Comments from Neil McDonald, Escondido, CA
[ Neil is an ex-PTF crew member. ]
06/06/00
[ Email from Dan to Neil: ]
Can you help confirm the history here.
I have two versions of what happened to 21 and 22. Maybe I have it
backwards.
Also what became of 23,24,25.
I forwarded your message to Bryan Herring. He was OINC of 26
Boat. Retired as Capt/USNR. He has my copy of PT Boats at war
- according to that book the 22 boat was aground on San Clemente but the
date didn't look right. I came in CRS-1 10/75 and the 22 was already
wrecked (I think). According to the book the 22 went aground early
in '76. Bryan also has my other photos - some of them were taken on
the 24 boat. I don't know what became of the 24 but he might.
Neil
05/22/00
Hey. Did you guys know that we are all entitled to the Cold War
Medal? No kidding. Honors those who served on active duty from
1945 to 1990. Check out the website - go to just about any search
engine and type in Cold War Medal. The Army is handling the
paperwork - you have to send them a copy of your DD-214. Won't get
you a cup of coffee but will look pretty cool on the wall or wherever.
Here is one more - a group of pirates at their ease in
their lair at NAB Coronado - 1976. |
|
04/25/00
Here are the scanned photos.
There are a few of PTF-26 and PTF- 24. The 41 boat photo is actually
a Nasty (PTF-22?) dressed up by Hollywood for "MacArthur"
w/Gregory Peck (1976?)
Got some more around here somewhere. Will keep looking
04/12/00
I was less than successful in my attempt to copy the
photos to a disk. The Kinko's staff aren't very helpful.
A friend of ours has a scanner and I am going to see if she can scan
them for me. Will keep you posted. I did manage to scan
two PBR photos that I will attempt to send you. |
|
|
03/22/00
Was just looking at Mike Klapka's pics from 26 boat. In the
picture with the officer's with the .50 cal belts on their shoulders. They
are from left to right:
- Lcdr Dan Vroom
- Lt jg Smith
- Lt Bryan Herring (sitting on 81mm ready locker)
- Lt Bill Petit.
I have this same photo as I was aboard that day - gunshoot at San Clemente
Island.
Neil MacDonald
03/22/00
Dan,
Looked at website. Interesting reader input. I disagree with
Jim West - it was my impression that the Osprey was intended for gas
turbines - why else would there be that induction stack aft of the
bridge? That's what we were told it was meant for. The
napier/deltics drove us crazy - always breaking down. There was a
valve stuck in the overhead "softpatch" for the longest time -
it had been blown out by the starboard engine. Nobody got hurt
though. The tech rep came out from England once - he told us that in New
York City the fire department mounted them (Napier/Deltics) on flatbeds
with pumps and that they could "knock down a brick wall" - we
said that was cool but didn't help if we broke down at sea and had to limp
home on one engine or call for a tow.
We were also told that the 24 boat did go to Viet Nam. Supposedly
it took an RPG in the area of the galley/wardroom on the port side.
All Vietnamese crew who were all killed - story was that they sent in a
Seal Team to extract the boat - could have been a sea story though - like
I said there were some pretty colorful characters in CRS -1 and SBU
-13. But when it rained you could see where a patch had been put on
the port side for some reason.
I am still looking for the photo album - it has a lot of
"gunshoot" pictures. I will send copies when I find
it. I have photo taken on one of the Nasty's at Coronado that was
made up by Hollywood for the movie "MacArthur" with Gregory
Peck. They made it up to look like an Elco '80 the 41 boat (Lt.
Bulkley). Even had fake torpedoes and gun turrets. Looked
pretty realistic - they did up two of them for the movie.
A partial list of CRS-1/SBU-13 crew:
- Bryan Herring
- Bill Petit
- Joe Maurer
- Frank Hershman
- John Nikkel
- Jim Greenough
- Don Hewlett
- Dan Vroom
- John Hayden
- Wade Sanders
- Jim Gray
- Ray Evanowski
- Gerald Adler
- Doug Peace
- John Bear
- Bill Schneider
I along with most of the above are plankowners in SBU-13 and Special Boat
Squadron.
Let me know if you hear from anyone else.
Neil MacDonald
February 24, 2000
Dan,
Found your website via "Northern Light" search. I was in
CRS-1 (later SBU-13) from 1975-1981. Was a crew member on PTF-26
(Osprey) and PB-757 (Mk III Sea Spectre). Saw the story section - I
knew Mike Klapka. There were some pretty colorful characters in that unit
ex-Seals, ex-PBR sailors - we even had a Master Chief who had been at
Tulagi with JFK!
I had seen the PTF-26 tied up at NAS Alameda in April 1995. It
was being used as a harbor pilot boat I think. Then I saw an article in
Sea Classics Magazine about a year ago that the "26 Boat" as we
so fondly called her was in a museum in the Sacramento River Delta.
Supposedly they have a PBR and a Monitor also. Think that they may
have gotten some of their stuff from RivDiv 11 which was our sister
squadron at Mare Island - I cross trained into PBR's there. Got a
few pictures that I could send.
I believe that PTF-22 (Nasty) was wrecked on San Clemente Island in
early '75 - I knew some of the guys who were aboard at the time - happened
at 2AM and went aground on some rocks near China Point. It was up in a
skid at CRS-1 for the longest time with the bow stove in. We called
it "Building 22" - it was stripped for parts I think and
burned. I think that the other Nasty's went to Israel but I'm not
100% positive - they just sort of disappeared and we cross trained into
the MK III's which basically were dogs that couldn't get out of their own
way.
Neil MacDonald
Escondido, CA
|