March 2001

Operation Reunion - July 26-29, 2001 San Diego

Registration Packets Will Be  Going Out In The Next Few Weeks:
July 26,27,28 and 29, 2001 we will be in San Diego,  California!  Military Locator & Reunion Service will be sending out packets in this week that will detail the packages which you can customize to fit your budget and your interests.

We are having our reunion during the high part of tourist season in San Diego and with the current energy problems in the west, there are extra hotel charges. This will impact the pricing for our reunion but I assure you that lots of fun will be had and it will be worth your while to attend! Create you own San Diego vacation for you and your family that includes our reunion.  This will be a great event and a for the final banquet we have some great speakers. Summer is a wonderful time of year to be in San Diego!!  To obtain information about the reunion and all packages, you will need to sign up as On Line Crew.  More information about that and more speakers for our reunion to follow.

Sign Up For More information:
To receive reunion information, you must have signed up as On Line Crew. This will ensure that the Military Locator & Reunion Service and the people here have your address and other data so you can receive all the information about the reunion and other events. If you or other shipmates cannot fill in the form, send me the information at: Dennis O'Brien, 254 Allegheny Way, Placentia, CA 92870 or e-mail dennis@ussengland.net.

The most important thing for you to know is that this is going to be a great fun event! We expect a great turn out for a fun time in San Diego. You do not want to miss the first USS England DLG/CG-22 reunion. We very much need every one of you there to enjoy the event and plan for the future! This is the USS England, lets show San Diego how it is done!

More Speakers Added:
We have added two more speakers for the reunion.  Former ENGLAND Chaplin Mark Allison and CWO4 George P. Evans (USN, Ret.)  Other speakers are Adm (Ret) Henry H. Mauz, RADM (Ret) Hugh Webster and CAPT (Ret) Coenraad van der Schroeff.

Chaplin Allison will be providing the invocation. Chaplin Allison completed nine years of active duty. Tours of duty included: three years in ENGLAND: June 1989 to June 1992; including two Westpac tours. Naval Station San Diego, Naval Regional Medical Center, Portsmouth, Virginia, Naval Hospital, Bremerton, Washington. Upon exiting active duty in 1995 served 3 additional years in the reserves with the Marine Corps, Portland, Oregon Currently, he resides in Salt Lake City, Utah where he is employed as the Senior Chaplain, University of Utah Medical Center. He was also recently selected as one of the official chaplains for the upcoming 2002 Winter Olympic Games to be held in Salt Lake City. While serving as command chaplain aboard USS ENGLAND, he was the first in-theater military chaplain in the Persian Gulf War.

CWO4 George P. Evans (USN, Ret.) was born in Mt. Carmel, LA on 13 JAN 1942.  He is the son of Madie L. Evans and the late Charles P. Evans.

He graduated from George Washington Carver High School in DeRidder, LA. on 29 MAY 1959 and joined the Navy on 02 JUN 1959.  He attended recruit training at RTC San Diego.  His first sea assignment was USS Harry E. Hubbard (DD-748).  After serving in USS Hubbard as a FT Striker, he attended FTA and FTC Schools at NTC San Diego and was assigned to USS Bausell (DD-845).  In 1962 he attended FTB School and AN/SPG-55A Radar School.  He was assigned to USS Coontz (DLG-9) for a brief period in 1963.  After USS Coontz, he attended Weapons Direction System School and was assigned to Pre-Commissioning Detail on USS Reeves (DLG-24) in Bremerton, WA in 1963.

After USS Reeves, he was assigned shore duty as an instructor at Guided Missile System Training School, Mare Island CA from 1966 until 1968.  While at Mare Island, he was promoted to FTMC in 1967 and Warrant Officer (W-1) in 1968.

Gunner Evans attended Warrant Officers' Orientation School (Charm School) at Newport, RI and was assigned to the Pre-Commissioning Detail for USS Harry E. Yarnell (DLG/CG-24).  He served as Technical Assistant in USS Yarnell from 1968 until 1971.  He was promoted to CWO2 in 1970 while serving in USS Yarnell.

Following USS Yarnell, he went back to Mare Island where he worked in Human Resources and Race Relations from 1971 until 1974.  He was promoted to CWO3 in 1974 while at Mare Island.

He served as Technical Assistant and Fire Control in USS Long Beach (CGN-9) from 1974 until 1977.

He was a member of the INSURV Board for a brief period in 1977.  He was promoted to CWO4 while serving with the INSURV Board.  While serving as a member of the INSURV Team that was inspecting USS England (CG-22), he took the opportunity to terminate shore duty and embark upon a rewarding tour of duty in USS England.  He served in USS England as Assistant Fire Control Officer and Fire Control Officer from 1977 until 1983.

He retired from active duty 01 FEB 1983.  From 1983 until 1992, he worked for RCA/General Electric as an AEGIS Combat Systems Instructor.

George and his wife, Demetra F. Collier of Toledo, OH were married in 1966.  They live in Cherry Hill, NJ, near Philadelphia, PA.  They have one son, Richard, who is an E-6 on active duty in the US Army

Captain William J Caspari
Again we learn more sad news as we rejoin with our shipmates. It is with great sadness that I pass on the news of the death of the very first commanding officer of USS England. Captain William J Caspari, USN (Ret) died in Econdido, CA on 17 September 1998. He served in both World War II and Korea as well as his time on England. He was present at Pearl Harbor on board USS Pennsylvania and served on into the missile age. To men such as this we owe a great debt.  You can read his obituary here from the Naval Academy newsletter.  The sad passing of one of ours.

Mini Pre-Reunion?
Many shipmates live in the Southern California area.  As a way of getting to know one another a bit and to set the gears in motion for future planning, a mini reunion might be in order. We tried this in the Los Angles area last winter without success. Likely we were too close to the holidays. Anyone interested in a get together in the San Diego area one Saturday afternoon/evening please contact Dennis O'Brien at dennis@ussengland.net or call 714-961-6840. Tentatively lets look at April 21? We need a San Diego resident to coordinate a good location at which to meet and a time. We can have a little fun and also look at planning for the future.

USS England Hats and Shirts!
How are we going to know who is from the USS England and how are we going to show everyone else in San Diego who we are? Hats ands Shirts that is how!   Richard's Military Post Exchange, 264 East Main street, Port Jervis, New York 12771. (924)856-1911. You can follow the link to their web site.  This should be required attire for at least your head during your stay in San Diego! 

Web site Backlog
Currently there is a growing box of items to be added to the web site. Additions are running months behind schedule.  An effort is being made to catch up but it will be some time before things are back on course.

Where are they now?
We are just catching up on some stories that actually are a bit old. LTJG Richard Weiss sent this item in some time ago and I apologize for not including it sooner. Interesting story about two former USS England shipmates and lots of pictures!

GM1 Bowles, a VLS technician, reenlisted for the last time on 18 Aug 2000 for a total of 4 years.   The ceremony was held onboard USS THE SULLIVANS (DDG 68) in it's homeport of Mayport FL.  At GM1 Bowles request, the oath was administered at the top of the mast (approx 180 ft above sea level) by LTJG Richard Weiss, the Systems Test Officer.  Witnesses included the CDR Daniel Keller, Commanding Officer, and various members of CM division who serve with GM1 Bowles.  Normally, Gunners Mates and Strike FC's never make it up the mast.

LTJG Weiss and GM1 Bowles previously served together on USS ENGLAND (CG-22) and are now both serving together again onboard THE SULLIVANS.  GM1 Bowles takes credit for training then FC2(SW) Weiss enough that he was selected for LDO.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PICTURES!