On February 17th 2000, in response to information that the Kaiyang had been decommissioned on November 16th the previous year, We took a trip to Taiwan and met with Vice Admiral Wei, Tsung Ting who presented the association with the binnacle, ship's wheel, and the engine order telegraph off of the Kaiyang DD924. The Taiwan Navy provided me with a ride, and a barge out to where the old Dicky B was tied up, and she was next to the ROC Lo Yang DD 914 which was the old USS Taussig (DD746) We managed to get the items shipped back via truck from Kaosiung to Tapei, Cathay Pacific from Taipei to Tokyo and Continental Airlnes from Tokyo to Houston. After 9/11 hit it became difficult to getit shipped up to the Pacific Northwest because of no widebody aircraft service from Houston to San Francisco or Seattle. We finally got it shipped from Houston to San Francisco, on Continental and the rowdy Sonar Gang from the early sixties (John Bedford, John Greenstreet, and Mike Grunerud) picked the stuff up and hauled it up to Port Angeles, Washington for display. The items will be put on display in the Richard B. Anderson Federal Building thanks to the efforts of local Marine Terry Roth. Also thanks to Dwayne Morris and Mike Grunerud for their parts in this effort to clean up the items. And finally thanks to my employer of 36 years Continental Airlines for hauling 1837 pounds of brass from Tokyo to Houston to San Francisco at no cost to the Association. I would be remiss if I failed to include a photograph of the gift that Admiral Wei presented to me so here it is.
