So here is Bob Hores, rehersing the band on the flight deck.  The Russians are coming, and we can't get our jets off because the band is in the way.  Musicians!

Playing a gig at the Astor Hotel in Manhattan.  I think it was for the graduating class of cadets from Annapolis.  We were in NYC on the USS Forrestal for Fleet Week I think.  Hey, this was 48 years ago . . . and I can't remember the details.

Prior-Treaster-Poorman-Migatz	Migatz-Poorman-Prior-Bergstrom	Migatz-Poorman in Athens Greece
Liberty in Athens Greece.  Didn't we play for Queen Frederica here?  I think she came aboard the Forrestal?  Anyway, I remember that we didn't have the music for the Greek National Anthem, and we went aboard the HMS Hermes at sea and copied it from the Brits before we pulled into port at Piraeus/Athens.  Hold the grog mates.  And how many drachma are there in a dollar - or is it how many dollars in a drachma?  You wouldn't take advantage of a poor dumb sailor would you Ο κύριος?  Remember the roasted chestnuts from the street vendors?  What historic sights?  I remember the taverna.  I remember the Ouzo!

Me in Italy I went to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, pretty neat.

Ken Poorman, DJ Dechesser, Steve Bergstrom, Bob Bowman, Jerry Brown and Bob Migatz, playing for a refueling at sea on the USS Forrestal.

Bob Bowman Mach Shop	Bowman in 02-167-2-L	Bowman the Sailor	Bob Bowman's Cmas Art
Bowman was friends with everyone.  He made friends easily, and everyone in the band liked him.  He would hang everywhere from the Admiral's Office, to the Machine Shop, Radio Repair, the Laundry, etc.  He drew the pic of the Tuba and Santa when we were in France for Christmas.  Oh yes, I'll have to add the photo of the Christmas Tree that he and I brought on board for the band room.

Bowman-Bergstrom-Poorman in Lima Peru	Bowman-Bergstrom in Trinidad
The gig in Lima was for our big band, but I only have this shot of the rhythm section.  It was at the International Trade Fair.  In Trinidad we played a gig at an officers club, trading sets with a steel band.  The last set we played together with the steel band.  That was neat.  I'll never forget it.

Brown-Poorman USS Forrestal

Poorman onbd USS Forrestal

Shorty Parker in 02-167-2-L

Jerry, Bob & Steve on Liberty Launch		Bob Bowman and I carried this tree aboard the Forrestal at Christmastime in Cannes France.  They weren't going to let it on board, but we told them it was for the Admiral.  Ha.  And who left their axe on the bulkhead.  (That's "who left their clarinet case on the wall" for you land lubbers.)
	Ken Poorman on USS Forrestal 02-167-2-L

Prior Lv FDR for Shang	Dechesser in Palermo	Hodge in Palermo	DJ & Bob in Barcelona
More sea stories . . . so here's Joe Prior and our band leaving the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt CVA-42 headed for a tour on the USS Shangri-La CVA-38, both out of Mayport FL.  I remember bumping into Glenn Doebler of Lock Haven on one of these boats, but I can't remember which one.  We went to the Dominican Republic on the Rosey, so I think I met Glenn on the Shang.  Chief Doebler is retired and living back in Lock Haven. - Then - there's DJ in the Catacombs in Palermo Italy.  Steve Bergstrom was there, and I can't remember who else.  Hodge is the typical tourist, seeing all the historic sites, taking pictures - now Barcelona was different - One day our big band was scheduled to play a concert in a park, but it was cancelled due to a Communist rally, so we all went drinking.  First time I ever drank something on fire, Cognac.  A bunch of us were in a nice restaurant, having a steak dinner, and Salazar tried to send his steak back because it was raw.  The Chef was really ticked off and came out and yelled at him.  I was sitting right next to him.  No one on the restaurant staff spoke English.  I never saw anything like it.  Ha.  I guess maybe it was not kosher to send food back, an insult to the Chef maybe?  I don't get it, but it seems pretty funny now.

IT HOT... it's the TROPICS! And we're in BLUES! 100% WOOL! What's wrong with this picture!

U.S.S. Kenneth D. Bailey DD-713
Hores-Bergstrom onbd DD-713	Band on a Tin Can	Steve-Larry-DJ on DD-713	Just stay out of the way
What is a band doing on a Destroyer you might ask.  We missed the boat, oops, I mean the ship.  It took off from Mayport FL without us.  The Admiral missed it too.  So, we flew to Puerto Rico and the U.S.S. Kenneth D. Bailey DD-713 picked us up at Roosevelt Roads and high-lined us onto the Carrier.  They dunked the Admiral in the process.  (I always wondered if they did it on purpose.)  As I recall, it was me, Gallagher, Dechesser, Prior, Treaster, Migatz, Hores, Brown, Bergstrom and COMCARDIV 4.  You can have that highlining thing.

Here are some old newspaper clippings and other scrapbook stuff . . . Our Boss Our ComCarDiv Patch, and a few of the mementos I picked up in France.  I remember the day I went to Charley's bar in Nice.  I was alone that day, and went to the beach.  I remember thinking I don't know how these people lay on a beach that has so many little stones, not comfortable at all.  I was a bit nostalgic that day, and chose to have dinner at Charlie's, because I was looking for something non-French, i.e. closer to American/English.  I remember being homesick for the States at that time.
The Hawk Commissioned Headed for Gitmo for ORI		Kitty's Maiden Voyage Around the Horn
Our COMCARDIV 4 Unit Band #194 was assigned TAD Kitty Hawk CVA-73 after her Commissioning in Philadelphia.  The Hawk was the first guided missile super-carrier.  We went to ORI at Gitmo Cuba, and around the Horn to her home port in San Diego.  We stopped at Rio, Valpariso and Lima.  Played a really nice combo gig in Rio for an Ambassador, and a big band gig at the International Trade Fair in Lima.
Remember the guide books they gave us before pulling into port ↑ where to go, where not to, how to ask for commom things, like food, the bathroom, etc.  How to get a cab back to Fleet Landing. Posso eu ter uma cerveja por favor, senhorita? Hey, I learned to ask for a beer in a dozen languages!

M/S Skagen Norway
Thoralf Lagestrand, Norwegian M/S Skagen	I met Thoralf Lagestrand and Charlie Bartnes in Genoa, Italy.  Thor was sailing on the M/S Skagen, and Charlie on a different Norweigen ship.  We met several times while we were there, and Thor took me to his ship for dinner once, introduced me around, neat.
Charle Bartnes, Norway

Where did we go . . .

I'm not sure all this information is accurate (as of August 2010), just what I can remember, or heard from someine else . . .

GALLAGHER: Chief Joe Gallagher went back to the USN School of Music and taught dance bands for the rest of his career.  I think he was from Newtown Square PA, and retired to somewhere in New Jersey.

POORMAN: When I left COMCARDIV 4, Unit Band 194, I went to CINCLANTFLT band in Norfolk.  Couldn't get my first choice, Philly - but one of our guys did, can't remember who.  I worked for Bell Telephone/Bell Atlantic/Verizon for 28 years, Harleysville Insurance for 12 years, and now the Archdioceze of Philadelphia.  Living back in PA, raising two granddaughters.  Not playing since 1973.

INGRAM: Jack Ingram went to the Academy Band at Annapolis.  Then to the Navy Band.  He became a CWO.  I think he has passed away.  If I recall, Jack's dad was commanding officer of a naval base in the South.  Jack, if you're still out there, you'd better tell me.  Praying for you.

HORES:  Dr. Bob Hores was from West Virginia.  He taught at Berklee College of Music in Boston for about 8 years, then retired in about 2009 form Fidelity Investments in Cambridge, I think.  He moved from New England, and is living in Florida.  Smart. Warm.  He's still playing.  Heard him with the Artie Shaw Band in about 2008.

CALDON: Dr. Jack Caldon went to the Great Lakes Band when he left 194, I think.  I think he, Larry Treaster, Paul Sipe and Jerry Brown all went to the Lakes.  I think Jack was a Director of Music for a few years,.  Jack retired recently as School Superintendent of Salem and is living on a lake, still in New England - and he still talks funny.  We met him for dinner recently in PA.  I think Jack can still play.

TREASTER: Larry went back home to Lewstown PA, and retired from the steel mill there.  I see him occasionally.  He still remmbers riding with me on a motorcycle, and doesn't want to do it again.  He's not playing.

BOWMAN:  Bob Bowman was from Lebabon PA.  He had a BA in music from West Chester College when he was with us.  He retired from the Navy, and was a postman in San Diego for twenty years, and retired again from the USPS recently.  I spoke with him about three years ago, but lost his unlisted number, and have not been able to contact him again since, although I've tried many times.  He was still playing regularly, tuba with a Germen um-pa band, and string bass with a combo.

To be continued . . .

	Jack Ingram Annapolis 1964	Ken Poorman - Jack Caldon - Larry Treaster 2010

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