Sailing As Before

Picture of Robert "Salty" Nielsen, taken May 13, 2006 at Café du Village, Larchomont Village, Los Angeles, California. Larchmont Blvd. is a hang-out for the show business crowd.

July 21, 2009, Bob recalls the "call sign" for the Clamour is SAKE-ZERO.

Sailing As Before - Time Magazine & Chilean Society Belles

I came across a letter to the editor of Time Magazine from Lt. Commander Lott. The text of the letter and response from Time's editors follow and then a screen shot of the 'internet' version of the page from the magazine in 1944.

All the women mentioned are Society Belles from Chile.



Monday, Jul. 17, 1944

Minesweepers' Favorites

Sirs:

Your six photos in TIME'S Pacific Pony (June 5) have sparked the fuse of an intra-ship civil war.

Today, 29 days out of San Francisco, we dropped the hook. Not long ago this spot was Jap-held. And yet an hour ago we boated ashore, picked up our bulging sack of precious mail, pulled out your Pony—the first of its kind to be seen by any of my crew of 92 fresh-caught enlisted men and officers—and the fireworks began.

The relative, though undeniable, beauty of the six Santiago society belles was argued pro & con, hither & yon until the entire crew—officers and men alike—were lobbying for their candidate. Pressure group opposed pressure group until, to avert a blowup, I was forced to hold a secret ballot. The result:

Maria Luisa Correa Larrain 30 The Robles Entry 23 Olivia Bunster Saavedra 19 Sylvia Gonzalez Rodriguez [and] Elinor Poudensan Vasquez a dead heat, 14 each

The polls have just closed, and I have just now counted the ballots. Yet, even as I write this, I am beset by loud cries of foul play. The biggest beef (from the losers) is that the smallness of the pictures, plus the loss of detail inevitable in lithographic reproduction, has shown the winner to ad vantage, the losers to disadvantage.

In short, how in hell can I get the original glossies to satisfy this bunch of minesweeping extroverts once & for all?

D. N. LOTT Lieut. Commander U.S.S. Clamour c/o F.P.O. San Francisco

¶ To silence the Clamour's clamor, glossy prints are on the way to Lott's lot.—ED.

Lott's reference to Time's "pony" was an advertisement free "cut down" version of Time. It measured about 8 inches by 4 inches. I've included a facsimile image, below.

Sailing As Before

Peyton

Thompson

Laying down: Zidek

Sailing As Before - Bremerton Washington

This is a bridge at Bremerton, Washington as the Clamour returned to port, as a Commissioned Naval vessel for the last time during World War II.






Lt. Smith










L. Zeke Zidek

R. unidentified







Harmer
Hammond
3rd unidentified
Prud'homme





L. unidentified

R. Chief Motor Machinist, Heitmann, Idaho







Chief Warrant Bos'n Collins









Henry (Hank) Wilder, Lt.

Thomas "Tom" Adams Smith, Lt. J.G.

all men in background unidentified

Sailing As Before - The Last Chapter - Post WWII Photos

Through the enormous kindness of Barbara Clyde, whose father,

Clyde Jordan

served aboard the U.S.S. Clamour,

new pictures of the ship are available at the weblog.

According to Robert Nielsen, the Clamour steamed into dry-dock in Seattle sometime in September of 1945. While at port, a draft of 20 seaman came on board. In charge of that group was Eisner, Radioman 3rd. Eisner is a member of the Rensie Watch making family. Another name he remembers is Jimmy (James) Joyce from Boston, Massachusetts. He had an older brother in the Navy, who was an air craft carrier sailor. Jimmy had been in the U.S. Merchant fleet and sailed on the SS Irragaway.

Also remembered: Donald E. Barnes, Sonar Tech 3rd, from Bakersfield, California. He had been in OCS at Pocatello Idaho and was tranfered into the seagoing Navy sometime in 1944. 

Another is Ernest Nunoz. quartermaster 1st., Striker and was in his mid-30s while serving on the Clamour. He hailed from San Pedro, California. He has a son named Chicki or Chikey (or another variant spelling).

Sailing As Before - Honolulu Hawaii

L. Color photo in Honolulu, Hawaii, taken early 1944

C. Bob Wiggins & Geo. Bryant

R. Honolulu, 1944


C. A Honolulu residence

R. Sears, Roebuck & Co. Honolulu, 1944

Sailing As Before - Captain Davis Newton Lott at 95 years of age

Photos of Davis Newton Lott, USNR

Sailing As Before

Until 10 June 2013, anyone could post to this 'blog without leaving an email address or any other way of contacting them. I must change this as the daughter of Stephen Land posted and left no way for me to thank her. I apologize if you want to say something about this site, but I must have a way to contact members of the Clamour Community.


Gordon Downer Goff, Sonarman, Sitka Alaska

Steve Land, Signalman (Georgia?)







William "Bill" Boyle, Texas
William "Willie" Warwick, New Birmingham, Alabama (sheriff in Tennessee - according to Robert C. Wilson)
Paul Rudolph Ryan, Biloxie, Mississippi -deceased according to Robert C. Wilson
Otto Wallis, Biloxi, Mississippi





Robert "Bob" Wiggins
Iowa
Signalman, 2nd class

Photo taken in Honolulu, Hawaii

Sailing As Before

Mitchell "Mitch" Harmer

Clare Hammond

not identified

William "Bill" Prud'homme







Lee Ruetz
Walter Jensen













Thomas "Tom" Adams Smith, Lt. J.G.

Henry "Hank" Wilder










Rufus David Temple

Jim (last name unknown)

Eugene "Gene" Sooter






Henry Wilder, Lt.


Jonathon Carver Goss, Lt. J.G.







Rodney "Rod" Hayman, Chief Electrician

Russel or Russell "Russ" Holland, Radioman

Robert "Bob" Dallaire, Paso Robles California, Signalman

Robert Columbus Wilson, Jr. - Beaumont, TX, Quartermaster (2nd class?)

I spoke with Rod Hayman on July 14, 2009. He sounded good and we chatted for a few minutes. He says he like to reminisce about those times and I'm grateful for that. After his service aboard the Clamour, he took "gyro school" in Seattle, Washington and served on a sub-tender, the Nerius (AS-17) after that. As a kid, Rod's parents owned a movie theater and Rod was a cineaste from an early age. He said one of his fondest memories of service was showing the movie, the Song of Bernadette in December of 1944. The Clamour was in port at Eniwetok and as this movie was most popular with members of a certain religion, other ships would pull alongside the Clamour to allow their sailors to enjoy the film. Rod had two movie projectors on the fantail and was able to show the film without interruption. That must have been a great treat for the sailors. Lastly I found a brief post about the U.S.S. Nerius. Pictures below is the U.S.S. Nerius, courtesy of Jim Santos.




U.S.S. Nerious in the foreground.

Rod Hayman.
A Brief Biography.

Rod spent his childhood in Grand Island, Nebraska. His father owned a movie theater. In February of 1943, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and went to boot camp in Idaho at the Farragut Naval Training Station. After his service aboard the Clamour, Rod went to "Gyro School" in Lake Union, near Seattle. He then served aboard the U.S.S. Nereus (AS-17, a sub-tender), which berthed out of Vallejo California. At last he was discharged in June of 1946, married Vivianne and settled down to raise a family.