Gator Gallery

Sailors of the DeSoto County
and other 'T's of the 1171 Class

Updated regularly as photos are received
Last update, Nov. 3, 2005
 

Add your pictures to this gallery

 Email scanned copies

Photos here are of us, and former shipmates,
some we may not remember their names.
I'll start with a few of  mine, I'll then post
photos that you would like to share.

There are already a couple group pictures
in Gallery 1 and on the Great Lakes Cruise pages.

The DeSoto County sailed under the U.S. flag for over
14 years, so I know there are a lot of you vets out there.
Let's have fun and share some memories here.

Click on image to see full size picture
Hit your Back to return
 

These are some shots of me, my shipmates, and other Naval friends
that I have managed to save.


Bob "Deno" Denoncourt 
paints a masterpiece
38 years later...

"Deno" and I in my wife's
art studio

Jim Hague and I in Scotland

Otis Black and I in a photo
booth somewhere

Fred Nelson in Panama

Bob Hess in Panama

Gerry "Tiger" Gahagen 
in Washington

Couple of Marines on 
our Panama cruise

Bridge gang - l to r
Bergeron, Bob D., Joe LeBlanc, Lee Curtin, 
Gene Cain, and ?

Don Godfrey on the 3"50

GM Chief Hogerson, 
my boot camp leader

I don't remember who 
any of these guys are, 
but I probably knew then!
Panama 1964 barbeque

Bob Tanner, Eng 3, 1963
Pic from Nancy Boyd, 
Bob's sister

Willy Farber on bow ramp

Riebel CS3 - the best
cook we had

Jim Bontrager and I
At NAS EM Club
9 days before I reported 
to the 1171 in 1961.

Ship's beach (beer) party
Taranto, Italy in 1962
Clyde Stone, me, Bob Osinsky, Floyd Pratt, Ken
Huizinga, and Gary Champagne

Gerry "Tiger" Gahagen
and I at the same party.

Bill Kirkland, Larry
Sinclair, Floyd Pratt, 
and myself in Genoa,
Italy, 1962

Liberty call, Taranto.
Me, a Marine named Blake,
and Clyde Stone.

Tom Wolfhart plays in
the 1st deck compartment

Wally Emilantsev looks at
the camera, Deno and 
Dawson ignore me.

Gary Pierce and I 
on the flying bridge

Joe Grage and Willy Farber

John Moran

Bob Todd

Another shot of Deno
and I in Panama 1964

Party in the BM locker -
Are we having fun yet?
Dawson, me, Farber

These shots were sent to me by Larry Ziegler, SH3.  Thanks, Larry.


Bob Whipple, BM1 and "Reb," CS3

Jim Hague, SN

Larry Ziegler as a SH striker in 1960

Cactus Club in Naples.
l to r: SK1 Bjorum, Cactus Queen, 
EM2 Cameron, and RD1 Glass

Here are several from Larry Adamik; Thank you Larry.
I put one in the Great Lakes Gallery as it was taken in Bay City, MI


Larry Adamik

Larry and friend, Billy Joe Wiley

Larry and "Alabama"
Adkinson

Larry in quarters

Sharp, Adkinson, Wiley (l to r)

Departing for service

Kelley Ledbetter

Joe Grage sent these - and a couple others he sent
have been added to the Great Lakes Cruise Gallery.  Thanks, Joe.


Joe's on the bridge

Capt Mann discusses the next beach beer party - or maybe the 
last one?

Ready to drop anchor!

Who said Gators 
can't be swingers!

George Shumate, a Seabee on the DeSoto's Med cruise in
1959 sent these terrific pictures.  Thank you, George.


George Shumate and 
Sgt. Sapp go on liberty
6/59 - Italy

George in Toulon, France
replacing the 1171's screw

(l to r) George, Morrison,
Sloop, & Sexson in Bombia,
Lybia.
This must have been
fun!  On every Med
cruise, the youngest 
Seabee was picked
to be Queen Bee.
Seaman Mosser got
the honor on this trip.

Here are a couple arrivals from Ken Friske DK3, who sailed with the
DeSoto from 1963 to 1965.  Have more from Ken in the Great Lakes Gallery.
Thank you, Ken, for sharing.


Here's Ken with the 
USS Enterprise CVA (N) 65
in the background.

Ken and friend on church
balcony in Portugal 11/64.

Guarding Panama, 1/64.

L to R: Oram-Smith, Ens;
Armissegger; Alexander, SK;
Stokes, SK; Ken; & Myers, CS.

New arrivals from Henry Ruiz, DC2
Med cruise, 1962.  Thanks, Henry.
Memories!


Here is Henry himself

McCormick HM1, Bjorn SK1,
Whipple BM1, Phillips SF1,
Stevens SM1

5 Engineering P.O.s in
their compartment

Dugan EN3
 

Ruiz and Spates EN2

Corfu beach party landing
 

From Doyle Neal, Plankowner
These may be a little fuzzy - had to resize from small scan


Doyle

5 Buddies

Touring (Med '59?)

Couple of pictures from Chuck DiSilvestro
on board '68 to '70 - Thanks Chuck.


Ready for action and danger!

Somebody's gotta steer

These photos 

are from Chuck's

cruise book

Other Gator Brothers

Start with a couple from Jim Blankenship (Golfsman) from the Graham County LST 1176
A couple more of Jim's pics will be in the  Sister LST Gallery shortly.  Thanks, Jim.

 

Jim Blankenship and 
friend

Jim Blankenship

These pictures come from "Pete' Petry of the Grant County.
They were taken in 1971 and '72.  Thanks, Pete.


Paul "Pete" Petry - 1972
Grant County LST 1174

(l to r)  Paul Debault,
Paul Petry, Jamerson,
and Soriano - ready for 
liberty in Barcelona, 1971

Air lifting a medical 
emergency to the hospital

These two pictures were taken by Wally Romeo, En1.
They were taken in 1967 off Veiques Island, where Bob Hope
was filming on the USS Kerwin.  However, he had to
cross the 1176 to get there, hence the photo op.
I got the pics thru Wayne Halloran and Jim Armedarez.  Thanks to all.

Thanks for the Memories, Bob!
1903-2003
All of us will remember your dedication to the troops.
 

Here are a few pictures from Jack Oaks, LST 1176.
Thanks for sharing them, Jack.


Jack in 1960

Jack and "Tank" Waters 

Just in from Jim Armendarez, BM3, USS Graham County LST 1176
These three got together in Clearwater Fla. in 2002
Thanks for sharing, Jim - bet you had a great time.


(l tor) Amendarez, Foley, Lee

Changing order, but same guys.
(l to r) BM3 J. Foley,
QM3 K. Lee,
BM3 S. Armendarez

Some new pictures from Joe Morris, QM3, of the USS Grant County LST 1174.
These pictures were taken during the Med cruise of 1959 with the DeSoto County.
Thank you, Joe, for sharing.


Had to lighten this to see,
but this is Joe Morris

Morris and Nees on
liberty in Bari, Italy 

Nees and Karmon on
the bridge

Adkins, USN, and Langley,
USMC work mouont 33

Lacey and DiSilvio

Joe didn't ID 'em, so I
sure as hell can't!
 

Liberty launch, away!

I have received a few pictures from a new member of the AAFA, Dennis McDowell
Dennis served on the USS Oglethorpe AKA 100.  Pictures of her are in  Gallery 2
Dennis and his shipmates - then and now.  Thanks for the pics, Dennis.



Dennis McDowell

Jim Loving and Dennis

John Farley

Dennis & his wife are on right,
Jimmy Loving & his wife left,
Frank Thomas & his wife center

AKA 100 Reunion,
Savannah, GA

Dennis and Jimmy and their wives again.

 

These are many of those that I have received.
Do you have any you would like to post?

Scan 'em, and send 'em (as jpg files) to:
 pjdutch@earthlink.net

Thanks for sharing
 


 

 Return to Dutchman's Dock