Where I lived aboard ship

USS Francis Hammond (DE/FF-1067) Pin

An Amazon site has been setup to sell USS Francis Hammond pins. Here is a link to the Amazon product page for the pin:https://www.amazon.com/…/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apa_fabc… You can also go to your Amazon account and search for this Francis Hammond pin using its product identifier: B08Q7CLCKP The pin is 1.5″ in diameter.  The price is $12 ea., limit 5, shipped USPS next day. Delivery in 3 – 6 days. Price includes S&H. I have 73 available as of Dec 20th, 2020.

 

USS Francis Hammond (Ship & Crew History)

USS Francis Hammond DE-1067

USS Francis Hammond (DE/FF 1067) is the ninth Knox-class frigate, named in honor of Hospitalman Francis Colton Hammond, a Medal of Honor recipient.

Francis Hammond was laid down on 15 July 1967 at San Pedro, Calif., by Todd Shipyards, Los Angeles Division; launched on 11 May 1968; sponsored by Mrs. Phyllis Hammond Smith, widow of HM3 Francis C. Hammond; and commissioned on 25 July 1970, Cmdr. John E. Elmore in command.

1970s
The 16th of 46 Knox-class destroyer escorts, Francis Hammond was designed for anti-submarine warfare (ASW). Armed with ASROC and torpedoes, her primary mission would be to patrol the Pacific Ocean, locate and identify Soviet submarines, and, in the event of armed conflict, destroy them. As Rear Adm. Douglas C. Plate exhorted Cmdr. Elmore, “Hospitalman Hammond made a tradition of being ‘in harm’s way.’ Far in advance of main friendly lines with the First Marine Division Francis Hammond laid down a gauntlet that is yours to pick up.” Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt concurred with this, but also reminded the crew that in addition to exhibiting the “resolution so well exemplified by Francis Hammond,” they also needed to demonstrate “the compassion and sense of humanity that helped to set him apart.” On the day of her commissioning, the Bakersfield, Calif., Council of the Navy League of the United States officially adopted the ship.

Incoming! June 21st, 1972

By SN Keith Elsberry

I don’t remember the exact date or time anymore but I can still vividly recall my days aboard the Hammond as if they were yesterday. One particular day I remember even better than the rest. We were conducting one of our standard “draw fire” missions off the coast of Vietnam during the war. This was something we seemed to do almost every day.

I was wearing a flak vest and helmet as I stood aft lookout watch up on the helo deck. The midday sun made it very hot and humid in the South China Sea. My helmet sat on the deck at my feet and my vest was wide open, barely over my shoulders. The helo deck is a wide open deck running the entire width of the ship where our LAMPS 2 helicopter lands. It offered no protection from either the sun or what was about to happen next.

I was leaning on a stanchion on the starboard side paying no particular attention to anything when a geyser of water exploded skyward just off the port side the ship. I was frozen in fear and time stood still. From the water column I saw large chunks of shrapnel flying straight at me. As the metal rained down I threw on my helmet and closed my vest. I immediately called the incoming rounds up to the bridge and gave bearing and degrees to where I thought the rounds had come from. Looking down, a large chunk of metal lay at my feet. I tried to pick it up but it was hotter than hell. To this day I cannot believe that I was not hit by that blast.

Shells started falling all around the ship. First they fell in front of the ship and then they started to fall off the starboard side. The commies had indeed found our range and began walking rounds in on the ship. Round after round landed in the ocean on the starboard side, each a little closer than the next. I knew within a round or two they would be falling where I stood. I truly believed I was going to be blown up that day. I will hear very few sounds in my life as sweet as that high pitched whine of the ship’s turbines as we kicked it into full speed. The next set of three rounds fell in our wake where we had been moments before.

As we moved a safe distance away from the mountains where the cannon roared the bridge sent a buddy of mine, Eugene Heckt, back to check on me. Gene took one look at me and just started laughing.

“Keith, you look you just saw a ghost!” Gene chided.

I was none too amused.

SN Keith Elsberry

Lisco Locker Reunion 2019

USS Francis Hammond (DE-1067)
Radarmen/Operation Specialists
July 19-21, 2019

L-R, Scott Gillespie, Patrick “Archie” Ellis, John “Bloomers” Blumthal, Dennis “DC” Clevenger, Bobby “Stubby” Daniel (lower), Herb Helpingstine, Bebie Lisco, Ray “Marvelous Marv” Martin, Jeff “Z” Zavada, Ken Lisco (lower), Boyd “Stanley” Thomas and Paul Haldaman.

It had been 49 years since most of us first met on board the USS Francis Hammond (DE-1067) as plank-owners and commissioning crew in 1970. The reunion idea started with a conversation between John Blumthal and Scott Gillespie after the Hammond Reunion in Branson during  the summer of 2018. That’s when John “Bloomers” Blumthal created the Lisco Locker Gang FaceBook page as a seed to start some reunion conversation. A big shout out to John for tracking us all down using a background checker called SPOKEO and setting up the event at the DTC Hilton Garden Inn in Denver, CO. John was also the designated driver with a rented van to make airport runs as well as hauling us to local drinking/dining spots.

Ken & Bebie Lisco

The DTC Hilton Garden Inn treated us well with a breakfast buffet every morning. They also had a bar that we closed down every night as you would guess old sailors will do. We also had a meeting room available for 8 hours per day supplied with bottled water, soft drinks and ice. Darcy’s Irish Pub was the local designated watering hole. On Saturday we did a group excursion to the Denver Lodo district via RTD (light rail). Watering holes visited were Thirsty Lion Pub and Wynkoop Brewing Company. On the last day (after most of us had flown home) Bloomers, Stubby and Herb did a road trip to Evergreen,  Idaho Springs and Winter Park to explore some of Colorado’s beauty.

Scott & Paul

Many of us in this crew were on the Hammond’s first two WestPac’s. The 1972 cruise was a first for most of us but we had some good guidance from the “salts” that had come from the fleet to join this crew. We went through good times and bad times together. Through it all, as the radar gang bound together, we always had each others backs. We worked hard and we played hard as a tight-knit team.

Boyd & Patrick

As we settled into the reunion gathering, it became evident that the comradery and closeness of this brotherhood was still there. We re-lived many of the experiences, both good and bad, and filled in those gaps in our memories that helped shape us for our futures. All in all I cannot think of a better bunch of men to have served with!

 

 

Dennis, Herb, Boyd & Patrick

Bobby, Ray & Jeff

 

 

 

 

Partial group – L-R, Ken, Bebie, Dennis, Patrick, Jeff, Scott, Paul, John, Aileen (Kens daughter).

L-R, Ray, John, Dennis, Scott, Bobby & Paul. Sitting is Boyd, Jeff & Herb.

The cherry on top of this reunion is that John had designed a commemorative coin to have minted for us to mark the occasion. The coin idea came to him while browsing Navy souvenir sites. He wanted something that you could hold in your hand and had volunteered to take this on himself.  You can read more about this HERE.

The Coin Story

USS Francis Hammond (DE-1067)
Radarmen/Operation Specialists
July 19-21, 2019

By John Blumthal

Lisco Locker Gang Tribute Coin.

The Coin Content Identified
On the front of the coin, the ship is a 3D image of the Knox Class Destroyer Escort. The ship is positioned over a map of Subic Bay in the Philippine Islands. Subic Bay had a large Naval Station that was home port to most of the US Navy ships while assigned duties in the South China Sea. Olongapo City was located in the Northeast part of Subic Bay. This port was a sailor’s paradise, with bars, hotels and nightclubs galore. All of us in the Lisco Locker Gang will warmly remember our times in Olongapo City.

On the back of the coin, a radarman/operations specialist (RD/OS) symbol is set on top of a map of the South China Sea and the Gulf of Tonkin where the Navy fought a large part of its war effort during the Vietnam War in an area known as “Yankee Station” off shore of the South Vietnam coastal city Da Nang. The RD symbol was placed on top of Yankee Station and enlarged. The RD symbol is a circle with an arrow through and behind it. In the middle of the circle is a sine wave with two peaks. These peaks represent radar contacts from the original radar equipment developed during WWII and the arrow represents the ability to detect the azimuth or direction of the target. The map comprises a part of South East Asia where the Vietnam War was fought.

Please note that all of the Lisco Locker Gang started out as a Radarman and left the Navy as an Operations Specialist. Basically the Navy changed the name because we did a lot more than just use radar when we were out at sea.

Why a coin
The coin idea came to John while he was browsing Navy souvenir sites. He wanted something that you could hold in your hand.

The Rough Design
The design started as a circle on a piece of printer paper. An inner circle was added to define one edge of a curved text area along the edge of the coin. The inner circle would contain map of the Gulf of Tonkin & the South China Sea. The radarman rating symbol was added to this side and it was named RD side. The RD side was an attempt to define the Vietnam War part of our WestPac cruises.

The other side was identified as the Ship side. Like the RD side, this side of the coin represents the liberty port we visited most often. Olongapo City in the Philippines will remain in our memories forever.

John found an Android App that would take a JPG or a PRN image and produce a 2D coin image proof. This app was very useful to get an idea of how much detail will be recognizable when the coin was rendered. The ship needed more detail and at a high resolution to be scaled down to the coin size of 2”.

Carol, Chloe and Dennis Design Team
Once John had the rough design drawn out on paper he contacted his niece Carol Blumthal, an artist of many talents. Carol and John discussed the idea of the coin and also the division of duties. At that time it was decided to invite Chloe Kendall, also one of John’s nieces, to the team to do the graphic design work for the coin.

About half way through the design process, Carol was excused from her involvement with the coin and Dennis Clevenger was approached to review the existing design and assist with the production end of the project.

The Search for the Ship Image
The initial design for the ship was built from scratch by Chloe. Her ship was actually pretty good for someone who had never draw a navy ship before. As good as Chloe’s ship image was, we still needed more detail and building the ship image from scratch would be to labor intensive. John recalled a Frannie Maru (our nickname for the Hammond) Christmas card with a reasonably good image of the ship.

Chloe worked with the image long enough to determine that it was too low res for our needs with the coin design. She decided to finish the coin maps and edge lettering while John looked for an alternative hi-res ship image.

Dennis stepped up to help with the ship image. The Francis Hammond Christmas card which was re-posted to the Francis Hammond group on FB, was the image we wanted, but it was too low-res. The image was a silhouette of DE-1067 done in green for the holidays. Dennis had 3D geometry for a Knox class DE (USS Jesse L. Brown DE-1089) that he received from someone on the web and modified it to become the Hammond and then rendered the 3D data out in the perspective view that the coin needed. Now all the coin pieces (layers) were in place and ready for the challenge coin companies that would produce the coins.

The Coin Attributes
The 2” coin with antique gold finish was picked for look and feel. The diamond cut along the edge was something approaching a roped edge. No color was used to simplify the design. We considered using one of the Vietnam Veteran ribbons but without color, it was determined that the ribbon would not be recognizable. So this idea was discarded.

The Coin Manufacture
The final drawings were vector images using Adobe Illustrator. These images were sent to 4 different vendors and Noble Medals produced the best proof images using our AI file. The coin design was sent to China to produce the 30 coins requested. It took about 4 weeks for the production side of the project. On July 3^rd, John received 30 coins in plastic cases.

The Coin Project Duration
The design started mid January 2019 and the project was completed when the coins were delivered in early July or about 6 months.

Deck Logs

A shipmate recently forwarded to me copies of some of our deck logs for some dates during 1972.  He had acquired these through either the National Archives or the Naval History and Heritage Command.  Deck logs are the Navy’s way of documenting ships movements, weather conditions, musters, gunfire, casualties (both material and personnel), readiness status and any other notable occurrences.  The entries during a watch are signed by the OOD at the end of his watch on the bridge. Included here are only for a few select dates.  The latitude and longitude logged on any page can be plugged into Google Earth to see our location at a certain time.  The only editing I did to them is on 2 occasions where casualties/injuries were logged with the crew members social security number, so I obscured those for their security.  The handwriting is hard to read on some of these, but will give some insight to just what we were doing during that memorable summer of ’72.

NOTE:  Thanks to Stubby (CPO Daniels) for providing the deck logs.  The transcribed version is much easier to read than the original handwritten deck logs.  The only omission in the transcribed version is the name and signature of the OOD at the end of each watch.  Reading these sure shows me how the memory fades with time.  I cannot believe how many vertreps, unreps, refueling and re-arming we did!  That spring and summer of ’72 had us quite busy!  In reading this, I was also surprised how many times we shut down for a gun malfunction in Mount 51.  Those Gunners Mates always found a solution to get it back online.  The transcribed versions are not to be used for any legal purposes, but rather to ease reading and using a search capability to find any certain events or activities.  The scanned logs ARE admissible in any military or VA proceeding as evidence.

Deck Logs Scanned

April 1972	(4/8-4/21/72)	June 1972	(6/19-6/30/72)	July 1972	(7/1-7/11/72)

Deck Logs Transcribed

April 1972	(4/8-4/21/72)	June 1972	(6/19-6/30/72)	July 1972	(7/1-7/11/72)

USS Francis Hammond DE/FF 1067 Reunion in 2017

USS Francis Hammond DE/FF 1067 Reunion planned for 2017.  Mark your calendars for June 15-18 2017.  The reunion is to be held in Branson, MO at the Radisson Hotel.  You can find more info HERE or contact Jeff Holt HERE.

Veterans and jobs

The vets coming home after serving their country will need all the job search help they can get.  Nowadays with all the means of communication available it’s easier than ever to make contact, but landing that job is something else.  A lot of useful information can be found HERE at monster.com.  This is just one resource as the internet has all sorts of job help information for both the vet and those doing the hiring.  Welcome home and good luck!

Download the full report

Download the press release

Click the above banner to be taken to a VA site with job interview tips.

Above is a link to a site by the VA with some job search and interview tips as well as many other useful resources.

 

Some of my work history

When I got out of the Navy at the end of October 1973, I had a hard time finding work right away.  I came home to a wife and child with another child on the way, so my lifestyle was pretty much shaped for me.  Sure, even with a family to care for, you’re still sort of restless after 4 years away from civilian life.  I can see why a lot of guys that came home without any immediate responsibility fell into some bad habits and lifestyle choices.  It’s easier than you may think to do so!  By Christmas of ’73 I had run through all my US Savings Bonds I had collected during the last 4 years.  I still hadn’t found a job, so to pay the rent and have a christmas I went out and painted scenes on windows for businesses with water based paints for about $25 a pop.  That’s a hard way to make a living!

Shortly after New Years ’74 somebody said “Hey, you should go see Mr. Howell down at the state unemployment office.”  Mr. Howell was supposedly the “go to” guy for vets at the time here in Vancouver, WA.  He got me a swing-shift position at a saw mill over in North Portland.  I wasn’t about to turn anything down, so I went for it.  It’s the middle of winter and I’m working outside (under cover) running the saw or palletizing the little pieces of alder to be shipped to a furniture company in California.  Not the most pleasant work, but I stuck with it.  After about a month the night foreman comes into the lunch room during a break and tell us a bunch of us are going to be laid off.

So, it’s back to downtown Vancouver to see Mr Howell again.  This is right around the first of February and my son will be born in a few days, so I really need some work.  This time he sends me over to the VA hospital here in town to see about an opening they have in the Building Management Department at Barnes Veterans Hospital.  I go to meet with them and land a gig in

Gunline records

The other day I was looking around the forum at the site “The Veterans Association of Sailors of the Vietnam War”  ( http://vasvw.org ).  I found that the National Archives now has the gunline records for every ship involved in NGFS.  The Combat Naval Gunfire Support File (CONGA), 3/1966 – 1/1973 contains a record for every naval gun fire mission during that period of the Vietnam War.  Each record contains the date, time, target coordinates, rounds expended, etc.

Click for detailed view.

Some comments about the table.  I’m not sure how to read the mission start and end times.  At first I thought they were regular military time with hours, mins, secs, but then there were some starting with “29”.  I suspect they are some sort of minute counts.  With some simple math you can figure out how long some of the missions were.  Yeah, I remember some of those 5 hour periods at General Quarters!  Note that I color coded the left column so you can easily see the months of April, June and July.  These 70 missions are not totally inclusive of all of our time on the gunline.  There were many times we were there, but no ordnance was expended, meaning that no report was filed to show in these records.  There were the times that we were there acting as a decoy or running interference for the guided missile light cruiser USS Oklahoma City (CLG-5), while they pounded inland targets with their 5″/38 and 6″/47 guns.  Note that we fired a total of 4043 rounds.  Another concern is the last column that shows range to target in thousands of yards.  Those numbers cannot be right.  I saw some other ships records displayed this way, too.  I suspect the zero on the end needs to be dropped or maybe was intended to have a decimal point preceding the zero.  Anyway, drop the zero and the distances will make sense, as I recall.  Maybe a weapons guy can confirm this.

LIBERTY CALL: Olongapo City

Looking up Magsaysay Blvd from near the bridge.

Well, what can you say about the City of Olongapo on the island of Luzon in the Philippines? When I was in high school, I had a couple of friends who were older and had joined the Navy right after they graduated. When home on leave they would tell stories of a place in the West Pacific that you just couldn’t believe. You sort of blew it off as over-excited storytelling and tell yourself that there just can’t be any place on earth like this. Then, you get there and realize they were pretty accurate in their descriptions of this small Philippine city that appeared to pretty much survive on the money spent by soldiers, sailors and airmen looking to cut loose.

Whether you just spent months at sea or crawling through a jungle you need some sort of way to just relax for awhile and have some fun. I’m guessing that in 1972 the average age of enlisted military personnel was probably in their early 20’s. There were those who enlisted after high school and were sent to the fleet immediately after boot camp. So many who had never stepped foot into a bar, tavern or night club were allowed to do so here. This was where many young men could test their endurance and capacity for consuming alcohol among other substances, since many weren’t of legal age stateside. When off-base you were still

The Lisco Locker

When you left CIC via the aft hatch, you went down a passageway that ended up at a hatch that led to the port side weather deck on the O1 level.  On the way there you passed the Sonar room, a head, an office space used by the Quartermasters and a compartment we called the “Lisco Locker”.  I think it got the name because RD3 Ken Lisco was assigned a collateral duty to take care of in there.  The space had several file cabinets in there as well as a tall metal cabinet with supplies stored in it.  On that same wall as that cabinet there was a metal wall cubby hole system.  People kept personal gear in there like books, magazines, toys, food etc.  I’m guessing this room was approximately 10×16 feet.

I painted the Cobalt 60 character on the "Secret Control" safe. Art originally by famous underground comic artist, Vaughn Bode.

Sometime before our first Westpac I was assigned the collateral duty of the ships Secret Control Librarian.  In the Lisco Locker was a refrigerator sized steel safe with a combination lock where I was to keep all secret documents and publications for the ship.  When someone (usually an officer) needed something from there they would have to check it out, so it’s location could be tracked.  I kept a card file in the safe for my check-in/check-out system.  Often I would receive errata and addendum’s to documents that needed to be made from various government and military agencies.  I had to effect these changes usually by just cutting out the new information with scissors and taping or pasting at the proper place in the original document.  Sometimes it was as simple as an updated frequency range for a Chinese radar system or it may be a series of fuzzy black and white Soviet submarine photos furnished by CIA or other international or NATO organizations.  There was a lot of interesting reading on a mid-watch or sleepless night.  This safe is where I also stowed my cache of crackers, canned meat, cheeses, candy, etc.  Just about the safest place on board!

This room also had a workbench along one end of it where we had a stereo system and speakers mounted above it.  I remember taking a couple of naps on that workbench.  Between the first and second Westpac cruise, the radar gang pitched in and bought a small refrigerator that just fit at the end of the workbench.  We kept it crammed with soft drinks.  Sometimes when on watch, you would leave CIC to go get something from the Lisco Locker, walk in, flip on the lights and there would be someone napping with the stereo blasting Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin or something.  Other times it was a place to write letters, read or just to “shoot the shit” with someone.  Sort of a radarman’s private lounge, nice.

Relieving the stress

This wasn’t your fathers WWII Navy.  This was a new Navy where you could grow your hair and beard out, didn’t worry about polishing shoes, wore your peace sign with your dog tags, head bands but yet still followed the orders given to you.  Of course it wasn’t this lax stateside, I’m talking about being in a war zone and under combat conditions.  I think our superiors just wanted us to be focused on the job at hand.  You kept your moral beliefs about being here and what your mission is, to yourself and just did your job, knowing that it wouldn’t last forever.  There was an attitude of “Not sweatin’ the small shit.”  Actually, a lot of this freedom and morale boosting came from way up the chain of command; from Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr.  He

USO show on the USS Coral Sea

Franny H. on Yankee Station. Why all the rust under the captains gig? Photo by Jim Marino.

 One day during the 1972 Westpac we had a day out on Yankee Station with no flight ops because the USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) was having a USO show onboard. All ships in the Task Force were allowed to send 4 crew members to the Coral Sea to attend the show. On the USS Francis Hammond we had a lottery or raffle drawing type of contest. RD3 Jim Marino won and was allowed to pick 3 other guys to go with him. He selected RD3 Jake Holman, RD3 Marv Martin and RD3 Phil “Beetle” Bailey.

On the flight deck of the USS Coral Sea (CVA-43). Phil "Beetle" Bailey, Marv Martin and Jake Holman. Photo by Jim Marino.

Bob Hope was scheduled to headline the show, but cancelled due to the dangerous conditions. He had done shows onboard the USS Coral Sea earlier in the war. Jim said the show was put on by some “B” list celebrities. And I thought Bob Hope was the “Ironman” of show biz! Actually, he did a Christmas show in Vietnam later this year of 1972. I think I read somewhere that he did 13 consecutive Christmas shows for the troops there. God bless Bob Hope for all he did for the airmen, troops and sailors providing a short period of calm in an otherwise tense environment.

A chopper from the Coral Sea arrived over our helo deck to pick up Jim, Jake, Beetle and Marv to take them to the show. Jim got some great photos as you can see with this article. He says the helo ride over was “kick-ass”!

Our usual view of the USS Coral Sea while on planeguard duty. Photo by Jim Marino.

Remember this plankowner?

On Jan. 22, 1985, James Everett decided not to report for work on the Navy tank landing ship Fresno, where he served as a chief petty officer. He was an RD2 on the USS Francis Hammond at the time of commissioning. The primary reasion for me to believe that it’s the same Jim Everett is his rating and the details of his service before 1970, which he had told me about back then. Read the full article here.