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USS ENDURANCE (MSO 435)
"Citrus
Juliette"
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This web site is a work in progress. The
WebMaster was on board in the Spring of 1960 and has tried very hard to get
names of personnel and places accurate. In his age befuddled mind, it
is possible that some time reference, person's name or location has been misslabeled.
Please click on the eMail button at the bottom of this paragraph and forward
ANY corrections or changes that you might wish to recommend. I thank
you in advance. It is okay to just drop a note "HELLO" if
you wish. I strongly encourage ANYONE who was on board Endurance to
say "HELLO".
Send comments &
recommendations here.
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| USS Endurance (MSO 435) WesPac Tour, 1960 |
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Other ships in the division
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Bruce Riley's pictures from early 1960 More photos added Sep't. 2007 |
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BM2 Michael Wark's Viet Nam Memories Endurance receives and returns enemy fire. |
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Do you remember this man. Tony Segarra thinks he
is an ET. Please eMail his name to me.
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I received
an eMail from Roger Wilson:
"Clark Craig ET my best friend on the Endurance. Thank you Roger Wilson" |
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USS Endurance (MSO 435) Photo Gallery
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Courtesy of Tony Segarra
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| Vietnam Navy buddies reunite in the
Village after 40 years. Written by Lu Stitt Thursday, 24 June 2010 08:00 When four U.S. Navy Vietnam war veterans all came together in the Village of Oak Creek recently after nearly 40 years, those years quickly melted away. They were in their early 20s again and resembled kids in a toy store as they talked, laughed and teased each other. ![]() Rocky Cline, Dennis Rhoades, Tony Segarra and John LaFalce reminisced about the time they spent four years together aboard the USS Endurance, an Aggressive class minesweeper, from 1967 through 1970. "I tried Google and all the other search engines to find these guys, then I keyed in the name of the ship and there they were," Rhoades said. "And we've been looking for him," LaFalce said and pointed at Village of Oak Creek resident Rhoades. "When we finally found each other we knew we had to get together, soon." LaFalce lives in Latham, N.Y.; Cline lives in Highland, Calif., and Segarra lives in Surprise. "We lived together in close quarters for four years. We were always together, the four of us. We're like brothers," LaFalce said and waved his arm to indicate the other three. "We have a strong bond. When I got here and saw Tony, it was like no time had passed. He looks the same." There were 65 men on the Endurance and the four had never met before, but quickly gravitated toward each other. Rhoades and LaFalce were boatswain's mates. Cline was a seaman and Segarra was in supply. However, the other three said Segarra actually did many jobs. He carried ammo, stood watch, and performed a helmsman job among other duties. "Tony was the JOT [Jack of all trades] - he did everything," LaFalce said. The main job of the Endurance crew was to seek out Chinese junks, go aboard and look for contraband. If found, they would take the crew prisoners and confiscate whatever was on board. "We had a Vietnamese liaison on the boat so he could talk to the guys on the junks," Cline said. Since the Endurance was a minesweeper, Segarra said they often performed duty looking for submersed mines. The four men sat in Rhoades' living room wearing matching Navy blue polo shirts with an insignia of the ship and its name embroidered in gold thread on the left chest. They all brought their personal albums to share photographs and memories. When one mentioned an incident, the others piped in with their view. "The photos brought us all back, including the cruise book everyone on the ship received," Cline said. "There were some tough times, even though we remember the good stuff." A British Porpoise class submarine, the HMS Rorqual, accidently rammed the ship in the Philippines June 13, 1969, and left a big hole in the side of the Endurance. There was also a small fire in the engine once, Cline said. "On leave we remember going, but not coming back," he said, which caused a burst of laughter around the room. Cline pulled out one photo that showed the USS New Jersey in the distance with a fireball bursting from the side. "It was five miles away. When it fired, it shook our boat," Cline said. Other pictures showed the four during work and playtime. The only difference between then and now was a little age and, for some, a little less hair. During their two tours in Vietnam, Rhoades, Cline, LaFalce and Segarra supported a 6-year-old Filipino orphan girl. "We provided her with a Christmas and rebuilt the house she was living in," LaFalce said. "I wish we could find her now. We don't know whatever happened to her." The men brought their wives with them, and Lyn LaFalce said she was the fifth onboard the Endurance the whole four years. John LaFalce carried her photo. They started dating in high school. In conclusion, LaFalce said, "We cruised a lot of miles together then. Now we have a whole new life to share." The other three nodded. |
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Courtesy of John LaFalce, Latham, NY. through Tony Segarra
Photo courtesy of Kerry Wymetalek
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Sunday afternoon picnic on the fantail. This was half way across the Pacific, Spring of 1960. The Captain had requested permission to pull ahead of the formation. We steamed at one knot faster than the Division and had the picnic while we opened the distance from them. After the picnic the skipper stopped all engines, placed the gunner on the 04 level with an M1 rifle and declared "Swim Call". One of those days that stick in your memory.
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Picnic on the fantail.
Calm day in mid-Pacific. Barbecue grill made from a 55 gallon drum just
forward of the Mag Tail fairlead chock.
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Picnic on a Sunday
afternoon in mid-Pacific. Lt. J. G. Schumacher and the GM2 are
sitting on the Port Sweep Locker hatch. The Captain, LCdr. Fleeger,
and the XO are leaning against the Port rail.
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This picture was taken when Ron Dailey was on the ship (left Ron Dailey) (right Sanderval). It does not show much of the Endurance but in the background you can see the Implicit 455 and directly behind it is the Fortify 446.
Ron Dailey EX-BM2
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Getting mail somewhere in the South China Sea
Courtesy of Tony Segarra
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Courtesy of Tony Segarra
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Courtesy of Steve Stratford
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Photo; about June, 1966; Courtesy of Bill Matthey
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All of the above stories and pictorials are subject to change as former crew members and other interested parties contact the WebMaster. To send me additions, recommendations for changes and photos, my eMail is:
eMail
Here
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Thank you for stopping by.
Please visit my other
web site USS Leader (MSO 490).
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Wooden
Ships and Iron Men Wooden
Ships and Iron Men |
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Click on the photo or the caption to go to the story of the sea battle ,
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USS Pirate (AM-275) and USS Pledge
(AM-277), Loss of; 12 October 1950
While the AMs were not wooden hulled vessels, their loss, along with the loss ROK YMS-516 and Japanese minesweeper No. 14 in Wonsan Harbor, prompted the U. S. Navy to construct the post-Korean War mine force of wooden hulled MSOs and MSCs.. |