Written contributions offered by Don Lerche
Some thoughts offered by Don Lerche regarding hunting for the men who served about the "901"
REFLECTIONS
On March 2, 2008, Jimmy Stephenson forwarded an email to me concerning a reunion being planned for 3 ships; the Litchfield County, the Park County and the Sutter County. I responded by email on March 4th to the person who wrote Jimmy; and, I indicated an interest in attending and requesting I be kept on the organizer’s mailing list as reunion plans were firmed up.
It took almost 4 months before I heard anything further. It was at this time, June 30, 2008, that my life was about to change. I was asked by Mike Kempf, the actual reunion organizer who served aboard the Park County, to help locate former officers and crew of the Litchfield County. I really had never done anything like this; and, had no idea how to go about it. By pulling up a few military web sites, I was able to obtain a few email addresses of former shipmates. My records indicate that on January 14, 2009, I had actual confirmed contact information for 14 men (including one gentleman who served during the Korean War). I had the names of 47 men who served on the ship, including these 14. I was just trudging along without a clue.
In late February, 2009, C.C. Bryant, who I had been in contact with, sent me contact information for Mike Reuter. I contacted Mike immediately. Mike responded with an email containing 51 new names for me. These were all men who were part of the original re-commissioning crew. Shortly thereafter, he sent me a reel of micro fiche he had obtained from the Naval Archives. It contained daily personnel logs from the time the first crew member reported aboard until shortly after the re-commissioning ceremony. Thus, I was able to complete the list of all officers and crew who were aboard at that time. As of March 12th, with the help of several men, the list of shipmate names had grown to 285 men. I had been able to confirm contact information with 60 of them and confirmed the passing away of another 7 men.
One of the men I had just located, Dave Pender, needed help with a VA health claim. On March 9, 2009, I was able to email a request for assistance to 45 former shipmates as a result of the “roster” I had been slowly accumulating. I thought it was a pretty nice consequence of the work I had been doing. In fact, I mentioned to my wife that had I spent 10 times as much time and effort working on this task as I had, the ability to “gather the troops” to help Dave would have made all the effort well worthwhile. You see, over the past few years I have had several of my own claims processed thru the VA system and now have a 100% individual unemployability rating. I understood the importance to Dave of getting his claim processed and approved.
On March 28th, Tom Gawrych sent me information he had obtained at Naval Archives. These records came at a time when I thought I might be unable to locate many more people. However, his information added 24 more men to the list; and equally important, it provided additional information (first names and/or middle names and/or middle initials) for 125 of the men whose names I already had. I was again pumped to continue looking for men.
On March 31st, I received a request from Kyle Stephens to locate a few specific men I had not yet found. One man on that list was Mike Greenway. I was fortunate to find Mike the morning of April 1st. I did not speak with Mike; but, I gained his contact information thru his former son-in-law. I sent that contact information on to Kyle with the suggestion he surprise Mike with a phone call that evening.
On April 5th I received a phone call from Mike Reuter telling me he had spoken with Gary Frutig who told him Mike Greenway had passed away on April 3, 2009. I will never be able to express the emotions I felt when I realized I had played an important role in 2 old friends having an opportunity, albeit a short one, to renew their friendship of 40 years ago. Realizing how critical the timing of finding Mike Greenway was to renewing that friendship, and realizing the importance of being able to get the word out regarding Dave Pender’s need for our help, the importance of what I was doing came crashing down on me.
I had been trying to find people for a reunion. That was now secondary in my mind, and continues to be in the background at this time, as well. There have been over a dozen men who have received help in the way of information to support disability claims. There have been countless friendships renewed because of the searches I’ve been able to conduct for our shipmates. In fact, the last person I located prior to writing this is David Cook. When we spoke, he asked if I had located Gary Freehling, which I had. I’m betting they will have spoken by the time this is posted on the web site. What a wonderful feeling is given me each time I can give positive responses to questions like that. While I am fortunate enough to have the time to spend on the computer doing searches, very little of my searching would have been possible had others not provided me the documentation with names. Also, those roster documents as well as copies of ship deck logs I was given, were the basis for being able to help many men with first time VA claims.
On April 15th, my 2nd to last income tax preparation client for the day was a young man involved in computer repair. I asked the question and he gave the answer.
The question: “Do you think I would be able to develop a web site if I took a semester course at our local junior college?”
The answer: “You don’t need to do that. Here, go to this web site and you’ll find everything you need.”
Within 24 hours, I had a web site for USS LITCHFIELD COUNTY (LST-901) up and running. It wasn’t much at that time; but, it has been growing and maturing each week. Some day I hope it to be a wonderful reflection on a ship that was fortunate to have a dedicated officer corps and dedicated crew. I also hope it will be something that will provide a lasting tribute to all the men who served aboard her; and, I hope each of these men will be proud of the web site. It is their web site. I’m just the guy that gets to play with it right now.
By the time the reunion came about in mid-July, 2009, about 220 (including 45 deceased) Vietnam era shipmates had been located. We had also located 3 WWII shipmates and 3 Korean War shipmates. We had been able to identify almost 360 men who served aboard the “901” during the Vietnam War, about 100 men who served aboard her during WWII and another 120 men who served aboard her during the Korean War.
At the reunion we had 43 men in attendance who had served aboard the Litchfield County. Adding the men from the other ships, and all of our guests, we had over 180 people at the reunion. Up until I met the group at lunch the first day of the reunion, I only thought I knew how great this gathering would be. Actually, I had no idea. The joy I found with this group of men, and the renewing of that bond we had so many years ago, made me realize how important this entire process has been. I can honestly say I have found the process of locating our former shipmates, helping them with VA claims, and being instrumental in so many of them reconnecting with one another to be an honor and a privilege. I can’t imagine what else I could be doing that would be more important.
After the reunion, I took about 2 months off from my searching. I needed a rest from it so I could return to it with a vengeance. That I have done. I have located about 40 more men since then. I am hoping to have at least 300 Vietnam era shipmates accounted for by late spring, 2010 and 325 accounted for by January 1, 2011. That will leave less than 35 men unaccounted for - a number I think I can live with.
On August 6, 2001, I went to the hospital with chest pains that had started the day prior but then subsided. They took me from the heart cath lab directly to OR without stopping in pre-op. Although I did NOT have a heart attack, time was apparently not on my side. The surgeon later told me had I not come to the hospital ER that Monday morning, I would not have awaken Tuesday morning. On July 26, 2007 I had prostate cancer surgery as a result of my private physicians refusing to accept the VA medical opinion of waiting another year to see if my PSA level was still elevated. Such cancer is generally slow growing; but, why would one want to knowingly give it any more time to grow than is absolutely necessary?
I mention these 2 serious health incidents to highlight the fact that God has watched over me very carefully; and, I don’t really know why. However, I have come to suspect this “work” I have been doing is most likely the reason. I am fortunate in that I have the time, ability and inclination to immerse myself in this task. I believe He knew that when He protected me from that which was trying to take me down. You, my shipmates, have become my passion in life. Whatever it is you need, if I can assist in some manner, I trust you will contact me.
REFLECTIONS
On March 2, 2008, Jimmy Stephenson forwarded an email to me concerning a reunion being planned for 3 ships; the Litchfield County, the Park County and the Sutter County. I responded by email on March 4th to the person who wrote Jimmy; and, I indicated an interest in attending and requesting I be kept on the organizer’s mailing list as reunion plans were firmed up.
It took almost 4 months before I heard anything further. It was at this time, June 30, 2008, that my life was about to change. I was asked by Mike Kempf, the actual reunion organizer who served aboard the Park County, to help locate former officers and crew of the Litchfield County. I really had never done anything like this; and, had no idea how to go about it. By pulling up a few military web sites, I was able to obtain a few email addresses of former shipmates. My records indicate that on January 14, 2009, I had actual confirmed contact information for 14 men (including one gentleman who served during the Korean War). I had the names of 47 men who served on the ship, including these 14. I was just trudging along without a clue.
In late February, 2009, C.C. Bryant, who I had been in contact with, sent me contact information for Mike Reuter. I contacted Mike immediately. Mike responded with an email containing 51 new names for me. These were all men who were part of the original re-commissioning crew. Shortly thereafter, he sent me a reel of micro fiche he had obtained from the Naval Archives. It contained daily personnel logs from the time the first crew member reported aboard until shortly after the re-commissioning ceremony. Thus, I was able to complete the list of all officers and crew who were aboard at that time. As of March 12th, with the help of several men, the list of shipmate names had grown to 285 men. I had been able to confirm contact information with 60 of them and confirmed the passing away of another 7 men.
One of the men I had just located, Dave Pender, needed help with a VA health claim. On March 9, 2009, I was able to email a request for assistance to 45 former shipmates as a result of the “roster” I had been slowly accumulating. I thought it was a pretty nice consequence of the work I had been doing. In fact, I mentioned to my wife that had I spent 10 times as much time and effort working on this task as I had, the ability to “gather the troops” to help Dave would have made all the effort well worthwhile. You see, over the past few years I have had several of my own claims processed thru the VA system and now have a 100% individual unemployability rating. I understood the importance to Dave of getting his claim processed and approved.
On March 28th, Tom Gawrych sent me information he had obtained at Naval Archives. These records came at a time when I thought I might be unable to locate many more people. However, his information added 24 more men to the list; and equally important, it provided additional information (first names and/or middle names and/or middle initials) for 125 of the men whose names I already had. I was again pumped to continue looking for men.
On March 31st, I received a request from Kyle Stephens to locate a few specific men I had not yet found. One man on that list was Mike Greenway. I was fortunate to find Mike the morning of April 1st. I did not speak with Mike; but, I gained his contact information thru his former son-in-law. I sent that contact information on to Kyle with the suggestion he surprise Mike with a phone call that evening.
On April 5th I received a phone call from Mike Reuter telling me he had spoken with Gary Frutig who told him Mike Greenway had passed away on April 3, 2009. I will never be able to express the emotions I felt when I realized I had played an important role in 2 old friends having an opportunity, albeit a short one, to renew their friendship of 40 years ago. Realizing how critical the timing of finding Mike Greenway was to renewing that friendship, and realizing the importance of being able to get the word out regarding Dave Pender’s need for our help, the importance of what I was doing came crashing down on me.
I had been trying to find people for a reunion. That was now secondary in my mind, and continues to be in the background at this time, as well. There have been over a dozen men who have received help in the way of information to support disability claims. There have been countless friendships renewed because of the searches I’ve been able to conduct for our shipmates. In fact, the last person I located prior to writing this is David Cook. When we spoke, he asked if I had located Gary Freehling, which I had. I’m betting they will have spoken by the time this is posted on the web site. What a wonderful feeling is given me each time I can give positive responses to questions like that. While I am fortunate enough to have the time to spend on the computer doing searches, very little of my searching would have been possible had others not provided me the documentation with names. Also, those roster documents as well as copies of ship deck logs I was given, were the basis for being able to help many men with first time VA claims.
On April 15th, my 2nd to last income tax preparation client for the day was a young man involved in computer repair. I asked the question and he gave the answer.
The question: “Do you think I would be able to develop a web site if I took a semester course at our local junior college?”
The answer: “You don’t need to do that. Here, go to this web site and you’ll find everything you need.”
Within 24 hours, I had a web site for USS LITCHFIELD COUNTY (LST-901) up and running. It wasn’t much at that time; but, it has been growing and maturing each week. Some day I hope it to be a wonderful reflection on a ship that was fortunate to have a dedicated officer corps and dedicated crew. I also hope it will be something that will provide a lasting tribute to all the men who served aboard her; and, I hope each of these men will be proud of the web site. It is their web site. I’m just the guy that gets to play with it right now.
By the time the reunion came about in mid-July, 2009, about 220 (including 45 deceased) Vietnam era shipmates had been located. We had also located 3 WWII shipmates and 3 Korean War shipmates. We had been able to identify almost 360 men who served aboard the “901” during the Vietnam War, about 100 men who served aboard her during WWII and another 120 men who served aboard her during the Korean War.
At the reunion we had 43 men in attendance who had served aboard the Litchfield County. Adding the men from the other ships, and all of our guests, we had over 180 people at the reunion. Up until I met the group at lunch the first day of the reunion, I only thought I knew how great this gathering would be. Actually, I had no idea. The joy I found with this group of men, and the renewing of that bond we had so many years ago, made me realize how important this entire process has been. I can honestly say I have found the process of locating our former shipmates, helping them with VA claims, and being instrumental in so many of them reconnecting with one another to be an honor and a privilege. I can’t imagine what else I could be doing that would be more important.
After the reunion, I took about 2 months off from my searching. I needed a rest from it so I could return to it with a vengeance. That I have done. I have located about 40 more men since then. I am hoping to have at least 300 Vietnam era shipmates accounted for by late spring, 2010 and 325 accounted for by January 1, 2011. That will leave less than 35 men unaccounted for - a number I think I can live with.
On August 6, 2001, I went to the hospital with chest pains that had started the day prior but then subsided. They took me from the heart cath lab directly to OR without stopping in pre-op. Although I did NOT have a heart attack, time was apparently not on my side. The surgeon later told me had I not come to the hospital ER that Monday morning, I would not have awaken Tuesday morning. On July 26, 2007 I had prostate cancer surgery as a result of my private physicians refusing to accept the VA medical opinion of waiting another year to see if my PSA level was still elevated. Such cancer is generally slow growing; but, why would one want to knowingly give it any more time to grow than is absolutely necessary?
I mention these 2 serious health incidents to highlight the fact that God has watched over me very carefully; and, I don’t really know why. However, I have come to suspect this “work” I have been doing is most likely the reason. I am fortunate in that I have the time, ability and inclination to immerse myself in this task. I believe He knew that when He protected me from that which was trying to take me down. You, my shipmates, have become my passion in life. Whatever it is you need, if I can assist in some manner, I trust you will contact me.
