The USS Edward McDonnell Association is a loose amalgam of former crew members who decided that it was time to re-establish old contacts.
The impetus started back in August, 2002. Several former members of A/S Division from the late 60's, got together at Dave Wendelowski's' house in West Haven, CT. From that humble beginning, we got in contact with a few more former crew from the same era and had another get together at Don (The Warrant ) Richardson's house in Southington, CT. December, 2002.
(L-R Front= Dick Donlan, JC Collins, Rick Behring, Jim Latz, John Mulheisen
L-R Back Dave Wendelowski, Mike Hiener, Walt Rice, Dave Brown
August 2002
Here the seed of an idea for a ships reunion was planted. Over the next two years, it was carefully tended, until it culminated in the first ever Eddy Mac Reunion in Newport, RI. September, 2004 followed by one in Charleston, SC in 2006, and now Portland, Maine.
What follows will be some of the stories submitted by former crew members about things that happened while on board.
Jay Eddy writes:
" I think it was Easter "Eve", the Saturday night before Easter Sunday, 1970. We were on a "work up" cruise for our upcoming European tour that June.
We were doing an ASW exercise at night. I was the OOD for the 12-4AM watch. The Commodore (who would become the complainant for this incident) was riding the USS Page.
My recollection was that he got great joy in beating up on the CO, Alex Sinclair. The good 'ol
Eddy Mac was notorious for chronic mechanical ailments and had a propensity for "backfiring" before a lights out, dead-in-the-water, incident.(particularly while steaming in formation). This night someone decided to have the exercise conducted Light Out, and thats when I gave the Commodore fodder for a real ass chewing.
We are on station around a carrier or an oiler, I don't remember which. The Page was out in front, on point, and got contact on the submarine. They announce it and begin to maneuver in pursuit. I stay on station and don't advise the Captain what is going on. So Alex is toes up in sweet repose while the Commodore on the Page is on the bridge and paying attention.
I continue to stay on station and watch the Page on radar as she moves and maneuvers towards us. And I continue to stay on station as we lose the Page in the sea return on the radar. Of course, I can't really "see" her, never did. I guess that was the whole point of the exercise. As far as I know no one on our ship did. But one person on the Page saw us as we passed each other, going in opposite directions at flank speed, only a stones throw away from each other. It was the Commodore and the brown stuff really hit the fan. He began screaming on the radio for the Captain and quickly figured out he wasn't on the bridge and that his OOD was responsible for maneuvering to avoid a ship in pursuit of a submarine contact.
So Alex took a major ass chewing that night. I think he knew how scared I was as he took the heat and let it go with me. I cried that night after getting off watch. First time in a very long time.
Believe me, I was scared of what might have happened and not the ass chewing part.
Anyway, with that behind us, I think we performed admirably for the rest of the work up. Alex continued to call me "Ace" but he should have renamed me "Dummy". We left on the North Atlantic Cruise in May and in spite of being continually hassled by the Commodore,( I think he was one of those guys who was picked on as a kid and this was payback time) we did well.
Alex even took me to play tennis on grass courts in Southampton (first & last time for me). I still play and have had my own court for the last 20 years, just no grass. Thanks Alex. that day and the whole European Tour, I remember vividly and fondly.
I have a friend from Australia whom I have known since 1975, when I started traveling down there.
All of his correspondence starts with "Hey Ace!" so the tradition continues.
I have always had fond memories of Alex. A true gentleman through thick and thin.
Regards,
Jay Eddy"
Steve Dolan writes:
"My name is Steve Dolan and I was an ETR-2 on the Eddy Mac way back in 1977.
I was the POOW on the 1600 -2000 watch when they called away the R&A (rescue & assistance) detail to pump out a flooded dry dock pump room at the Brasewell shipyard in South Boston. They loaded about 10 guys in the back of a pick up along with a P-250 submersible pump and went down to the end of the pier. I have no clue as to why the CDO decided it was our responsibility.
I don't remember getting any reports back from the team while on the quarterdeck but apparently there was some confusion after they were done. They couldn't locate Dave (MM3 David Lawson) and searched the ship, the barracks, and the parking lot, all to no avail.
The South Boston FD arrived several hours later and located Dave's body in the bottom of the pump room. I remember hearing that the P-250 exhaust hose wasn't properly routed and that Dave was overcome by exhaust fumes and drowned down in the pump room. I also remember hearing that his wife was about 7 months pregnant at the time. It was quite a loss for the crew, as well.
Dave was a great guy and would help anyone out. I didn't fully realize back then how dependant on each other we were as a crew. Not to mention how close we all were, although we didn't realize it at the time.
Regrettably, I have another name to add to the TAPS list. SKSN John Courtney was hit and killed by a car back in 1978 (?) in Jacksonville, FL. Another great shipmate and friend."
Steve Dolan
I invite all of you to submit stories for publication here.
email them to
John@USSEdwardMcDonnell.org or
snail mail to
EddyMac Association
C/O 202 Terrace Ave
Riverside, RI 02915
John "JC" Collins
STG2 A/S Div
68'-72' "Mac Time"
