A Piece of the USS Texas Goes Home

Battleship TEXAS Foundation

Newsletter of the Battleship Texas Foundation Winter 2015

In this issue . . . A piece of Texas steel goes home Pg.1

From the Director Pg.2

Exciting New Year Pg.3

FTV Report Pg.4

Dreadnought Update Pg.5

Chester Jackson Obit

In Honor Of Pg.6

In Honor Of Pg.7

Supporters Pg.8

Words of the Crew Pg.9

WWII Poster . . .

A Piece of the USS Texas Goes Home

Inscription reads,

“Battleship TEXAS Built by

Newport News Shipbuilding Dry-Dock Co.

Keel Laid April 17, 1911

Launched May 18, 1912”

Presentation photo on pg.2

On Dec. 1, members of the Battleship Texas Foundation presented the Newport News Shipbuilding with a piece of USS Texas (BB35), celebrating 100 years since the ship’s Commissioning. NNS President Matt Mulherin received the commemorative gift on behalf of the shipyard. Made of origi-nal riveted, salvaged steel from the old battleship, the piece measures 16” by 16” and weighs 29 pounds.

Andy Smith, the ship manager, was one of those presenting the steel plate. “Today was all about giving a piece of this ship back to the ship-yard,” said Smith. “The Newport News shipbuilders here in 1912 to 1914 built a high quality ship, and we feel strongly that you should recognize the people who make things possible. It’s only fitting that this piece of steel comes back to the place where the ship was built. It’s is almost like a home-coming.”

USS Texas is one of six remaining ships to have served in both world wars. In World II, she shelled Axis-held beaches in North Africa, Nor-mandy, Cherbourg and Southern France before being transferred to the Pacific theater were she would support the Battles of Iwo Jima and Oki-nawa. She holds the distinction of being the first U.S. battleship to mount anti-aircraft guns, radar and to launch an aircraft.

Today she is the only remaining dreadnought battleship in the world, a testament to the craftsmanship of her builders. Texas was decommis-sioned in 1948, having earned a total of five battle stars for her service in World War II. The battleship is now a U.S. National Historic Landmark in LaPorte, TX

Advisory Directors

Hon. James A. Baker, III 61st Secretary of State

ADM. James L. Holloway, III USN (Ret.), Former CNO

Ned S. Holmes Commissioner, Texas

Transportation Commission

Board of Trustees

Anthony K. Gregory, Chairman

Thomas J. Perich, Vice Chairman

Donald H. Fischer, Treasurer

Rey Gonzales, Jr., Secretary

Charles A. Alcorn,

Chairman Emeritus

Jimmy Burke

Penny H. Butler

Alfred Davis, IV

Sylvia R. Garcia

Theodore S. Hirtz

RADM. J. Weldon Koenig,

USN (Ret.)

Michael N. Pearson

CAPT. Clifford H. Royal,

USN (Ret.)

Thomas C. Wright

Bruce D. Bramlett

Execut ive D irector ;

[email protected]

TPWD Ship Staff

Andy Smith,

2015 is off and running and we believe that it will be an exciting year for The Battleship Texas. Having completed our first round of repairs to The Mighty T we are poised to push for-ward and complete the re-maining repairs and to do so is no small undertaking and will require a significant investment. I am happy to share with you that we are executing our strategy to secure additional funding to move forward. The next few months are critical to our efforts but we are confident that the result will be worth the effort.

In the meantime if you have not paid a visit to The Texas, I hope you will con-sider doing so. Having com-pleted so much work I can’t think of a better time in re-cent history to stop by. The

Texas is open every day from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM. If you are interested in a more in depth look at The Texas may I suggest you attend one of the Hard Hat Tours that we offer. You will need a reservation and you can find all the infor-mation you need by visiting our website at :

www.battleshiptexas.org.

As long as we are talking about a visit, here is another option you might want to consider. Our Overnight Edu-cation Program has hosted over 41,000 young people since it started. Imagine giving a youngster you know the op-portunity to spend the night on The Might T. Sleep in the bunks just like the sailors did and get a great behind the scenes look at her. You can also find all the information by jumping on our website above.

Jeff Nelson, President Historical Naval Ships Association Andy Smith, Manager Battleship Texas

Matt Mulherin, President of Newport News Shipbuilding Company. Tony Gregory, Chairman of The Battleship Texas Foundation

Board of Directors. Stephanie Croatt, Curator Battleship Texas

From The Director’s Chair

By Stephanie Croatt

As the ship’s staff has been getting settled into the New Year, we’ve been taking a look at what is on the horizon. It certainly looks like 2015 is go-ing to be exciting! For the first time in a few years, the ship is fully staffed, and we are thrilled to have all of our man power in place. The mainte-nance and restoration team is working diligently on a few projects, including restoring one of the 40mm mounts on main deck (starboard). The idea is to restore the correct appearance of the mount and make it so that visitors can point and train the guns.

Maintenance staff is also working to relocate the ship’s break room to the Flag Office. This move is part of a larger plan to expand the ship’s in-frastructure to accommodate larger groups for the Over-night Education Program. The new break room will feature running water, plenty of cabi-net space, and maybe a washer and dryer. While project com-

pletion is still several months away, the ship’s staff and vol-unteers are really looking for-ward to having a working sink in their break room!

On the interpretive front, there are a number of exciting improvements slated to take place early this year. The Bat-tleship TEXAS Foundation and Texas Parks and Wildlife spon-sored two interactive exhibits that are currently under devel-opment. The first exhibit will be of a ship “Navigation Sta-tion” that will allow visitors to steer the ship at the helm and gear the engines up and down to control speed. Visitors will be able to see the ship moving through a virtual porthole, and will be able to steer around ob-stacles. The second exhibit features an interactive enlisted crew locker. Visitors will be able to touch the locker’s vir-tual contents in order to learn about the items TEXAS’s crew kept in their lockers. Along with these exhibits, we will also bring a temporary, travel-ling exhibit called, “Images of Valor: Latinos and Latinas in World War II.” This exhibit will arrive in March and will be dis-

played in the Wardroom for our visitors’ viewing pleas-ure.

Ship’s staff is also working to improve collection organi-zation, safety, and stability. Efforts are being made by the collections manager, curator, and ship custodian to clean exhibit and collections stor-age spaces throughout the ship. Keeping dust and de-bris off objects on display and in storage not only keeps them looking as bright and clean as possible, but also deters deterioration. Cura-torial staff is also working to furnish the newly opened Admiral’s Pantry. With the BTF’s collection development stipend, we’ve been slowly acquiring coffee and demi-tasse cups and a toaster that is the correct appearance for the space. A coffee maker is also among the items on the shopping list.

With all of these exciting events and new things to see on the horizon, we encourage everybody to come out and take in the sights!

An Exciting New Year for the TEXAS

Recent acquisition: A box made by a crewman to resemble a gun turret. Circa 1918

First Texas Volunteers By Don Fischer

Restoration

After an exceedingly busy 2014, the First Texas Volunteers (FTV) straightened up and took a deep breath and used the winter months to collectively take stock and plan. Over the past cou-ple of months FTV has been tackling some routine, but necessary, work throughout the public areas of the ship. Included in these activities are the general cleaning and priming of the decks in the Butcher Shop and Brig. Similarly, the Galley and 2nd Deck bulkheads were scrubbed thor-oughly, eliminating several years’ grime and mildew.

Near future projects may include the re-painting of the Movie Locker, Post Office and a por-tion of 2nd Deck passageway. Some discussion has also been directed toward possible improve-ment work in the Combat Information Center and on a 40mm gun mount.

The Foundation also desires to expand its Overnight Program, so work will take place in pre-paring additional casemate space for the kids to sleep. This work will also allow for additional restroom facilities for the program, and a relocation of office space for the regular ship staff. It remains unclear as to how much work will be done by contractor (abatement of lead paint cer-tainly) and how much by FTV.

Hard Hat Tours

The November Hard Hat Tour succeeded in making $2,020.00. Most importantly, all partici-pants thoroughly enjoyed the experience according to their comments and critiques. The Janu-ary Hard Hat Tour was a resounding success! Not only was our visitor participation up, but FTV earned a record $3,885.00 for use on future projects.

During this period, taking advantage of the interest in the 70th anniversary of the Normandy invasion, a “thematic” tour, focused on the Battleship TEXAS’ participation in Operation Neptune/Overlord, was offered. General public interest has been limited, but through the Houston Mu-seum of Natural Science, which has held a D-Day and Battleship TEXAS exhibit for the past six months, a special Normandy tour was presided over and conducted by FTV, which seemed to have been a real success. After this season, this is expected to wane, but the thematic concept seems to offer up some intriguing opportunities for the future.

The next Hard Hat Tour is scheduled for : Saturday, February 21

Contact the Foundation office at 713-827-9620 to make

reservations.

The work on board the Bat-tleship TEXAS for the struc-tural repair project is com-plete. As of November 2014, TPWD accepted the work done by Taylor Marine Con-struction, Inc. (TMC), and as of January 2015 TPWD ac-cepted the successful re-moval of all of the shore-side support/staging area equip-ment from TPWD property. Therefore, TMC is completely finished and demobilized from the site and from the ship.

As I reported in the last issue of the Dreadnought, all of the project funding allo-cated for construction is ex-hausted. We will have to wait until additional funding be-comes available to do the ad-ditional critical structural work necessary on the ship. I would like to offer my per-sonal thanks to the TPWD staff, AECOM design team, the Battleship Texas Founda-tion and all of the readers of the Dreadnought for the sup-port necessary to accomplish such an important project. I hope we can continue the great work soon. As news on possible additional fund-ing becomes available, I will share it with you all in the pages of the Dreadnought. Onward!

Dreadnought Update

By Neil Thomas

Battleship Texas Overnight Education Program

By Kandace Trujillo

We have had a busy last couple of months at the overnight program. We’ve h o s t e d 6 2 4 c a m p e r s throughout the months of December and January. And we have 305 campers sched-uled for February. We are also booking groups well in to the summer. We have had groups from many different areas participate in our edu-cation program. We hosted a Boy Scout Troop from Louisi-ana and are hosting a Girl Scout group from Northeast-ern Oklahoma.

The overnight program is in the process of adding new lessons to our current pro-gram. On our January 10 pro-gram, TPWD volunteer Jodi Larson and Ship’s Interpreter Sarah Faulkner assisted the overnight staff with a special math lesson. Pack 737 out of Deer Park, TX used math to adjust real Navy recipes. Their task was to turn reci-pes with portions for 100 people to port ions that would feed 1700 sailors. The pack also created a healthy menu from their rec ipe choices. Their meal included baked fish, fruit salad, prune whip, and lemonade. They did a great job and used their multiplication skills. We owe a special thanks to Jodi and Sarah. Thanks for all your help!

The OEP continues to par-ticipate in outreach opportu-nities. The OEP shared a booth with TPWD at the Houston Museum of Natural Science’s Educator Event on J a n u a r y 2 4 . E d u c a t o r s learned more about our pro-gram. Hopefully, this will lead to more school groups participating in the overnight program. The Overnight Pro-gram will also have a booth at an upcoming scout fair and teacher workshop. The Overnight Program will also participate in Houston His-panic Forum’s Education and Career Fair.

We are always looking for new tour guides for our pro-gram. If you are interested or want more in format ion please contact Kandace Trujillo at:

o v e n i g h t @ b a t t l e s h i p t e x a s . o r g

o r ( 2 8 1 ) 5 4 2 - 0 6 8 4 o f f i c e .

Kandace Trujillo Overnight Education Program Manager

Battleship TEXAS Foundation

In Honor Or Memory Of

Charles Edward O’Del Lt. Walter R. Clough, USN

Francis O. Hallahan John Bellock, USN

DFC Robert T. Collins John C. Alberts

Maurice P Coakley, USN Lawrence E. Poorman

David Barnfather, EM2 Rueben B. Kihn

James R. Doverspike LCDR James R Kay

Colonel Matrix Harry F. Adler, M.D.

Edward P McClearbt, USN RoseMarie Collender

Fornie Edward Hartsell E. I. Bradley, USN

Lee M. Pierce Daniel E. Hyatt

Robert McCutcheon H. Grant Stoddard

Charles A. Long Harold H. Kieselhorst

John R. Theis, Jr CAPT John Gaston, USMC (Ret).

Capt W. G. Fisher, USN Ray White

Clarence Reed Allen, USN Michael C. Agresti, Sr.

The Battleship Texas US Navy Veterans

CPL William "Bill" Robert Seltzer, USAF

Dominic Cenci Lawrence W. Hurdle

Cmdr. William H. Porter ARM3 Henry G. Traylor

William E. Finan Atlee M. Cunningham, Sr., USN

LTJG Paul D. Broussard, Jr., USN Anthony G. Tobie

Erwin H. Scheel Bernard Allen Street, Sr.

Capt. Harry Katz Harley Ploen Lloyd Osborn

Albert P. Santos CPO Nevin Fidler

Howard McGee John F. Kennedy

Bob Cook John Brickler Lawrence A. Tippen

Capt. Karl T. Clebak, USNR (Ret)

John Willman Barnes

Chester "Earl" Jackson,

Earl Jackson, 90, passed away on December 9, 2014 at the Banner Hospice in Sun City West, Arizona. Earl was born April 4, 1924 in Great Falls, Montana. .

Earl Jackson served our country in World War II with remarkable and distinguished service in the Navy. He par-ticipated in some of the most significant events in World War II. Aboard the U.S.S. Susan B. Anthony, he was in-volved in the invasion of Sic-ily in 1943. He was reassigned as a medical corpsman aboard the U.S.S. Texas for the remainder of the war. On D-Day, he was at Omaha Beach for the U.S. led invasion of Normandy. After the sub-sequent invasion of southern France

The U.S.S. Texas was repo-sitioned to the Pacific Thea-ter. While there, Earl partici-pated in the mission to sup-port the Marines at Iwo Jima. Next, he was assigned to a battle station for 52 days as our forces battled the Japa-nese forces off of Okinawa. Earl and the U.S.S. Texas were reassigned to the defense of the Philippines until the end of the war. On a date to be de-termined, in recognition of Earl Jackson's heroic military service, he will be honored with a military funeral cere-mony at the National Ceme-tery in Phoenix where his ashes will be interned.

http://www.legacy.com/memorial-sites/ww2/?personid=173540311&affiliateID=45

In Honor or Memory Of

Harry M. Henderson, S1 USN Oral C. "Buster" Teter Oscar M. "Andy" Anderson Andy Smith Carla Martin Vicki Langley and Art & Myla Corotan Alice Hass

C. C. Miller, USCG John C. Mortimer Arthur Loukas John C. Alberts David Hawkins George Gwynn, USN Julius Wojciechowski Joseph Harris

James H. Long Lt. William Davies YNC Harold E. Abernathy, Jr.

Richard Marsh Raymond L. Fischer Carl Alvin Newman Vernon M. Burdick Josiah E. Mardre, USN Howard B. Tilley Lawrence Parisi Maurice Colman Edwin C. Hartenstein, Sr. Harry M. Henderson, S1 USN Carl E. Vogler, Sr.

LCDR Robert Pederzani, USNR Capt. Frederick H. M. Kinley Kathryn Lusby, Kenneth Lusby, and Vincent Gordon Lusby, USN Colonel Matrix Kathleen Conway CWO1 Melvin C. Seffel, USN

Thorleif Ellison, USN Bryson L. Ruff Bobby L. Wagoner Forest Wysong Minor N. Hardin Milan and Christopher Lakich Ervin D. Pupkes

Billy F. Schmittou Oliver W. Smith B. A. Crain, Jr. James H. Lamb Edward G. Charnoki MSG Reese Jackson, USA Beierman family

HTCM(CMC) Eddie Earl Dees, Jr., USN (Ret) GMGC Tommy Dale Dees, USN (Ret) SSgt Eddie Earl Dees, USA CAPT John Gaston, USMC (Ret) Capt. David R. Cozier, CEC, USN Clarence Reed Allen, USN

Frank J. Benning Garland Hayes, Jr. RADM Robert M. Moore, SC, USN Hubert E. Griffith, Jr. Neil R. Zaccagni CDR Peter W. Wood, USN

Jerome Feinstein James H. Tidwell, Sr. Lester Morgan, USNR Edward A. Kenavan, USNR Joe Wayne Davis Robert McCutcheon

John W. Taylor Edward P. McClearbt, USN Elvin A. Kays John M. Myer, Jr., EOCS, USN (Ret.) Major William C. Coltman

Dr. Emory Temple Adams, Jr., USNR Joe H. Adcock Janet and Oliver Starcke, USN Ronald V. Afflerbach, FTGCS (Ret.)

Fornie Edward Hartsell E. I. Bradley, USN Daniel E. Hyatt William H. Luedecke W. I. Molesworth

Charles B. Jackino, USN Joseph A. Lafalce USN Leon Larison CDR Nicholas Terrence Gansa, USNR CDR William R. Seidenstein, USN (Ret)

United States Navy Memorial All who served on the Battleship Texas

SUPPORTERS

Jerry W. Adcock Dr. Max F. Adler Curt M. Anderson

MSgt Daniel Attilio, USMC (Ret) Jimmy Barnett John J. Barnfather

Howard E. Bartholf Donald L. Boudreaux William T. Brockman

MSgt Richard E. Brown, Sr., USAF (Ret) Dr. Deborah D. Bryan

Marvin W. Butcher John and Roxanne Cabori Errol Callaway

Henry C. Carswell III Stephen L. Coffman Stanley Collender

CAPT David R. Cozier, CEC, USN Paul Crain N. Bruce Creswell

Tom Dodson Amos R. Dreessen Earl O. Ellison Dr. Charles J. Farrow

Nevin L. Fidler, Jr. Lloyd L. Fields James Fischer Randall S. McDaniel

Robert and Nanette Galysh George H. Gould, Jr. Blake N. Hal

Dennis J. Hallahan Michael J. Harris Alice Hass George S. Hausch

Christopher O. Heikkila Mr. & Mrs. James G. Hill James E. Hudson III

Thomas C. Hyatt Mark Johnson Doug Kays Clarence L. Landon

Dr. A. Bernhard Kliefoth III Donald W. Krause, Sr. John J. Lafalce

CAPT Ronald E. Lis, USN (Ret) LCDR Stewart Lindsay, Jr. USNR (Ret)

Gerlinde H. Lakich Patricia A. Langa Terry L. Larison John E. Lewis

Donna H. Legare Brad and Annette Long Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Loukas

John C. Luedecke Gregory K. Lusby Clifford W. Martin Bill O'Neal

Lt. Col. Harry B. Massingill, Jr., USAF (Ret) Barbara McCormick

Richard S. Merrell Patrick A. Moore David R. Morgan Harley Ploen

Dud and Melba Morris CAPT Robert B. Murphy, USN Jasper Northcutt

George J. Narozonick Oscar J. Olson Robert S. Perkin Emil F. Saul

Robert Perwas Bill R. Pierce William H. Porter Philip W. Reed

John A. Roberts, Jr. Joe Rutherford Billy and Billie Schmittou

Dr. John V. Scholes Perry and Sara Schwierzke Paul E. Stebelton

CAPT Joel S. Seffel, USNR (Ret) Mr. & Mrs. Richard G. Stoddard

Rex Teter Bryan Tilley James Troy Tucker Donald R. Wagoner

William C. Whiteside W. Scott and Judith Williams Charles D. Wright

Lt. Col. William A. White, USA (Ret)

Page 7

ever knew.” He took an interest in Mr. Bradley, told him to walk with the Ensign one night on the deck. Asked Mr. Bradley what he intended to do with his life. Mr.

Bradley said he wanted to be an aviator but did-n’t have the college. En-s i g n W e s t c o t t r e -searched and found out about the enlisted pilot program, and obtained letters of recommenda-tion from officers up to and including Fleet Ad-miral King. Then they found out Admiral King could send an enlisted man directly to the avia-tion program, which he did. So Mr. Bradley be-came an enlisted pilot and flew OS2U Kingfish-ers, but did not return to the TEXAS.

Ensign Westcott left the TEXAS before Mr. Bradley. Just before he left the ship, Ensign Westcott came down to the enlisted quarters, looked up Mr. Bradley, and told him goodbye. Then the ensign came to attention and saluted the aviation radioman. Bradley returned the sa-

lute, the ensign left, and the two men never saw each other again.

Mr. Bradley came aboard right out of boot camp as an undesignated seaman. Became a radioman striker. Slept on the deck behind the foremast below the signal b r i d g e . O n c e t h e y brought a body from an-other ship onto the TEXAS, and placed the casket right where Mr. Bradley slept. Another sa i lo r came up and asked, “Are you going to sleep there?” Mr. Brad-ley replied, “No, are you crazy?” The other sailor said, “If I sleep there now, that’s my spot from now on,” and slept on top of the casket.

They held a school for radio st r ikers . The teacher was an old chief who had been retired, then came back into the Navy from retirement. The school was in the passageway beside the radio room. The chief would send code, and the strikers would copy it with a pencil.

Mr. Bradley was not good enough at code to s t and a watch . He mainly carried mes-sages. He would pick up the messages in the radio room, from the window to the code room. He would take the messages to Ensign Westcott, generally in his cabin. Then the ensign would tell Mr. Bradley where to take them next. Ensign Westcott was “the finest officer I

Words of the Crew ...

Mr. Neil Bradley Telephone interview. Served on the TEXAS from November 1939 to October 1941.

Membership Benefits

Individual. $35 Entry level membership entitles Member to receive a free subscription to the BTF quarterly e-mail newsletter “The Dreadnought” and a free subscription to TPWD’s bi-weekly e-mail newsletter “The Battle Report” (if you provide your e-mail address). Family. $ 45 Everything above, plus invitations to San Jacinto Site activities and special events. Supporting $ 150 Everything above, plus one (1) Hard Hat Tour. Benefactor. $ 500 Everything above, plus two (2) Hard Hat Tours Corporate. $2,000 Everything above, plus publication of your firm’s name in “The Dreadnought” and at special events held aboard the TEXAS. USS TEXAS Veterans. $10 Benefits the same as for Individual Member.

Mail to:

BATTLESHIP TEXAS FOUNDATION One Riverway

Suite 2200 Houston, Texas 77056

Phone 713-827-9620

Membership Application

I am pleased to support the USS TEXAS with my membership in the Battleship TEXAS Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) non profit organization.

Individual $35.00 Family $45.00 Supporting $150.00

Benefactor $500.00 Corporate $2,000.00

USS TEXAS Veteran $10.00

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One Riverway, Suite 2200 Houston, Texas 77056

A Piece of the USS Texas Goes Home

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