Dear Skip,

Recently ran across the McMorris website. I was never a part of McMorris crew but do have some personal ties to the ship.

I went through recruit training in the spring of 1960. (April-June) in San Diego. One of our few trips off base was to an active duty ship and I cannot swear to this,but in my mind I am convinced that it was DE1036.The timeline will certainly fit,because I did not complete boot camp until sometime in June.According to the website,McMorris arrive in San Diego 29 April 1960. Anyway,I remember the ship was very new looking to my unpracticed eye.

After boot camp,I went to Treasure Island to ET "A" SCHOOL,and in the spring of 1961(April) was assigned to shore duty in Yokosuka,Japan.Damn,it was a dirty,rotten job,but someone had to do it. I made SN,ET3,AND ET2 while at SRF,Yokosuka and transferred to USS Jupiter, AVS-8 homported there for the rest of my enlistment. In February of 1964 we departed Yokosuka for the states, (Bremerton,Wa.) where Jupiter was decommissioned. Fortunately I did not have to go through the decommissioning process and was separated 20 March1964.

In May 1965 I went to work for RCA Service Co. out of Cocoa Beach,FL. and after training,went aboard the missile tracking ship,USNS HOYT S. VANDENBERG. (T-AGM-10) Now comes the second encounter with DE1036. You guys and us were together for a short period of time somewhere in the Pacific sometime in 1965-1966.

I don't remember why we were together but I know what we were doing.I won't go into that now,but the three-forty dish antennas on Vandenberg were a pretty good clue. At some point during our operations together,we sent one of our boats over to you guys and I can't remember why. For some reason,something medical comes to mind. I know we had a doctor aboard and I don't know if you guys had anything beyond a corpsman aboard or not.

Anyway Skip,I just wanted to say "hello" and wish you guys a great reunion in Las Vegas.I have a couple or three pictures of you guys taken from the Vandenberg and will also send you a picture of it.

Best Regards,

Ray Greene

ET2 1960-1964