USO Canteen FReeper Style ....Guantanamo Bay.... October 29,2002

FRiends of the USO Canteen FReeper Style and Snow Bunny

[Snow Bunny]

Hi Light Speed.
Thank you so much for the link and these photos are fabulous!

[FlyVet]

#37 Middle pic looks like a nasty whack BUMP.

[larryjohnson]

Good mornin from Maine where the Eagle flew over my cove a while ago leading a crow( I refuse to think he was being chased by a crow). I love standard time cause it is light early and I am an early bird up with the first light.29degF and CAFB is this morning's 0700L obs.

[southerngrit]

My heart goes out to this brave man's loved ones. He did not shirk his duty, rather, he VOLUNTEERED to serve America. He will not be forgotten.

Thanks to all servicemen and servicewomen who place their lives in danger each day so that we can remain free.

God bless you all. You are in our hearts.

[xp38]

Good Morning SB and all FR Canteeners! Prayers for the family who lost their soldier. May God comfort them in this time of sorrow.

[Bahbah]

My prayers for the brave soldier who was lost defending us all. My heart hurts for his loved ones. I am profoundly grateful for his service.

[tomkow6]

Good morning, Snow! Good morning, EVERYBODY!

It's a GREAT day to be a CANTEENER!

[tomkow6]

Today's FEEBLE attempt at humor:

A police officer, who was hoping to catch someone being drunk,
waited outside a bar. Now most bars close at midnight...... so he
parked himself right around the bar and waited for someone to
come out drunk and try to drive. Sure enough, at 11:45 PM a man
came stumbling out of the bar. It took him 5 minutes to get to
his car and another five to turn the car on. The police officer
sensed victory and let the man start driving.

He pulled the man over only 50 feet away from the Tavern.

He walked up to the man and said, "I just saw you come out of
that bar and you were pretty loaded."

"Daknguifshregjdgfnfdjgn," said the drunk man.

"How many beers did you have?" asked the police officer.

"Anoout fiften," said the man.

"FIFTEEN! And you are trying to drive?!? You will get life for
this," said the officer.

"Hop outta the car. I am gonna run some tests on you," said the
officer.

The man hoped out of his car with perfect grace, he smiled and
stood on one foot, hopped up and down and said his ABC's fowards
and backwards. The police officer couldn't get it.

"Ok, let me smell your breath," said the officer.

"Sure," said the man.

He exhaled right into the officers nose and the officers smelt no
beer on his breath.

"Well I guess I am gonna have to let you go, but why did you
stumble out of the bar so drunk?"

"Oh I am the DD," said the man.

"A designated driver?"

"No, a designated decoy," said the man.

[kassie]

Thank you for letting us know to pray for this person and his family. Praying for all our military,no matter where they are.

[aomagrat]

Today's Classic warship USS Adams (DM-27)

Robert H. Smith class minesweeper
Displacement. 2,200
Lenght. 376' 6"
Beam. 40' 10"
Draft. 18' 10"
Speed. 34. k.
Complement. 363
Armament. 6 5", 8 40-mm., 12 20-mm., 2 dct., 4 dcp., 80 mines

The USS ADAMS (DM-27) was laid down as DD-739-an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer-on 20 March 1944 at Bath, Maine, by the Bath Iron Works, redesignated a destroyer minelayer DM-27, on 20 July 1944, launched on 23 July 1944-sponsored by Mrs. Maude Ryan Adams, the widow of Lt. Samuel Adams, and commissioned at Boston, Mass., on 10 October 1944, Comdr. Henry J. Armstrong in command.

After fitting out there, she embarked upon her shakedown voyage on 1 November. That cruise, which took her to Bermuda waters, lasted for the entire month. On the 29th, she headed back toward the United States and arrived at Norfolk, Va., on 3 December. Following post-shakedown availability in the navy yard there, she put to sea on 11 December with sistership SHEA (DM-30), bound for New York and a rendezvous with BENNINGTON (CV-20). The two destroyer minelayers departed New York with the aircraft carrier on 15 December and set a course for the Panama Canal. The three warships transited the canal on 20 December and, on the 22d, headed for the California coast. They arrived at San Diego on the 29th and remained there two days undergoing repairs. On New Year's Day 1945, they got underway again, headed for Oahu, and they arrived in Pearl Harbor six days later.

For almost two months, ADAMS remained in the Hawaiian operating area. During that time, she acted as plane guard for BATAAN (CVL-29) while the carrier conducted carrier landing qualifications for naval aviators. She also carried out gunnery exercises and shore bombardment practice. The warship spent two periods in the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard-once for the installation of VF radar equipment and again to have her main deck plating strengthened. Early in February, she laid mines and tested mine detection equipment on them. Later, the warship conducted mine laying exercises. She finished out her tour of duty in the Hawaii area late in February with another plane guard mission with Bataan.
The destroyer minelayer stood out of Pearl Harbor on 2 March bound for the western Pacific. She arrived in Ulithi Atoll on 14 March and remained until the 19th, when she put to sea with a task group of the Okinawa invasion force. The warship saw her first combat on 23 March, the day before she arrived off Okinawa. That evening, enemy aircraft attacked her task group. ADAMS sustained her first casualties when a projectile fired from the after five-inch mount exploded prematurely killing two sailors and injuring another 13. At dawn the following day, she began minesweeping operations off Okinawa. The destroyer minelayer provided gunfire support and mine destruction services to the wooden- hulled minesweepers (AM's) doing the actual sweeping.

Those operations continued over the next few days in spite of Japanese air resistance. During that time, she was attacked by at least twelve different planes. She knocked six of her tormentors out of the air and claimed probable kills of two others. On the 28th, one of those attackers splashed about 25 feet from her port bow showering her with debris and gasoline. The damage she sustained in a collision with a salvage vessel forced her into the anchorage at Kerama Retto for emergency repairs. On 1 April, while she was operating to the southeast of Kerama Retto a badly damaged Japanese plane splashed close aboard her stern and what must have been two bombs exploded under her fantail causing severe damage and jamming her rudders at hard right. While she steamed in right-hand circles, two more suicide planes swooped in at her. ADAMS destroyed one while the other succumbed to the antiaircraft battery of MULLANY (DD-528), the ship dispatched to assist ADAMS. Later, ADAMS was towed into Kerama Retto to begin temporary repairs alongside ENDYMION (ARL-9).

ADAMS departed Kerama Retto on 7 April, bound ultimately for the United States and permanent repairs. She made stops at Guam and at Pearl Harbor before arriving at the Mare Island Navy Yard on 7 May. She completed repairs and post-repair trials and calibrations during the first week in July. On 6 July, she put to sea for exercises off Santa Catalina and entered port at San Diego on the 10th. After brief post-repair shakedown training and inspections, the destroyer minelayer stood out of San Diego on 17 July on her way back to Hawaii. She arrived at Oahu on the 23d and spent the next 11 days in gunnery exercises-both antiaircraft and shore bombardment-in the Hawaiian operating area.

On 4 August, she and KOINER (DE-331) departed Pearl Harbor, bound for the western Pacific. The two warships stopped overnight on the 11th and 12th at Eniwetok Atoll where they picked up SITKA (APA-113). They escorted the attack transport to the Marianas and arrived at Guam on 15 August, the day hostilities ceased. The following day, she got underway for Okinawa, arrived in Buckner Bay on 18 August, and remained there through the 31st. On 1 September, she stood out of Buckner Bay on her way to Japan. She arrived off Kagoshima, Kyushu, on the 3d and began sweeping a channel into the port. That operation continued until 9 September at which time she headed back toward Okinawa. She reached Buckner Bay on 11 September and remained at anchor until the 16th. On that day, she put to sea to evade a typhoon but returned to port on the 18th.

She departed Okinawa again on 24 September, headed for Japan, arrived in Ise Wan, Honshu, on the 26th and began minesweeping operations in preparation for the landing of Army troops at Nagoya. She anchored in Ise Wan on the 28th and remained there while her commanding officer, double-hatted as task group commander, directed the minesweeping mission. She remained at Ise Wan through the end of October. On 1 November, the destroyer minelayer laid a course for Sasebo where she arrived two days later. She stayed there through most of November provisioning ship from units preparing to return home.

On 25 November, ADAMS left Sasebo to voyage to Kiirun, Taiwan, where she arrived on the 28th and reported for duty with Task Group (TG) 70.5. She returned to sea with TG 70.5 on 4 December for a 10-day minesweeping assignment in Taiwan Strait. At the conclusion of that mission, she returned to Kiirun on 15 December. Four days later, she put to sea with a convoy bound for Shanghai, China, and entered the Yangtze River on the 21st. ADAMS remained at Shanghai until 3 January 1946. Between 3 and 6 January, the warship voyaged back, to Sasebo where she rejoined the 5th Fleet.

ADAMS continued similar duty in Far Eastern waters until early April when she headed back to the United States. Upon her arrival home, she was assigned to the 1st Fleet and served in it until decommissioned in December. The destroyer minelayer was berthed with the San Diego Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet. She remained in reserve for almost 23 years. On 7 February 1955, while still in reserve, she was redesignated a fast minelayer MMD-27. Her name was finally struck from the Navy list on 1 December 1970, and she was sold to Chow's Iron & Steel Co., of Taiwan, on 16 December 1971.

USS Adams was named in honor of Lieutenant Samuel Adams, USN, a hero of the Battle of Midway.

[JudyB1938]

I am bawling. I hate it when one of our brave kids gets hurt, let alone killed. That's okay. He has a big reward in Heaven. It's just that his poor family and friends who got left behind who will be in such grief. I pray that God give them EXTRA peace. Amen.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba Joint Task Force 160

Click on the picture to visit this site.



Please take a moment and Thank a Service Man or Woman.
Just Click on a flag to SEND an e-mail.

Army	Navy	Marines	Air Force	Coast Guard	Canadian Military

[tomkow6]

Morning, Tonk!

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

"Prayers for a soldiers family! A soldier was killed .......He was a member of the U.S. Army and lost his life in service to our nation on October 18, 2002. I cannot give you his name, it happened in Poland in a covert operation. But a friend of the Canteen has asked for prayers for his family.He was with several other soldiers. I am sorry I cannot give any more information.I know you all understand."

May God Welcome him Home and comfort his family and friends.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Morning Brother!
Thanks for the daily humor.
The troops and everyone in the Canteen really appreciate it.

[SAMWolf]

History of U.S. presence in Guantanamo Bay

The southeastern tip of Cuba is less than 400 miles away from Miami, closer still to the Florida Keys. Yet this island has been one of America’s most bitter rivals for the past 40 years, and a land forbidden to Americans - except for one tiny parcel of land known to its residents as “Gitmo.”

Located on the entrance of Guantanamo Bay is U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay. How did America end up with a military base on enemy soil? It’s a story that goes back to 1898.

On Feb. 15, 1898, the battleship USS Maine was sunk in the harbor of Havana, Cuba. At the time, Cuba was a Spanish colony.

Some in America were itching for a fight with Spain, and the sinking of the Maine - which may well have been an accident - was blamed on Spanish agents. America prepared for a fight that would be known as the Spanish-American War.

In April 1898, the Navy scouted the Guantanamo Bay area as a base location for the war. Finding it to their liking, a team of about 650 U.S. Marines landed at Guantanamo Bay on June 10, 1898. It was the beginning of a military presence that would last more than 100 years.

Just two months after the Marines landed, the war was over. But the American presence in Cuba was not.

In December 1903, with a new, favorable Cuban government in place, America agreed to lease 45 square miles of land and water at Guantanamo Bay.

In 1934, the special arrangement was worked into a treaty. Under the treaty, America agreed to pay Cuba $4,085 dollars a year to lease the base. More importantly, the two nations agreed that the treaty could not be broken unless both nations agreed to it. This insured that America would be in Cuba as long as it wanted.

Guantanamo Bay became an important base for American sea power. It was strategically located for action in both the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. During World War II, it was an important installation to support anti-submarine activities.

After World War II, Communism rose throughout Europe, beginning with Soviet domination of the Eastern European nations.

In 1959, the Communist threat got closer to America. A young radical named Fidel Castro led a revolution in Cuba against the U.S.-sponsored dictator, Fulgencio Batista. Castro’s forces took over in 1960, and suddenly, Guantanamo Bay was a front-line installation in the Cold War. In January 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhowe

r cut diplomatic ties with Cuba. Many ordinary Cubans wanted to defect to the United States, and hoped to do so through the base. Castro, hoping to discourage them, planted eight miles of cactus along the U.S. Naval Base border.

By 1962, the Cold War was getting very hot in Cuba. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency backed a group of Cuban exiles in a botched attempt to invade the island nation. The failed “Bay of Pigs” invasion made Castro even more hostile toward the United States, and more open to the Soviets.

In October 1962, American reconnaissance planes spotted Soviet missiles at Cuban installations. President John F. Kennedy told the Cubans and Soviets to remove the missiles.

It was the beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis - and the closest America ever got to nuclear war. At Guantanamo Bay, all wives and children of soldiers and sailors were sent home to America on just a few hours notice. Ever since, dependents have been required to keep a suitcase ready at all times for a rapid evacuation.

The naval base at once became both more dangerous and more important. It was now a forward location in the Cold War and a thumb in Castro’s eye - which it remains to this day. Castro remains so irked by the base that he refuses to cash the yearly rent checks of $4,000!

Guantanamo Bay has become a self-sufficient community of about 6,000 people. It makes its own fresh water and power, and has schools, Boy Scout troops, youth baseball, grocery stores, exchanges and homes.

In the 1990s, Gitmo’s primary mission as a logistics base for the Atlantic Fleet was overshadowed by some humanitarian missions.

Beginning in 1991, Guantanamo Bay was the temporary home for migrants from other countries. That year, 34,000 Haitian refugees came through the base after fleeing violence in their homeland. In 1994, the base hosted more Haitian and Cuban refugees after more strife in the two Caribbean neighbors. At one point, all dependents and civilians were sent home to make room and create enough resources for the migrants.

Now, Guantanamo is home to a very different kind of international visitor. In January, the first al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners from the war on terror were taken to Gitmo, where they are being imprisoned.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

From the men in the military and in the Canteen
TO
The women in the military and in the Canteen.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Morning SAM!

[SAMWolf]

Prayers for a fallen soldier.

[SAMWolf]

Morning Tonk. I'm off to work. See you tonight.