U.S.S. Walton (DE-361)

Ken Sayers has a USS Walton “Wally Tag” for his car!

Ed ~~~ Here’s a photo of my license plate that I mentioned to you yesterday. I thought you and our fellow shipmates would get a kick out of it. In the five years it’s been on my car, it has saved me from a traffic ticket or two because the cops see the “veteran” marking, ask me where I served, give me a polite “don’t do it again” lecture and send me on my way. So just for the trouble of sending DMV a copy of my DD-214 and $60 for the vanity plate, that DE-361 tag has more than paid for itself — not to mention the pride I get from having that hull number displayed on my vehicle.

Bud Brickell and the Monkey… 1962

Here is an email exchange between Paul Naples, Bud Brickel, and Herb Mesler concerning a monkey in Siagon.  I’ll let you decide who the monkey is in this story.     – Ed

Hi Herb:

Got your E-mail regarding Bud Brickell.  Looked for him in the cruise book, but I didn’t find his picture.

Let me diverge for a minute to set up the rest of this E-mail.  When the Walton was in Saigon, Bob Borak (RD3) and I bought a monkey in a downtown bar.  We might have been drinking.  When we came back to the ship, the O.D. wouldn’t allow the monkey on board.  Borak tied the monkey’s leash to the pier.  The monkey was still there the next morning.

I have slides of the monkey on the “next day”.  I can’t find the slides right now, but they are here somewhere.  If  am correct, I have a slide of Bud Brickell holding the monkey on the pier.  Bud — if this rings a bell, let me know and I will redouble my efforts to find the slides.

If anyone wants to know what happened to the monkey, that would be the subject of another E-mail.

Paul
 
 
Yes, I think that was me because I was restricted to the ship that weekend,,,,,,,,  I remember that real well !!!!
 
Bud

The “Bar Room” monkey!

Ditto!  

There you have it Walton sailors.  Paul Naples and Bob Borak get drunk and buy a monkey.  Bud Brickell is restricted to the ship and makes a bond with the monkey.  Doesn’t that bring a tear to your eye?   

Daniel Ash says Thank You for all your cards and well wishes…

Hello Shipmates!

Well, I went to see Dan Ash at his Care Facility yesterday.  He is doing much better but is still very weak.  Our fellow shipmate came very close, twice, to not making it but is now able to look back and find some humor in all he’s gone through.   To add insult to injury, while in was in the hospital fighting for his life, he lost his mother on Dec. 12th.  Betty, his lovely wife, had to worry about Dan and take care of the arrangements to bury Dan’s mother.  Amazing woman.

Dan wanted to make sure I told all of you who wrote notes, send cards, called, etc. how much it has meant to him and to make sure I passed on a big Thank You for your kind thoughts and prayers.

It’s good to see Dan doing better.  For all of those who were fortunate enough to serve on the Walton with Dan, you know what a genuinely nice fellow he is.  For those of you who know him only through these web pages, he was a worthy shipmate to all of us.  Dan still has a long haul to get back to were he was so don’t forget about him.  Any continued cards, letters, or phone calls will be appreciated and continue to let him know we haven’t forgotten about him.

Here’s his address and phone number again, for those who may have misplaced it. 

Daniel Ash –3089 Bertis Dr.—Sacramento,Ca.95821
 Phone# 541-580-0847

Where the USS Walton Rests….

I have just learned from the Navy Department a few of the particulars regarding the sinking of USS Walton, and want to share them with you.

 She was sunk at 1300T (1:00 pm PDT) on 7 AUG 1969 “after utilization as a test bed for Project Harpoon Wart.” The coordinates of the sinking are latitude 33-09N, longitude 118-50W.

 My unofficial guess is that after Walton was hit and damaged by the Harpoon missile, she was then sunk to dispose of the hulk. And by my very crude calculations, working from the coordinates supplied by the Navy, she now rests on the bottom of the Pacific in about 265 fathoms (some 1600 feet) of water in the southern corner of an “explosives dumping area” approximately 72 nautical miles west (256 degrees magnetic) of Oceanside, California and approximately 14 nm northwest (293 degrees magnetic) of San Clemente Island. I can’t be any more exact than this because I lack detailed coordinates and a good West Coast navigation chart.

 I also do not know from what platform the Harpoon was fired. As you may know, that missile can be launched from aircraft (AGM-84) such as the F/A-18 and P-3C, surface ships (RGM-84) and submarines (UGM-84) against surface targets. Presumably, Walton was expended as a target for a Harpoon warhead test.
 Wish I could tell you more but at least now we know where our ship ended up and how she got there.

 Best regards,

 Ken Sayers

Here are a couple of pictures of her resting place from Herb Mesler, using the coordinates given by Ken.

Thanks go to both Ken and Herb for providing us with this information.  R.I.P. USS Walton (DE 361)!

Dan Ash in & out of Hospital: Let’s drop him a line.

I just heard from Jerry & Mary Hudson and they recently called Betty & Daniel Ash.  Dan was a BT on the Walton from 1961 to 1963 more or less.  Well, come to find out, Dan has been in & out of the hospital or Rehab since November.    Jerry & Mary have sent cards but Dan’s wife Betty says Daniel would sure like to hear from his old shipmates.

If you want to send a card or call, here’s Dan’s address and phone number.  Let’s see if we can’t cheer up our old shipmate.

 Daniel Ash –3089 Bertis Dr.—Sacramento,Ca.95821
 Phone# 541-580-0847