USS Clarion River LSMR 409 History

Battleflag was the idea of the Signalmen aboard the ship. Lt. Carlsen said a BIG one was ordered, so large that it nearly covered the aft 40MM mount. The Clarion River proudly flew the huge flag while firing with other ships around.

Ltjg Bob Pullen, Ltjg Dave King and Ltjg. Richard Carlsen improvise when the motor whale boat was not working. The three talked the Skipper into swimming about 1/3 of a mile to shore, infiltrate a village and take a boat. The mission was accomplished but Richard Carlsen admits it was a dangerous thing to do!

The Clarion River under full power. The photo on the right is a photo of the CNO visit aboard the USS Clarion River.

Plotting another mission L-R Exec. Officer Lt. Dowdy & Radarman Third Class Tony Barraza

Left is RMC Rhodes, Center is Lt Phil Anderson AKA "Scrappy" and Right are Ltjg's Skryja, Carlsen and King.

My name is Larry Blackman. I arrived on board in 1967. I was on the ship for a little over a month before I went to the 2nd Division. I was happy to find this web site because I have often wondered what has become of all the friends I had back then on that little ship. I have heard from Albright and Lindsey and would like to hear from more. If you would like to write to me my e-mail is larryblackman@yahoo.com

My name is Craig Isakson. Right from boot camp San Diego, I served aboard the 409 from July 1966 to Jan. 1968. During that time frame I was in the 1st Division and made BM3 which resulted in me leaving the ship in 1968. Finding this web page was a gift as I have been trying to find information about the Clarion River for sometime as most of my mementos are missing. Thanks for the memories. Over time I have told stories about the mighty ship and the hard working crew, in and out of port. Craig Isakson e-mail MIsakson@msn.com

rodq9@aol.com Rod Harris 6219 CR 2508 Quinlan, TX 75474

Hello, My name is Leo Kelley and I served on the Clarion River from June 1965 to December 1969. I am a present member of LSM/LSMR Association. LSMR409 has a reunion Sep 29,30 & 1 Oct. San Diego,Ca.. Hope to see everyone there. Looking forward to seeing or hearing from my old shipmates. Please note that Leo has re-located to California and his current address appears below:

lsmr409@aol.com Tel: (916-729-0611 Home

Leo H. Kelley Sr (518)232-7015 CELL

6533 Van Maren Lane

Citrus Heights, CA 95621

It is great to find this site. I am Don Barnes I was on the 409 from 65 -68 I was a deck hand turned engineman. I knew all the great sailors who fought hard on the ship and have been in contact with a lot of them. I hope to see more in the future.

tsheets@pahrump.com

The ships web site brings back so many memories. I served aboard the Clarion River from September 1965-October 1967.

I joined the ship in dry dock at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard where my wife and I resided in the Quonset huts.

The radio shack consisted of RMC Rhodes who left soon thereafter, RM2 John Cooper, myself, RM3 Marchant, and SA Paul, to be joined by Cory Patton and Kavalaris and others as time went along.

RM1 Ault in Clarion River Radio Shack

L-R RM2 Marchant, RM2 Cooper and ETSN Lawrence

Who can forget things such as the cracking seams on the forward bulkhead of the radio shack each time the 5"/30 was fired. The problem was solved by having the yards build an inner bulkhead with shocks.

I'll never forget drinking beer in the small boat hanging over the side since it was illegal to drink aboard ship or swimming in the South China Sea, Nor will heading to Subic Bay after unloading all magazines on the Viet Cong but, not sending a message to the Commodore and COMPHIBGRU telling them "Unless otherwise directed in route Subic for resupply and repairs" until 12-24 hours after leaving the line. That was ended when the PHIBGRU Commander ordered us not to leave the line until directed. Of course that became a mute point when they moved our rocket stockpile to Cam Rahn Bay.

It was a tight crew and we had some great times together. Who can forget the canned hamburgers and dehydrated food after having kicked the last of the fresh provisions over the side as they lay spoiling on the fan tail. The bread spread made of lard, sugar and food color. Oh yeah!

We worked very hard but the camaraderie was super, there was nothing as exhilarating as an all hands working party to load stores and ammunition.

I served under skippers Meinig and Rogers. The communications officers were Carlson and Skryja, two of the best.

What a thrill it was to find the ships emblem which I designed not only on this web site but several others as well. The design was actually a composition of two I had submitted.

For winning the design competition I won 50 bucks (which I donated to the rec fund), a 72 hours pass plus the dubious pleasure of painting it on the superstructure, only to have to remove and replace it with the Commodore's emblem upon joining up with him in Hawaii. If that wasn't enough I then had to replace it with COMPHIBGRUONE"s emblem upon arrival in Yokosuka.

Captain Meinig was so proud of the emblem that he could not wait to get the plaques made and distributed to the Commodore etc. Since we were not in a place to have them mass produced I had to paint the first ones by hand.

I'll be happy to exchange remembrances with anyone.

RMCS Ray Ault, USN Retired.

maltbyault@aol.com

John R Sheets tsheets@pahrump.com

My name is Kenneth B. Coleman. I served aboard the U.S.S. Clarion River (LSMR-409) from March 1967 to January 1969. I came aboard at Subic Bay, P.I. and left the ship at Yokosuka, Japan. The first port we stopped at was Hong Kong. What a great time we had at the ship's party. My shipmates included Robert C. Lindsay, Guy Paikai, and Julius O. Brooks. Do you have any information on these guys? I really appreciate this website and all the information you have on it. I can be reached at Kbc092346@aol.com.

Hello, I am Chuck Evrist, I came on board Clarion River January 10, 1968 in Cam-Rahn Bay and departed Sept 7, 1968 from Cam-Rahn Bay. I was a GMG3 and worked on MT41 and the 50cal's. I remember a lot of good times and a few bad ones like no pay in Kaohsiung because our pay records didn't show up but we still had fun. I retired May 1, 2005 from the Naval Reserve as a GMC. Would love to hear from some old shipmates thechief64_68@yahoo.com

GMC Chuck Evrist USNR (ret)
513 Douglas St
Alexandria, MN 56308
(320) 491-5426

Charles Dee Climer 708 North Cumberland Court Russellville,AR 72801 (479)968-8539 charlesdclimer@yahoo.com

Wow! It’s really nice reading all the warm kind e-mails from the 409 shipmates. It’s interesting how many felt her importance to their
careers. She certainly was a make-or-break opportunity for me. I came out of Viet Nam a fresh E-6 with no leadership or management experience.
They wanted to send me to a Boat Support Unit in Coronado where I knew I’d get lost in the crowd and have no chance of making E-7. I managed to get the orders changed. I wanted a ship where I’d be the senior BM and boy did I get lucky. Clarion River was what I needed. But learning the
ropes wasn’t all that smooth. There were some rough spots (I only hope they’ve been forgotten or I‘ve been forgiven). To this day I consider
the Clarion River to have been one of the most important tours of my career and I am deeply grateful to the crew for the loyalty and support
I received.

Who doesn’t remember pulling into Subic Bay for five days to get the air-flex clutches repaired and leaving forty days later? How about the
trips into Hong Kong, my favorite port? When the Secretary of the Navy came aboard in Da Nang and walked on our wet paint? The load-outs in Cam Rahn Bay with the warm beer? That typhoon we rode out North of Okinawa where we were going sideways instead of forward? When we lost a life raft and almost lost the life boat. There were a lot of sick sailors on the fantail that day. How about heading for the nearest rain cloud so we
could take a shower? I remember seeing the Captain in his shorts aft on the quarterdeck taking advantage of the rain. Ahh … the memories.

EN1 James McCoy and I have been stationed together and kept in touch all these years. He lives in Mount Shasta, CA. I had a very nice chat with
BMSN Mendoza a few months ago. He retired as a Lieutenant Commander. That’s great!

If anyone wants to chat, drop me a line. I’d love to swap sea stories….or is it fairy tales? No, fairy tales start with “Once upon a
time.”

Smooth sailing, Dave Young young.da@wavecable.com

Updated: October 16, 2008 Webmaster: Fred Pfeiffer RM3 E-Mail Me: our409@.att.net