Plaque provide by:
James Vaness
Michigan
Ship's Patch Provided By:
C.B. Sutton
Mo.
Agent orange and Malathion   
Insecticide and the nervous system
Everyone had a great time at the reunion.  The crew has chosen Branson again for our 2012
Reunion. Join the fun and start making plans now.
If any of you were on the gun mounts during the 66 Vietnam Cruise and have hearing problems
such as tinnitus (ringing in the ears). I have deck logs that has the times we went to General
Quarters and number of rounds that we fired. These logs will help you win compensation for hearing
loss and tinnitus.
aThis is a summary of our November 3rd thru Nov. 6th 2011 LST 1096 Reunion in Branson. There were 36 that attended and of that
number 17 were actually onboard the St. Clair County.

We had two catered meals in our hospitality room and they were home- cooked meals.  Thursday night was roast and turkey, with mashed
potatoes and gravy, salad (it had strawberries and lettuce – very good) green beans, and a bun -- the drinks were beer, soft drinks ( Pop )
wine and Pritchards Tennessee whiskey.  I thought the meal was very good and most of all, we were all together and able to talk and catch
up on some old times, especially since we had 4 new sailors that had never attended  before – Rocky Johnson,  J.D. Wilson, Harold Waits
and Donald Haas.  

The second night ( Friday) we had a Bar B Que dinner with pulled pork & brisket , some kind of cheese potatoes ( like a potatoes Au-Gratin
),  corn -  same kind of drinks were available as I mentioned – this was in the hospitality room with chips, peanuts, satsumas, and pretzels
– oh yea, popcorn too.

Nancy Stunkard brought some homemade caramel candy that was the best that I have ever had. She made some with pecans and some
were plain. She also brought Richard with her—just kidding Rich.   

Now, Lloyd Thomason & April again came up with a piece of work (very creative). They are in the pictures. April made a hat and a scarf for
the ladies and she gave these away to every lady that attended. Thanks again Lloyd & April   



Bobby Moore & Sheila had their daughter and son- in- law with them – that was Brandon and Donna and they just mixed right in with us – in
fact I thought that Brandon might have been on the ship with us since he got along and mixed so well—he just looked a little younger than
us old farts. Bobby had some LST 1096 hats made and we gave them away. You had your choice of either Blue or White—check the
pictures out and you will see a lot of us wearing them. Brandon & Donna, thank you for attending, Donna, I know your dad was happy to
have you also. My son or sons may come with us next year.



Robert & Joann Simon came and didn’t bring any pickled quail eggs this time. Robert did a good job running the raffle & telling jokes on the
bus taking us to a show. He is not a stand- up comedian though – just ask the bus driver -Joann kept him straight though, with help from
the Prichard Tennessee whiskey man -no other than  The X engineering officer  Carroll Joachimi. Carroll did a good job helping with the
raffle. We made $197.00 on the raffle.  The whiskey was good- you can ask Rocky Johnson and J. D. Wilson and, also, I think you can ask
Carroll’s old boss back aboard the ship, Harold Waits. Also the Cranberry, whatever it was, it was good too—that’s what I heard. Ask Karen
Finster and Susan Ourso – I think I brought them some when they were playing poker.



I put $707 back into our account today it bring us up to 2,013 dollars. Before the reunion we had $1,781 and I drew out $ 500 out for the
reunion, $256 for the hats and for other expenses totaling $ 383 . We collected $ 210 cash for dues and $155 in checks .



We brought a little taste of Louisiana to the reunion with some gift bags with various seasoning s, a few Satsumas, a little jambalaya mix in
a bag along with some little bottles of Tabasco Sauce, Louisiana Hot Sauce, Zatarain seasoning and some Louisiana Fish Fry Products--  
Crystal Hot Sauce would not donate anything to us – so take them off your shopping list. I don’t think they cared if we were U S Vets or Viet
Cong Vets – that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.



I think this was one of the best reunions we have had, next to the one we had in Indianapolis in 2007, that was our first, but at this one I
think we got to visit more. One reason was that we just had 2 shows scheduled and we had a nice hospitality room to visit and show
pictures, play cards, have some snacks and relax.  We saw Miracle of Christmas at the Sight & Sound Theatre, a dinner show with Six and
the opening ceremony show for Veterans Week.  All of them were excellent and LSU beat Alabama .



Next year (and I think I’m right here) we may ride on a Duck (something like an LCVP – don’t quote me on that either) some kind of
amphibious thing.  That will be in the Veteran’s Day parade—we may decorate it too—just like a Mardi Gras float. Joann had mentioned it.



Again this year Bobby Moore worked hard on this one and got some new faces to attend and he got us some hats made and kept us
informed of what was going on thru the Website. Thanks Bobby for holding this together.



Mrs. Mabrey and her daughter Karen were there and Mrs.Mabrey’s son came in Saturday with his wife and son. So the Captain was well
represented and the X O was there with his wife--  Mr. Phil & Carol  Brucato and we had two snipe ( engineering officers)  Officers attend.
Mr. Harold & Dorothy Waits and Mr. Carroll & Judy Joachimi.



Mr. Harold Davis attended the reunion – he served on the St Clair back in 1955. He’s the gentleman in the red jacket that is in our pictures
and Harold said that he can’t wait for next year ( something similar to that) in other words he will be back next year.  And we are looking
forward to seeing him.

Susan and I got up there a day early and met Robert and Carolyn Glenn to see Andy William’s Christmas show – it never happened – he
was sick – the Lennon sisters and brothers were his replacements. But it was a good show none the less.



Honor Cole came in from Texas to attend and he even tried to help me with my VA claim. He printed some forms for me using the hotel’s
computer and instructed me what to do—so far nothing has worked.



Fred & Matti Perry also came in from Louisiana , they are brave souls – Matti had just had surgery a week or two before (I think I’m right
here) But you could see she wasn’t feeling the best that I have seen her. She would get tired and go back to her room and rest and then you
would see her back in the hospitality room. I hope you get to feeling better Matti and be fresh for next year. You got a good guy to take care of
you and it looks like he is doing a good job.



Donald & Susan Haas came in from Texas , this was their first time to attend – Don had posted some good pictures on the website, but
man, he brought some deer pictures and I think all of us hunters enjoyed looking at them. He even had a pet deer.



Frank Polak came in from West Virginia , but this was not Frank’s first reunion with us – this is either his 2nd or 3rd. I didn’t get to visit much
with him except for the fist night in the hospitality room. I hope you had a good time this year and hope to see you next year and help us ride
the Duck.  



Harold Beaman & Judy came in – I think they came by way of a Harley—not sure though, but he has attended our reunion before and rode
his bike. I think he has a brother that lives right around Branson.



I know I can’t cover everything that everyone did to make this reunion a success and that I probably will leave or have left someone out that
has given their time and effort to make this fun and a success. But the ones that has been coming to the reunions every year contributed a
lot because the people that put this together and see it’s appreciated , the time and effort is worth it then.



I enjoyed being with everyone and I hope everyone has a good healthy year this coming 2012 and can attend again next year. Also, Bobby
might be able to get some more new faces to attend. This will be our 6th reunion in 2012.



I know this was an important part of my life ,1964 thru 1966, and I almost had forgotten ( or did forget) some of the things that I did and
some of the things that happened around me,-- - people that I met – and it really doesn’t seem like some of it took place at all.  Bobby got
this reunion thing going and now we sit around a table here and someone says remember when this happened or remember when he did
this or that.
Summary By Clint Ourso