Sea Stories

USS Richard B. Anderson (DD-786) Bridge Equipment – Artifacts Originally Obtained from the Taiwan government in February 2000 by shipmate Ron Vaughn
 
May 2021 The Artifacts Story – Continued – by Kent Phemister
 
A big thanks to Drew Lagravinese and the Port Angeles Marine Corp League. 
I have been working on this project for two years dealing with one of the rudest and most inhospitable individuals I have every dealt with. To understand the backstory, you should open to our website and read how these items were brought back from Taiwan by Ron Vaughn and carried from San Francisco to Port Angeles by the 1960s sonar gang. The original idea was to have them placed in the newly named Richard B. Anderson Federal Bldg. Terry Roth was our lead Marine Corps League (MCL) front man for placing the items. For some reason placing the items in the Federal Bldg. fell through and the items were placed in storage at Terry's home. Unfortunately, Terry passed away in 2014 and his spouse Maggie became the custodian. 
John Greenstreet, our Association artifacts representative, spent 5 years trying to work with Maggie to no avail. We were on the verge of giving up on ever placing the artifacts. In our last business meeting, we were one vote shy of forgetting the whole idea. As President I stepped up and said, "let me work on getting the items placed or our taking possession and control away from Maggie". 
My success with Maggie was somewhat like John's. I did extend my efforts to a County Commissioner and the then President of the MCL. 
After two years and no success, I had finally had it with Maggie and threatened to hop a plane and show up at her house if she didn't respond to my emails or call me. She answered my email and stated that the items belong to the Association and please get her out of the loop. This was a big dilemma. I'm in TX and the artifacts are in Port Angeles. I had John ask in the next "Masked Rider" if we had a member in the Port Angeles area that would be willing to help. I received a call from Shipmate Drew Lagravinese. Drew was 50 miles away from Port Angeles and immediately started a dialog with Maggie. He drove over, viewed the items and everything seemed to be intact. 
After several emails Drew was able to set up a time to pick up the items and place them in storage. I called the new Commandant of the Marine Corps League, Mark Schildknecht and asked if they could help. Mark said don't worry about anything " I'll take care of everything, just email Drew's contact info to me". The Marine Corps League showed up with tractors and trailers, met Drew and now the items are in storage and controlled by the Association. 
We now control the artifacts.....next on the list.....find them a suitable home in a reasonable period of time. We will have plenty to discuss at the business meeting in September 2021 in St. Louis. Come to the reunion and take part in this saga.
Sincerely
Kent Phemister, Association President

The story of the Bridge Equipment.pdf

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