Kenneth Loren Swinford

Kenneth was a corpsman on the 52-53 cruise
Born: January 10, 1931, Joliet, Illinois
Died: May 10, 2007: Mr. Swinford died at his home in Sandpoint, Idaho
Thanks to shipmate Tom McClain for providing us this information.

CLICK HERE or on the flag above to see his official obituary.

It is with great sadness that we inform shipmates that we lost one of our own this week end. Charles "Doc" Flanders died Saturday. On a personal note I must say that Doc was a friend to me even though I never met him face to face. Doc sent me email on a regular basis and was always very warm and friendly. He was supportive and thankful always for the work I put in doing this website. From the very first email I ever got from Doc, you would think we'd been life long pals. He just took it from the top on day one letting me know that I was a brother and a fellow shipmate. I thank God that I was able to communicate with Doc and I am deeply saddened that he has passed. My thoughts and prayers go out to his wife Paula and his family. I have started a guestbook again and would invite all shipmates to share their thoughts. CLICK HERE to sign the guestbook.

Dan MacNeil
CPO Webmaster 2004
The Website Guy

"Dear shipmates, Paula and I want to thank all of you for the wonderful cards and calls. It makes one feel better just from the warmness of the cards and calls. Paula & I are just kind of overwhelmed by the illnesses that we both have to fight each day. You all are special people just from the fact that you are from the family Mispillion We both ask for your continued thoughts and prayers and that you send some specila prayers to my brother, Dave Sibley. He too is going through some hard health times and needs your consideration. God bless the shipmates of the U.S.S. Mispillion and God bless the United States of America and her defenders. doc Flanders and Paula"

Capt. Henry Glass Munson
Born December 31, 1911
Deceased July 17, 1975
Service dates 8/6/52 through 7/6/53
Buried at Sea, Pacific Ocean west of Kauai
Hank graduated from Annapolis in June, 1932, 2nd in his class, brilliant in math. He had previously been an enlisted man and never forgot what it meant to be a seaman. His first command, the WWI era submarine S-38, came in January, 1942. In 6 patrols he sank 2 ships, made the first submarine bombardment of enemy territory, and rescued 58 survivors of HMS Electra from certain death after the Battle of Coral Sea. He commissioned USS Crevalle, S-291, in Feb 1943, in 2 patrols sank 7 ships. His ninth war patrol as a CO was aboard Rasher, S-269, where in a night surface radar attack in zero visibility he sank 5 ships – one a carrier - damaged three others. Subsequently was in command of Sub Squadron 3 1946-47, USS Mispillion ‘52-‘53, & Destroyer Squadron 7. Planned route of USS Triton’s submerged circumnavigation in 1960 as Hydrographer of the Navy, and retired 1961 after 2 years as a test pilot for new nuclear submarines under Bureau Inspection & Survey. Moved to Princeton, NJ to teach physics and sail small boats. Survived by Chris Munson and grandchildren Noel and Marianna.

Navy Cross with 2 Gold Stars
Presidential Unit Citation Commendation Ribbon with two stars & Combat "V"
Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon and the Navy Commendation Ribbon
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two operation stars
American Defense Service Medal with star
National Defense Service Medal
United Nations Service Medal.
Korean Service Medal

To see The complete bio with photos and all please CLICK HERE
To read "Hanks Son Recalls" please CLICK HERE

Thanks to Chris Munson for sending us the information above.

Ebbie Lisenbe

Ebbie entered service here in Texas in August,1958. He was a RD/1 and left the Navy in Feb., 1966. He worked at Ft. Hood as the Chief of the Communications Center until his death. His wife's phone number is (254) 982-4455. Her mailing address is 3548 Wilson Valley Rd., Little River, TX 76554 (a suburb of Temple). He went to Academy High School in Academy, TX the same time as my late brother. Jerry Flanders, SK/3. I hope that this is sufficient, but if not, you have the means to contact her. She lives with her daughter since the death of Ebbie.
Thanks to Charles Flanders for the info above.

Milton R. (Mick) Hoffman, FT3, 54-57
born:17 Sept 1935
died: 20 Aug 2000

Mick was inducted into the US Navy in December of 1953. Following boot camp in San Diego, CA he served about one year in Washington, DC. He then was assigned to the USS Mispillion as a Fire Control Technician. He was discharged from active duty in November of 1957. He served 18 years in the Naval Reserve in St. Joseph, MO and was discharged as and E-7, Chief Petty Officer.
Following discharge from active duty he returned to Wathena, KS, married his high school sweetheart and raised a family of two boys and one girl. He was employed by the Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. for 30 years, retiring in 1987. In addition, he and his wife operated the Hoffman Country Store for several years, selling produce grown on their farm. He was a trustee of the Wathena First Baptist Church, member of the American Legion Post 161 and Southwestern Bell Pioneer Club. He was active in a prison ministry. He died from complications of lung cancer.
This information was recieved from his brother in law, C W Skinner

Attached are two photos. One was taken in Boot Camp and the other was taken the day he made Chief. Thanks, Steve
P.S. Sounds like Mick lived a very full life. Sounded like a real nice guy.

Chief Mendenhall
Gene M. Mendenhall
Oct. 9, 1936-April 14, 2005
Gene M. Mendenhall, 68, of Chula Vista died Thursday. He was born in Coffeyville, Kan., and was retired from the Navy. He was a veteran of the Vietnam War and a member of the VFW.
Survivors include his wife, Celia Mendenhall; daughters, June Vespo of Murrieta and Julie Hadano of Oita-ken, Japan; stepdaughter, Nancy Reyes of San Bruno; stepsons, Art Mangubat of Yucaipa and Alan Mangubat of Chula Vista; sisters, Jollene Ellison of Jacksonville, Fla.; and 12 grandchildren.
Visitation: 5 to 9 p.m. tomorrow and 4 to 9 p.m. Friday, Glen Abbey Mortuary, 3838 Bonita Road, Bonita.
Services: 10 a.m. Saturday at the mortuary chapel.
Inurnment: Glen Abbey Memorial Park.
Published in the San Diego Union-Tribune on 4/20/2005.

Captain John S. Oller Jr. 66-67
24 December 1919 - 8 April 2005
Services were held 15 April 2005
Graveside services will be 13 June, 2005 at Arlington National Cemetery

CLICK HERE to see the obituary

Roy E. Rudder Jr. BT3, 53-54
Roy passed away from cancer in 1987.
We received this information from his sister
Bernice Rudder-Boling alex3438@bellsouth.net
Bernice would like to hear from those who served with him.

Russell G. Yamashiro, HT3, 72-73, R div.

Obituary is from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. (May 24, 2002)
Russell G. Yamashiro, 51, of Kapaa, Kauai, a state park caretaker, died Tuesday, May 21, 2002. He was born in Lihue. He is survived by wife Patricia M.; sons Russell K. and Kyle K.; mother Sueko Yoshishige; father Take; brothers Clayton Yamashiro, Jon Yoshisige and Russell Iida; and sisters Renee' Yamashiro and Stephanie Nago. Services: Saturday May 25, 2002 at Kapaa Missionary Church. Call after 9 a.m. Interment to follow at Kauai Veterans Cemetery, Kauai, Hawaii. Casual attire.
I spoke with his wife Patricia the other day. Russell died after a year long battle with colon cancer. She would like to hear from those of you who were his friends. I have her address and phone number. I know it is kind of late, but please remember the Yamashiro family in your prayers.

Bill Wellman 50-53 S 1/c
Box 1371
Graham, TX 76450
940-549-5368

Bill passed away Passed away Dec. 8, 2004

Russ Stagner EM2, 52-54
from St. Charles, Missouri
Died in 1994
This information was received this info from Bill Sproat

Adolph Haag
3712 N. Henke Rd.
Milton, WI. 53563

Adolph was SK and was on the 105 53- ?. Adolph and my picture (Paul Hopper) together is in the 53 cruise book under Supply Div. He had cancer in the throat area and neck, ear area.

Passed away Nov. 19, 2004.

James Hunter
Served from 1951-1955, died in 1973. His son Jon notified us.

William A. Olsen Jr.
He served in O division on Mispillion from 1951-1955 and was a PN 1. He passed away in September of 1998. We received this from his brother, Wendell.

Joseph Scardino
Date of birth: March 13, 1930
Date of death: November 12, 1952
Joe was lost at sea during the 1952 cruise. Photo is from 52-53 cruise book.

LCDR John Phares
Served on her in 1961 & died in 2000.

Arnold J. "Arnie" Gallenbeck Jr. HT 3, 72-73
Born August 14-1950 Died June 23,2004
Died when a tornado struck his rural Wisconsin home.

Hi, I am Judy Hotmar the cousin of---
Arnie Gallenbeck 71 DC
N472 Pleasant Drive
Markesan, Wi. 53946
920-398-1630
gallenbe@vbe.com

I don't know if you already know of this but he was killed in a tornado on Wed. night. I have enclosed a article for you to read. They lost everything in site, his wife was air lifted to a hospital in Madison, Wi. in very serious condition. Many things wrong with her and she is kept very sedated and knows nothing of what happened. The funeral for Arnie is Tuesday, July 6. He was so loved by many and will greatly missed. I hope in some way this can be passed on to the fellows he was in the Navy with.
Thank you for your time,
Judy Hotmar
nvgal@frontiernet.net

The National Weather Service says a tornado that killed Arnold Gallenbeck Wednesday night was an F-three. That rating is based on the Fujita scale which is used to determine the strength of a tornado based on wind strength. Officials say winds measured between 158 to 206 miles an hour. As of late this afternoon, Arnold's wife Gretchen is in serious condition at Madison's UW hospital. She was severely injured in the tornado.

Today more than one hundred volunteers helped clean up the rubble left in place where their home once stood. Volunteers have poured out today, combing the fields around the house in Markesan, looking for any remnants they can find. "He's going to be missed very much," says his dad Arnold Gallenbeck Senior. For the senior Gallenbeck, the debris is saturated with memories of his son. "Found a lot of stuff out there. it's hard to take," he says. And as things are pulled from the rubble, crews try to decide what Gretchen Gallenbeck would like to keep.
"It's unbelievable how it can scatter over the countryside for miles. I live seven miles from here and there are ceiling tiles from this house in my door yard," says Duane Vis who came out to help. Also among the helpers, Arnold's co-workers from the Horicon John Deere plant. "Arnie meant a lot to all of us, and it's kind of a small thing we can do to help the family and remembering Arnie as a great guy," says co-worker Steve Buchholz. After all of the personal belongings are pulled from the rubble, volunteers are taking the wood and anything else that will burn from the house and disposing of it. They're taking all of the metal and anything that won't burn and separating it into a pile for recycling, and later they say they'll try to bury pieces of the concrete foundation here on the property.

I just wanted to let the men that served with Arnie know that his wife, Gretchen, is out of the hospital and doing much better. She is suffering from several fractures in her spine, but is in rehab and starting to rebuild her life. Gretchen attended our Boy Scout Court of Honor on Monday Sept. 27. It was a chance for the boys to tell her how much Arnie ment to the Troop. Arnie was one of our founders and our Committee chairman. "Mr Resourse", as the boys called him, could get anything the boys needed and was always there when I needed to blow off some steam about some kid, or some parent.
The Troop is building a memorial case in our scout room that will include Arnie's scout shirt, his coffee cup, survival kit, and scout ID card. Included in the display will also be pictures of Arnie at camp outs as well as a hat from the Mispillion that was given to me at his funeral by one of you guys.
Thank you very much for your time and prayers for his family, including the scouting family that he left behind. He was a great friend!
John Rockefeller
Scoutmaster Troop 747
Alto / Waupun
PS: A living testiment to how much he ment to this community of boys is that just 2 years ago we started this troop with 6 boys. Today we have a membership of 20.

LTJG Bill Ward
Served on her in 1961, died October of 2003. His son notified us.

Arnold J. "Arnie" Gallenbeck Jr. HT 3, 72-73
Born August 14-1950 Died June 23,2004
Died when a tornado struck his rural Wisconsin home.

Tom Pihlgren
QM3 Passed away word from his sister this past June. Tom passed away peacefully on Sunday evening. 6-09-02
We will miss him so much. He is in a better place probably catching up with old friends and family. He died from a battle with cancer. Forgot to mention I know he was on in 67-69 at least. (info submitted by Moses)

Floyd Tillery (1972)
Chief Tillery passed away Sept. 30, 2003.
Chief John Gobbo notified us of this.

William "Bill" Hughes
YN3, 63-66. Bill died Feb 23, 1967 from cancer. (info submitted by Ron Wheeler)

Paul L. Teague
SN 2nd Division, 1959-1962. The following info submitted by Dr. Charles M. Flanders: Paul and I were in the hospital at Sasebo together and weren't able to get well quick enough to make ship's movement and consequently would up TDY all over the Pacific trying to catch up with the Mighty Miss. Wouldn't have been so bad, except that we were without pay records and didn't have a dime. we also caught all of the crud duty from everyplace they sent us. We wound up on the Mt. Katmai (AE-16) and rendezvoused with the Mispillion and had to be bosun chaired over. Needless to say our shipmates made sure we were Baptized. Paul and my brother Jerry, were in boot camp together and served the same time on the ship.

HMC Oscar Biebenger
He served on Mispillion from 59-63. Died March 26,2001. Oscar received the Silver Star while attached as a corpsman with the Marines at the Chosin Reservoir in Korea.

Oscar Biebinger served in the Fleet Marine Force during the Korean War as a Navy Hospital Corpsman. Whenever a Marine was wounded, Oscar would crawl out over bitterly frozen ground to tend to the wounded. While he did this, he was exposed to enemy fire. They couldn't dig foxholes as the ground was so frozen. The tanks had to have fires built under the engine to get them started. Oscar was wounded several times while tending to the wounded He received the Silver Star for his actions. His bravery under fire and the fact that he would take a bullet for his fellow Marines reflects the honor and courage of the Medical Corpsmen that serve with Marines. We carry a 45 caliber sidearm to be used only in defense of the wounded as per the Geneva Conventions. I was a striker (someone learning the rate) under Oscar aboard the Mighty Mispillion. After I left the Mispillion, Iwent to Corps School at San Diego. Later, I went to FMF training at Camp Pendleton and was assigned to the 1st Marines 5th Medical Battalion in Vietnam. Oscar was more than a shipmate, he was mentor and someone who had courage beyond belief. I am proud to have served with him and to have learned so much medicine from him. your shipmate, doc

Thanks to "doc" Charles Flanders for the info above and for the photo.

William C. Bice
51-55 S 1/c S. Division
         Died in 1999 from cancer.
Submitted by Paul T. Hopper.

Jim Saizon and Billy Whittle
are deceased. they were from La. and they were aboard 50-53

Dannie Cuddie
BT 2, 72 cruise
Dan died from cancer in 1999.

Dan could you add a couple of names to the deceased page? Both are from the early 50s. Joseph Monceret(from New Roads, La. He became a dentist) and Roy Rudder. Thanks! Henry Stephens

TAPS
On June 27, 1862 during the early days of the Civil War, soldiers of the 83d Pennsylvania Volunteers began to fall to left and right during the battle at Gaines' Mill, Virginia. At a critical moment of the battle when the flag was in peril, Brigadier General Daniel Adams Butterfield rushed forward to secure the flag and encourage the embattled troops to renewed valor. For his own valor, General Butterfield was awarded the Medal of Honor.
During the Peninsula Campaign of that same year, General Butterfield with assistance from his bugler Oliver Norton, wrote a song that became known as taps. Originally used to signal the close of day and time for the troops to put out the lights for the night, "Taps" became a soldier's salute to his fallen comrades. Today it is not only played during ceremonies to lower the flag at days end, but is used in military funerals as the final salute of the living to those who have served and passed on "into the night".

National Ensign at Funerals
A deceased member or veteran of the uniformed services, or a public official entitled to a military or naval funeral, is entitled to have his or her casket covered by the national ensign. Originally, the Navy used the union jack for this purpose, but in response to a campaign by Captain William F. Halsey, father of the famous World War II admiral, the use of the ensign was adopted in the early 20th century. A 5 x 9.5 foot ensign is draped over the casket with the blue union over the deceased's left shoulder, the side of the heart. At one time, an officer's cocked hat or uniform cap and sword were placed on top of the flag, but the modern custom is that nothing is ever placed on the American flag. This includes floral tributes of any kind. Before the casket is lowered into the grave, the flag is removed, ceremonially folded, and presented to the next of kin.
In addition, deceased service members of the rank of master chief petty officer of the Navy and above are entitled to a color party carrying the national and Navy flags in the funeral procession.