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LT George Atcheson
A. P. (The Bull) Flora
John Griggs
Letter (excerpt) LT George Atcheson, USN
To Editor
 Thanks for your letter and the Fifties Frogs
items. Reminders of that
happy past are always very welcome. I enjoyed Mack Boynton's article
which brought back a ream of memories. I was a lowly Ensign in '48 when
Mack into came into Team 3. Harry Nowack was already there as Exec as I
recall. As the only two ex-chief carpenters on the visible horizon, they
soon dominated the place. Mack to whom Buster Tribble, an Ex Boatswain,
and I gave the nickname of "Pappy" after the legendary Marine fighter
pilot and Black Sheep. Harry contributed much old time Navy lore to
both Teams Three and One, as well as a marvelous automatic pick-up arm
for demolition swimmers and the best key box in the Fleet. I was long
out of the Navy when they both eventually rose in close succession to
command Team Three, and so missed the sight of them on the seat of
power.
Equally fine was Phil Carrico's article about Inchon. Carrico and I were
Team Three shipmates then. I had the pleasure-and I don't use that term
lightly-of being the lucky Ensign named by Captain Bill Mckinney to be
the OIC of a small detachment to go to Japan in the spring of 1950 to
make beach recons for amphib training of the Army. In Japan we were
billeted at Camp Chigasaki, home of the 52nd Heavy Tank Battalion. There
were eleven of us, and the soldiers took us in like brothers. We were
Victor Lewis BMC, B. Adams BM3, J. W. Nelson BM3, W. Foley BM3, O.
McCormick QM3, C. Austin EM3, B. L. Johnson BM3, W. Atkinson SN, Phil
Carrico SN, and W. Ledbetter SN. A fine bunch of guys.
The 52nd was in fact composed of one company of light tanks, which tells
you a lot about America's readiness for combat in the Far East. It all
changed when the NK"s crossed the 38th Parallel. They came to regret
that move, but in the meantime they beat the stuffing out of US and our
pals in the 52nd with their light tanks.
Next for Team Three's brave eleven came with my fiasco at Yosu,
described in the enclosed letter to Captain Lavrakas. (see later).
It was great to get your letter. Feel free to use any of this garble.
Sorry about typos. I just made 81 and my memory is even older, all
except my memories of those demo days, the happiest of my Navy service.
So many guys are gone: Ted Fielding, Bill Wettenkamp, Limey Austin,
Warren Foley, Dave Gleckler, Buster Tribble, Tiz Morrison, Bill Thede,
Bill McKinney, and all the others I don't know about yet. Best Wishes.
—George
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Letter (excerpts) from A. P. (The Bull)
Flora, UDT-4 & 22, Class
7
...I enjoyed reading the articles especially the one about Frank Scollice. I remember him, in fact he and I drove to New Jersey one
weekend for a stock car race in which he raced. Did you know he raced stock cars? The
name of the car was the Red Rooster Express. He was a character, I grant
you that. I believe he was from West Virginia, but I am not positive The
doors on the car were welded shut so you had to get into the car through
the windows. It also had a roll bar, the whole nine yards.
Flora cont—
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Flora -
cont
Like so many other guys in the teams, we were a special breed, Guys that
were looking for excitement and would be the ones to volunteer for
almost any crazy scheme imaginable. The ones that come to mind are John
Bakelaar, George Ball, Tom McAllister, Matheny, Devolk, Tom Clark, Vaclav,
Danz Brumiller, Dick Moran, Jack and Joe McKaig, Dick Ward, Cat Walker,
Frank Drogo, etc., etc. Just to name a few.
Frank Scollise in Greenland 1951-
Yoga/Meditation?
If the Germans and the Jap’s during WWII had realized that people such
as us existed in this country, they would have thrown a net around us
and called in psychoanalysts and thought twice before they started a
war. We have special camaraderie that makes us an unbeatable force to
reckon with.
Editor: Thanks A. P. for calling all these frogs to mind.
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Letter (excerpts) from
John Griggs,
UDT-2 & 21, Class 8.
I really enjoyed your "blast from the past" about Frank Scollise. I was
at St. Thomas taking advanced training in 1953, Frank's presence there
made the time interesting and entertaining. One of his memorable antics
was building a washing machine for the team members. The big day came
and Frank gathered the troops. The machine was turned on. It took off in every direction scattering parts as it went.
The next venture was the canteen to be open on weekends when the subs
and ships were tying up the old sub base. Frank was one of the leaders
in this operation. We had a terrific beer garden with beer, hamburgers
and all the goodies go with it. Just about everyone was assigned a job,
but Frank was... "The Man".
I would volunteer to go town with him to pick up supplies to get off the
base and check out the town. Our Frank was good at this job of wheel and
deal. Even though Frank and I were in different teams, two and four,
members would usually stay together due to friendship and operations.
I really enjoyed my association with him. Frank was great, a funny guy,
and very interesting. Frank from day one reminded me of the funny actor
Jerry Colonna with the Bob Hope shows.
I was very sad to read about our recent losses. I was in in the same
training class with Bob Blann UDT-4. We were both members on the UDT base
basketball team. I was with him at Gitmo for sneak attacks and found Bob
to be a great team member. We sank everything in sight. Francis Hale, UDT-2, was one of my instructors for Training Class 8 (1/52). He was a great
person and we were in Henry Spiegel's Wedding Party. —John Griggs.
Vol 4 lets2
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