USS Fletcher Reunion Group home page

Photos

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 23:08:05 -0600

The Fletcher photo collection includes hundreds of photos of Fletcher and her crew throughout her stellar career as well as hundreds more from several of our reunions and a handful of other unrelated photos. They are viewable at an external photo site.

If you have photos of Fletcher, her crew or the reunions that you'd like to share, please contact the webmaster. We prefer previously scanned photos set to the highest resolution you can do but will accept whatever you have. Photos or PDF copies of old documents are also welcome.

We also have cruise books and a large number of historical documents available for viewing or download at an external document storage site. (If you don't have a free Google account you may not be able to access the files) All are in PDF format which makes it easier for you to save copies to your computer for viewing at your leisure.

Please browse our photos and documents and feel free to leave comments. Thank you for visiting the USS Fletcher Reunion Group's web site!

Crew Rosters

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:01:29 -0600

WWII boiler gang, 1944

Crew rosters are based on data available at the time and aren't available for all years. If you spot an error or know of an addition please contact the webmaster so an update can be made.

Stories

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:57:32 -0600

A collection of stories by the crew.

If you have a story you'd like to share, please contact the webmaster for submission information. Contents are listed on the drop down menu.

Contact

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:51:03 -0600

Voicemail: 206-309-5202
Fax: 888-299-7573

Reunions

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:42:07 -0600

USS Fletcher Reunion Group Reunions

Reunion locations

1971 - Pocono Mountains, PA
1972 - Point Comfort, VA
1973 - Nashville, TN
1974 - Chicago, IL
1975 - Charleston, SC
1976 - Point Comfort, VA
1977 - Alexandria, VA
1978 - St. Louis, MO
1979 - San Diego, CA
1980 - Biloxi, MS
1981 - Kansas City, MO
1982 - Jacksonville Beach, FL
1983 - Reno, NV
1984 - Nashville, TN
1985 - Alexandria, VA
1986 - Portland, OR
1987 - Charleston, SC
1988 - San Antonio, TX
1989 - Sacramento, CA
1990 - Minneapolis, MN
1991 - Baton Rouge, LA
1992 - Norfolk, VA
1993 - Seattle, WA
1994 - Dayton, OH
1995 - Philadelphia, PA
1996 - San Diego, CA
1997 - Mobile, AL
1998 - Colorado Springs, CO
1999 - Jacksonville Beach, FL
2000 - Davenport, IA
2001 - Virginia Beach, VA
2002 - San Antonio, TX
2003 - Great Falls, MT
2004 - Madison, WI
2005 - New London, CT
2006 - Carson City, NV
2007 - Oklahoma City, OK
2008 - Ft. Mitchell, KY
2009 - Rapid City, SD
2010 - Pocono Mountains, PA
2011 - Waterloo, IA
2012 - Boston, MA
2013 - West Coast?

The USS Fletcher Reunion Group was founded in 1971 by Dr. Ray V. Allen, a former engineering yeoman and a Fletcher plank owner. The Group was conceived in Boston in the summer of 1970 when Dr. Allen attended a League of Naval Destroyers Reunion. It was there he met other former Fletcher men in the first unofficial Fletcher reunion and the idea of holding annual reunions was born. The first official USS Fletcher Reunion was held in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania the following year. After World War Two Mr. Allen returned home to West Virginia where he made a successful career in dentistry. He passed away in 1993. Dr. Allen’s wife, Lil, remains active as the Reunion Group’s matriarch.

Photos: Dr. Ray Allen in 1992 and Lil Allen in 2004.

Reunion Group Officers

Eli Bourgeois - Commodore - Metairie, LA
John Rust - Vice Commodore - Loveland, CO
Shaun Murphy - Vice Commodore DD-992 - Mattapoisett, MA
Buck Locke - Secretary - Winchester, MA
R C Kingsbury - Treasurer - Newburyport, MA
Melvyn Gentry - Asst. Vice Commodore East - Pekin, IL
Jerry Gardner - Asst. Vice Commodore West - Eden Prairie, MN
Debbie Rust - Corresponding Secretary - Albany, NY
Earl Faubion - Historian & Webmaster - Oklahoma City, OK
Kelly O’Brien - Assistant Historian - Phenix City, AL

Reunion photos link

News

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:29:16 -0600

The 1968 and 1969 History pages have been updated with a lot of new information thanks to documents obatained by shipmate John Morgan ('68-'69). This includes Fletcher's final WestPac deployment. In the 1968 folder is a copy of the handwritten deck logs from December 13 to 31, a period during which Fletcher entered Vietnamese ports and conducted coastal shipping interdiction during Operation Market Time. New pages for 1960 through 1965 have also been added with new sketchy information obtained for those years. We still need more documents for those years plus the late 1950s if you have any to share. The documents from which these pages were transcribed are available in their native form in PDF format via our off site document storage location that is linked on our Links page.
Story link: The full story: The VA's war against Vietnam Navy Veterans
Story link: WWII destroyer returns to South Carolina home after repairs
If you are a former crewmember of the DD/DDE-445 or DD-992 please consider joining our group. Visit the Join page for details on how to get involved!
Some browsers may need to be refreshed when viewing this page for the latest changes to show up. The date/time below marks the last update.
Come join us in Boston at our next reunion in September!

History

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:36:32 -0600

A Brief Fletcher History

The USS Fletcher DD-445 was launched 3 May 1942 by Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. Kearny, N.J.; sponsored by Mrs. F. F. Fletcher, widow of Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher; and commissioned 30 June 1942. Lieutenant Commander W. M. Cole in command.

Fletcher arrived at Noumea, New Caledonia, 5 October 1942 from the east coast, and at once began escort and patrol duty in the Guadalcanal operation, bombarding Lunga Point 30 October. Sailing from Espiritu Santo 9 November to cover the landing of reinforcements on the embattled island, she joined in driving off a heavy enemy air attack on the transports 12 November, splashing several enemy aircraft. This was the opening phase of the Battle of Guadalcanal a 3-day air and surface action in which American naval forces fought so determinedly and tenaciously to hold control of the seas in the Solomons that the Japanese never again sent large naval forces into the waters around Guadalcanal. Fletcher played an important part in the surface action off Guadalcanal 13 November, firing guns and torpedoes in the general melee which sank two Japanese destroyers and damaged battleship Hiei, later sent to the bottom by carrier and Marine aircraft.

Fletcher retired to replenish at Espiritu Santo arriving the day after the battle, and after patrolling against submarines off Noumea, sortied 30 November 1942 with a force of cruisers and destroyers to intercept a force of enemy transports and destroyers expected to attempt a reinforcement of Guadalcanal that night. Fletcher led the force through Lengo Channel, and made the first radar contact with the enemy off Tassafaronga Point just before midnight. The resulting battle saw one Japanese destroyer sunk and one slightly damaged and four American cruisers badly damaged, all but one of which were saved by superb damage control measures. Fletcher rescued survivors of Northampton CA-26, ingeniously using cork-floated cargo nets to take great groups of them from the water.

Fletcher continued to operate in the Solomons patrolling, bombarding shore targets, driving off Japanese air attacks, rescuing downed aviators, destroying Japanese landing barges and covering new landings on the northern coast of Guadalcanal. Out on patrol 11 February 1943, Fletcher was alerted by a smoke float dropped by a plane from Helena CL-50, and sped to attack and sink a Japanese submarine. She sailed in support of the landings on the Russell Islands 28 February, bombarded Munda airfield on New Georgia during the night of 5-6 March, and continued to guard the movement of transports in the Solomons