The USS Edward McDonnell Association is a loose amalgam of former crew members who decided that it was time to re-establish old contacts.

The impetus started back in August, 2002. Several former members of A/S Division from the late 60's, got together at Dave Wendelowski's' house in West Haven, CT. From that humble beginning, we got in contact with a few more former crew from the same era and had another get together at Don (The Warrant )  Richardson's house in Southington, CT. December, 2002.

What follows will be some of the stories submitted by former crew members about things that happened while on board.

(  I am trying to find out information on a "man overboard" incident that occurred in 1973 involving Tim Norwood. If you have any info or know how to contact Tim, please email me at john1297@cox.net       JC


On Sept 30,2009,  I received an email about a SN Underhill who died while the ship was in Naples, Italy in '85 or '86. If anyone has any information about him or can expand on this please contact me.

11/11/09: I have just received a request concerning a QM3 Vernon T. Foster who was possibly on board in 77-79. There was a QMCS Vernon Tyrone Foster who died on the USS Stark when it was attacked in the Middle East. The timeframe seems to fit but we cannot be sure they are the same person. If they are, we want to be sure to add him to the TAPS page. Anyone having any information to confirm this, please contact me ASAP.

JC

I have received the following information concerning Seaman Tim Norwood and the "Man Overboard" incident.

My name is Frank Mulhern. I was the PN2 on board at the time as well as Captain Lamottes 1JV phone talker on the bridge.

As I remember that night, we were headed East into the Med, escorting the USS Iwo Jima which was loaded with Marines heading to Crete as the staging area for the Yom Kippur War in October, 1973. We met the Iwo just inside the Straits of Gibraltar and the entire time we were being shadowed by a Soviet AGI. Somewhere further east in the Med is where the incident took place.

It was around 2300 hours and we were to refuel. The seas were moderate to heavy and we began a long approach to the oiler (can't remember which one). The Old Man (Lamotte) sent the messenger of the watch (Tim Norwood) down to the foc'sle to lash a lantern to the port lifelines in order to have a reference to the bow of the oiler. No one was sent with Timmy nor did he have a lifeline attached. Now around 2330, we made a final approach to the oiler and also started taking water over the bow. The lantern was never lashed to the lifeline, and fortunately, I believe for Timmy, the oiler had "black oil" made up for the transfer instead of JP5. Once the Captain learned they weren't ready for JP5, he broke away, but Timmy never came back to the bridge.

Finally, the Captain mustered the crew and discovered Timmy was nowhere to be found. His shoe was found on the starboard side, wedged between a chock and a stanchion.  Now we began the man overboard drill. The Russian AGI sent a flashing light message asking what the problem was and was told "Man Overboard'. the AGI sent back, "we will search with you". The Iwo launched helos and all night the helos dropped flares and the Eddy Mac had all hands on deck to search the water. It looked like a war zone with all the flares and lights everywhere.

Around 0830 the next morning, one of the helos found Timmy and took him back to the Iwo for medical care for his broken ankle. The AGI went back to war games after we told him that the man had been found and was alive.

A few weeks later, Timmy was back on the Eddy Mac and when I checked him back on board, I asked him why he didn't request shore duty or something other than coming back to the Eddy Mac. ( NOTE: Apparently, survivors of such an incident are entitled to a transfer to a duty station of their choice) He replied " I want the Old Man to remember what he did, every time he sees me". 

Needless to say, if you knew Timmy, he took advantage of troubling the Old Man whenever he could, even at times knocking on the Captains stateroom door after coming back from the beach. 

I told Frank that I had received other accounts of this incident that placed the blame on the XO and asked him what his take was on this aspect.

My perspective is that the CO was responsible. When you think about it, why would Norwood harass the CO if the XO was responsible. Tim knew who had instructed him to go out in bad seas.

I have often wondered what would have been the outcome IF the oiler had been prepared to transfer JP5 instead of black oil.

I personally spoke to Tim when he came back on board and asked him questions like..."How close were we (the ship) at night to you? How did you stay afloat so long?  He indicated we were so close at times that he could see men on deck but that we could not see or hear him. He indicated that he stayed afloat with his dungarees, just like taught at boot camp. He said he could not really swim well and he also used his white hat. He also told me that the outcome might have been different if he had his bosuns knife with him.

(NOTE: I guess our Boot Camp instructors really did know what they were talking about. Norwood went over the side not wearing a life jacket or life belt.)

Many Thanks to Frank for providing this story. 

TIM NORWOOD. IF YOU EVER GET A CHANCE TO READ THIS, PLEASE CONTACT ME AT THE WEBSITE. I  WOULD LOVE TO PUBLISH YOUR ACCOUNT OF THAT CRAZY NIGHT.
 



   Jay Eddy writes:

" I think it was Easter "Eve", the Saturday night before Easter Sunday, 1970. We were on a "work up" cruise for our upcoming European tour that June.

We were doing an ASW exercise at night. I was the OOD for the 12-4AM watch. The Commodore (who would become the complainant for this incident) was riding the USS Page.
My recollection was that he got great joy in beating up on the CO, Alex Sinclair. The good 'ol
Eddy Mac was notorious for chronic mechanical ailments and had a propensity for "backfiring" before a lights out, dead-in-the-water, incident.(particularly while steaming in formation). This night someone decided to have the exercise conducted Light Out, and thats when I gave the Commodore fodder for a real ass chewing. 

We are on station around a carrier or an oiler, I don't remember which. The Page was out in front, on point, and got contact on the submarine. They announce it and begin to maneuver in pursuit. I stay on station and don't advise the Captain what is going on. So Alex is toes up in sweet repose while the Commodore on the Page is on the bridge and paying attention.

I continue to stay on station and watch the Page on radar as she moves and maneuvers towards us. And I continue to stay on station as we lose the Page in the sea return on the radar. Of course, I can't really "see" her, never did. I guess that was the whole point of the exercise. As far as I know no one on our ship did. But one person on the Page saw us as we passed each other, going in opposite directions at flank speed, only a stones throw away from each other. It was the Commodore and the brown stuff really hit the fan. He began screaming on the radio for the Captain and quickly figured out he wasn't on the bridge and that his OOD was responsible for maneuvering to avoid a ship in pursuit of a submarine contact.

So Alex took a major ass chewing that night. I think he knew how scared I was as he took the heat and let it go with me. I cried that night after getting off watch. First time in a very long time.
Believe me, I was scared of what might have happened and not the ass chewing part.

Anyway, with that behind us, I think we performed admirably for the rest of the work up. Alex continued to call me "Ace" but he should have renamed me "Dummy". We left on the North Atlantic Cruise in May and in spite of being continually hassled by the Commodore,( I think he was one of those guys who was picked on as a kid and this was payback time) we did well.

Alex even took me to play tennis on grass courts in Southampton (first & last time for me). I still play and have had my own court for the last 20 years, just no grass.  Thanks Alex. that day and the whole European Tour, I remember vividly and fondly.

I have a friend from Australia whom I have known since 1975, when I started traveling down there.
All of his correspondence starts with "Hey Ace!" so the tradition continues.

I have always had fond memories of Alex. A true gentleman through thick and thin.

Regards,  

Jay Eddy"



Steve Dolan writes:

"My name is Steve Dolan and I was an ETR-2 on the Eddy Mac way back in 1977.
 
I was the POOW on the 1600 -2000 watch when they called away the R&A  (rescue & assistance) detail to pump out a flooded dry dock pump room at the Brasewell shipyard in South Boston. They loaded about 10 guys in the back of a pick up along with a P-250 submersible pump and went down to the end of the pier. I have no clue as to why the CDO decided it was our responsibility. 
I don't remember getting any reports back from the team while on the quarterdeck but apparently there was some confusion after they were done. They couldn't locate Dave (MM3 David Lawson) and searched the ship, the barracks, and the parking lot, all to no avail.

The South Boston FD arrived several hours later and located Dave's body in the bottom of the pump room. I remember hearing that the P-250 exhaust hose wasn't properly routed and that Dave was overcome by exhaust fumes and drowned down in the pump room. I also remember hearing that his wife was about 7 months pregnant at the time. It was quite a loss for the crew, as well. 

Dave was a great guy and would help anyone out. I didn't fully realize back then how dependant on each other  we were as a crew. Not to mention how close we all were, although we didn't realize it at the time.

Regrettably, I have another name to add to the TAPS list. SKSN John Courtney was hit and killed by a car back in 1978 (?) in Jacksonville, FL. Another great shipmate and friend."

Steve Dolan


ADDITIONAL ON DAVID LAWSON:

John Kapeghian writes:

     " Steve Dolan, your recollection of the event that involved MM3 Lawson is right on. The reason the duty repair crew was down in the pump room of the dry dock was that Braswell (shipyard) asked for our help there due to a substantial leak in the water intake manifold. When the repair party responded, the water was rising in the pump room and the fumes were getting thick. I was the senior sailor there and ordered everyone out. Unfortunately, petty officer Lawson was not missed until the repair party leader mustered his crew. The Boston Fire Dept finally reponded to the call from Braswell personnel. When they pumped the room out they found his body. They surmised he was overcome by the fumes but he actually drowned. I went into the rescue wagon to identify his body. Not cool. A very bad night for all."

 

I invite all of you to submit stories for publication here.

email them to
John@USSEdwardMcDonnell.org  or
snail mail to

Eddy Mac Association
C/O 202 Terrace Ave
Riverside, RI 02915




John "JC" Collins

STG2 A/S Div

68'-72' "Mac Time"