technicians (AT), two electricians (AE), and one mechanic (AD). During the patrol one AT and one AE flew with the aircraft.
 
It was this crew’s job to maintain the aircraft. While the operational crew was on Midway for an actual amount of flights, the crew that was assigned to the aircraft was there until their aircraft completed a set amount of flight hours. If I remember right this was 300 hours. My aircraft was #32 and we were fortunate enough to be able to keep it “UP” all the time. The better we kept it in an UP status, the faster we could get our flight hours and rotate back to Barbers Point. 

Our biggest problem on Midway was the Goonie Birds. To hit a bird on either takeoff or landing was always a big concern. A bird strike could cause damage anywhere from a small dent up to and including catastrophic failure. On one occasion there was a bird strike on takeoff on the upper radome. The radome was torn off and then it hit the tail and tore off one of the vertical stabilizers. Fortunately, the aircraft made it back and landed with no further incident. We used to paint a bird on the nose whenever we had a hit. I remember when I left the flight crew that my plane had 36 strikes painted on it. After I was taken off the flight crew, I was assigned to the engine build up crew and stayed at Barbers Point until I rotated back to the States on shore duty. I might also add that there were no “cooks” assigned to the flight crews. The cooking was done by the flight electrician (AE), and some of us got pretty good at it. 
Gregory Womeldorff, AECS, USN (Ret.)

Battle of Midway Jets
Good day,
I just read the piece by Antonya Salvucci. I did find one small mistake, on page 25, paragraph two, sentence two.  I do not recall the U.S. Navy having “jets”.  It must have slipped by the proofreader.
Great article otherwise.
Regards,
Harold Whipps, USNR

FRAtoday: Hi Harold, 
Thank you for reading FRAtoday and for taking the time to write to us about June’s Battle of Midway feature. We always appreciate how engaged our readers are with the magazine, as well as the military wisdom they bring to every issue they pick up.

The word “jets” stood out to me as well when I edited the feature, and I wondered, “Were there jets in World War II?” I often refer to the online version of the Encyclopedia Britannica during fact-checking and found the section “The jet age” under their “Military aircrafts” I read about the first German jet-powered aircraft flying in 1939, as well as the British flying their first jet-powered aircraft in 1941, and then sharing their technology with the U.S. so that we could create the Bell P-59A Airacomet in 1942. So the answer seemed to be that yes, there were jets in World War II, and at that point I moved on to the next sentence of the article. But, as you correctly point out, the question I should have asked was, “Were there jets at the Battle of Midway?” You are right that the U.S. did not have jet-powered aircraft in the air at Midway. I apologize for closing the book on that fact-checking inquiry early; I’m sure you’re not the only person who raised an eyebrow at it!

Thank you for your dedicated readership, FRA membership and service to our great nation. We look forward to continuing to bring association updates and other interesting reading to your mailbox each month!
Sincerely, 
Elise M. Howard, FRAtoday Managing Editor

Battle of Midway
In the Battle of Midway, LCDR Waldron was the commanding officer of Torpedo Squadron 8 and in fact was the first one to locate the Japanese carriers, which he attacked with the full squadron. Every plane in the squadron was destroyed by the Zeros that came down from their posts over the carriers, leaving the sky open and allowing the dive bombers to come in unopposed and sink the carriers.

I was the Commanding Officer of the USS WALDRON (DD-699), which was named for LCDR Waldron.
Respectfully,
David Williams

Letters published in Shipmate Forum reflect the opinions and views of individual FRA members. They do not reflect the position of the FRA. The FRA is not responsible for the accuracy of letter content. Submit letters to FRAtoday, 125 N. West St., Alexandria, VA 22314 or to fratoday@fra.org

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ON AND OFF CAPITOL HILL

FRA Action Center Gives Voice to Member Concerns
The FRA Action Center is the primary grassroots tool for the FRA’s advocacy program on Capitol Hill and in the federal bureaucracy. The association’s advocacy program is directly related to the FRA’s mission and intended to give voice to member concerns regarding pay, health care, survivor benefits, education, housing, child care and other quality-of-life programs. The Action Center is located on the FRA website, www.fra.org, and Shipmates can access the program by clicking the blue “Advocacy” tab at the top of the main page. The page lists pending legislation and members can click the title of the specific legislation for “current action alerts” that will provide a brief explanation of the pending legislation.

The next step for a first-time user is to enter his or her zip code and click the “Go!” button, and that will provide a prewritten email message to send to legislators (including the president and other top government officials) expressing support for or opposition to the legislation. 

Shipmates can edit the message or simply click the “Send Message” button at the bottom of the page to send the email message electronically to their elected officials. The Action Center also includes a “Share with Friends” option that allows users to send that specific action alert to other Shipmates, family members or friends.   
Your grassroots advocacy has a direct influence on the association’s ability to effectively represent your concerns before Congress and appropriate federal agencies. Please take the time to send a message to your elected officials. 

Retiree Issues

Half of the Senate Supports Concurrent Receipt Reform
Half of the U.S. Senate is now co-sponsoring key concurrent receipt reform legislation, the Major Richard Star Act (S.344). The House companion bill (H.R.1282) has 109 co-sponsors. Concurrent receipt reform is of paramount importance to the FRA, and the association is continuing to work to eliminate this unjust offset to benefits. 
There are still many lawmakers who would support this legislation if they heard from constituents. With turmoil over delayed budgets and work on the National Defense Authorization Act, it is impactful to email and call your elected officials asking them to support concurrent receipt reform. 

Members can call their lawmakers through the toll-free U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. If callers provide their zip code, switchboard operators will connect them to their legislators. When talking to legislators or their staff, members should remind them that retired pay is for vested years of service paid by the DOD, while disability compensation is for lifelong injury paid by the VA. To reduce retirement pay because of a disability is an injustice!

Members are also urged to continue to use the FRA Action Center at www.fra.org to support these bills.

Allow Retirees to Take Civilian DOD Jobs Without Delay
Sen. James Lankford (Okla.) has introduced FRA-supported legislation (S.2161) authorizing the repeal of the requirement that those retiring from military service wait 180 days before entering Department of Defense civil service General Schedule (GS) positions for jobs at GS-13 and below. The FY2021 NDAA included a three-year pilot program for depots and industrial activities. The FRA welcomed this improvement last year, but more work needs to be done.

The 180-day waiting period has resulted in a talent management problem for hiring officials who are grappling with an antiquated hiring process that takes too long to hire a qualified candidate with a current security clearance. The FRA will work to include this legislation in the FY2022 National Defense Authorization Act to permanently authorize military retirees to transition to DOD GS-13 and lower positions at all DOD facilities, not just depots. 

Members can weigh in on this issue by going to the FRA Action Center atwww.fra.org.  

Bills Introduced to Help Military Survivors 
FRA-supported legislation has been introduced in the House and Senate that would increase monthly benefits for family members and survivors of veterans who lost their lives during service to our country. The Caring for Survivors Act (S.976, H.R.3402) seeks to increase payments for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, or DIC, to be in line with payments to surviving spouses of other federal employees (55%). The rate of compensation paid to survivors of service members who die in the line of duty — or veterans who die from service-related injuries or diseases — has been minimally adjusted since its establishment in 1993. DIC payments, which are currently 43% of retiree benefits, lag behind the other programs’ payments by 12%. 

Under the current law, the DIC restricts benefits for survivors if the veteran was disabled for less than 10 years before death. This legislation would reduce the time frame during which a veteran would need to be rated totally disabled from 10 to five years, broadening eligibility to more survivors. Members can weigh in on this issue by going to the FRA Action Center at www.fra.org.  

Veterans Issues

FRA Staff Meets with HVAC Staff on Toxic Exposure 
FRA Assistant Director of Legislative Programs Theo Lawson, as part of the Toxic Exposures in the American Military Coalition, held a meeting with House Veterans’ Affairs Committee staff to discuss and compare the House and Senate veterans toxic exposure bills: the Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act (H.R.3967) and the Comprehensive and Overdue Support for Troops (COST) of War Act, respectively. The PACT Act is a comprehensive toxic exposure omnibus bill introduced in the House and sponsored by HVAC Chairman Rep. Mark Takano (Calif.) is comprised of several FRA-supported toxic exposure bills. The COST bill is sponsored by Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Sen. Jon Tester (Mont.) and is also comprised of several toxic exposure bills introduced in the Senate. 

The HVAC bill is still in committee, while the SVAC bill has passed out of committee and is awaiting further action on the Senate floor. Both sponsors have announced that they hope to pass their respective bills out of their chambers later this year with the goal of passing an agreed-to bill before the end of the year. Many other legislators have expressed concern about the cost of this legislation. The FRA wants to ensure that no veteran who had exposure to burn pits or other environmental toxins goes without access to VA health care benefits. Members are strongly urged to weigh in on this issue on the FRA Action Center at www.fra.org.  

Comprehensive Toxic Exposure Bill Introduced in House
House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Mark Takano (Calif.) introduced the Honoring Our PACT Act (H.R.3967). This legislation would allow for the first time all veterans who were at risk of toxic exposure, including 3.5 million Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, to obtain immediate and lifelong access to health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs ) — one of the largest expansions of health care eligibility in the VA's history. 

The bill would provide presumptive care for numerous conditions in veterans sickened by exposure to burn pits and other toxins. It would also establish a new, science-based and veteran-focused process for the establishment of new presumptive conditions and would provide benefits to thousands of veterans exposed to toxins who have been long-ignored or forgotten, including Agent Orange-exposed veterans suffering from hypertension.

Our nation has a solemn duty to care for those suffering long-term, negative health effects from toxic exposures during their military service. The legislation would address these issues and set a path forward to ensure that we will never again leave our service members to fight these battles on their own.

The legislation is similar to the Comprehensive and Overdue Support for Troops (COST) of War Act introduced earlier in the Senate. Members are strongly urged to use the FRA Action Center at www.fra.org to weigh in on this issue. 

3 Agent Orange Presumptive Conditions Added
As FRAtoday goes to press, the Department of Veterans Affairs has announced three conditions will be added to the list of those presumptively associated with exposure to Agent Orange herbicide. Those conditions are bladder cancer, hypothyroidism and Parkinsonism. This expansion is a result of FRA-supported legislation that was added to the FY2021 National Defense Authorization Act (P.L.116-283). Vietnam War-era veterans and their survivors who previously filed for and were denied benefits for one of these three new presumptive conditions will have their cases automatically reviewed without the need to refile a claim.

Biden Administration’s FY2022 Budget Provides Big Boost to VA
President Biden recently submitted his administration’s budget for FY2022, which begins Oct. 1, 2022. The budget would increase defense spending by 1.6%. The proposal does not include any new TRICARE fee increases and would allow for an active-duty pay increase of 2.7%, which would keep pace with civilian pay increases. The measure would also increase funding for mental health care and sexual assault prevention. The proposed budget would reduce Navy and Marine Corps active-duty end strengths by 1,600 and 2,700 service members, respectively. 

“The President’s Defense Budget Request is an outline and a starting point,” emphasized Sen. Jack Reed (R.I.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The administration has requested a 10% increase for the Department of Veterans Affairs. The budget would provide approximately $1.4 billion, an increase of $350 million, for the VA’s Caregiver Support Program. Through this program, the Veterans Health Administration provides support to individuals who act as caregivers for severely disabled veterans. The 2022 budget supports the phased expansion of the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers to include all eligible veterans, no matter when they served. The original caregiver program was limited to veterans who were disabled after Sept. 11, 2001. 

The budget also includes $2.2 billion in funding for veteran homelessness programs. Additionally, the budget includes $598 million for veteran suicide prevention outreach programs that address the risk factors for suicide with the goal of intervening before a veteran reaches a point of crisis.

Congress wants to rapidly rush through the budgeting and appropriations process this summer, partly because Biden’s budget is coming late, even compared to previous newly elected presidents. Negotiators may rely on a continuing resolution, a stopgap funding measure, to avoid a shutdown after the Sept. 30 deadline to enact funding for the government.

SVAC and HVAC Review FY2022 VA Budget
The Senate Veterans’ Affairs and the House Veterans’ Affairs committees held separate hearings to review the Department of Veterans Affairs’ proposed budget request for fiscal year 2022. The hearings considered how the agency’s budget aims to better serve veterans and their families through increased benefits, care and services. Witnesses included VA Secretary Denis McDonough and VA Assistant Secretary for Management and Chief Financial Officer Jon Rychalski. 

At the SVAC hearing, Chairman Sen. Jon Tester (Mont.) was happy to see a 10% increase in the proposed budget but noted the significant backlog of disability claims. He said this would increase if Congress enacted one of the veterans toxic exposure bills. During the Senate hearing, Tester questioned McDonough on the agency’s plans to address critical problems facing the agency through additional resources, such as by investing in the benefit claims process. 

It was noted at the HVAC hearing that the proposed budget would increase VA staff by 429 to process claims and decrease the disability claims backlog that has been exacerbated by Agent Orange blue-water claims and is expected to increase with toxic exposure claims. At the House hearing, McDonough expressed concern that adding hypertension to Agent Orange presumptive conditions would be costly and could overwhelm the disability claims system. There was also lengthy discussion at both hearings about the budgetary impact of one of the veterans toxic exposure bill becoming law. Members can use the FRA Action Center at www.fra.org to weigh in on the toxic exposure issue. 

House Passes Preventing Crimes Against Veterans Act
The House of Representatives voted 416-5 to pass the Preventing Crimes Against Veterans Act (H.R.983), sponsored by Rep. Ted Deutch (Fla.), which would help protect our nation's veterans from targeted scams and financial predators.

Although it is currently against the law for unauthorized agents to charge veterans a fee in exchange for assistance with VA claims or appeals, there is no penalty for this crime. Veterans are still being pursued by unscrupulous groups who make false promises of being able to expedite the benefit claims process for an exorbitant sum. This legislation would impose penalties of a fine, imprisonment of up to five years or both on those who defraud veterans.  

“It is a crime to defraud our veterans; but without a penalty for the crime, pension poachers and fraudsters continue to go after those who have made sacrifices for our country and our national security,” Deutch said in a press release. "This bill will finally close the loophole, discourage this predatory behavior, and protect our veterans from financial scams."

This is the fourth consecutive session of Congress in which a version of this bill has passed the House with overwhelming support. The bill now goes to the Senate for further consideration. Members are encouraged to use the FRA Action Center, located at www.fra.org, to ask their senators to support this legislation. 

HVAC Member Day Includes Concurrent Receipt
The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee invited all House members to come speak about their priorities for veterans. These “Member Day” events give lawmakers who do not sit on the committee an opportunity to officially request legislative actions. This hearing allowed 22 representatives to come before the committee and make their case for legislation. 

Although concurrent receipt is not under the jurisdiction of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Rep. Gus Bilirakis (Fla.) discussed the urgent need to pass concurrent receipt reform. In January, Bilirakis introduced the Retired Pay Restoration Act (H.R.303), which would extend Concurrent Retirement and Disability Payment, or CRDP, eligibility to retirees rated less than 50% disabled. More recently, he also introduced the Major Richard Star Act (H.R.1282), which would expand concurrent receipt to include Combat Related Special Compensation, or CRSC, beneficiaries who are medically retired with less than 20 years of service. Bilirakis noted he will soon file legislation to provide dental care to veterans with diabetes through a four-year pilot program. He also added his voice to those calling for improvements to care for veterans exposed to toxins. 

Members are strongly urged to weigh in on the concurrent receipt issue by going to the FRA Action Center at www.fra.org.   

Active Duty and Reserve Issues

Senate MilCon/VA Subcommittee Looks at DOD Housing and Other Infrastructure Needs
The Senate Appropriations Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee held a hearing on the Department of Defense’s infrastructure needs, which included a discussion of the issues with military family housing. It was noted that the FY2022 DOD budget for family housing ($9.8 billion) would be an increase of 22% over the current fiscal year budget ($8.1 billion). The association is thankful that Subcommittee Ranking Member Sen. John Boozman (Ark.) pressed DOD witnesses about the poor condition of many base barracks and the need for adequate child development centers. 

The FRA welcomes the proposed increased funding for family housing and urges Congress to work to ensure service members and their families have safe, quality homes and communities. The FRA also wants to increase the accountability of privatized housing companies. Members can weigh in on the military housing issue by going to the FRA Action Center at www.fra.org. 

HAC-Def Discusses FY2022 Defense Budget
The House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee held a hearing on FY2022 defense appropriations. The FRA provided a letter to Subcommittee Chairwoman Betty McCollum (Minn.) and Ranking Member Ken Calvert (Calif.) in conjunction with the hearing. The correspondence urged the subcommittee to adequately fund the Defense Health Agency without the need to further increase TRICARE fees, and to implement the electronic health record system. The correspondence also urged HAC-Def to increase funding for military housing and child development centers. A copy of the correspondence is available on the FRA website at www.fra.org.    

President Biden Nominates Del Toro as SecNav 
As predicted in the May 14 edition of NewsBytes, President Joe Biden has submitted Carlos Del Toro to serve as secretary of the Navy. Del Toro is a Naval Academy graduate, and CEO of a tech consultancy. After coming to the United States as a child from Cuba in 1962, Del Toro went on to become the first Hispanic to serve as the captain of an Aegis cruiser or destroyer. His Navy career includes deployments in the Middle East during Operation Desert Storm. The appointment requires Senate confirmation.  

FEATURE  STORY

Before the First Wave
D-Day’s Minesweeping Teams

By Ezra Philips

Prior to D-Day on June 6, 1944, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was tasked with defending the land the Axis powers had usurped. As Allied forces utilized deception campaigns to thwart Axis intelligence, German strategists were deeply involved in attempting to determine where Allied forces would endeavor to reenter Europe. With his sights set on curating an inhibitive calamity for the Allies, Rommel unleashed hundreds of thousands of obstacles to an amphibious assault, from explosive mines to anti-landing craft impediments, which were often bound with mines as well. The Allied nations set their sights on an amalgamated effort to wrest Europe from Nazi Germany’s vice grip — but first, they had to contend with the enemy below the water’s surface. 

Four years after the evacuation of Dunkirk, Operation Overlord, overseen by Gen. Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower, aimed to return Allied forces to Europe with the Allied Navy taking center stage in Operation Neptune, the naval component of the operation. Operation Neptune was led by Adm. Sir Bertram Ramsay, of the British Royal Navy, who stated he operated under the premise that “the mine is the greatest obstacle to our success.” The first line of defense against such threats was comprised of the American Naval Combat Demolition Unit and the British Landing Craft Obstacle Clearing Unit. These sailors were trained for minesweeping and the dismantling of land impediments to clear paths for massive landings of military personnel, vehicles and supplies. Beaches along France’s northern coast, code-named Gold, Sword, Juno, Utah and Omaha, were selected as prime locations to inject enough Allied forces to overwhelm German fortifications and soldiers.
 
Cogs of All Kinds
Allied forces for the entirety of Operation Overlord were comprised of military personnel and resources from Britain, the U.S. and Canada, with additional support from Australia, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Greece, Poland, New Zealand, Norway and the Netherlands. Vast as the Allied forces were, organization of resources found the British Royal Navy taking the helm of Gold and Sword beaches, the Royal Canadian Navy leading the charge on Juno Beach, and the American Navy grasping the reins of Utah and Omaha beaches.
To build a well-oiled machine of a naval force, U.S. Navy Rear Adm. John “Jimmy” Lesslie Hall Jr. organized trainings of increasing realism from January to April of 1944 at the Amphibious Training School in Slapton Sands, England, just southwest of Dartmouth. Army soldiers were designated to clear land-based threats while Navy sailors were tasked with destroying aquatic threats.

Between the two demolition units, troops were armed with the skills to disarm various types of mines, including acoustic, pressure and magnetic mines. Minesweeping teams had to innovate just as creatively with their tactics of disarmament as the enemy had had to in their creation of such devices.  Working in tandem, each group was trained for their counterpart’s tasks to ensure a greater likelihood that the mission would be accomplished despite casualties or changes in procedure. 

Training locations were meticulously chosen with each of the five beaches in mind, including the types of sand, rockiness of the shore or potential inland bodies of water to be traversed. Exercises eventually included live mines to be detonated to facilitate the safe arrival of other units to incapacitate bunkers onshore and inhibit defensive fire. Details were not spared, and immense efforts were taken to ensure the myriad cogs in the wheel of the upcoming battle were prepared to move in alignment with one another.  

In the Interim
The old naval adage, “Any ship can be a minesweeper — once,” embodies the weight of the tremendous finality of mistakes laid upon the shoulders of service members in the Naval Combat Demolition Units, or NCDUs, and the Landing Craft Obstacle Clearing Units, or LCOCUs.  While the Allied Navy committed the resources possible to a tremendous manufacturing endeavor for landing craft to deposit soldiers and all the makings of a formidable invasion onshore, minesweeping forces had to designate uses for the vessels available to them. Repurposed fishing vessels, danlayer boats and inflatable Landing Craft Rubber boats served a variety of purposes, including navigating in search of mines, laying out illuminated dan buoys to guide following craft through cleared channels, and collecting debris post-sweeping.  

In contrast to their mission to remove mines, minesweepers also took on laying out their own fields of aquatic explosives. The Allies recognized the value in utilizing mines for their own deflection of incoming enemy vessels once the invasion began, and devised Operation Maple. The multiphase strategy commenced with a basic minelaying schedule and evolved, from April 17 to May 9 of 1944, into a more precise targeting of sown mines around major enemy-occupied ports from off the Frisian Islands to the coast of Brittany, France. To ensure the mines remained out of the way until their defenses were needed, a portion were set on a timer to head ashore when suitable. The remainder of the phases would continue with the rest of the force on D-Day. 

Wading Into Battle
With the total immersion of training behind them, soldiers and sailors of all ranks waited until May 28, when Ramsay made the call to arms and initiated the migration of Allied naval forces to their prospective embarkation ports in southeast England. Favorable weather was crucial to the viability of the operation, so when troublesome conditions presented themselves, Eisenhower deliberated amongst his staff and Group Capt. James M. Stagg, the chief meteorologist, to determine when to commence the attack. After days of deliberation and a 24-hour postponement, the Allies were finally at least minimally reassured with the faintest improvement of the forecast. June 6 was confirmed as the day of the invasion, with preparatory actions beginning in late afternoon the day prior. 

On the afternoon of June 5, 1944, members of the NCDUs and LCOCUs boarded 325 Navy vessels, of which 109 were fleet minesweepers slated to take on larger swaths of mine-laden waters.  At 5 p.m., smaller minesweeping vessels and their units set forth in aggressive weather conditions with 4-to-6-foot waves to begin clearing the path ahead of the fleet minesweepers by 8 p.m. Fleet minesweeping flotillas of nine ships each chipped away at the minefields to clear 10 channels, a pair for each of the five beaches. One channel was allocated for faster 14 mph craft, and the second was for slower 6 mph craft. Despite treacherous conditions, all channels were set alight with coordinated dan buoys, finishing this phase just minutes from dawn. However, the early morning brought danger as German soldiers discovered the work of the minesweepers and responded with offensive fire and E-boat attacks. 

Mines proved a menacing adversary, despite the diligence of NCDU and LCOCU service members.  Operation Neptune’s first casualty was tallied when the USS OSPREY (AM-56), a Raven-class minesweeper, struck a mine and sank shortly after launch. Each of the five beaches presented a different set and level of challenges based on how they were prioritized for reinforcement by German officials.  German soldiers at Omaha Beach were overwhelmingly well-positioned for an invasion compared to the other beaches, with more soldiers, firepower, combat vehicles and vessels. Of the 175 NCDU members at Omaha Beach, 31 were lost and 60 were injured1 while navigating to the shoreline through enemy fire to contend with the land-based phase of their demolition mission. 

With the intention of protecting their strongholds across the Normandy coastline, the German navy employed a number of responses. Along with the formidable threat of E-boats, the German navy commanded 47 “human torpedo” vessels, in which a pilot drove a converted torpedo with another torpedo affixed to the underbelly waiting to be launched at a chosen target. Although these human torpedoes lacked efficiency, three Allied minesweeping vessels were unable to evade their fire while fastidiously accomplishing their original task. Minesweepers were not alone in their risk of striking a mine; a number of Landing Craft Tanks were lost to such tragedies as they steamed in to shore. Between the alteration of target landings due to strong ocean currents and the battering of the waves, the incoming reinforcements largely had to shift course and innovate safer ways to get ashore before reversing course to reload soldiers, sailors, equipment and vehicles. 

Overwhelming the Strongholds
Following the dedicated work of the minesweepers, the Allied Navy deposited at least 132,000 men by the evening of June 62 through the sheer grit and determination of those who stood amongst their fellow men at the end of the day, and those who would go on to be honored for their sacrifice.  While Omaha Beach saw the highest losses, some 4,400 Allied sailors and soldiers were lost3 with 10,000 total casualties4 across all the beaches on what had become D-Day. Mines continued to pose a threat as efforts were made to widen channels and maintain areas that had been cleared; lives and ships lost due to mines would tally up for months. By June 30, 1944, when Ramsay affirmed that Operation Neptune was complete, the Allies had succeeded in installing over 850,000 men and 148,0005 vehicles on the shores of Normandy, pitching the pendulum of favorable outcomes away from the Axis powers.

Before the first wave of troops landed on that memorable day, the mine-infested waters off the coast of Normandy had been the hidden barrier to a return to Europe and the liberation of France.  Knowing what was at stake and what would be asked of them, minesweeping teams went on to be recognized for their selfless and rigorous contributions, which allowed the Allies to collectively shake Europe free of the Axis powers. NCDU teams at Omaha Beach were awarded a Presidential Unit Citation, and those at Utah Beach received a Navy Unit Commendation. These men overcame the challenges before them with selflessness and sacrifice, embodying the sentiments of Operation Overlord and Operation Neptune. Their dedicated acts of service laid the structure for the very face of honor.     
FRA

1. According to Naval Special Warfare Command.
2. According to the U.K.’s Imperial War Museums.  
3. According to the June 5, 2019, BBC article “D-Day: What happened during the landings of 1944?”
4. According to the June 6, 2014, White House press release 
FACT SHEET: Normandy Landings.”
5. According to the U.K.’s Imperial War Museums.

FEATURE

The Maine Maritime Museum
The City of Ships Honors its Seafaring Heritage
By Ann Norvell Gray

The town of Bath, Maine, lies along the Kennebec River on the ragged coastal shores of the U.S.’s easternmost state. It is slightly north of a line drawn due east from Toronto, and nearer to Montreal than to New York. Intricate waterways are everywhere along this jagged coast, and its seafaring history is an integral part of its villages and towns. On a map, the land looks rather like the edge of a sheet of ice after an active 2-year-old took to it with a mallet. But don’t let that comparison fool you. Bedrock underlies the apparent fragments, and clawed lobsters love its cold shallows lined with perfect hiding places. Fifty-seven active lighthouses and six Coast Guard stations lie along the Maine coast all the way to New Brunswick, Canada. 
In the 18th century, our emerging nation’s first lines of communication and travel were its rivers and bays. Maine’s coast was alive with merchant and passenger ships carrying goods and people back and forth across the Atlantic and up and down the coast, as well as with fishing vessels harvesting the bounty of the sea. The town of Bath’s access to both inland forests and the Atlantic Ocean along the Kennebec River made it the ideal spot for the birth of the nation’s shipbuilding industry. During the boom times of the mid-19th century, at least 19 shipbuilding firms were active here. The two- and three-masted schooners built here served the growing importance of 19th century coastal commerce, and even larger ships became integral to the coal trade later in the century. 
So it is no surprise that the Maine Maritime Museum grew up in Bath, or that its history is a story of dedicated and enthusiastic growth into one of the most highly regarded museums of its kind in the world. The museum is actually a collection of buildings devoted to teaching its visitors the richness of Maine’s maritime heritage and culture on a 20-acre campus on the river. The site is anchored by the Percy & Small Shipyard, the only fully restored historic shipyard in the country, which was donated to the museum in 1975. Four of its original buildings remain, each of them designated for the manufacture of components of the ships, and each continuing to show visitors exactly what was done in them and how.

A Massive Ship for a Massive Industry
The company around which the campus evolved was active from 1893, when the partnership between Frank Small and Capt. Samuel Percy was established, until 1920, when the age of the wooden schooners was at an end. During those years, the firm produced 41 four-, five- and six-masted ships built to haul coal. Among them was the Wyoming, the 450-foot, six-masted colossus launched in 1909. It was the largest of all the American wooden schooners ever built. In March of 1924, it sailed from Boston to Norfolk, Virginia, to collect a load of coal bound for Canada. On its return voyage north, passing the south shore of Cape Cod, it encountered a violent winter storm and went down with all hands off of Chatham, Massachusetts, somewhere southeast of Monomoy Island. It was believed that Wyoming’s great length caused it to flex in heavy seas, and despite reinforcing iron strapping around the ship’s hull, the violence of the gale was too much for it. The search and survey company that finally found it in 2003 discovered that it had shattered amidships. The age of the great wooden schooners was over.
On the grounds of the museum today, there is a full-sized sculptural representation of the great ship, outlining its bow and stern in white steel with six flagpoles in the positions of its masts. Using the most reductive of designs, and without encumbering the physical space of the campus, the sculptors Joe Hemes and Andreas von Huene have given visitors the chance to stand beside it and in it to feel how huge the Wyoming really was. 

Schooners Up Close
Among the museum’s permanent exhibits is the Snow Squall, the 19th century’s last surviving American wooden schooner — or what’s left of it. The tattered remnant of its bow now on display is all that remained of this fast ship after it ran aground in 1864 not far from Cape Horn. It lay mostly abandoned until it was rediscovered in the Falkland Islands in 1979 and returned home to Maine three years later. Twentieth century technology put an end to American dependence on these beautiful wooden vessels, and now only the Bath Iron Works remains in the shipbuilding business on the Kennebec. There is something almost inexpressibly sad about seeing a list cataloguing the fates of the 19th century’s fleets of wooden schooners — reading over and over again  “disappeared,” “lost,” “wrecked,” “condemned,” “burned,” “abandoned” — and realizing that not one of them survives.
Fortunately, among the treasures collected and preserved by the Maine Maritime Museum is the Bath-built Mary E, a small, two-masted clipper schooner built in 1906 as a fishing boat. It also carried passengers, hauled some cargo, delivered mail and is rumored to have been a Prohibition-era rum runner. This little lady with a possible secret in her past was resurrected in the 1960s and made seaworthy by the great-grandson of her builder. In 2017, Mary E came home to Bath, was restored to its original form in the museum’s historic shipyard, and relaunched in the Kennebec a year later. It can be toured year-round, and sails are offered in the summer and early fall. The museum also takes lighthouse and nature cruises around the local waterways aboard the Merrymeeting, a comfortable motor cruiser named for a local bay.

Maine-specific Exhibits
It’s unlikely that anyone thinks about life on the waters of Maine without thinking of lobsters. So in 1985, a building was added to house a lobstering exhibit on the campus. People have been pulling these delicious crustaceans out of the water here for thousands of years. When Europeans first began arriving here, the iconic Maine clawed lobster was so plentiful and so easy to collect that it was a staple food of the poor. Now, a lobster is most often a luxury saved for special occasions. The museum’s popular presentation was recently overhauled to reflect the new realities of fishing for lobsters. The reimagined “Lobstering & the Maine Coast” exhibit engages modern interactive technology to bring to life the history of the science, the skills, the boat designs, the ecological factors and the business acumen required for success in this quintessentially Maine livelihood. 
In 1989, a proper brick museum building was built on campus next to the shipyard. Before its construction, visitors were ferried between two sites. For the first time, the new Maritime History Building gave the exhibits, the museum’s research library and a gift shop one space designed appropriately for them. The building also included storage space for the collections and offices for the staff. Twenty-one years later, the Portland Harbor Museum merged with the Maine Maritime Museum, and its collections were moved to Bath. A more recent addition includes an event space, expanding the museum’s relationship with the community. The collections now housed here comprise artifacts of every imaginable kind from American seafaring life and history, including ships’ models and original plans, reference books, manuscripts, and more than 40,000 photographs.
The galleries are an interesting example of how modern museums continue to upend old traditions of freezing lifeless moments of the past without context or relevance to the present. Among their lively presentations is the immersive “Into the Lantern: A Lighthouse Experience,” which replicates a tower room from a Cape Elizabeth lighthouse, includes an original second-order Fresnel lens, and shows video images of what you might have seen from the original tower. The museum’s website notes that Jeremy D’Entremont, author and historian for the American Lighthouse Foundation, had this to say about it: “[The exhibit] is a beautifully designed, immersive experience that does justice to the ‘jewel of the lighthouse,’ the Fresnel lens. These beautiful works of functional art were one of the pinnacles of 19th century technology, and it’s wonderful to see one displayed in such a thoughtful way. I have visited many lens exhibits in many museums, and this is the best I’ve seen.”

Exploring From a Distance
Of course, there is much more to be seen and learned in this place. Visitors come away with a new appreciation for the art and craft that predated the machines and materials we now take entirely for granted. The hardiness and courage of the earliest mariners and the imagination and skill of the designers and craftspeople who built their vessels is made clear. A rich taste of what’s on offer on-site is accessible to everyone online through the museum’s own website and the connections it offers to other resources. The introductory video leading the “Overview” page of the “About” tab on their website is a very fine start. 
The first of the websites listed here under “Resources” includes captivating slide presentations narrated by Christopher Timm, the museum’s knowledgeable and articulate chief curator, covering aspects of the collection’s paintings of ships, shipbuilding magnates, and these magnates’ family members. There are more of these offerings as you navigate their site. 
And if you are in need of a sailboat yourself, as we went to press, the museum was offering a 12-foot 1969 Beetle Cat for sale. The little sailing dinghy was designed by John Beetle and first built in 1921; this one has been meticulously restored on-site. Call the museum and ask Kurt Spiridakis in the Boatshop if you’ve missed your chance. It’s a lovely little thing, and its price goes right back into support for this beloved institution on the Kennebec. 

Resources:
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/mainemaritimemuseum
www.mainemaritimemuseum.org/collection/research/
www.mainemaritimemuseum.org/explore-online/
www.capecodtimes.com/article/20031108/NEWS01/311089950
www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g40505-d103733-Reviews-Maine_Maritime_Museum-Bath_Maine.html

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MEMBERHSIP MATTERS

This column did not get published

Christina is the FRA’s director of membership. She can be reached by email at ChristinaH@fra.org or by telephone at 703-683-1400, ext. 123.
Shipmate News

1. Branch 89, Atlanta, Ga.
Following a recent branch meeting, several Shipmates visited the Gwinnett Veterans Memorial Museum, where Shipmate David Berndt, center in the red shirt, is the director. David and his volunteers keep the museum stocked with artifacts and are very knowledgeable.

2. Branch 115, Lehigh Valley, Pa.
On May 10, the Black Diamond Branch presented the Lehigh Valley Division of the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps with an official Sea Cadets flag. Branch Treasurer Larry Roth (L) and Branch VP Dan Heitzer (R) gave the flag to Lead Sea Cadet Mike Dixon (center).

3. Branch 70, Poway, Calif.
Sophia Banner won third place in the Americanism Essay Contest at the branch level for 12th grade.

4. Branch 70, Poway, Calif.
Isabel Eaton won second place in the Americanism Essay Contest at the branch level for 8th grade.

5. Branch 130, Indianapolis, Ind.
During a recent branch meeting, Shipmate Hank Jacoby from Greenwood, Indiana, displayed his new quilt made by his two sisters. Look closely at the neckline of our national bird represented in the quilt and you will see several uniform buttons incorporated. 

6. Branch 382, Nampa, Idaho
Shipmates prepared “USS SPUD,” Parade Craft 382, for the Nampa Parade America to celebrate Armed Forces Day. (L to R) PRPNW Hazel Bettencourt, Chuck Crooks, Branch VP Bill Sutherland, Jim Murrell, Don Franklin and Les Meade. Photo by Branch President/RPNW Danny Hunt.

7. Branch 208, Jacksonville, N.C.
Camp Lejeune Branch Shipmates attended the Peace Officers Memorial Day Observance on May 14.  The event included an honor guard, ceremonial music, a gun salute and a ceremonial wreath-laying. The branch members posed with Director of Public Safety Chief Mike Yaniero.  

8. Branch 104, Puyallup, WaSH.
Assistant Principal John Prosser of Bethel High School in Spanaway, Washington, presented Colleen Fanning the Fleet Reserve Award. Fanning is the incoming cadet commander of the Air Force Junior ROTC Squadron at the school. This is a unit that Branch 104 supports even though it’s an Air Force JROTC unit.

9. Branch 207, Dale City, Va.
The Fredericksburg Area Veterans Council, which FRA Branch 207 is part of, held at the Fredericksburg Area War Memorial in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Branch President Bill Ashton was in attendance.

10. Branch 89, Atlanta, Ga.
Branch members their and family joined the effort to place American flags at each gravesite at the Georgia National Cemetery in Canton, Georgia, in observance of Memorial Day. (L to R) Shipmate John Sailers, Mrs. Barron, Shipmate Wayne Barron and Branch President Ernie Rose.

11. Branch 382, Nampa, Idaho
Branch members traveled from Nampa to Twin Falls, Idaho, to meet other branch members who live in that area. They had a lunch and presented certificates and Continuous Membership Pins. (L to R) Branch President Danny Hunt, John Cook (35 years), Andrew Morales (25 years), Joe Putman (45 years), Roger Swarts (35 years), William Peer (30 years) and Branch VP Bill Sutherland. 

12. Branch 98, Shreveport, La.
Branch 98 held a Memorial Day service on Cross Lake in Shreveport, Louisiana. (L to R) Lee. Jeter, Charles Smith, Branch President Willie Hill, PRPSC Emmett Smith, U.S. Representative Mike Johnson, Chuck Lester, Saundra Smith of Unit 371, Rodney Longstratt, Diane Harvey and Bill Davis.

13. Branch 124, Lakehurst, N.J.
Branch President Raymond S. Rizzo’s wedding was held May 29. (L to R) Vernon McLaughlin (honorary member, bride’s stepfather), Janice Engel (Unit 124 chaplain, mother of the bride), Leeann (Unit 124 member, bride), Raymond Rizzo (Branch 124 president, groom), Lance (Branch 124 member, son of bride) and R.J. (son of bride).

14. Branch 226, Staten Island, N.Y.
Branch members assembled at U.S. Coast Guard Station, New York to conduct their annual Memorial Day Wreath Ceremony and present the Widow’s Medallion. The event was held indoors due to a nor’easter. (L to R) Joe Marchetta, Daren Jacobs, Christine Salamone, Steve Ayling, Roseann Thompson, James Brown, Albert Klingele, Thomas Moskei, William Steigler and James Haynes.

TAPS

Name	Rating	Branch
Andrus, Dale	RMC, USN	MAL

Backlin, Erwin D.	AMHC, USN	261
Bailey, Dale I.	AMCS, USN	163
Baird, Roy H.	BM1, USN	MAL
Balolong, Alejandro P.	PO2, USN	247
Beck, Delmar G.	AMCS, USN	86
Beeler, Earl K.	SHCM, USN	194
Blankenship, Jefferson P.	PO1, USN	91
Bowers, R. M.	ETCM, USN	MAL
Brooks, Harold E.	SKCS, USN	84
Burroughs, James E.	TMCM, USN	57

Carter, John W. 	ABE1, USN	MAL
Casto, William F.	USN	104
Caulkins, Gary W.	RP1, USN	192
Clark, Berl E.	HMC, USN	382
Clevenger, John F.	PNC, USN	162
Cloud, Robert R.	GMM3, USN	94
Cody, Donald R.	YNCM, USN	276
Connolly, Martin P.	AEC, USN	70
Coryer, James A.	1STSGT, USMC	MAL
Cowden, Lewis R.	EMC, USN	MAL
Craul, James E.	MMC, USN	MAL
Crawley, William H.	AE1, USN	MAL
Crowell, William L.	LCDR, USNR	24

Dade, Donn	STSCS, USN	46
Darby, Joel J.	AMHC, USN	89
Davidson, Donald B.	GYSGT, USMC	251
Davis, Martin	STG1, USN	382
Davis, Norman D.	EO1, USN	MAL
De Felice, Walter	QMCS, USN	47
Dean, Thomas B.	CS1, USN	MAL
Deardorff, John D.	USN	346
Desantis, Charles	MMLFR, USN	13
Diaz, Rodolfo	SCPO, USN	MAL
PRPEC Dix, Paul G.	CDR, USN	24
Dlhopolsky, James J.	AT3, USN	97
Duley, Horace R.	GMCS, USN	172

Ebersole, Richard L.	RM2, USN	31
Edwards, James L.	PNCM, USN	334
Evans, Matthew S.	LTC, USN	24

Ferrell, Jimmy D.	EMCM, USN	60

Gallegos, Maurilio	FTGC, USN	MAL
Gearhart, Harry R.	USN	MAL
Gerrish, Raymon S.	AMS1, USN	MAL
Gleason, Joseph E.	BTC, USN	269
Gonzales, Nestor G.	AMS1, USN	247
Gracey, Clyde L.	ADRC, USN	MAL
Green, Paul E.	SH1, USN	MAL
Gregory, Robert H.	BMC, USN	67

Hall, James G.	SGT, USMC	212
Halpen, Kenneth F.	EN3, USN	24
Harig, Edward	MMC, USN	MAL
Harnby, Edward J.	BMCM, USN	302
Hastings, Lawrence	RM1, USN	59
Hendrickson, Edwin F.	MRCM, USN	MAL
Herr, Richard L.	STG2, USN	MAL
Hiatt, William E.	DTC, USN	188
Holsapfel, Carl L.	MRC, USN	MAL
Hoskins, Nelson R.	MMC, USN	MAL
Howard, Richard E.	MSGT, USMC	MAL

Ilund, Henry J.	NCCM(SW), USN	MAL
Imlay, Ronald F.	PNCS, USN	08

Jackson, Timothy	CDR, USN	MAL
Jensen, Robert L.	ADR1, USN	MAL
Jernegan, Roger L.	ATC, USN	97
Johnson, Lawrence R.	GMTCS, USN	268
Johnson, William O.	MMCM, USN	290
Jones, Earl J.	HMCS, USN	MAL
Jones, Gary W.	HMC, USN	MAL
Juan, Felipe C.	RP1, USN	247

Kell, George E.	CDR, USN	93
Kelsay, Thomas A.	ICCS, USN	60
Kress, Ralph J.	AEC, USN	263
Kummerfeldt, Larry L.	ADCS, USN	136

Larsen, Harold R.	AE1, USN	29
Lauffer, Willis E.	MM1, USN	MAL
Leighton, Francis R.	ABH2, USN	31
Long, Patricia	YNC, USNR	44
Lucas, John D.	BUC, USN	MAL
Luna, Angel G.	MSCM, USN	261

MacGlaflin, James E.	FTC, USN	MAL
Madere, Harry A.	CWO2, USN	92
Magargee, LeRoy F.	SGTMAJ, USMC	MAL
Mandt, Robert W.	EN1, USN	335
Matthews, Carl L.	MRCM, USN	161
May, Alan	ENC(MDV), USN	MAL
McCarthy, Eugene	SCPO, USN	MAL
McLaughlin, Berkeley J.	CPO, USN	156
Medley, Peter	RM1(SS), USN	MAL
Mellott, James	BMC, USN	MAL
Merrill, William	SGT, USMC	212
Metts, Albert E.	SGT MAJ, USMC	208
Miller, Frank E.	AMSC, USN	MAL
Miller, Murl T.	RMCM, USN	MAL
Minerva, Royal E.	ADCS, USN	91
Moore, Gene	AS1, USN	MAL

Naegeli, Robert E.	ABCM, USN	MAL
Nelson, Charles M.	PNC, USN	61
Nelson, Dewey J.	CPO, USN	14
Nelson, George R.	PNC, USN	17
Nelson, Reginald D.	MSGT, USMC	302
Nido, Guglielmo D.	AMEC, USN	MAL
Nishimura, Joseph A.	MGYSGT, USMC	208

Oneth, Harold P.	AQ2, USN	126
Ortner, Arthur E.	CUCM, USN	MAL
Osborn, Jack D.	SMC, USN	61

Pacula, Edward J.	MCPO, USN	MAL
Pepper, James M.	ADCS, USN	89
Pierce, Fred A.	GMC, USN	244
Plouffe, George R.	EMC, USN	MAL
Potter, George A.	GYSGT, USMC	208
Pow, Joseph J.	FTCM(SS), USN	20
Praeg, Harold E.	ADJ1, USN	MAL
Pritchett, Leroy E.	EOC, USN	MAL

Rabe, Carl A	SKCM, USN	MAL
Rector, Carol E.	AEC, USN	161
Rinehart, Raymond A.	GMTC, USN	163
Rios, Alfonso F.	GYSGT, USMC	49
Ritchie, Marion E.	YN1, USN	307
Rogers, Stanley D.	RM, USN	MAL
Rose, Joseph B.	GMCM, USN	53

Sander, Willy A.	CWO4, USN	226
Sandleman, Marcus A.	SMSGT, USAF	24
Saunders, Herb H.	MSCS(SS), USN	72
Schenkelberg, Clayton A.	TMC, USN	70
Scherer, Thomas J.	CSC, USN	MAL
Schultz, Donald	SCPO, USN	MAL
Serpa, John T.	PNC, USN	72
Smith, Blakeslee A.	MAJ, USMC	MAL
Smyczek, Steven L.	BMC, USN	MAL
Spaller, William W.	HTCM, USN	MAL
Speight, Kenneth L.	ADRC, USN	91
Stahle, Fred W.	AOC, USN	MAL
Strusinski, John R.	CWO4, USN	08

Teders, Patrick A.	ET1, USN	MAL
Thomas, Elgin O.	YNCS, USN	60
Thompson, Thomas R.	EMCM(SS), USN	MAL
Thomson, Robert J.	PNC, USN	269
Tidwell, Paul	BMC, USN	186
Townsend, Murray B.	IMC, USN	MAL
Turner, John W.	CDR, USN	MAL

Unruh, Ronald L.	CSC, USN	MAL

Vancourt, Arthur C.	SCPO, USN	264
Vandenheuvel, Mary V.	USN	MAL
Vanorden, John	DPCS, USN	89
Vargo, Walter	ADCS, USN	161

Waidelich, Frank	SKC, USN	MAL
Walling, Kenneth E.	TM2, USN	104
Walsh, Joseph	CAPT, USN	MAL
Ward, William E.	AZCM, USN	261
Watkins, Earl A.	FCCS, USN	MAL
Weakley, Jerry L.	MUCS, USN	MAL
Wentworth, Shirley D.	ETC, USN	22
Wissinger, Barry J.	DKCM, USN	91
Wood, Eugene D.	EN1, USN	MAL
Worland, Wallace	RMCM, USN	46
Wright, Daniel O.	MCPO (SS), USN	339
Wright, Malcolm E.	AQC, USN	97

Zierlein, Leonard L.	BUC, USN	MAL

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LA FRA Auxiliary

A Message from the South Central Regional President

It is truly an honor to be the president of the South Central Regional for another year. Now that most people have been vaccinated for the COVID-19 virus, many of our daily routines are getting back to normal. I have been able to travel to some of the LA FRA units this year and have stayed in touch with all the units in the South Central Region via phone. 

In June, I visited with Baton Rouge Unit 371 and NOLA Unit 162, and then headed to Old Town Alexandria for the annual pilgrimage that took place on June 30. 

The units in my region are still collecting items to donate to nursing and veteran homes. We have members making masks for hospitals and veteran nursing homes. Some members are volunteering at soup kitchens to help feed the needy. Baton Rouge Branch and Unit 371 have donated crates of watermelons and cases of soda and water, along with some snacks, to veteran homes. NOLA Branch and Unit 162 hosted a Memorial Day ceremony and dinner.
The Navy-wide chief, E-6 and E-5 advancement examinations that were held on board Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas, enjoyed breakfast served courtesy of both the Corpus Christi Branch and Corpus Christi Unit 94. Typically, these breakfast-time exams would require seven separate exams to complete. This year, due to 6-foot social distancing requirements, it took seven breakfast-time tests and four lunch-time exams. 

The South Central Regional Convention will be held at the LeBossier Hotel at 4000 Industrial Drive, Bossier City, LA, 71112 from Aug. 19 to 22. Hotel room rates are $69 per night plus tax. The telephone number to make reservations is 318-747-0711. Please state that you are with the Fleet Reserve Association.       

In Loyalty, Protection and Service, 
Gini Larson 

Gini is the LA FRA South Central regional president.

FINANCE MATTERS

Five Ways to Help Protect Your Family Online
From listening to music to ordering groceries to working from home, almost all aspects of our daily lives are connected to the internet in some way. But our always-connected nature can come with risks: According to the FBI’s “2020 Internet Crime Report,” the bureau’s Internet Crime Complaint Center averaged almost 15,000 complaints a week and recorded $4.1 billion in victim losses in 2020. 
Here are ways to help protect your family online:

Learn to Spot Imposter Scams
Have you ever received a call, text, or email regarding suspicious activity detected on your account or suspended online access? It could be a scammer trying to convince you to share sensitive information that would enable them to access your accounts. 
Increasingly, criminals are able to impersonate financial institutions, large companies, and even government agencies by spoofing caller ID or email addresses so they appear to be legitimate. When you receive a suspicious or unexpected communication, do not respond or click any email links. Instead, contact the company directly using a phone number on its website. Learn more about how to spot common scams at www.wellsfargo.com/security.

Manage and Monitor Your Credit
If your data has been compromised through a security breach, consider placing a fraud alert on your credit file by contacting one of the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian or TransUnion. The one you contact will automatically notify the others.
Make a habit of reviewing your credit report annually. You can request a free report at www.annualcreditreport.com for yourself and children over the age of 13. Look for unauthorized accounts that may have been opened in your names. 

Limit What You Share on Social Media
Thieves scour social media profiles for clues to security questions, passwords and other information that could help them impersonate potential victims online. 
First, set your profiles to private and encourage your family members to do the same. Also, restrict your social media contacts to people you know personally. Finally, watch what information you disclose. Revealing personal information in your social profiles or posts can put you at greater risk of identity theft, especially if your bank or other companies use that information to verify your identity. 

Protect Your Home Network
Create a strong password for your wireless network in your home. Use a unique phrase with a mix of letters, numbers and special characters. Avoid using any part of your name or email address, information shared on social media, or anything else someone could easily guess. 
When you are configuring your router, the Department of Homeland Security recommends choosing the Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) setting, which is the strongest encryption option. 

Stay Up to Date 
Cybercriminals change their tactics frequently, so try to stay on top of the latest threats. Keep your devices and apps updated with the latest security patches, and be sure to review the resources provided by your bank, investment firm, and other financial providers to understand ways to help protect your family and yourself online. Sign up to receive scam alerts from the Federal Trade Commission by visiting www.ftc.gov and selecting “Get Consumer Alerts.”      

This article was written by/for Wells Fargo Advisors and provided courtesy of Carl M. Trevisan, Managing Director-Investments and Stephen M. Bearce, First Vice President- Investments in Alexandria, Virginia, at 800-247-8602.
Investments in securities and insurance products are: NOT FDIC-INSURED/NOT BANK-GUARANTEED/MAY LOSE VALUE.
Wells Fargo Advisors is a trade name used by Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC, Member SIPC, a registered broker-dealer and non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company.
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