Sir:
On December 18th, my father Roy
Lester was aboard the USS Hull, or
should I say was aboard the Hull
until it sank. As a young man, my dad
did not talk about the war except
to say that he went so that his kids
would not have to. He never
spoke about what happened on that night,
but when I was a kid, I found
a scrap book that had some newspaper
clippings that gave me an Idea
as to what happened, but my dad still
would not speak of this.
When I was in college I was required to write
a histroy paper about anything
that I wanted to concerning WWII. I
chose to write about the USS
Hull and my dad.
I found everthing that I could
find at the library, and wrote the
paper. Afterwards as a
present I gave my dad the paper, and he then
told me his complete story.
A few years later, my dad's brother saw a
small article that announced
that the USS Hull shipmates were looking
for survivors, and were having
a yearly reunion. Spitz Hoffman was the
man who arranged all of the reunions,
and for the first time since
leaving the Navy, my dad was
reunited with his shipmates. I have
interviewed as many men (on video)
and have collected their stories of
bravery. I have also had
the great pleasure of meeting Capt. Plage and
his wife as they were able to
attend one of my fathers reunions in Las
Vegas.
I just want to say thank you to
the brave men of the USS Tabberer for
saving my fathers life, and the
lifes of so many others. My dad was the
last living survivor to be picked
up by the Tabberer, and was given
Capt. Plage's quarters to rest.
I could never in a thousand years begin
to imagine what peril the crew
of the Tabberer faced, or the men who
lost their lives to the ocean,
or to those who survived. I only know
that my father was spared to
live his life, and to raise a family. None
of which would have been possible
if not for Capt. Plage or the crew of
the Tabberer.
Thank you again,
Guy Lester
43 years old
father of 4
Matt:
My name is Jim Bowen. I live
in Cary, NC. My Father, James A. Bowen,
served on the U.S.S. Tabberer
in the Pacific Theater during WWII. The
portion of the Web Page describing
the typhoon hit home quickly. I had been
told of this occurrance many
times as a boy. My father received a letter
signed by Admiral Wm. Halsey
commending him for his actions in the rescue
operations of his fellow sailors.
Dad returned home in 1946, I
was just five at the time, and had many
stories to tell. I imagine that
it was quite an experience being in the
war. Unfortunately dad developed
a brain tumor in 1949 and passed away in 1951 when I was ten
years old.
Last week my daughter, Susan,
found your web page. She started with an
address she found on a picture
that was sent to Dad while he was serving on
board the Tabberer. Using the
name and determination passed on from grandpa
she found your page. I would
appreciate any information you may have on the
Ship. My Uncle, Dad's younger
brother, advised me that there was an attempt
to contact Dad by a fellow crew
member of the Tabberer some years ago
concerning a reunion. If there
is any information on this please let me
know. My e-mail address is jimbowen@mindsprig.com.
Would love to hear from
you.
Best Regards,
James E. Bowen
142 Trafalgar Ln.
Cary, NC
Dear Matt:
Read with keen interest your history of the Tabby. My father, Herbert R. Brooks was on board during the typhoon, and has attended many of the Tabby's and one of the Hull reunions. Dad worked in the forward five inch, and has many stories to tell!
Thanks for the page, and thanks for the dedication. Please write back and tell me your connection. Even better, e-mail my dad. He can be reached at HEBrooks@webtv.net He would get a kick out of hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Mark K. Brooks
Proud son of a U.S.S. Tabberer
sailor
Matt,
The photos that I sent you came
out of an album that my father has. I never
knew that he had these photos
until earlier this year. I had come across
the Tabberer web page while learning
how to "Surf the net". I printed out a
copy of the web page and sent
it to my father. He sent me a note that I
forwarded to you. Over
the summer, he got out his album from the war and
pulled out the pictures that
I scanned in and sent to you.
My father would be very pleased
to have his pictures on the webpage. Yes,
you have our permission to use
all of the photos.
Thanks for your efforts on the webpage.
Alan
Hi, Matt -
Thanks for your site. I had often wondered what had become of DE418.
I am an NROTC graduate of Brown
University, class of '55, and I served
on Tabberer from June 1955-June
1958. I left on 6 June, and I didn't
even know that there was a new
captain coming - your father.
I had two skippers, a LCDR Sullivan,
whose first name I forget, followed
by LCDR William M. A. Greene,
who was the captain when I left the
service. At that time, we were
stationed at the US Naval Base in
Philadelphia, occasionally used
for reserve and midshipman training.
An interesting sidelight or two.
A couple of years before I joined the
ship, during exercises in the
Atlantic, one of our submarines put its
periscope up into the forward
fireroom. Both were towed to port, with no
one hurt, as far as I recall.
We still had to deal with the occasional
problem with machinery, e.g.,
a reciprocating water pump that wore out
early, because it was warped
by the collision, even towards 1958.
We also once got into the newspaper
in Miami. We were steaming north
from Key West, firing flashless
shells from our 5" guns, and using the smoke
puffs for target practice. Well,
a passenbger airliner complained, and
we got a message telling us to
stop NOW! And the next day, in port at
Miami, we read about the incident
in the paper. Nothing much came of it,
however. (I forget when it was.
Maybe late 1957, maybe not.)
My billet was in the engineering
department. Assistant Engineering
Officer for the first year and
a half, then Engineering Officer for the
rest of my hitch.
Thanks,
Gino
Gene E. Bloch (Gino)
voice 650.966.8481
gino37 at earthlink dot net
fax/modem 650.966.8491
Unfortunately, I forget which
paper it was and which month it was - I do
remember that W.M.A Greene was
our skipper then, which pretty much
limits to 1957-58, and it was
a Miami morning paper. There probably
weren't many of those!
I live in Mountain View, CA and
work as a software engineer for Applied
Materials - but I'm not many
months from my 65th birthday.
I have a lot of interests in science
and technology, music, folk
dancing (international), reading
fiction, etc....
Thanks for your reply, and good luck.
Gene
(My nickname is Gino - many of
the officers and crew of Tabberer
knew me by that name - though
the whitehats called me Mr Bloch. BTW,
while I think of it - my name
is pronounced block, not blotch.)
Gene E. Bloch (Gino)
voice 650.966.8481
gino37 at earthlink dot net
fax/modem 650.966.8491