USS Brownson Association Website News

Well, it's almost reunion time. Unfortunately, I won't be there as I have a new job and can't really take the time off. I hope that all of you that are going have a great time. Please take the time to catch up with Paul and Billye Serabian and thank them for all of their efforts. We'd really like to get some photos of the weekend so keep us in mind. If I get enough, I'll set up a reunion gallery. For any information on the reunion go to the reunion section of website.

I'd also like to remind everybody that we have a guestbook. This would be a great place to post your comments on the reunion or anything else that's on your mind.

"In spite of what most of the Brownson histories say, including the one on this website, there was a Brownson Med deployment that year (ed. 1949).

If I may modify the history, DD-868 came out of a short yard period in Boston in February 1949. We spent March and April, 1949 in shakedown and Fleet maneuvers in the Caribbean area, including firing and Marine landings on Vieques Island off Puerto Rico. Brownson put in to Havana, Guantanamo Bay, and Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, during this time.

In May, 1949, we departed for the Med, for duty with the Sixth Fleet, in company with USS Coral Sea (CVB-43) and USS Fargo (CL-106). Brownson carried COMDESRON 10, who was in command of the "Little Boys", the destroyer screen for the Sixth Fleet, so we had the privilege of tying up alongside in several ports where space was limited and the rest of the fleet had to anchor in the stream. We made the trip, with the carrier, up through the Dardanelles, and anchored in the Bosporus at Istanbul.

Brownson returned to Newport in October, 1949, and, in November unloaded ammo and entered Boston Naval Shipyard for an extended overhaul. I left the ship in early 1950 for discharge."

We have also added a pretty extensive gallery from Marvin Dockery. Marvin was a photographers mate with DES DEV GROUP TWO in Newport, RI. in 1961-62. His gallery includes a number of sea shots from the project MERCURY trip in early 62 and also a few of Newport. His photo of Thames St. may invoke a few memories for those of us who were stationed there. The quality of the photos, as you would expect, is excellent.

Last but not least, Robert "Chitz" Desrosiers has submitten a photo of the Brownson band playing in the Fall of 1952 in the Mediterranean Sea. The photo is located in the "Various" gallery.

Also in the gallery ... Wilbur Lynch has identified some of the unidentified sailors in the Mid-East short timers photo.

The following shipmates or friends have registered with the website since the last newsletter. For full information on them go to the Roster and enter their last names.

Jaimie Vale is looking for information on his Grandfather who served on the first Brownson. His letter is reproduced below:

my name is jaimie vale and my grandfather was a survivor of the uss brownson. he died before my birth and i know nothing about him. i just found naval papers i have never seen before revealing information about him and that he was on board this ship when it sank. he eventually was dischrged from the navy for bad conduct after numerous attempts to flee (AWOL). his name was donald edward vale, his service number was 301 07 77, soc was307 20 1287, and he died dec. 02 1972. if anyone has any information about him please respond. mostly i would like to know about his personality rather than facts (eg what kind of person was he, did anyone know or remember him) i appreciate any information

If you have any information about Jaimie's grandfather please contact Jaimie directly at Jaimie7879@aol.com

My name is Tim Skoog and my father served on the Brownson around 1962. I'm looking for any information you may have on his service and his life aboard the ship.

Ed Bledsoe informed us that Rear Admiral Barry M. Costello started out his career on the USS Brownson back in 73 as an Ensign!
He now is the commander of the USS Constellation in the current gulf war. Here's a couple of articles about him.

A number of people have informed me that the article Reflections of a Blackshoe Sailor was incorrectly attributed to VAdm Harold Koenig. After contacting a number of sources to try to confirm this I received a letter from Admiral Koenig stating that he did not write the article. The information that I have now is that it was written by Joel Labow, CAPT, MC, USN, (Ret) on the occasion of his own retirement from active duty.

The December issue of The Bouncing "B" reports that Marilyn Monroe had six toes. I did some research and found a couple of websites that discussed the rumor. If you really care about this subject check out the at Urban Legends Reference Pages article at http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/mmtoes.htm. If someone tells you something that's hard to believe, this is a great site for checking it out. Be prepared to spend some time there, there's a lot of material.

We would love to have you make a contribution to our growing collection of memorabilia. We can accept just about any form of electronic media. Ideally, photos should be scanned at 200-300 dpi, saved in jpeg format and zipped in a compressed file but just about anything will do. Winzip (www.winzip.com) is about the best compression program and is pretty easy to use. If you would prefer to send actual materials please me first.

Bob Sanderson (ETN3)
USS Brownson Association Webmaster

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