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Hi My Name is  John Brancato  Yeoman 2nd class Retired.  Severed aboard the Uss Corry  56-58. Was the Yeoman aboard and assistant to the Captain.
Looking for any of the  guys from the softball team.  Had great times in Greece .  I forgot most of the names of the guys.  But we had a Great time.  Those were the
Good Old Days.  Hope to hear from  somebody.

Thanks.   
Brancato Yeoman 2nd Class.

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Hello Shipmate -

My name is Richard Shuey (RD2, 1/67-9/69), soon to be a member of the Association.  I'll have to develop some of my memories since details have become blurred in the mists of time.  However, at this time I'd like to share some of the more distinctive 'brain photos' that have been with me (in no particular order) since leaving the Corry.  However -

The most special memory isn't numbered below.  It is the memory of the honor that was mine to help defend my country against Communism.  Where this action occurred is insignificant.  I'd do it again, anywhere.  I have never, ever been bothered by retractors of the Vietnamese conflict; why we were there is because that's where the threat was, and we did our best to keep it there and away from America.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

 

1.  Ensign Landman reporting to the Signal Bridge to observe a sea-bat.  Twice.  It was awesome.

2.  Sitting on the fantail watching a most beautiful rainbow created by the spray of our propellers.  The end of the rainbow came to rest in the fully loaded garbage cans being dumped in our wake.

3.  Patrolling off Cuba(?) when two small missile boats came darting out of a harbor and zig-zagged directly towards us.  We went to GQ, though  we knew these boats needed to stay on steady course in order to effectively fire.  They went DIW less than a mile from us, and we just looked at each other.

4.  Again off Cuba, picked up refugees from 1 or 2 overloaded tiny boats and took them to the Land of the Free.

5.  Going through the Panama Canal.  Watching black water flow from out of our sides as we flushed with the fresh water of the lake.

6.  In the Pacific on the way to Viet Nam:  We took our shirts off at every opportunity just to piss-off LCDR Todd, the chubbiest little XO ever.

7.  Swim-call!  Jumping off of the 02 level into the vivid, sunlit waters of the Tonkin Gulf, then ducking and swimming under the breadth of the Corry, while shipmates in rafts patrolled the swim area to discourage poisonous snakes.

8.  Enduring Typhoon Faye, sitting in front of an SPS-10 Radar repeater because I was one of the chosen few who did not get terribly sea sick.

9.  Learning to sleep undisturbed directly under the aft dual 5"-38 mount during fire missions.

10.  Captain Snodgrass, exasperated at our inability to hit the flying target drone, left the Bridge and returned with a carbine.  He went out to the starboard signal bridge and shot it just to show us that it could be done.

My dreams are always in black and white.
 
Except for my Corry dreams.
 
They are so colorful, bright and vivid they sometimes awaken me.

 

God's Best to Each and All,
Richard (shuefly) Shuey

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From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 1:42 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: "MABEL" the dog

I served on the Corry 5/56-4/58. Was surprised to read Marie McKeithan's e-mail about "Mabel". I was on watch the cold-rainy night she was chased down the pier by a shipyard bully dog. I have told the story many times about the high seas in the north Atlantic   and how mabel would get between the laundry bags laying in the center passageway to sleep. She also loved to steal a white hat during the movie on the fantail and hide it in the after 5inch mount. The MAA would then put them into the lucky bag. Seems I remember more about her then I do my shipmates,
which is a shame. Does anyone know what happened to her?.................Joe Veres, Ocala Fl.

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     Hi, I sent this story in originally to your predecessor, but he passed away before it got into the ship's history. My name is Jim Bettis. I was an HM3; one of two Hospital Corpsmen assigned to Independent Duty aboard the Corry from 1971 through July of 1973. During all that time we rarely stayed in port for very long. The incident I am about to report ocurred during our North Atlantic Cruise. I'm not sure which year it was, but it ocurred on Thanksgiving day.
     Prior to the cruise, our Supply Officer; Lt Byrd, asked me to take a look at their below decks storage space. They stored flour and dried goods there. The space reaked of mildew. The dried goods that were stored there absorbed that scent, even though they were perfectly edible. Mr. Byrd wanted me to condemn the subsistence so that they could get credit for it and buy fresh replacements before we pulled out to sea.
     I made an inventory of the affected subsistence items and submitted samples along with the inventory to the Preventive Medicine Unit in Norfolk. The response wasn't favorable. They came back with the decision that the foodstuffs were "fit for human consumption".
     Thus, when we pulled out of Norfolk that November, we carried the same supply of mildew-flavored dry goods. I don't recall all that included, but I do remember that it involved the flour, noodles and the eggs.
     A week out of Norfolk, we ran out of fresh milk. About that time the crew noticed that while the pancakes looked good, they tasted moldy. Likewise with the eggs. I can testify to this because I lost 15lbs on that 30-day cruise. You could take one bite and that's about it. You just couldn't eat any more. The taste was nauseating. Mind you, I'm talking about the bulk of the crew, not the Chiefs or the Officers, who had their own separate storage spaces and food supplies and were totally indifferent to our complaints.
     Ok. Let me regress for a second.  The Corry, in the time I was aboard, had a history of a Phantom Shitter. Someone, I never learned who, kept shitting in the Captain's urinal on the bridge. He was never caught and the crew loved it. Naturally, the Captain was infuriated and I'm sure had the culprit been caught, he would've served a severe penalty and been made an example of.
     As we neared the Arctic Circle and high seas, the morale of the crew was very low. Nobody could eat and everyone was hungry. The cooks served beef stew throughout the cruise because it was the only thing we could eat that didn't reak of mildew. Beef stew gets real old, really fast...
     The incident ocurred on Thanksgiving of 1971, I think. I was walking down the main passageway with Tony Tenaglia, one of our signalmen. We passed the main crew's galley and then the tiny Officer's Galley heading towards the Forecastle. We stopped at the Wardroom and looked into the Officer's Galley. Low and behold, there sat a steaming turkey loaf! All by itself, unprotected, unguarded and highly vulnerable.
     I looked up at the ladder leading to the bridge, and down to the ladder leading to the Mess decks. Nobody. The hatch leading to the main deck was closed and secured. I remember looking at Tony and saying "Tony, let's steal it!" To which Tony replied "Doc' you're fu**king nuts!" We both knew what would happen if I got caught doing that.
     I swore Tony to secrecy, telling him he couldn't tell ANYONE and then  peeked into the Wardroom to see all the officers sitting at the Wardroom table, apparently waiting for their Thanksgiving dinner. I looked around. Nobody... the coast was clear.
     I told Tony to keep watch while  I ran back down the main passageway to Sick Bay. I opened the door and grabbed a sterile towel. I returned to the Wardroom Galley and all was still clear.
I crawled under the opening between the Galley window and the Wardroom so as not to be seen and reached up and snatched the hot turkey. I wrapped it in the sterile towel and just as I did, I caught movement in the midship's passageway to my right. It was one of the Supply Clerks passing by! He saw me as he passed but continue on down the ladder to the Mess Decks. I was startled but not deterred. I'd already passed the point of no return.
     I scurried under the Wardroom window and out into the Main passageway. Tony took off up the ladder to the bridge as I ran down to Sick Bay. I had difficulty unlocking the door because my hands were shaking so badly.
     Once inside, I opened the small refrigerator we used to store refrigerated medication and stuffed it inside. It took a bit of doing, since the turkey loaf was so damned long! But, I crammed it in there and closed the door. Sick Bay permeated with the smell of fresh-cooked turkey and I was very concerned that they'd be able to follow the smell directly to Sick Bay.
     At the time of the incident, my Chief Corpsman was HMC O'Laughlin. Chief O'Laughlin was the type who would've turned me in just to get his brownie points from the Captain. So, to hide the smell, I poured half a bottle of Isopropyl Alchohol on the deck. Scratch the smell of turkey. 
     I'd never done anything like that before; stealing the Officer's meal. But, it just seemed justifiable to me since the crew was miserable and the Officer's and Chief's turned a blind eye to our misery. It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. I was visibly shaking and had to restrain myself.
     I left Sick Bay and headed back up the Main passageway. When I reached the Officer's Wardroom there was a lot of commotion. The Phillipino Messman was explaining to the Captain that he had just taken the turkey out of the oven and had gone to take a smoke break. When he returned, it was gone! The Officers were outraged. I heard one of them saying they were going to search the entire ship! There was a lot of profanity from a group of so-called gentlemen...
     I passed by and out the hatch and headed up to OX Division compartment, which was located behind mount 51. My bunk was the top of three and I climbed up and tried to calm down. I was very nervous.
     A few minutes later, the door burst open and Jack Hebert, another signalman rushed in laughing and congratulating me. I was furious. Tony had blabbed about the theft when he got up to the signal bridge. I told Jack he couldn't tell anyone, or I'd get hung out to dry! He swore to keep my secret and left.
     Shortly thereafter, the Officers conducted a search of the entire ship. A note was placed on the Officer's Wardroom by crew, cordially inviting the Officer's to dine with the crew on the messdecks for our Thanksgiving meal of Grog, or whatever... That didn't go over to well with the Officers. I heard that the XO; LCDR Hunt climbed down the ladder into the boiler room and found one of the BT's eating a sandwich. When the XO asked him what he was eating, he replied "Turkey" thinking it was funny. LCDR Hunt didn't find it humorous.
     They searched the entire ship that day without success. To my suprise, they didn't ask me to open up Sick Bay. Lucky for me. Later that night, I returned to Sick Bay and cut the turkey into quarters. I gave one quarter to the Signalmen to act as hush money and keep them quiet. Another quarter went to CIC, to the Radar gang. I had to make sure they'd keep quiet about it too.
     During the remainder of the cruise, an Officer was stationed on the messdecks during our meals. I guess they thought we'd have the audacity to eat their turkey in plain view. Morale shot sky high and I heard numerous shipmates crack jokes about it during the meals just to annoy the Officer who was watching us.
     One day while I was eating my grog, I sat with Michael Hayes, one of our Radiomen who was the editor of the ship's newspaper. Mike kept saying "God, I wish I knew who stole that turkey"... You'll never know how much I wanted to step forward and claim credit. Instead, I invited Mike up to Sick Bay for a coke. I kept coke in the fridge. Mike sat down and I leaned over to open the fridge. I had to reach around the turkey to get one. I made sure to open the door nice and wide. I closed it and handed the coke to Mike when he asked what that was. I told him, the turkey. He was shocked. He never suspected I was the one who had stolen it.
     I have to say, I was a bit disappointed. I thought for sure that I would've been one of the prime suspects. I did some pretty crazy stuff when I was aboard the Corry. But, suffice to say, I kept my crow. Mike said he wanted to write a story about it.
     He went to the Captain and the Captain said he would have to review the story so it wouldn't appear that he condoned what ocurred. Quite frankly, I saw the Captain laughing about it when he was talking with the messman that night. Mike wrote the story and the Captain reviewed it. It was published and read by the entire crew.
     I consider the Phantom Turkey Thief episode to be one of my highlights of my Naval Career. I'm fairly sure that only a handful of the crew really knew who took that turkey. And to that supply clerk who passed by the galley that fateful night, thank you for not squealing.
     The Officer's ate ham that night. WE didn't have ham. But, our grog went down a whole lot better...
    

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I enjoy reading your web pages, my father (Charles McCombs)was an original member of the Cory crew in Jan 46, he passed away  5 years ago this June. I was reading the story from John L. Setzer and it reminded me of stories my dad used to tell me of when he was in Texas with the ship. How it was the oddest thing to see their ship as it was heading out. Said it looked the ship was sailing on the land as the channel was narrow and from a distance you could not see the water. Also told me about going to Gitmo in the same time frame as mister Setzer mentions so I imagine it was the same cruise. My dad’s placard from the commissioning still hangs on the wall in his “work room” and another picture of the ship hangs in my mom’s den. That ship meant a lot to him and he talked of it often, so reading your site every once in a while helps me feel like he is still here, thanks for that.

P.S. if Mr. Setzer  has pictures I would like to see them to see if my dad could be in one.

Scott J McCombs
Sr. Eng Spec.
GCS Inc.
7640 Omnitech Place
Victor, NY 14564
ph: 585-742-9133
fax: 585-742-1914
e:[email protected]

 

Well I have a few minutes at home today and decided to visit your webpage again.  I have such tremendous memories of my short tour of duty on board USS CORRY stationed Norfolk, Va.  I will only cite a small sample of my fond memories, but everyone I met on board were true shipmates and friends.  I wish I had taken pictures and wrote a diary so I could remember their names but being a young fellow at 32 years of age other things seemed more important at the time.

I went on board CORRY at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on 11/15/1967 when she was undergoing changes.  I had just completed a year's tour in-country Vietnam with COMUSMACV.   I was a fairly new YNC who had little if no experience as a personnel man.  When I reported aboard at the Corry personnel office in a building at the shipyard, there was a PN1 running the show; can't remember his name.  But, I was informed right away that he would be getting transferred and I would have the whole ball.  Wow, did I need to learn personnel matters quickly.

Well it worked out all right and I managed to learn but the XO on board didn't really think I was qualified enough and he kept getting in my way of personnel matters when we moved back aboard ship.  Finally I asked him to stay out of the ship's office as he seemed to frighten my younger three strikers.  He agreed and things went well. 

After moving back aboard CORRY a new CO came on board named Cornelius Snodgrass.  I remember him well.  I remember him wanting me on the bridge all the time he was on the bridge and he wanting me to man the sound powered phones there.  I also remember him throwing all his Navy manuals (Navy Regs, etc.) out of his cabin wanting them updated ASAP.  I was impressed with him--he was going to be a competent captain.

Well we went to GTMO for shakedown and we passed everything quite well thanks to his leadership.  I remember one time we were backing out of GTMO in a narrow stream and he had to maneuver the vessel out from in between a couple of others, get into the stream and back out to the main channel.  He went to the open deck above the bridge where secondary engine order-telegraph (EOT) was also located, taking both me with my sound power phones and the sailor manning this EOT.  He relayed engines orders to the sailor and rudder orders to the copper tubing, with me replying back to him the rudder orders to confirm from below decks.

What an experience.  It was like we were on a pin head and could see everything and Captain Snodgrass' maneuvers were the best I had ever seen.  He had come to us from a wooden hull minesweeper and I remember one time when he first took CORRY to sea from Norfolk which was before GTMO that he learned it took more feet to slow and stop a destroyer than a minesweeper, but that's another story that only a select few know about, but I'm sure remember. 

I served on USS CORRY from 11/15/1967 to 9/6/1968 and returned to in-country Vietnam with various units including the Navy Seawolf Helicopter Unit.

Jerry Jackson
YNCS (Retired 9/1974)
[email protected]
Submitted 12/17/2005

My name is John L. Setzer - I was an original member of the crew when it was formed at NOB, Norfolk, in the fall of 1945. We trained there, went by train about 31 January 1946 to Orange, TX; commissioned her at Orange; sailed to Galveston, TX, and drydocked; left Galveston on shakedown in latter part of March 1946, headed to Gtmo, Cuba. Returned to Charleston, SC, about 1st July and then to Norfolk about 15 July where I shortly afterwards left her. I was a Seaman 2c. I returned home to Hickory, NC. I have about one dozen pictures of crewmembers if anyone is interested.

I WAS ABOARD THE USS CORRY FROM 61 THRU 65, TO ADD TO KELLY GM3 STORY ABOUT THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS. I WAS A SHIPFITTER AND HAD THE MID WATCH (SOUND AND SECURITY PATROL) WE PULLED ALONG SIDE OF A FREIGHTER AND ASKED THE SHIP TO IDENTIFY WHERE IT WAS FROM, NO ANSWER, OUR FIVE INCH GUNS WERE TURNED TOWARD THE FREIGHTER. LO AND BEHOLD THEY QUICKLY FLASHED BACK, DO NOT SHOOT ME MAN ,WE ARE FROM NEW YORK.
JIM GUILLOTE SFP-2

I received this as e-mail from Gemmy Brown, I do remember the alligator he captured and the Mardi Gras but guess I had too much of that strong coffee to remember the flag incident, Jerry.

Jerry ,
You and I served together in the Corry during my tour !949-1951. I was 1st Lt and Assistant Gunnery Officer under Lcdr Duffy and Lcdr Lamb. Cdr Mandelkorn was skipper and Lcdr McMurray was Exec.
I understand Jim sent you the Corry ball team photo I sent to him. I plan to dig out some more photos for you. Do you remember the alligator mascot I acquired in the Everglades during our Port Everglades visit. I turned it .. loose in Duffy's stateroom. We gave it to the "Survival exhibit" at Pensacola NAS after a few days. Do you also - remember that Corry set the shore bombardment record at Culebra in 1951 with a perfect score? Those were fun days. We also visited New Orleans at Mardi Gras. I had the 0400-0800 watch going upriver and flew a Confederate flag from the yardarm and wore a Confederate cap until the skipper came on deck and "suggested" that the fun was over since it was now daylight. He put up with a lot from me.
Regards,
Coleman T Brown Jr.
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Another good e-mail from Kelly

Hi,
I was stationed on the Corry in early 1961 through late 1963. It was the greatest experience of my life and I have never forgotten it. Was anyone there at that time? When I first came on board, the ship had a mascot, a cocker spaniel named "Mabel" Corry (with the ok of the Navy) who actually went to sea with us and had made a Med cruise too. As she got older and a little shaky, one of the crew took her home to his parents and she lived out her Naval career as a land pup. The Captain at that time was Harold W. Hiller who I had the opportunity to visit in New York many years after I was discharged. We had a great time talking about our experiences, sliding into an LSD while refueling at sea, the hurricane we rode out near Honduras and the Cuban missile crisis. The Corry was one of the first ships sent to Cuba then as we had been escorting a sub down to Florida and we were right there when the crisis broke open. I remember we were short about 25% of our crew. Our sister ship, The Charles P. Cecil tracked a Russian sub for a month finally forcing it to surface. The Captain sent up "may we assist you" flags and the story made Time Magazine. Would love to hear from anyone who remembers me. Thanks for a great website!
GW Kelly GM3, [email protected]

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