Norton Sound (AVM 1) - Naval Cruise Book

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Z ,X 1 N 3? Z 2 3 7 went, they began a They approached this of the press, and shipmates with whom campaign to get the word out about the new Association, problem by seeking the assistance of sympathetic editors by compiling increasingly long lists of names of those the initial and newly joined members had maintained con- tact with over the years. As the days and months passed in the countdown Ca term intimately familiar to all post 1945 Norton Sounders? to the great event, scheduled for August 4, 5 8 6, 1972, the Association began holding monthly meetings and started to take shape, an ogranization evolved, ccmmitties were formed, necessary billets were estadlfshed and filled, administrative procedures were defined, a multi- tude of administrative details were taken care of, By-laws were written, Hthe hat was passedn to generate the necessary funds to support the nationwide search and the local work, a bank account was opened, the publication of our newsletter the HSNORTIN NORTONH was commenced with Volume 1 Number 1 in July 1971 Cand has continued on a regular basis since thenl, bumper stickers ad vertising the Association were procured and displayed on members vehicles, and the plans were formulated for the reunion. J if It wasn't long before the res onses P from Norton Sound t t '. ' from around the country. Apparently ers S ar ed Coming ln they also felt that the As ' t' -d . I socia ion was an i ea whose time had come, and a really good idea at that! Like dominoes falling over, the word spread - one new co t n act led to a new member who led to several new contacts, and so on, ' ' Also realizin wh t similar organizgtioni, iytji?ig2OEf igeagtaie our Associftion had Over other in existence, but in Commission as ll ac that Ou? Sblp was not only Still the than in mb n f We , the Association made contact with qounders Feud ent Commanding Officer and serving generatign of Norton germissign tclgolgg SiZP?ZfEhinSthatdquarter they determined to try to obtain M, F2 r . , 1+H 'Uf1UQ the reunion. With the assistance .0 ,uprain Robert A. Aiken, USN and Commander Charles E Cl r A '4't and Zatn Commanding Officers respectively this ,Qvrn .4 ylesj UDN'.d Et thus providing the best 4, , - nf, M' U.pvfnLSS'Qn was Obtalffs pOSSlDlE -ram for tne reunlgnn - ,,,,.,,,,

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.L if , lik. WW . X , .QM VW, N. .. 5 if ss zz? i'siSYzZfessfaf 'I 4W'l5?SivZZZZQsss5i57f75'T.wwWfi5WZ7f', Y I ix .I ffryl ,I 'MQ H X xfjyif sJ3s5-gi1Y ,gf , yi ss,mywssyzaaNw-m2fswswcassmmwawwfwwwfMzmyw if jj x s. fwff w:t.4Q,.m72fCy41w 4ff ,saw 'emu fmfffjgfizfgyf., f : f' 'f ,, sz rssWNvwNWsw!jNy4Wil6 sw wzsswssswwfwwmws, f N j X , W4 X A n2 3:13 fgfkxw N? N way, .Q Q fa .jx gy , T, ,VV. ' - . Q- if X wx' L Y5f'tSx5Ii' , X Q f t Q . . li f , N X . . J R ' 'K-' ff 1. pgs 5' , Qs. f Q N, X fri' ff if ze' vsilg KLUZ ' X A N QK44' fvhsfy i fVff'f5+1f- .. I . '21-A Q . Rs XX X Z X KXXXMXXS QNSNWA ,r Z Q ,ww Q ' 4 -Q , X, XXXXX i T . T As with many organizations, the USS NORTON SOUND Association came into being in a most casual mannerp an event which was almost incidental to the other events of the day. It happened this way: On the Tenth of April 1971, several men who had served onboard USS NORTON SOUND had joined each other to reminisce about the good old days. In the course of the discussion, one of these Hold saltsu sug- gested that it would be a really enjoyable thing to be able to see and swap stories of the old days and catch up on new developments in the lives of various shipmates, especially those from NORTON SOUND. All hands agreed that it would indeed be grand. The more they talked, the more their enthusiasm grew: and before the meeting was over, they resolved to make it happen. And so a random remark rapidly became the seed of an idea which started to grow. First they resolved to hold a reunion the following year: then they picked a name for their little group and started to organize. with increasing enthus- iasm and the courage of the uninformed, this little band of stalwarts jumped whole heartedly into the arena of the national Cor perhaps international? military-fraternal organization. The founding fathers of the Association, GSC James D. HJimn Handy USN CRet.7, BM1 Gerald HDustyH Rhodes USN CRet.J, SD1 Odis Haynes USN CRet.7, and LCDR Louis ULouH Vann, SC, USN Kour first military advisorfliaisonl, selected Odis to be the first president of the Association: and they were off and running. Realizing that to succeed in this effort, they would have to locate the sev- eral thousand Norton Sounders who had completed their tourlsl of duty in NORTON SOUND and had gone on to other active duty assignments, retired from active service, or returned to civilian life after completing their periods of active service. Gathering members who lived on the Oxnard Plain as they

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x From the small group of Association Charter Members fHPlankownersHJ enrolled in 1971 and 1972, the Association has grown to an active membership of Four Hundred Seventy Five. In this process of slow but continuing growth, the Association has located over One Thousand Norton Sounders, maintaining con- tact with Seven Hundred and Fifty of them through the HSNORTIN NORTONH. Contact with the others was lost through deaths and failure to appraise the Association of address changes. Several special events have been arranged during the various reunions, such as: The re-enactment of NORTON SOUND's Christening in 1977 CHer 32nd Anniversary yearh, at the Naval Shipyard, Long Beach, CA. Mrs. Ernest CHelen Saint Goarb Gunther who sponsored NORTON SOUND, Christening Her on 28 November 1943, at Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., San Pedro, again broke a bottle of champagne over NORTON SOUND's Stem and renewed the good wishes for the Ship's success that she made so many years before. Rear Admiral Ben Scott Custer USN CRet.J, NORTON SOUND's first Commanding Officer, Commander Thomas J. Loftus USN the Commanding Officer f28thD at the time of the re-enactment Association President Roy Buckley, officers and members of the crew and many members of the Association participated in arranging or executing this gala event to honor our Fine Lady of the Sea. I Three Reunion local daytime cruises in NORTON SOUND 11972, 82 and 837: and for those members who could be contacted on short notice, the honor of going to sea in NORTON SOUND for Her last cruise under Her own power with Her own crew onboard C8 August 19869. A grand birthday party to celebrate the Fortieth Anniversary of NORTON SOUND's initial Commissioning into federal service was held in 1985. On three occasions the Association and the Ship have sponsored joint family picnics, which were delightful to all attending and helped to establish and cement the relationships between former and current Norton Sounders. UAll Handsn attending the reunion were in agreement that this was indeed a great success, well worth the time, effort and expense involved, and should be continued into the distant future. All of the subsequent fourteen annual reunions have met with the same enthusiastic response, and we expect that all future reunions, Know scheduled to be bi-annual eventsl, will meet with the same response. Many members have attended the reunions year after year and others from the east coast have attended the reunions on alternate years- To say that the reunions are high points in the lives of those members who have been able to attend and did so, would be a gross understatement. Each of our reunions has been well supported by the membership, with representation of Norton Sounders from the original Hplankownersn CCommissioning crew of 194535 VPB-26, The primary HFlying Boatn squadron She supported during the final phase of WW II in the Pacific: Second HPlankownersH fRecommi2sioning crew 196439 and Ship's Company and supporting personnel, from all of the other years of her active service to the present ffinal decommissioning? Ship's Company i986. During these reunions former shipmates have renewed old friendships, and members from different periods have made new shipmata and lifelong friends.