reunions

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THE LEWIS REUNION FOR 2021 will be during the week of 23-27 August at the Lamplighter Hotel, 2820 N. Glenstone, Springfield, Missouri 65803 PHONE: 417-869-3900
For information: Contact Donald L. Kuhn 1945 N.Riley Ave, Indianapolis, In. 46218 317-954-0321 (Leave a message if no answer) dkuhn7@indy.rr.com

REUNIONS

History of the Reunions from the beginning.

By El Sailer

When we were still on an assignment in Saudi Arabia in 1985, I joined the Destroyer Escort Sailors Association. (DESA) in response to a membership ad they had in the American Legion Magazine. As a new member I received a Computer Printout listing all the names of DESA members who had served in my Ships, the USS LEWIS (DE-535) and the USS Silverstein (DE-534). I recognized several names from the LEWIS and corresponded with them. It was such a pleasure to hear from old Shipmates, that I decided to locate more Shipmates and work towards a reunion. Thus the seeds were sown leading to formation of the LEWIS Crew organization. To get the ball rolling on my plan, I found my Navy address book that I had compiled during our return to the States in November 1945. I had most of my Shipmates that I was close to enter their names, hometown addresses and telephone numbers. I started writing letters to my former Shipmates, but progress was very slow with mail turn around time to and from the States exceeding 30 days. I finally retired in June 1986 and we settled down in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Continuing my efforts to locate former Crew members of the LEWIS much better progress was made. I received some of my letters back with ³Return to sender, no such person at this address² or ³Forwarding order expired². I expanded my efforts by placing notices in the Veterans magazines and other publications. This action proved to be the right move as we received many more inquires from LEWIS Shipmates in response to these notices. In early 1990 to retain the interest of those Crew members we had located so far, we decided it was time to start planning a reunion. As reunion coordinators we anticipated the need for several on-site visits once we selected the city and lodging, therefore we chose Albuquerque, New Mexico, about a 4 hour drive from Alamogordo. We contacted the Albuquerque Convention Center and Visitors Bureau and told them of our needs for suitable lodging to accommodate the reunion. The Bureau sent out a request for proposals to all leading hotels and motels in the Albuquerque area. The Hyatt Regency had just opened a new hotel in Albuquerque and were anxious for business, so they submitted the best offer and we went with their proposal. We selected 17 - 21 September 1990 as the dates for the first reunion. All Crew members on our current roster were sent a notice of our reunion along with registration forms and instructions for room reservations. The first reunion was most enjoyable and a big success. The crew members from WW II and the Fifties mixed together very well. 28 Shipmates attended, 9 from the WWII and the rest from the Fifties. It was decided by the Attendees that future reunions were desired and should be held every 2 years. Since that first gathering the LEWIS Crew has had six reunions, the second was held in San Diego, California on 18-20 September 1992 with 34 Shipmates attending, five from WWII and 29 from the Fifties. 55 people were present counting spouses and guests. Elmer and Ann Swanton acted as Reunion Coordinators due to ³El² Sailer having health problems. The third was in Washington, D.C., 14-16 October 1994, again with Elmer and Ann Swanton acting as Coordinators. 32 Crew members attended, 14 from WWII, 14 from Korea and 4 from the late Fifties. Counting spouses and guests a total of 75 people were present including Albert and Nancy Willis (Nancy is the sister of Ensign Victor Allen Lewis, the Ships name sake). The fourth was held in St. Louis, MO on 10 to 15 October 1996. Bill and Betty Hoyt were the on site reunion Coordinators for this one. 31 Shipmates attended, 9 from WWII and 22 from Korea and the late Fifties. With spouses and guests 60 people were present. The fifth was held in Galveston, Texas on 11-14 September 1998. Shipmates Keith King and Tom Edwards acted as on-site Coordinators working with ³El² and Dhaly Sailer. 48 Shipmates attended with a total of a 102 people including spouses and guests. This reunion went fairly well considering that Hurricane ³Francis² hit Galveston on 9 September with high winds and heavy rains pounding the island through 12 September. Of a 113 registered attendees 102 made it in spite of all the horror stories of the Hurricane being broadcast by the news media. We had 10 Shipmates from WWII and 38 from the Fifties. The best turn out yet!!! The sixth reunion was held in Portland, Oregon, 4-9 September 2000 with Chris and Carolyn Nielsen performing as the Coordinators. (³El² and Dhaly Sailer couldn¹t attend this one due to some health problems ³El² was having). 27 Shipmates attended, two from WWII and 25 from the Fifties for a total of 64 people including spouses and guests. It was decided that the next gathering of the LEWIS Crew will be held in conjunction with the DESA convention in Omaha, Nebraska on 9 through 13 September 2001. It was also decided that the LEWIS Crew Leadership would switch from Captain and Executive Officer Positions to a ³Board of Trustees² with Chris Nielsen, Tom Edwards and Richard Noel as Trustees. This decision was made after repeated efforts to get volunteers to run for Captain were without a single response. ³El² Sailer had resigned as Captain of the LEWIS Crew, effective 12 September 2000 due to health problems. Back in late 1995 ³El² Sailer decided that the LEWIS Crew organization needed a name. He solicited all Crew members for suggestions. Of the many names submitted ³The LEWIS Crew² carried the majority. So it became the official name of the LEWIS Crew Member Organization. Later on in September 1996 it was noted that the LEWIS Crew needed a positive Leadership. Responding to suggestions from Crew members it was decided to elect a Captain and a Executive Officer to fill this void. All Crew members who had volunteered to serve when they joined the Crew were listed as nominees for the two positions. Written ballots listing all the nominees were sent to all Crew members requesting they vote for their choice of Captain and Executive Officer. Shipmate Chris Nielsen agreed to serve as election monitor. After tabulating all votes cast the results were: Captain- Elmer A. Sailer, TM 2/c, WWII Plankowner, Executive Officer- Earl B. Adams, Jr. , MM 2/c WWII Plankowner. Also in 1996 it was felt that in order to keep the LEWIS Crew going as a viable Organization a periodic newsletter was essential. Therefore ³El² and Dhaly Sailer volunteered to develop and issue a newsletter about every three months. To select a proper name for the newsletter they solicited the Crew members for suggestions. The one that impressed the Sailers the most was submitted by Shipmate Jim McComb (now deceased) ³Quartermasters Notebook². The first QM notebook was issued in August 1996. So far 11 newsletters were issued by the Sailers, but due to Elmer¹s health problems Volume V, issue 1, January/April 2000 was the last one they were able to issue. However, during the business meeting in Portland Ron Grizzle agreed to act as newsletter coordinator and work with Wendy Cobrin, daughter of departed WWII Shipmate Elmo Page, who volunteered to help get our newsletter going again. Wendy is Computer literate and should be a great help to Ron to get future newsletters published. The first one is due to be sent out in December. Ranny Waldrop has been serving as Recruiting Officer vice Ken O²Neill who passed away in August 1999, and continues the search for more Shipmates. Each new candidate is sent an ³enlistment² package consisting of: USS LEWIS Crew member Questionnaire Active and Inactive Crew members rosters Ships History List of Departed Shipmates Once the Questionnaire is completed and returned to the Recruiting Officer with the annual dues, copies of the Questionnaire are sent to Dhaly Sailer who enters the information into the LEWIS Crew data base, Don Campbell, Yeoman who maintains the Crew members rosters and the Van Der Werffs, Courtesy Officers, for recording birthday and anniversary dates. Presently we have 99 entered into our data base with new 3 Crew members being solicited to join the LEWIS Crew. We have three Honorary Members and 5 Associate members. To qualify as an Associate member a person must attend at least 3 reunions as a special guest of a Crew member. Locating Crew members, getting the LEWIS Crew organization established and planning and coordinating six reunions has been a full time job for over 15 years involving a lot of work. But attending the reunions and each time we located another Crew member it made it all worth while.