5/2001
The year is going by fast and as usual things on the Web site are moving atan equally fast pace. As many of you know, my provider has reassigned the siteto a new location about a month ago and we are still ironing out some of theproblems with email and the site itself. I have expressed my dissatisfactionabout the problems that many of you have had to my provider and they in turnhave been slow to react and solve these problems. I must apologize for thecontinued problems with your Pennsy Web email accounts, I have spent many hourstrying to keep this up to par. While it is working at the present, I do not holdmuch hope for continued reliability. So, in light of all of this, I amannouncing that the site will be moving one more time, this time to a PersonallyOwned server, you should not notice any changes in the site address orfunctionality, it will be seamless. Myself and a friend have decide to purchaseand operate our own server because he too has experienced the problems that haveplagued the Pennsy site.
If you are considering creating a personal web site please email me, I canoffer you a fantastic deal, including a starter page and help with a domain nameand some basic programming and instructions. Let your friends know as well, thiswill be a limited offer. Pennsy Web Family members, friends and supporters havepriority.
Many of you have noticed that the ships store is in the process of a facelift, a much needed one I may add. I have tried to make it easier to use and tofind things. Please drop by and look at the new "Tee Shirts" that arecurrently available. They are really nice and everyone can wear them !!!! Theaddress is http://www.usspennsylvania.org/ShipsStore . There will be new itemsadded there in the next few weeks. Your purchases are what support the site andthese great Americans.
Please note: The MARK CHURMS has informed me that the "Reign ofFire" prints will have an dramatic increase in price as of June 1, 2001.The large listed print on the site will now sell for $450.00 ea. For those ofyou that have these prints, this is good news, for those that don't, you shouldconsider buying it now, before June 1st. If there is any of you may need helpwith this please just email me and we can work out the details. A paymentprogram may be worked out, but I have to know right away.
The Memphis reunion was held on the 5th and I have received some picturesfrom Bernard Wooley that will be on the site soon, I will be sending Bernard aPennsy Web Tee shirt for being the first to send pictures, Thanks Bernard !!! Ifany of you have additional pictures you would like to send to me please email meand attach the photos or mail them to me and I will see to it that they get onthe site. email me at NoSpam_ken@usspennsylvania.org . I also would like to hear how thereunion was? Did you guys and girls enjoy it? I am sorry that the flag did notget there but my Dad is making a case for it and his sister had some veryserious health problems and it was delayed. It will be at the next reunion forsure, more info on that at http://www.usspennsylvania.org/bb-38users.htm , lookfor the pictures and follow the links if you have not read the story behind thishistorical item.
The Omaha reunion is coming up in Sept, see the reunion page for details. Ifyou are planning to go please fill out the online form and print it and send itin to the address on the form, all the details are at http://www.usspennsylvania.org/bb-38reunion.htm.The Pennsy Ships flag will be at this reunion.
You may now access your usspennsylvania.org email accounts via the web fromany computer attached to the internet, simply type http://www.usspennsylvania.org/webmailand enter your user name and password, bingo, there is your mail. For those ofyou that wish to have a FREE email account, please contact me for details. Ourpersonally owned server has our custom email anti-spam codes installed, we blockmost spam, I for one think this is a good thing. ;-) On that note, if you do notwish to receive the Keystone in the future, just respond with REMOVE in thesubject and I will take care of the rest.
As some of you have noticed, the log book was lost, it was being hosted byTOOLZONE.COM and they went "belly up" and took all the records withthem. I am going to make an attempt to restore some of the entries from my lastback-up of the logs but it will probably be limited. So, in light of that, Iencourage you all to sign the book again so that others can get in touch withyou or you can find others that may know your relatives. There are severalchanges to the Log Book and I now have control all records, they won't be lostagain. Sorry folks. ;-(
Please CC me if you respond to these request.
I have these request from our readers:
Ken,
My dad was Robert Eugene KENNEDY (Shorty) Seaman 2nd Class aboard USS
Pennsylvania until 30 Nov 1934 when he was discharged. I need to find moreinformation about him during that time and afterward when he lived in Long BeachCA and worked at Douglas Aircraft during the war. I would like to hear fromanyone who might have know him because I was told he was married during the timehe was in the service and would like to find out more about him during thistimeframe. Shortly after leaving the service he was robbed and hit over the headwith a lead pipe and had very little memory of his
earlier life. I am his daughter and remember after his naval days that he hadbuddies who would come and visit.
Karolyn Kennedy Witte mailto:cloggers2@email.msn.com
Ken,
I have a Great Uncle George Venable, who served aboard the Pennsylvania. Hewas a Captain, but I do not know if he commanded the ship. I have a lot ofartifacts from him and his time aboard. I have a Official USS Pennsylvaniagreeting card, from when she still had cage masts. I believe George died in1919, and was aboard the ship at his time of death.
I know that George was heavy brass, because of artifacts that I have from thecommissioning of the USS Arizona. I have the official VIP Invitation from thesecretary of the Navy to him, and a Photo taken under her main guns. The pictureis of about a dozen Navel and Marine Corps officers ranging from LT to AdmiralCook 0-10. All images are signed. George is in the picture. I believe it wastaken on or about her commissioning.
I am interested in finding out how my uncle served aboard the Pennsylvania.Was he the commanding officer? There are family stories that he also servedaboard the USS Main. My mother has an alleged ships lantern from the Main.
If you don't have the information I am seeking at hand, could you forwardthis letter to some one you know will, or possibly tell me the best way to findout.
Thank you
Eric Johnson mailto:Eric.Johnson@gaylord.com
Hi Ken,
I happened upon the website for the USS Pennsylvania through a search onGoogle for the name Claren E. Duke. I hope you can help me with information. Iam a Ph.D. student in history at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. Theis a rather convoluted story, but perhaps someone in your organization can helpme with my research.
My research involves the owner and operator of the first curio store and freemuseum in Phoenix called The Curio. The Curio operated from 1895 until 1908 andwas owned by a man named J. W. Benham. He and his wife, Alice, had one child, adaughter named Mary Benham born in 1907. Benham and his wife died when hit by arailroad train near Chicago in 1914 leaving Mary an orphan. She was adopted byPaul Brizard and his wife who lived in Arcata, California. Brizard had been abusiness partner of J. W. Benham, Mary's father when both were in Phoenix.
When Mary grew up she married Claren E. Duke. It was his name that led me toyour web page, so now I know something about him. Mary (Benham) Brizard Dukedied in 1988 according to the records, but I have been unable to locateinformation on Claren E. Duke. Did the Duke's have children and if so are theyalive and can someone tell me where I can contact them.
If there is anyone in your organization that could provide information onMary Duke, Claren E. Duke or their children, if they had any, I would be mostappreciative.
Thank you so much.
Kathy Howard
Department of History
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85258-6114
(480) 661-9182
mailto:Kathy.Howard@asu.edu
Stockton, William, Harry
PhM3c {LC} U.S.N.
Pearl Harbor Survior
Date Served 04-28-41 To 01-17-46
Date Died 01-30-84
Birthday 01-01-23
Unfortunately I Do Not Have His Division
My name is Richard Stockton . I am His Son . I Love My Father and miss himvery much. Do You know any one who served with my dad? I would like to here fromthem. Richard Stockton, 13720 Willow Bridge Drive, N.Ft. Myers, Florida 33903 -mailto:vas13720@CompuServe.com
If you have a special request for the next KEYSTONE, please contact me.
I would like to thanks the people who participated in the "friendlyfire" discussion that took place a few months ago. There was some reallygood info that came out of that and I hope it helped those who were affected byit. It is things like this that need to be documented by first hand accounts andI encourage you all to spend some time writing down your thoughts about thisgreat ship and her crew. If you are a relative I suggest the you spend some timewith your crewman and write down what he has to say. It is kind of hard to getthem to talk about it but if you persist you will come away with a whole newperception of what these Americans are all about, believe me, it will changeyour life.
Submitted by Tom Conklin (watch for him on "Who wants to be aMillionaire")
DID YOU KNOW?
1. In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes.When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer tosleep on. That's where the phrase, "goodnight, sleep tight" came from.
2. The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," usesevery letter in the alphabet. (developed by Western Union to test telex/taxcommunications.)
3. The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is'uncopyrightable.'
4. When opossums are playing 'possum, they are not "playing." Theyactually pass out in terror.
5. The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every yearbecause when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight ofall the books that would occupy the building.
6. The term "the whole 9 yards" came from W.W.II fighter pilots inthe Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the . 50 caliber machinegun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage.If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9yards."
7. The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English lawwhich stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than yourthumb.
8. When Heinz ketchup leaves the bottle, it travels at a rate of 25 miles peryear.
9. The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the"General Purpose" vehicle, GP.
10. Ten percent of the Russian government's income comes from the sale ofvodka.
11. On average, 100 people choke to death on ball-point pens every year.
12. No NFL team which plays it's home games in a domed stadium has ever won aSuper Bowl.
13. The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave It ToBeaver."
14. Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.
15. In Cleveland, Ohio, it's illegal to catch mice without a hunting license.
16. It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year'ssupply of footballs. (And you thought they were pigskins!)
17. Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating arealready married.
18. There's an average of 178 sesame seeds on McDonald's Big Mac bun.
19. The world's termites outweigh the world's humans 10 to 1.
20. The 3 most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca-Cola, andBudweiser, in that order.
21. In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all the world'snuclear weapons combined.
22. It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a monthafter the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all themead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer, and because their calendar was lunarbased, this period was called the "honey month" or what we know todayas the "honeymoon."
23. In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England,when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their ownpints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the phrase "mind yourP's and Q's."
24. Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into therim or handle of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used thewhistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle," is the phraseinspired by this practice.
25. In ancient England, a person could not have sex unless you had consent ofthe King (unless you were in the Royal Family). When anyone wanted to have ababy, they got consent of the King, the King gave them a placard that they hungon their door while they were having sex. The placard had F.*.*.*. (FornicationUnder Consent of the King) on it. Now you know where that came from.
26. In Scotland, a new game was invented. It was entitled Gentlemen OnlyLadies Forbidden.... and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.
One more:
More little known facts.
1. The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time television wereFred and Wilma Flintstone.
2. Coca-Cola was originally green.
3. Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury.
4. Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear better.
5. The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska
6. The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%--- now get this...
7. The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%
8. The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $6,400. (Mustnot be a show dog!)
9. The average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000.
10. Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
11. The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.
12. The youngest pope was 11 years old.
13. The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.
14. That San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.
15. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king fromhistory:
Spades - King David
Hearts - Charlemagne
Clubs - Alexander the Great
Diamonds - Julius Caesar
16. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
17. If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in theair, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air, theperson died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all fourlegs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
18. Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, JohnHancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the lastsignature wasn't added until 5 years later.
20. "I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the Englishlanguage.
21. Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes themlooks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.
22. No NFL team which plays its home games in a domed stadium has ever won aSuper bowl.
23. The only two days of the year in which there are no professional sportsgames (MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL) are the day before and the day after the MajorLeague all-stars Game.
24. How about this... The nursery rhyme "Ring Around the Rosy" is arhyme about the plague. Infected people with the plague would get red circularsores ("Ring around the rosy..."), these sores would smell very bad,so common folks would put flowers on their bodies somewhere (inconspicuously) sothat they would cover the smell of the sores ("...a pocket full ofposies..."). People who died from the plague would be burned so as toreduce the possible spread of the disease ("...ashes, ashes, we all falldown!") (this game will never be the same for me)
Q. What occurs more often in December than any other month?
A. Conception.
Q. What separates "60 Minutes," on CBS from every other TV show?
A. No theme song.
Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what?
A. Their birthplace.
Q. Most boat owners name their boats. What is the most popular boat namerequested?
A. Obsession
Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until youwould find the letter "A"?
A. One thousand
Q. What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laserprinters all have in common?
A. All invented by women.
Q. What is the only food that doesn't spoil?
A. Honey
Q. There are more collect calls on this day than any other day of the year?
A. Father's Day
Q. What trivia fact about Mel Blanc (voice of Bugs Bunny) is the most ironic?
A. He was allergic to carrots.
Q. What is an activity performed by 40% of all people at a party?
A. Snoop in your medicine cabinet.
Thanks Tom......
From Bill Hughes USS UTAH site http://www.ussutah.org/Default.htm
One evening a son was talking to his father about current events. He askedwhat he thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and justthings in general.
The dad replied, "Well, let me think a minute...I was born beforetelevision, penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, contact lenses,Frisbees and the pill. There weren't things like radar, credit cards, laserbeams or ball-point pens.
Your Mom and I got married first-then lived together. Every family had afather and a mother, and every boy over 14 had a rifle that his dad taught himhow to use and respect.
Until I was 25, I called every man older than I, 'Sir'- and after I turned25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, 'Sir. Sundays were setaside for going to church as a family, helping those in need, and just visitingwith family or neighbors.
We were before computer-dating, dual careers, gay-rights, daycare centers,and group therapy. Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, goodjudgment, and common sense.
We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand upand take responsibility for our actions. Serving your country was a privilege;living here was a bigger privilege. Draft dodgers were people who closed theirfront doors when the evening breeze started.
Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings andweekends-not condominiums. I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains outlistening to Tommy Dorsey or Glenn Miller.
If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan' on it, it was junk. The term 'makingout' referred to how you did on your school exam.
Dominos Pizza, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of. We had 5 &10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5&10 cents. Ice creamcones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar and a Pepsi were all a nickel, and ifyou didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mailone letter and 2 postcards. You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600, but whocould afford one?
Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon. In my day, 'grass' was mowed,'coke' was a cold drink, 'pot' was something your mother cooked in, and 'rockmusic' was your grandmother's lullaby. Aids' were helpers in the Principal'soffice, 'chip' meant a piece of wood, 'hardware' was found in a hardware store,and 'software' wasn't even a word. And we were the last generation that was sodumb as to think a lady needed a husband to have a baby.
No wonder people call us old and confused-and say there is such a generationgap. And I'm only 75 years old!
Pretty good huh?
Ok, I have rambled enough here. Take care folks.
Ken Munro
PS
Please get your reunion forms andreservations made early.
You can send me email regarding WEB HOSTING to webmaster@usspennsylvania.org
Check out the GREAT tee shirts with a great logo. My father just came backfrom Hawaii and he had many comments about the shirts, they are nice folks. http://www.usspennsylvania.org/ShipsStoreThere are new hats on sale as well.
We always need your support for these great American's