LCDR US Navy Retired

Tuesday 20 December 2005 - My Annual Christmas Letter

Bible Reading Calendar Revelation 11 
http://www.audio-bible.com/bible/revelation_11.html Pray for our troops, send them a card.

American Minute with Bill Federer

December 19th

Driven into Pennsylvania by the British, it was on this day, December 19, in the freezing winter of 1777 that the Continental Army set up camp at Valley Forge, just 25 miles from British occupied Philadelphia.

Lacking food and supplies, soldiers died at the rate of twelve per day.

Of 11,000 soldiers, 2,500 died of cold, hunger and disease.

A Committee from Congress reported "feet and legs froze till they became black, and it was often necessary to amputate them."

Soldiers were there from every State in the new union, some as young as 12, others as old as 50, and though most were white, some were Black and American Indians.

Quaker farmer Isaac Potts observed General Washington kneeling in prayer in the snow.

Hessian Major Carl Leopold Baurmeister noted that the only thing that kept the American army from disintegrating was their "spirit of liberty."

In a letter written to John Banister, Washington recorded:

"To see men without clothes to cover their nakedness, without blankets to lay on, without shoes, by which their marches might be traced by the blood from their feet...and at Christmas taking up their...quarters within a day's march of the enemy...is a mark of patience and obedience which in my opinion can scarce be paralleled."

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www.AmericanMinute.com P.O. Box 20163, St. Louis, MO 63123 1-888-USA-WORD

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

Wow! What a year!  Seldom does one get to return to a ship one served on.  This year was a very special blessing 2 times.  First in December 2004 I was privileged to visit the USS Seattle AOE-3 (above) to take a tour of the ship before decommissioning in March 2005.  On the way home I visited my granddaughter in Camp Lejeune, NC and brought her and our new great-granddaughter home to Decatur.

In March 2005,  I flew to Norfolk, Va. and attended the decommissioning ceremony of the USS Seattle AOE-3 and immediately departed for Phiadelphia, PA to board the USS LaSalle LPD-3/AGF-3 for transit to Norfolk. 

   My good friend and shipmate on LaSalle, Lt. David Hawkins, above, went with me on the trip along with his wife Ruth.  We arrived about 5:30 p.m. along with several other former crewmembers.  It was the thrill of a lifetime to go back and visit a 41 year old ship that I had not been on board since 1969.  The sailors were all so young!  And many were females!  We missed the evening meal and found a stale bear claw and some coffee and juice to tide us over till the next morning when we enjoyed breakfast in the Wardroom with the officers of the ship.  We steamed out of Philadelphia on our way down to Norfolk and guess what, we passed the USS Seattle AOE-3 being towed to Philadelphia for retirement in the Reserve Fleet in Philadelphia.  I am probably the last Seattle crewmember to see her in the ocean.  We stayed on board that night and the next morning we entered the port of Norfolk. Boy was it cold!  We stayed overnight at Fort Story, VA at the Army base Guest Housing and the next day boarded a plane back home.

Andy on board USS LaSalle heading for Norfolk, VA looking at USS Seattle AOE-3 heading for Philadelphia, Pa

What's an AOE-3?

5:43 PM, Dec. 21, 2005 .. Posted by SteveWalden

I'm a bit of a civvy, so I don't know what an AOE-3 is. Could you clarify?

uss seattle

1:07 PM, Jun. 24, 2008 .. Posted by EN3 Shea

thanks for posting that picture of the king of the med going to her retirement. she was my first command from november of 03 till decom.