←Our Forrestal Christmas Party in Cannes France in 1962 . . . I remember being a bit homesick at this time, nice of The Skipper to throw a party. Poorman on Forrestal Flight Deck

Douglas A-3D Skywarrior Larry's Pic - onbd USS Forrestal A3D A-3D Skywarrior haulin some Big Eggs	McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II Larry's Pic - onbd USS Forrestal F4B F-4B Phantom II Loaded For Bear	Vought F-8U Crusader Larry's Pic - onbd USS Forrestal F8U F8U Crusader Guns a blazin' Sidewinders hot
Douglas A-4B Skyhawk Larry's Pic - onbd USS Forrestal A4B A-4B Skyhawk haulin some little eggs	Douglas AD Skyraider Larry's Pic - onbd USS Forrestal AD Love to see those 20MM's strafin	Grumman WF-2 Tracer Larry's Pic - onbd USS Forrestal WF-2 Where's Willie?
Piasecki HUP-2 Retriever Larry's Pic - onbd USS Forrestal HUP-2 Savin lives		German Jet Larry's Pic - onbd USS Forrestal ↑ This little baby never landed on a carrier before - no tailhook.  Had to crash land into our barrier when the German pilot had mechanical problems.  Nice landing.

Larry Treaster & Jerry Brown in our berthing compartment - 17 guys lived in this little room	Bob Bowman drew this artwork and decorated our closet door for Christmas-he was a really good egg
Migatz Bergstrom Treaster and Prior sorting laundry - I don't sort laundry!	Bowman in the Machine Shop
Poorman in our Berthing Compartment Could I have a larger room please? 02-167-2-L	There's a Band on the flight deck - Hello! Would you move these planes out of the way!
DJ & Bob in Barcelona (Remember the Cognac)	Bob was/is truly a "Good Will Ambassador"
Alfie was a good American Tourist - Palermo	Deege in Palermo Catacombs
Our Christmas Tree on Forrestal-Cannes '62	Prior Treaster Poorman Migatz Athens Oct 62
Poorman in Pisa 1962	Sipe at Sea Oct 62

A few pix from the cruise book . . .

Entering port Starboard Section, muster on the flight deck!
Lets see, should we take the gig or the launch?
Christine - Cannes France Who doesn't remember Christine? I loved her tureen of vegtable soup!	COMCARDIV 4 BAND Playing for Refueling
Now can you tell me why our band, or at least some of us, would have to play for refueling and replenishments at sea?  I think it was punishment, or something about morale.  It was cold out there.  I’d rather be upstairs on the Flag Bridge surface plotting.  Although I have had sailors tell me that they liked the band playing while they were refueling.  Go figure.  (Oops!  "Upstairs" is not a Navy term.  I'm not supposed to say that, or floor, or wall, or toilet, or dining room either.  Sorry, I forgot.  I meant topside, deck, bulkhead, head and mess.)

In The Yard - for the last time?

The Navy Yard - Philadelphia Pennsylvania Today 17 Jan 2011 Tom Gratz and I drove down to The Navy Yard in Philadelphia to check out the USS Forrestal.  She looked pretty sad.  50 years ago I did a little chipping and painting in 02-167-2-L, and she looks like she could use a little more work right now.  I'd go back to help her out, if they would let me.  I was hoping the Forrestal Museum Association would be her beneficiary and park her down at Ft. McHenry in Baltimore as a museum, but it does not look like that's going to happen.  I think the Navy is going to sink her.    Never saw so much rust on a Navy ship.  God bless all the people who died on her.
USS Forrestal CV-59 (Foregrd) JFK (Backgrd) Philadelphia Navy Yard 17 Jan 2011
USS Forrestal - Fantail Philadelphia Navy Yard 17 Jan 2011	Forrestal (Left) JFK (Right) Ladies in chains
So after looking at the Forrestal for a while, and thinking about all the people I met on her, and all the ports of call, we drove around the base.  A few in moth balls, but NavSea is bacically the only Navy presence these days, engineering, etc.  Looks like they're selling off the Navy buildings to commercial enterprises.
The Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pa. 17 Jan 2011 Bye Navy Yard - - - (Wish I was in Florida right now!)

Hey . . . do you get the Forrestal Spot Sheet?  It's the newsletter of the USS Forrestal CVA/CV/AVT-59 Association, Inc.  It only costs $12.00 to join.  A lot of good articles about the Forrestal and her people, the annual reunions, photos, etc.  I especially like Ken Killmeyer's article "Looking Back . . . A History of USS Forrestal.  He publishes the deck logs over the years.  Very interesting.  They have a ship's store, and you will see lists of members with telephone numbers.  Maybe you can contact some of your old shipmates.  Check out their website at http://www.uss-forrestal.com/.

Also . . . if you're interested in the effort to preserve the Forrestal, check out the USS Forrestal Museum site --> http://www.forrestal.org/.

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