Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Binnacle List: Jay Davis

Seattle Base Members,

Seattle Base and Holland Club member Jay Davis suffered a stroke and has been admitted to Overlake Hospital earlier this week.

I visited Jay Davis today and he probably will be discharged in a few days and transferred to Evergreen Hospital for rehabilitation.

Jay also has pneumonia and is having trouble conversing. So we are not recommending visitation at this time. We do expect that he will be ready for visitors after he is transferred to Evergreen Hospital.

Please keep Jay and his family in your thoughts and prayers, he appreciates your concern.

We will keep the Base up to date on his recovery.
Cards may be sent to Jay at:
401 100th Ave NE #223
Bellevue, WA 98004-5455 

Dick Gonzalez
Seattle USSVI Base Cmdr.

Smokey Point 2014 Pictures

Here are some photos from the Smokey Point Rest Stop event.

We had a great time handing out coffee and telling sea stories. The Base took in about $700 in donations over the weekend. Thanks to all the volunteers that helped out and BZ to Steve Shelton for organizing and running the event.
Don Dufour and Doug Abramson
Steve Shelton ready to serve some coffee
John Roberts and daughter
Kerry Ryan
Larry Abbott
Art Thompson getting the coffee ready
Jim Harper, John Roberts daughter, and Karl 'Dutch' Krompholz



Sunday, July 20, 2014

July 2014 Meeting Notes

We started off the July meeting with Tolling the Boats lost in July, followed by birthday wishes for our members, introductions, and officer reports.

Old and New Business: 
Smokey Point Rest Stop Event – We had a fun time at the Smokey Point Rest Stop handing out coffee and telling sea stories. After tallying up the donations and deducting expenses, it looks like the Base made around $700 over the weekend. Thanks to all the volunteers that helped out and BZ to Steve Shelton for organizing and running the event. We will be getting pictures from the event up soon.

Kirkland Independence Day Parade – We had around 40 submarine veterans, including the Silent Service Motorcycle Club, at the Kirkland Independence Day Parade. The crowd was very enthusiastic, the parade organizers provided a pizza lunch for all the veterans, and everyone had a good time. You can see photos from the parade in a previous blog entry.

Seattle Base Tolling the Boats Ceremony – The annual Tolling the Boats ceremony and picnic is set for August 16 at the Kirkland Marina Park. Set up will start around 10 AM, with the picnic starting around 11:30 and the ceremony getting underway between 1:15 and 1:30. We will have more information on the start time as we get closer to the event, but be sure to mark it on your calendar.

August Meeting Cancelled – Due to the timing of the Tolling the Boats Ceremony, we voted to cancel the August business meeting. The next regular business meeting will be September 17.

2014 Holland Club Inductees – We added five new members to the Holland Club roll this year. Doug Abramson and Karl ‘Dutch’ Krompholz were at the meeting to pick up their certificates and patches. We mailed the certificates and patches out to Romeo Delarosa, Jim Kingman, and John Soth. Congratulations to all the new Holland Club members.
Karl 'Dutch' Krompholz and Doug Abramson receive their Holland Club certificates and patches from Base Commander Dick Gonzales

2014 USSVI Elections – Don’t forget that the last day to vote in the National USSVI elections is August 28 (paper ballots must arrive by August 28). The ballot was included in the latest issue of The American Submariner and can be filled out and mailed to the Election Master. You can also vote online through the USSVI website by clicking the Vote Nat Election button in the upper left, entering your login information (if you haven’t used the website before, just follow the on-screen instructions) and make your vote.

Challenge Coins – Ken Murray presented all the meeting attendees with a special Veterans Day challenge coin he received from a friend that works at Boeing.

July Program: 
Lt. Matt Boehm answering a few questions

Our speaker for July was Lt. Matt Boehm USN. Lt. Boehm is an assistant Professor of Naval Science at the University of Washington, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, and the University of Texas at Dallas. Lt. Boehm qualified on USS Connecticut (SSN-22) and talked to us about life aboard a state-of-the-art attack submarine. He talked about life aboard Connecticut, including operations in the western Pacific and Arctic. He had some great sea stories and pictures to share from his time at sea. He also shared information about his current work at the University of Washington in teaching, with the ROTC unit, and trying to get new volunteers for the submarine service. After his talk, Lt. Boehm was happy to answer questions for us about his naval experiences and the current submarine fleet. The presentation and Q & A provided us with insight into today’s submarine force. Thanks to our shipmate Don Ulmer for facilitating Lt Boehm’s appearance.
Base Commander Dick Gonzales presents a Certificate of Appreciation to Lt Boehm at the July meeting.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

July 2014 Meeting Reminder

The next Seattle Base meeting is this coming Wednesday, July 16. We will meet at VFW Post #2995 (4330 148th Ave N.E., Redmond WA 98052). Social hour starts at 6 PM with business meeting at 7PM.

Our guest speaker for July will be Lt. Matthew Boehm USN. Lt. Boehm is an assistant Professor of Naval Science at the University of Washington, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, and the University of Texas at Dallas. Lt. Boehm has an amazing resume including expertise in submarines, nuclear power plants, engineering, operational planning, including national security activities to name a few. Lt. Boehm will provide a glimpse of his remarkable career and talk about submarines in general including Arctic operations.
USS Connecticut (SSN-22) surfaced through the Arctic ice
Thanks to our shipmate Don Ulmer for facilitating Lt Boehm’s appearance.

We hope to see you at the meeting.

Dick Gonzalez
USSVI Seattle Base Cmdr.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Kirkland 2014 Independence Day Parade Photos

It was a sunny, warm day for the 2014 Kirkland Independence Day Parade. We had a nice turnout of submarine veterans, including the Silent Service Motorcycle Club (SSMC), and their families. As usual, the city of Kirkland did a nice job with the parade and all the festivities for celebrating Independence Day. Veterans were presented with a boutonniere and we had some pizza and other treats before the parade. The parade route was lined with a large and enthusiastic crowd. We all had a good time at the parade.

Here are some photos from before and during the parade.
Sharing a few sea stories before the parade
SSMC members signing in
A few more sea stories
Jim Harper, Diane Giese, Barb Krompholz, Marilynn Birdsall enjoying some shade
Dick Gonzales, Ralph Sterly, and John Roberts waiting for the parade to begin
Andrea Geisler, Doug Abramson and Doug's daughter
Bob Opple with Veteran's parade organizer Maureen
Schell and Av Harmon with family, representing five generations
Pat Householder, Katie Carlson, Phil Carlson, and Dave Schueler
Seattle Base and SSMC members
The All Veterans group photo in front of Kirkland's Heritage Hall
Veterans enjoying a little pizza before the parade
Then the parade started
The Lake Washington VFW leads the parade
Parade Grand Marshall
The Combat Wounded Golfers group from American Lake Veterans Golf Course. You can find out more about them and the golf course at www.veterangolf.org
Seattle Base SubVets
Seattle Base float
Silent Service Motorcycle Club (SSMC)
Another view of the SSMC
And another
Admiral Horton Smith enjoying the ride
Doug Abramson's vintage truck brings up the rear of the SubVet portion of the parade
We are looking forward to next year's parade and hope you will join us.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Reminder: Kirkland Independence Day Parade

We are only a couple days away from the Kirkland Independence Day parade on July 4. The City of Kirkland goes all out for veterans and always has treats, a pizza lunch and boutonnieres for all military members and veterans in the parade.
Seattle Base will have our float plus the Silent Service Motorcycle Club riders will be there, so it promises to be a great time for all. We will muster near Heritage Hall, the large white two-story building on the north side of the street, at the corner of Central Way and Market Street. All members should be in place by 10:00. If you run into problems at any street barricades, just tell the police that you are marching in the parade.

The Children’s Parade starts at 11:30, followed by the main parade at noon.

To get there, you take Exit 18 off of Hwy 405, head west toward Kirkland. This road turns into Central Way. Follow Central until you reach Market and turn right to find parking at Heritage Park. You’ll pass Heritage Hall while looking for parking.