White Oak Laboratory Alumni Association, Inc.

The Leaf
VOLUME XIV ISSUE I
Events * *NOL Lunch 2nd Mon @Golden Bull in Adelphi *WOLAA FL Reunion @ Dade City on Fri. 9 March 2012 *WOLAA Annual Luncheon @ Argyle CC on Fri. 18 May 2012. *WOLAA Holiday Luncheon @ Argyle CC in Dec 2012 *Garden Make-up Visits in March and April 2012 ________________________ The LEAF is published quarterly by the WOLAA, Inc. for its members. ___________________________

PROUD MEMORIES

Winter 2012

11 September 2001..GOD BLESS AMERICA!

WOLAA Web Site: www.wolaa.org ________________________________________________________________

Editorial Staff:

JohnTino _______________________ WOLAA, Inc PO Box 1002, Olney, MD. 20830 Phone (301) 439-3140 E-M: [email protected] ________________________I This Issue: Dedication p1 News from WOLAA p2 Book Reviews p3 Oral History p4 Features p4 Alumni Updates p4 Deceased Alumni p5 Supplements pp S1-S10

Proud Memory Garden on 9/30/11; Day of the Dedication Ceremony *The Dedication. The dedication of the Proud Memory Garden and Legacy Wall was held on Friday, 30 September 2011. The day was beautiful for the occasion and over 375 alumni and guests attended the Perfect Event. The program for the event is enclosed in the Supplement pages 1-7. WOLAA commends Deanne Zook who worked so hard and long to provide the fitting ceremony to this dedication which completes the historical preservation of the White Oak Laboratory (WOL) achievements. Please read the program to follow the program of events; a review of the proud memories of the WOL; a description of the garden; the purpose of the Legacy wall; and understand the transition to the Food and Drug Administration. Dr Ira Blatstein was the MC and also added remarks to describe what it meant to him to have worked at the WOL. Deacon Dr. Ed Baker offered the invocation and benediction. His prayers came from his perspective of having worked at the WOL. Each speaker was excellent. Mr. Bennett and Dr Stinson included in their remarks the memories of growing up with their parents working at the WOL. Raymond Zook sang There She Stands (Our Flag) to a Slide

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*The Dedication (Continued) Show featuring WOL people/products and The Flag. The slide show was produced by Diane Palermo and Deanne Zook. A reception followed in the lobby of the conference center which was catered by the FDA cafeteria. Then attendee were invited to visit the garden and legacy wall, tour the restored Building 1 lobby and then take a bus tour of the base. During the bus tour of the base employees of the wind tunnel boarded the bus to describe the work on going at the wind tunnel. Al Pertman reviewed the dedication day as follows: Kudos everyone involved in the planning, preparations and execution of the dedication ceremony today - it was a class act and a great success! The entire event, from the moment my wife and I parked the car, boarded the shuttle bus, went through the security turnstiles and on through the formal ceremony and the luncheon had a distinct feel of respect, dignity and character. The remarks delivered at the formal ceremony captured the essence of the occasion by paying tribute to our Navy past and constructing a connection and bridge to the (FDA) future of the facility. As to the transition, the distinct location of the Memory Garden, coupled with the NOL sign permanently chiseled on the face of the Main building left me with a sense of pride, satisfaction and closure. With the Memory Garden situated directly along the outer glass wall of the main conference room I can't hide my quiet satisfaction that the Garden will always be in full view of everyone in that conference room. Much credit, I feel, belongs to the FDA folks who hosted the event. From the time we parked the car until we departed after the luncheon, it was evident that every person involved in hosting the event - and that includes the shuttle service, security and food service personnel as well as the guides and officials were all friendly and accommodating. They made us feel respected and welcome - they did a great job! All-in-all it was a dignified yet a fun occasion. I know very well that it could not have happened without the dedicated, persistent and tireless efforts of the folks involved in organizing the event. Many thanks to each one of them! ______________________________________________________________________________________

*News From WOLAA.

-WOLAA Florida Reunion. The Florida Reunion will be held on Friday, 9 March 2012 at Dade City Florida. The Caudles will again host the luncheon. WOLAA will send a flyer to all alumni living in Florida by the end of January 2012. If you are going to be a snowbird in March and would like to attend the reunion contact WOLAA by phone or email and we will send you a flyer. The cost is expected to be about the same as last year. -WOLAA Annual Luncheon. Deanne has booked the Argyle Country Club for our annual luncheon. The date is Friday, 18 May 2012. We are just beginning the planning of the menu and havent established the cost as yet. BUT, mark your calendars now! We will plan to have pictures, videos and slide show from the dedication playing before and after the lunch. -Legacy CD Sale. The kiosk in the lobby of the FDA Conference Center has the interactive display of the Legacy of the WOL. It follows the Legacy book and adds the WOL employees role as a community. WOLAA has made copies of the interactive display and the CD will play on your computer just as it does at the kiosk. You can order the CD; the cost is only $5, which is our cost to copy and mail. Send a check to WOLAA indication you want to purchase the CD; please make sure we have your current address. -Dedication Video. The FDA team video taped the entire dedication ceremony. It came out very well and you will feel like you are attending the dedication as you view it. It also can be purchased for $5. Please send a check to WOLAA indicating you desire the dedication video; again, make sure we have your current address. We only have a limited supply of the video at this time. -Make-up Visits to the Garden. We have had three make-up visits to the Garden and Legacy Wall. We plan to have two more visits. The tentative dates are Friday, 16 March and Friday, 20 April.

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If you are interested in attending one of these Make-up Visits, please contact WOLAA by phone or email. I will meet you at Miller Hall at 1045, and we will walk to the main entrance of Building 1. I will have given FDA personnel your name ahead of time so they can pre-load the FDA security check in system. Make sure you have your drivers license or a photo ID with you. We will then tour the Garden and Legacy Wall at your leisure. If you havent seen the restored NOL lobby, we can also do that. We can then walk back to Miller Hall and go on a wind-shield tour of the Base. Depending on their testing schedule, we may also be able to tour the wind tunnel.
WOLAA received a letter from Ed Ablard, son of Dr Ablard who worked at NOL. He asked us to explore the possibility that S&Es, at the WOL who were on the Navys test of nuclear weapons in the Pacific and who might have been exposed to radiation during these tests, are eligible for a one time compensation of $75,000 as are the veterans who were exposed. I called the agency administering the program and they have indicated that civilians are also eligible. (The program calls all non-veterans contractors). The program includes testing from 1945-1962. I have been sent claim forms. The woman in charge has also given me her phone number and is very willing to help you file a claim. The program is based on the person having died from one of twenty different cancers.. Widows and children are eligible for the compensation. NOL S&E did the instrumentation for shock, etc for many of the tests done in the waters off islands in the Pacific. Ed Ablard said his father was exposed to the radiation. It would seem logical that others were also exposed. Call or email WOLAA if you would like a claim form and I will mail it to you along with the contact information. -Ft.

-Pacific Nuclear Weapon TestingExposure to Radiation.

Monroe Designated a National Monument. Fort Monroe is now a designated Na-

tional Monument and is protected from any major development. Tuesday, only WAVY.com was at the White House when President Obama signed legislation preserving the former army post. The National Park Service has since named Kirsten Talken-Spaulding as superintendent of the Fort Monroe National Monument. Talken-Spaulding's job is effective immediately. As superintendent she will oversee Fort Monroe's transition into a national treasure. Glenn Oder, director of the Fort Monroe Authority, showed WAVY.com the areas now under federal protection. Those areas include Old Quarters One, where President Abraham Lincoln slept, as well as the quarters where Confederate General Robert E. Lee lived as a first lieutenant and Army engineer. Nearby are parade grounds where escaped slaves found refuge at so-called "freedom's fortress." "That property is also included in the national monument. Then as we come down, starting from an area where the ball fields are in this battery complex, all the way to Walker Field, then all the way down to the property line adjacent to Buckroe Beach," Oder said. The landmarks are on land located inside or around the moat. The rest of the property will go to future development and re-use.

Book Review Johnny Gram

Mjt

*The Post Mistress by Sarah Blake. John Martin gave me this book at the WOL Proud Memory Dedication. The book is set in the time frame of WW II when the Germans had begun the blitz of London, and our country is just standing-by. The story begins in a small town on Cape Cod where a young doctor and his new bride have come to live and practice. A new Postmistress, who is also new to the town, has just begun her new job and is determined to provide perfect service for all phases of her job. A suitor develops, and he is obsessed that a German U-Boat will arrive and surface off their coast. The doctor after the death of a young patient goes to London to help the Londoners. By chance he meets a woman reporter, who works for Edward R. Murrow; a tragedy occurs. A letter arrives and the Postmistress debates whether she should deliver it. The reporters roommate, who is Jewish and also a reporter, is killed in the Blitz. The reporter is obsessed to continue her roommates work, which is to show the events occurring in Europe by the Nazis on the Jews and others. She goes to France and Germany; will she expose the killings to the World or will she be silenced? Will the letter be delivered? Will the Submarine arrive? What is the relation of the reporter and the new bride? All these questions get answered and show the impact of war on

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Book Review (Continued)

to the World or will she be silenced? Will the letter be delivered? Will the Submarine arrive? What is the relation of the reporter and the new bride? All these questions get answered and show the impact of war on civilians! A lesson that is applicable to todays war on terrorism. ______________________________________________________________________________________

Oral History.
-Dave Wasmund provided the following: For a couple of years I have been meaning to write about some of my experiences in Vietnam- I started to write a few years back, but kept putting it off because I thought I had pictures for a number of the stories. The pictures are 35 mm slides (I have about 600 slides), but I don't have a viewer nor projector. Anyway, I finally got around to digitizing them all, and discovered that I don't have pictures of many of the more memorable events- thought I did, and that was my excuse for procrastinating. The images I recall (but don't have in photographs) of the attached Hon Da Bac Island trip would have added to the story, but that is how it turns out sometimes. In retrospect, I don't think I normally toted my camera around when I was toting a rifle- couldn't point and shoot both. I was thinking that this story, and maybe some others, might be of interest to NOLers, or those that worked on VLAP projects (or maybe even went to Vietnam as well). Daves oral history appears in the Supplement on page S8. ______________________________________________________________________________________

Features.
-Alumni Updates (and Correspondence)
Betty Covell. Several have asked about Betty Covell. As you know, Bill Barnum passed away last year; and he was the primary care giver for Betty. Betty is at HCR Manor Cares Arden Courts of Silver Spring, 2505 Musgrove Road, Silver Spring, MD. 20904. (off Route 29 up from White Oak) Their phone number is (301) 847-3051. Bills brother told me Betty had fallen and was recovering from the a broken hip. She also had some dementia and was not doing well. She is confined to a wheel chair. Jim Proctor. During the Thanksgiving holidays, Jim had a fall and he underwent back surgery. He came home right after the New Year and is continuing rehab at his home. He told me the rehab workers are really working him and he looks forward to getting out and about. He would enjoy hearing from WOLers; his phone number is (301) 384-2456. Andy Smith. Andy sent the following to Houston Cole: Houston, I want to thank you and John Tino for the nice piece you put in the Fall edition on Van Kenyon. I had procrastinated for months, after I wrote you, not sure of what I wanted to say. You can't know how pleased I was when I opened "The Leaf" and saw the write-up. Van was such a good friend and meant so much to all of us who worked with him; someone you never forget that literally impacts your life for the better. Thank you again and pass my thanks to John when you see him. Warmest regards, Andy Smith Richard Lehnert. Lee Bea sent the following to WOLAA: Here are some further comments on the Fall 2011 Leaf correspondence relating to Richard Lehnert's records. These events go back a long time, so my memories are somewhat vague. About 30-40 years ago the NOL Technical Director, Greg Hartmann, hired a historian to compile a history of NOL. This man collected information for about 2 years, but never produced anything, and was fired. Richard Lehnert, one of the original German scientists, compiled the information about the NOL wind tunnels for this history, and that information is probably part, at least, of his records. Dan Marren (heading the wind tunnel area) should be made aware of this information. In fact, I believe that Richard Lehnert initially led the design work on Tunnel 9 (which now belongs to the Air Force). As you know, a history of NOL was eventually produced. Michael Stevenson. Michael is the lead architect from Kling for the FDA project. He has helped us with Historical Preservation from the beginning. See his letter on page S9 of the Supplement.

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Bill Manzke. Bill sent the following to WOLAA: Here is something that you might want to show in your next newsletter.(See attachment) This is a scan of a photo that was given to me by Ray Montgomery upon his retirement from White Oak. It is an image of a small plastic airplane in actual supersonic flight going down the shock tunnel. I still have the little plastic plane somewhere in the basement. It is only about 3/4 long or so. The picture of the plane is shown on page S10 of the Supplement. ______________________________________________________________________________________

Deceased Alumni.
Please inform Houston Cole of any information about deceased alumni. Phone is (410) 489-2977. Or, please write or email WOLAA. The LEAF is pleased to print a tribute to our deceased alumni. Prepare and email/mail to WOLAA. Note: the first six notices were received from mailings being returned so no detail is available. Michael Demas. He worked in Code 411, Air and Surfaces Mechanical Systems Material Division. John Collins. WOLAA was notified by Jen Collins. He died in April 2009 Anne Poole. WOLAA was notified by her daughter, Beth Fidanzof. She died on 19 December 2009. Anne worked in the Accounting and Disbursing Division. Irvin Walker. WOLAA was notified by his wife, Juanita Walker. He died on 2 April 2010. George Conger. George died on 24 April 2011. He worked in Technical Shops. Tom A. Betts. He died on 11 June 2011. Effie Erkman. Effie died on 23 January 2011. Jerry Forbes wrote: John Erkman was one of my mentors at White Oak Laboratory explosive Division R-13. I lost track of him while working at Lawrence Livermore National laboratory in CA. Recently my son found John's wife Effie's obit online. Prior to coming to the White Oak Laboratory he worked at SRI International with George Duvall a pioneer of shock wave physics. -Don Johnson. Don died on 2 August 2011. Angelo Floria wrote: I have just gotten off the phone with Nancy Johnston, Don had suffered lung disease starting in 2007, and had recovered nicely until this past July when he relapsed. His last weeks were spent in Johns Hopkins where he died. Nancy sounds in excellent spirits and their two children are doing well: son Steve as a Hopkins PhD owning a consulting firm and daughter Susan teaching second grade. George Hamlin wrote: Don Johnston started as an Engineering Aide in the Publications Division (Code HR) around 1961, while still enrolled at the University of Maryland. He was also a volunteer with the Chillum-Adelphi Fire Department. He later became a Section Head (mine publications) and head of White Oak Publications. James T. Montgomery. Jim died on September 21, 2011. He was the husband of Mary Montgomery, a retired technical writer in WOL's Publications Division. He is also survived by a daughter, Pamela K. Montgomery, and a grandson, Michael J. Parlon, Jr. Jim served in the U.S. Navy from 1957 to 1959. He retired after 20 years' service at Fort Belvoir's Night Vision Laboratory, where he was instrumental in the development of night vision technology.

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-Bob Blouin. Bobs son Bobby notified Ray Widmayer of Bobs death in October 2011. The funeral was in Weymouth, England. Another ceremony was held in Gardner, MA. Bob worked at NOL on mine projects. He went to the Pentagon and became the civilian leader for mine warfare in the 1960s and 70s. Bob was the Pentagon sponsor for all the mine projects at WOL. He was a strong advocate for Mine Warfare. -George Beyer. George died at his home in Beltsville, MD at age 92 on 9 October 2011. He was husband of the late Mary Ellen Beyer. George is survived by his daughters: Kathryn Yoder and Jean Rogers. He had four grand-children. George headed a group in the Electrical Evaluation Branch in U Department. He was my first Supervisor when I came to NOL in 1957. We were evaluating components and test sets for LULU (ASW nuclear depth bomb). SUBROC was beginning and George was doing the reliability analysis for SUBROC. He had developed a process to compute the system reliability of SUBROC field tests which considered the last eight tests. So if a failure occurred, the project scorecard kept it for the next seven test. At the weekly SUBROC meetings, I can remember George being challenged on what was a success versus a failure. He always held to his technical evaluation and SUBROC was better for it. He was a great supervisor and joined us daily for a game of Hearts. It took me a while before I passed the evil queen to himnot good to get the queen in hearts. His family was from Ohio and I was from W. PA so we compared notes on our long trips back to our homes. -Pete Eskin. Pete, 83, a mechanical engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center from 1951 to 1994, died on November 13th of congestive heart failure at Grand Oaks Assisted Living in Washington D.C. He was a native of Newton, Massachusetts and a graduate of Purdue University. Pete held a key position at NSWC in the Electrical Evaluation Division of the Underwater Evaluation Department, which verified that weapons under development functioned as intended before reaching the U.S. Naval Fleet. During his career, he oversaw the evaluation of a surface ship fire control system, led the construction of a hydro-acoustic facility for the testing and evaluation of acoustics sensors and hydrophones, and worked on a range of other projects in underwater acoustics. He served as a mentor to many junior engineers at WOL. Pete was a member of St. John the Baptist Catholic Parish in Silver Spring. He is survived by his wife of 54 years Ann; daughter Fran, sons Leo, Michael and Peter; all of their spouses; sister Ellen Kaye; and nine grandchildren. -William Major Pettitt, Jr. Bill was born in the old Wythe area of Hampton, Va., on March 13, 1926, to Lillian Mae Pettitt and William Major Pettitt Sr. He died at the age of 85 on Monday, Nov. 21, 2011, after a brief illness. Mr. Pettitt served in the US Army Air Corps., for two and a half years during World War II. Most of that time was spent in Okinawa, as ground crew support. After the war, he attended NC State in North Carolina where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. After college he returned to Virginia and worked at several facilities for the Naval Surface Weapons Center (NSWC) as a research and development engineer and supervisor for a team of professionals working on underwater mine testing and development. He happily retired after 52 years of government service. Mr. Pettitt was preceded in death by his previous wife of 54 years, Dollie Rogers Pettitt, and his son, Roger William Pettitt. Survivors include: Wife, Roberta Cardwell. Sons: Michael Robert Pettitt and his wife, Deborah of Woodbridge; Brian Lee Pettitt and his wife, Merry Beth of St. Cloud, Fla.; Patrick Randolph Pettitt and his wife, Genine Wallace-Pettitt of Yorktown. Daughter-in-law, Wendi Pettitt of Virginia Beach. Stepchildren: David Cardwell of Cincinnati, Ohio; Donald Cardwell and his wife, Deborah; Danette Cardwell Gibson and her husband, Phillip of Yorktown. Grandchildren: Lt. Jason Pettitt USN; Kellie Pettitt; Taylor Pettitt; Elise Pettitt; Jackson Pettitt; Hudson Pettitt. Stepgrandchildren: Gavin Wallace; Paul McGowan; Curtis Sexton; Chase Gibson; Tonya Cardwell. And Great-grandchild: Gunner Cardwell. The above was sent to WOLAA by Donna Ward. Donna was Bills secretary at Ft. Monroe. She noted: I ran into Bill Easter Sunday of 2010 at a church that I don't normally attend. I noticed him across the room and debated whether I should talk to him or not. After the service, I walked up to him and introduced myself. He looked at me for a few seconds, slowly put his books down on the pew, then gave me a hug. He

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myself. He looked at me for a few seconds, slowly put his books down on the pew, then gave me a hug. He remembered me! He looked very feeble and I had a very hard time understanding him. He had a very low voice, nothing like the voice I remembered. Now I'm very glad I walked up to him. -Janet Johnson. Onur Atabek notified WOLAA that Janet died on 26 November 2011. She had been suffering from fibromyalgia pain and a change in medicine may have caused a seizure. She was the wife of Ken Johnson, who is the son of Ed Johnson who worked in U10. Janet was the secretary for H14 and she transferred to NSWC/IH when the WOL closed. -Ken Baker. Ken died at age 92 on 4 December 2011. Several years ago he had moved from his home in College Park to Rider Wood. He was husband to the late Jean Gilly Baker. He is survived by his son James Alan Baker and daughter Linda Ann Brazil. His grand children are Brian Brazil, Rebecca Brazil and Emily Baker. Ken was a ME and graduated from Purdue University. He was a ME in U10 and was a Branch Head for the Division. Ken followed Bob Knowles as Project Manager for SUBROC and completed the project as SUBROC entered the Fleet. He was a very thorough engineer and provided a steady leadership for the project. -William H Reams. Bill died on 21 December at age 72. He was a long time resident of Washington County, Maryland. Bill graduated from South Hagerstown High School in 1957. He was the husband of Gail Lynn Cowell Reams, his wife of 44 years. Born in West Palm Beach, Florida, he was the son of the late Bernadine Agnes Green Reams and the late Samuel Hunter Reams. Bill attended Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, College Park, where he graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree in 1962. Bill worked as a civilian at the Naval Surface Weapons Center in Montgomery County, Maryland for the first 18 years of his career where he obtained 8 patents. The second 18 years of his career were spent at Fort Detrick, USAMMDA in Frederick, Maryland. He retired October 17, 1998. In addition to his wife, he is survived by two daughters, Billie Jo Rowland of Falling Waters, WV and Viki Lynn Wade of Tomball, Texas; five grandchildren, Austin R. Rowland, Tristan R. Rowland, Ethan H. Wade, Emma P. Wade, and Parker H. Wade.

Hon Da Bac Island

In 1970-71 I was the laboratory representative for sensors and electronics at the U. S. Navy Research and Development Unit- Vietnam (NRDU-V). During the nine months I was there, a number of interesting and memorable (at least to me) events transpired. Many of them are still quite vivid to me- I remember them as though they occurred yesterday, not 40 years ago. I thought the stories might be of interest to others. A little background in the operation of the U. S. Navy Research and Development UnitVietnam might make this a bit more understandable. NRDU-V had fifteen people assigned to itfive Navy officers (the Chief and four project officers), four civilian project engineers/ scientists and 3 enlisted (yeomen/office workers). Each of the project officers worked in a specialty area and worked with one engineer in it - I was the sensor/electronics guy; the other specialty areas were armaments; boats; and mines. Each project was for the Navy/Marine Forces in Vietnam (not for the fleet operations offshore) and usually involved a Navy/Marine brown water, base or harbor problem, or an increased capability. The solutions were provided by a Vietnam Laboratory Assistance Program (VLAP) project (e. g., a gun, boat, sensor, etc). The NRDU-V role was to establish the need, request a VLAP solution and arrange/conduct/document its incountry evaluation. This story is an aside to those typical NRDU-V functions- one of these days, I will write about some of the more interesting of the normal projects, as well as some other interesting asides. Occasionally, Navy Headquarters in Vietnam would ask NRDU-V for assistance with a problem- there werent many engineers in Vietnam, and you did what the boss asked. It seems that an interdiction outpost on Hon Da Bac Island (an island located in the South China Sea, from which sea traffic could be easily monitored) had not reported in for a few days and could also not be raised by radio. A Navy Captain requested that NRDU-V personnel accompany him to the island to determine what had happened. I guess he thought we could fix the radios or something. We (my military counterpart, Lt. Darrell Campbell and I) met the Captain at Tan Son Nhut airport outside Saigon, where a prearranged prop plane ferried us to a base in the delta (dont recall which one). A USN mine tender then took us into the South China Sea, where the ship had to make an interdiction stop and search of a good sized junk. I had a good vantage spot to watch the stop outside the bridge, not wanting to go below deck- I still dont have sea legs, and they werent needed on the rivers. But the junk would not stop- no one on the mine tender spoke Vietnamese, and no one on the junk spoke English. So a radio call brought in Vietnamese prop fighter planes, and a strafing run ahead of the junks prow did stop it. Of course, the mine tender had stopped its engines and had its 3 inch gun trained on the junk, as they tried to figure out what to do next- there was still a communication problem. As the minutes passed, the ship and junk floated closer and closer together, and the 3 inch gun reached the deck cut when the junk was really close (the cut out is a mechanical interlock to stop the gun from firing into the ships deck). A mad rush ensued to find the armory key and get some more weapons out, just in case the junks crew planned to board and take over the mine tender. For those few minutes, Darrell and I were the main defenders of the ship- me with my CAR-15 and he with his Colt 45 pistol. It

turned out the junk was just carrying produce, and probably would not have know what to do with a Navy mine tender, but this had my adrenaline pumping. After the stop, we continued on to Hon Da Bac. As we approached the island, arms were passed out to the landing party- yours truly, Darrell, maybe 10 recruited sailors and our Captain leader. Yes, the adrenaline level was still high. We loaded into a small boat and at maybe 200 feet off shore, hit sand and started wading in, which had me imaging Macarthurs return to the Philippines. Adding to this image was that the first person out of the boat was the unarmed Philippine cook, outfitted in a bright Hawaiian shirt, wading backwards through the water, furiously snapping pictures of the whole event. Having a four striper doing a landing from his ship apparently was a big deal (and certainly well documented). When we hit the beach (fortunately, unopposed) we left the cook behind, and as I recall, the Captain led the group to the outpost- a fairly short walk to a shipping container that was supposed to be manned by a couple of marines. There wasnt any evidence of any foul play: no enemy take over, no destroyed equipment. After a little searching, the marines were found nearby- they had provisioned themselves with a good supply of booze and marijuana, and had taken a few days off, trying to go through their stash. I dont think they stayed in the service much longer. David Wasmund, November, 2011