MARCH 2006 REPORT by Charles Brecheisen

Greetings Altair shipmates. Here is your monthly report for March 2006.

SHIPMATES: We have one new shipmate that boarded ship in March bringing the total count to 402 shipmates.. Please welcome aboard :

Jesse B. Jones, SH2, 1953-1955. Jesse resided in Jackson, TN

DUES: The reduced cost of dues to $10 seem to be working. Thanks to all sending in dues!

FINANCIAL: The beginning March balance was $861.26 with income of $220.00 and no expenses leaving a balance of $1081.27.

ALTAIR NEWSLETTER: I am finishing up the Altair newsletter and only have a couple of spaces to add material. I am waiting for a couple of shipmates to send in their bios and the newsletter should be mailed in a couple of weeks.

ALTAIR REUNION: There have been a few shipmates questioning when our next reunion would be held; and where. Good questions! After our first reunion in Norfolk in 2004, emotions were running high to have another reunion. Those "emotions" sort of petered out. But, we (another shipmate) is in the process of checking out Charleston, SC as a possible site. I will keep all posted.

All for now. Please contact me with any questions or comments.

Best Regards To All:

Charles Brecheisen
248 Drifting Cloud
Holly Lake Ranch, TX 75765-6321
903-769-5325

FEBRUARY 2006 REPORT by Charles Brecheisen

Greeetings Altair Shipmates. Here is your monthly report for February 2006.

SHIPMATES: We have two new shipmates bringing the total on board to 401. The shipmates are:

John Cherny, Lexington, SC BM3, 1966-1968

James "Red" Foley, Biddeford, ME SN, 1959-1961

DUES: The dues have been changed to $10; and, thanks to all that have paid their dues. It's what keeps this organization running!

FINANCIAL: The beginning balance was $912.07 with income of $125.00 and expenses of $175.80 leaving a balance of $861.27. The major cost was $126.35 for the Altair web site, postage. I purchased a "Naval Aviation News" February 1965, that contained a nice article on the Altairs' helo replenishment with the
Sixth Fleet.

U.S. NAVAL MEMORIAL COMMEMORATIVE WALL: Pledges are coming in nicely and thanks to all for your dollar pledges. I will give a pledge report in the next Altair monthly update. If you are not familiar with the Commemorative Wall, please
visit http://www.lonesailor.org/plaque.php and you will be impressed!

All for now. Please contact me with any questions or comments.

Charles Brecheisen
248 Drifting Cloud
Holly Lake Ranch, TX 75765-6321
903-769-5325

JANUARY 2006 REPORT by Charles Brecheisen

SHIPMATES: No new shipmates were signed up in January and the total stands at 398.

SHIPMATE PASSING: As most of you know, Louis Ruch, SKSN, 1954-1955 suddenly passed away on September 23, 2005. Louis and Frances both attended the first Altair reunion in Norfolk. Our condolances to the Ruch family.

DUES: Dues are hereby changed to $10 per year. A couple of shipmates sent in $25 and credit will be given for dues paid for 2007. Hopefully we can get more shipmates on board with dues.

FINANCIAL: The beginning balance was $867.07 with $45.00 paid in dues and zero expenses leaving a February 1 balance of $912.07. The Altair "Special Fund" remains the same.

U.S. NAVAL MEMORIAL COMMEMORATIVE WALL: I was surprised at the lack of pledge response for an Altair plaque. Thanks to those shipmates who did make a pledge. This is a great and worthwhile cause to honor the Altair Shipmates. Joe Basso is the driving force behind this idea. For those not familiar with the wall, please visit Navy Commemorative Wall

A INTERNET BROWSER NOTE: I have switched over to Mozilla's "Firefox 1.5" and no longer use Microsoft I.E. 6.0. Firefox seems a bit faster and reportedly is "safer" than I.E. Microsoft is working on I.E. 7.0 but I don't know when it will be out.

All for now. Please contact me with questions and comments.

Best Regards To All:

Charles Brecheisen
248 Drifting Cloud
Holly Lake Ranch, TX 75765-6321
903-769-5325

Shipmate Passing

Jan. 7, 2006

Dear Sir:
I am not sure which person to address concerning the death of my husband Lewis Ruch, who was aboard the Altair from 1952-1956, Passed away suddenly on Sept. 23, 2005. This is just for your records.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Lewis Ruch
POB 327
N. Stratford, NH 03590

DECEMBER 2005 REPORT by Charles Brecheisen

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2006......It's hard for me to believe that 2006 is here already. Where did 2005 go? I hope everyone has a happy prosperous and a very healthy New Year in 2006.

SHIPMATES: Please welcome aboard:
Keith C. Fraser, ENS, 1966-1968. residing in Swanzey, NH

FINANCIAL: There were no expenses in December and $25 income bringing the year-end balance to $867.07. There were 32 shipmates that paid dues in 2005. It has been suggested that we drop the yearly dues from $25 to either $5 or $10
and make then mandetory. Comments please...........

PHOTOGRAPHS: I have received quite a few new photos from Robert Rati and hope to have these on line soon.

U.S. NAVY MEMORIAL COMMEMORATIVE WALL: Joe Basso has come up with a great idea of having a USS Altair AKS32 plaque on the "U.S. Navy Memorial Commemorative Wall." For those shipmates not familiar with the Navy Commemorative Wall,
please visit Navy Commemorative Wall. The USS Altair AKS32 can have a memorial plaque placed on the wall which would a great tribute to all the shipmates that served on the Altair. At the present time, this is still in
the "working" stage and we are looking for dollar pledges and not soliciting donations. There has already been several hundred dollars pledges! Please give this worthwhile cause consideration and make a pledge.

All for now. Please contact me with any comments or questions.

Best Regards To All:

Charles Brecheisen
248 Drifting Cloud
Holly Lake Ranch, TX 75765-6321
903-769-5325

NOVEMBER 2005 REPORT by Charles Brecheisen

Greetings Altair Shipmates. Here is your monthly report for November 2005.

SHIPMATES: Please welcome aboard:
Jim McWilliams, BM3, 1967-1968 residing in Castell, Texas
Allan Kessler, SK2, 1966-1969 from Philadelphia, PA.

FINANCIAL: No income, no expenses, no nut'in. This leaves the previous balance of $842.07 with the "special fund" remaining the same.

ALTAIR HISTORY: I am still looking for ANY information that can be used in the Altair history books.....paperwork, photos, etc.

PHOTOS: I put up a few more pics on the Altair Photo's page 2 including a pic of the Altair plaque.

All for now (sure wasn't much). Please contact me with questions or comments.

Best Regards To All:

Charles Brecheisen
248 Drifting Cloud
Holly Lake Ranch, TX 75765-6321
Tel/Fax 903-769-5325

OCTOBER 2005 REPORT by Charles Brecheisen

Greetings Altair Shipmates. Here is your monthly report for October 2005.

ON A SAD NOTE.....John McDaniel reports that Billy Jordan, Norfolk, VA passed away in October. Billy served twice aboard the Altair, 1956-1958 and 1966-1968 and was a SK1. Our condolances to the Jordan family.

FINANCIAL.....The beginning October balance was $914.37 with no income and expenses of $72.30 leaving a balance of $842.07. Postage, plastic photo sheets and an Altair plaque were the expenses. I bought the Altair plaque on ebay and it came from a base bowling alley storage closet at the Mayport Naval Station Florida. The Altair "special fund" remains the same.

SHIPMATES.....Please welcome aboard Joe T. Reeves. Joe was a LT and a co-pilot on the Altair's chopper in 1964. Joe lives in Mississippi and you can visit his website at http://www.joesue.com

All for now. Please contact me with any questions or comments.

Best Regards To All......Charles

Awards for USS ALTAIR by Charles Brecheisen

Greetings Altair Shipmates. Many thanks to all that responded to the question of getting service awards while aboard the Altair.

Chief Smith suggests going to http://www.USSHorne.net and scrolling down and clicking on "Awards" and clicking on "OPNAV Note 1650" and there you will find a list of ALL awards. And, it's a LONG list too! Plus, you can write the National Personnel Records Center.

Paul LeClair sent the following information:

"UNIT AWARDS FOR ALTAIR AKS32; 1 Unit Award was found.......for furthur information, please send an email to NavyAwards@Navy.Mil

You may request a copy of your service record by submitting a written request to:

National Personnel Records Center
9700 Page Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63132-5100

It must contain the following information:

Full Name
Service Number or SSN
Dates of service (start and finish)
Daytime telephone number.

.....Obtaining information on Navy Awards and Medals Veterans are entitles to one set of medals and awards. To request his medals, a veteran should send in a separate completed Standard Form (SF) 180 to the:

Bureau of Naval Personnel (Code 312D2)
Naval Liaison Office, Room 5409
9700 Page Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63132-5100
Mark on envelope "DO NOT OPEN IN MAILROOM""

I have used this information procedure in getting the service record of an uncle that served in WW2.........and it worked! It also worked for Lou Cour as he also got his medals; and very quickly. But, he had some political influence working for him. ha.

Best Regards to All..........Charles

SEPTEMBER 2005 REPORT by Charles Brecheisen

Greetings Altair Shipmates. Here is your monthly report for September 2005.

WIRELESS INTERNET: Boy, oh boy, I am now on a wireless Internet system; and,it's great! No more dial-up! It's not quite as fast as DSL but at least 20 times faster than dial-up.

SHIPMATES: We picked up one new shipmate, Ben Feyl, SK3, 1962-1965 who lives in Bridgeville, DE.

FINANCIAL: We started with a balance of $894.37 and had no expenses and income of $20 leaving a balance of $914.37. The "special fund" remains the same.

LOCAL REUNIONS: Tom Planes, MM2, 1960-1963, has expressed interest in having a "local reunion" as have others. Tom lives in Georgia, and if you are interested, please contact Tom at tomplanes@alltel.net I sure would be interested. Ya know, there will never be new Altair shipmates; and, we are losing a shipmate to darn frequently. Other "local" groups could have a "get together." I think it's a great idea.

PHOTOGRAPHS: I put up a few new pics on our web site on "page 2" of the photos page. Thanks to all that send me photos! Keep 'em coming!

SUGGESTIONS: My two best "buds" in the radio shack were "Trigger" Burke and Vincent Burling. I have sent them emails, phoned, sent them photographs, etc., but I can get absolutely no response from either of them. Any suggestions on how to get them on board? I am sure that there are shipmates that think the Navy, or the Altair was a bad experience and want nothing to do with the Altair crew. I guess I will review the letters I have sent with a cutoff of 3-4 and sometimes 5 guys with the same name and send out more. Suggestions? Anyone with a WATS line that could make phone calls? It's only money.

All for now. Please contact me with suggestions or comments.

Best Wishes To All...........Charles

New email address for Charles and SPAM beating idea from Chief Smitty

Greetings Altair Shipmates. Well, even living in the bookdocks, I now have access to a fast wireless Internet system; and have been connected; and, it works great. I will be dropping the dial-up Netzero service in about a week.

Please start using cmbaltairaks32@fastmail.us

I have been using Fastmail for about a week and it seems to be a great email service.

Chief Smith (Smitty) has a great idea for beating the SPAMers address gathering software. He mentions another Navy site (usshorne.net) that adds "OXOX" at the end of the email prefix. (i.e. anynameOXOX@yourisp.com) This would prevent the SPAM software from getting your correct email address. Of course, everyone would know to eliminate the "OXOX" when sending an email to another shipmate. Any comments? Or, just leave it alone? This would only be done on the Altair web site. I still get 5-10 SPAMs daily at this email address; but, not one so far on the Fastmail address.

We are preparing for "Rita" here in E.TX and have stocked up with water and canned goods. We need the rain, but............

Best Regards To All......Charles

Shipmate Passing by Charles Brecheisen

Greetings Altair Shipmates.

I received the following email yesterday: "My husband, Gerald J. Creed, who served on the Altair in the late 70s (sic) has passed away on August 13, 2005." (Mrs. Creed meant the late 60s)

Shipmate Creed was a BM3 and served aboard the Altair 1968 to 1969 and helped decommission the ship.

Mrs. Creed can be reached at:

Mrs. Gerald J. Creed
136 Madison Avenue
Rahway, NJ 07065-2204
732-382-3841
Creedjerry4@netzero.net

AUGUST 2005 REPORT by Charles Brecheisen

Greetings Altair Shipmates. Here is your monthly report for August 2005.

SHIPMATES: No new shipmates came on board in August.

FINANCIAL: The beginning August balance was $893.27 with expenses of $73.90 and dues income of $75.00 leaving a balance of $894.37. I renewed our Altair website name for the next 3 years. The "special fund" balance remains the same.

COMMENTS: I received a rather strongly worded complaining email from a shipmate that he got some SPAM that he didn't like (Political); and, wanted his email address deleted from everything. I do realize that our email listings can and probably does result in getting SPAM. The only reason that I list email addresses is that I want shipmates to be able to contact other shipmates with a minimum amount of trouble. If any shipmate wants his email address deleted from the website, please send me an email and I will take it off the list. Or, I could delete ALL email addresses on the shipmate list and if you want any info, just send me an email and I will give you all the info. What do you think? Please do not reply to this email but to cmbaltairaks32@fastmail.us

Very soon, I will hopefully be connected to a Internet wireless system and will not be using the phone lines to connect. This means I will have a new email address, but will keep the Netzero address for a couple of months to make sure the new system works OK. I will still use the "cmbaltairaks32" prefix so you will know where the email is coming from.

Please contact me with any questions or comments at cmbaltairaks32@netzero.net

Best Regards To All.....Charles Brecheisen RM2 1959-1961

JULY 2005 REPORT by Charles Brecheisen

Greetings Altair Shipmates. Here is your monthly report for July 2005.

Boo! The 1/2 inch rain we got in June is the only rain since last May. Here at Holly Lake we are under very severe water restrictions and a burn ban. The dog days of August arrived on July 1st.

By not replying to this email has solved lots of problems -- except for the SPAM. Please continue replying to cmbaltairaks32@netzero.net

SHIPMATES: No new shipmates came on board in July; so, we continue to hold at 396.

NEWSLETTER: Of the 396 newsletters mailed, 12 were returned due to bad addresses. I was able to forward 4 of them to new addresses and had to delete the remaining 8 addresses from the shipmate mailing list. Thanks to all the shipmates that keep me up to date with new home and email changes. I am also looking for interesting items and articles to include in our next newsletter.

FINANCIAL: The beginning balance was $770.12 with income to $175.00 and expenses of $51.85 leaving a balance of $893.27. Thanks to all that paid dues!

Please contact me with any questions or comments.

Best Regards To All........Charles Brecheisen RM2 1959-1961

JUNE 2005 REPORT by Charles Brecheisen

Greetings Altair Shipmates. Here is your monthly report for June 2005.

Yea! We just got 1/2 inch of rain. Here in E. TX we had zero rain in June!

Again, please do not reply to this email but use cmbaltairaks32@netzero.net

SHIPMATES: No new shipmates came on board on June. We have 396 shipmates on board.

Ed Rice, I still need your address to mail you the newsletter.

SHIPMATE PASSING: A. Evans Silk passed away September 4, 2004. Shipmate Evans was from Millington, TN, a SK3 and aboard the Altair 1953-1954. Our condolences to the Silk Family.

EXPENSES: The beginning June balance was $1073.11 with income of $25.00 and expenses of $327.99 leaving a balance of $770.12. Expenses included labels, postage and printing of the newsletter. The "special fund" balance remains the same.

DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE ALTAIR BLOG SITE! http://aks32.blogspot.com

Please contact me with any questions or comments.

Best Regards To ALL.........Charles Brecheisen, RM2, 1959-1961

MAY 2005 REPORT by Charles Brecheisen

Greetings Altair Shipmates. Here is your monthly report for May 2005.

By not replying to this email seems to work as I have had no problems in May. Well, one day I had 21 Spams on this email address, but that seems to have tailed off.

SHIPMATES: We gained 2 new shipmates in May, bringing the total to 398. The new shipmates are:

Martin Summann, RM1, 1966-1967, Virginia Beach, VA

Edward J. Rice, Jr., RM3, 1961-1963 (I need your address Ed)

WELCOME ABOARD!

FINANCIAL REPORT: The beginning May balance was $1110.11 with no income and expenses (postage) of $37.00 leaving a balance of $1073.11. The "special fund" balance remains the same.

ALTAIR NEWSLETTER: The newsletter is about 75% complete and I hope to have it in the mail in the next couple of weeks.

ALTAIR BLOG SITE: Don't forget to check out the Altair blog site. It's really a neat site and shipmate Dick Braun has done a super job getting it up and running. The site can be found at http://aks32.blogspot.com

ALTAIR HISTORY: Pat Malato sent me a terrific Altair history book that he was given while aboard. The book is titled "USS Altair [AKS32], Home Port, Naples Italy, 1963-1965" and lists information on the various ports the Altair would visit. Included was the "Change of Command" program and a formal invitation; plus Pat's "Armed Forces Liberty Pass." Loads of information. Many thanks Pat!

All for now. Please contact me at cmbaltairaks32@netzero.net with any questions or comments.

Charles Brecheisen
248 Drifting Cloud
Holly Lake Ranch, TX 75755-6321
Tel/Fax 903-769-5325

APRIL 2005 REPORT by Charles Brecheisen

Greetings Altair Shipmates. Here is your monthly report for April 2005.

Please do not use the "altaircrew" mailing list as it causes me 2-3 weeks of cleaning up afterwards. Hopefully, this will solve my email problems.

SHIPMATES: We gained one new shipmate in April bringing the total to 396. I have been mailing to names where there are 4-5-6 possibilities of finding a shipmate; but, no luck so far.

Our one new shipate is:

Neal Johnson, SK2, 1960-1962; South Windsor, CT

Welcome aboard Neal!

FINANCIAL REPORT: The beginning April balance was $1097.11 with receipts of $50.00 and expenses of $37.00 leaving a balance of $1110.11. The "special fund" remains as $868.61.

ALTAIR BLOG SITE: Shipmate Richard "Dick" Braun has put up a "blog" site for the Altair. A blog site is similar to a message board as you can upload comments; and, other shipmates can reply. It is a simple matter to register, upload your photograph and bio and start adding comments. It's a great way to communicate! Try it; you'll like it! The site is at http://aks32.blogspot.com
Thanks Dick!

All for now. Please contact me with any comments or questions.

Charles Brecheisen
248 Drifting Cloud
Holly Lake Ranch, TX 75755-6321
Tel/fax 903-769-5325

REUNION SURVEY RESULTS

As a follow-up to the inaugural USS Altair reunion on May 13th thru May 15th 2004 at the Marriott Waterfront Hotel, Norfolk, VA, in early 2005, Charles Brecheisen sent out a mailing to all shipmates. Included in that mailing was a survey that he asked you to complete and return. If you were one of the 57 shipmates (14%) that completed the survey, we all thank you!!! Without your opinions, the reunion committee would be making assumptions. Please feel free to add additional comments and if you haven’t voted, do so now at the "comments" link at the end of this article!

The following locations were suggested by the responses for our next reunion:

Anywhere/No Opinion, Atlanta, Baltimore Cruise, Barcelona, Baton Rouge LA, Bermuda, Boston, Bronson MO, Buffalo NY, Charleston, Chicago, Cleveland, Erie PA, FL Cruise, Florida, Ft Lauderdale FL, Jacksonville, Key West FL, Las Vegas, Midwest, Mobile Cruise, NO. LA, Naples, Nashville, New York, Newport RI, Norfolk, Ohio, Orlando FL, Pearl Harbor, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pigeon Forge TN, San Diego, Savannah, Springfield MO, Texas, and Washington, DC.

As you can see it is quite a list of locations!

The ballets are tallied and the first four selections in each choice are as follows:

1st Choice: Florida Cruise 14, Norfolk 7, Barcelona 6, Charleston 5
2nd Choice: San Diego 7, Charleston 5, Norfolk 4, Naples 3
3rd Choice: Norfolk 6, Las Vegas 4, NO LA 4, Charleston 3

From all categories the total per location is: Norfolk 17, Florida Cruise 14, Charleston 13, San Diego 7, Barcelona 6, Las Vegas 4, NO LA 4, and Naples 3.

Florida (various locations) had 24 votes from all categories while Anywhere/No Opinion had: 1st Choice 4, 2nd Choice 15, and 3rd Choice 22.

Charles also reports that there were 18 volunteers (32%) to assist in the planning, organization, and various event tasks! Wow, what a great group!

For the second reunion the committee is seriously considering Tampa ‘Ø7 in the springtime. Either trying to get a cruise or at the lease a tour of the American Victory.

Any additional comments, thoughts or votes? Let us hear from you!!!

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Letterhead on stationary.

Our Navy July 1962 edition features Altair