An Email from John Daniels (1958-62):

"The Hilton Hotel we stayed in had very nice room accommodations and the tours we took were very nice. I would have liked to have seen more of the Naval Base but, I understand restrictions. The lunch cruise on the Spirit of Norfolk was also very nice. The bus tour and shopping trip to Colonial Williamsburg and the side trip to the Presidents Park were well worth it. As for myself, the highlight of any reunion is being able to visit with "old shipmates". This year I got to see a couple of shipmates that I haven't seen since 1962. Robert "Bear" Smith, Robert Wuopio, Ray O'Riorden, Fredrick Marks and Gary Morgan. Of course I also had the opportunity to revisit with Ron Fritz, Ron Howard, Ed Teagle and Walter Woods. Woody, myself and our wives went to Colonial Williamsburg for a couple of days after the reunion. We got to see all of Williamsburg and had a chance to visit with each other. All in all it was a great time. I personally can't wait for the 2006 reunion in Jacksonville. If we could get Shipmates, Anthony Carangelo, Larry Reynolds, Joe Avila, George Resketo, Fred Spires, James Rimmey and Dennis Gorecki (and their respective Ladies) to attend it would be probably close to perfect."

An Email from Ed Teagle:

"The 2005 reunion was great! It seems like each year there are more shipmates and their families that attend. This is really a great bunch of folks that are in the FTB Reunion Association.

The best thing was to have Norma Pace, Charlie Paces wife, attend this years reunion. I hope that she continues to attend the reunions.

It was good to see the growth in Plank owners also. We had Cal Snyder, RM3 1945-46, sitting at our table at Saturday's banquet. This was his first reunion, and he is looking forward to our holding one in Philadelphia. PA.

The tours were very good. We had some super guides for the navy base and the other tours on Friday and Saturday. I was surprised to find out that the USS Wisconsin was not open for tours inside the ship, but once we found out that she can still be called back to service I understood. Kind of sad to see the battleships go away. They were always so magnificent in the way they looked.

Meeting and talking with all the guys was terrific. We are very fortunate to be able to attract new members each year.

The week went by very swiftly, as they always do, but next year we will be back together in Jacksonville!"

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