Thanks for sharing!

(Pt. Lookout, Pt. Winslow, Pt. Estero, all in the early '90s)

USCGC POINT ROBERTS WPB82332

That picture of the 82' in Cat Lo brings back some memories. I was in CG RON 3 aboard the Halfmoon (311') and we made a brief stop in Cat Lo in early June '67. The 82's would come along side at times for refueling as well as the Navy swift boats. We kept a spare Swift boat crew onboard so they could change crews and the off going crew could get a hot shower and a couple of decent meals before changing out again. One of of my shipmates in the engineroom was EN1 Morris I Beeson. He made Chief and went back to Nam as well as a GM. They were assigned to an 82' up in Quang Tri and were on a boarding in the Boston Whaler when they got caught in a three way ambush. ENC Morris I. Beeson is on the wall in DC with six other Coasties. The GM made it as far as I know, but was pretty badly wounded. We did volunteer to go out with the Swift boat crews. That turned out to be a change of scenery I could have done without, when I went out with them. B2 engineroom looked pretty good when I got back. We were operating in area 9 up near An Thoi (Song Ong Doc Province). There was a Special Forces A team about 2.5 to 3 miles up the Song Ong River. Those guys were getting busted almost every night. We gave then some help with our 5" 38 mount. Our DC's had built some grills out of old 55 gal Drums and we manage to get charcoal from somewhere. We lowered the two MLBs and brought those guys out to the ship and grilled steaks on the fantail one Sunday afternoon. We also loaded them up with goodies from the ship's store to take with them. Those 12 to 18 hr. days aren't missed in the heat of the engineroom. There were a couple of occasions where we went 72 hrs. and 96 hrs. straight without seeing our rack due to a break down and we were under the gun to get the main engine back online within a specific timeframe. I don't think I ever got caught up on sleep until I after I left the service in May '69. Charlie S.

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ENC Morris I. Beeson

Interesting story about the Chief, I didn't know that, I knew he got killed and thats about all I knew.

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Originally posted by chief74Ret:

quote:

ENC Morris I. Beeson

Interesting story about the Chief, I didn't know that, I knew he got killed and thats about all I knew.

Yeah, this was in March '69. I didn't get the details until much later, from a guy who was writing a book about the 7 Coasties on the wall. He was a great leading PO in the engineroom and was always laid back. He was from Pitkin La. and I guess it was the good ole boy in him. We were home ported in NY and most of the crew was from the region. As near as I can remember, there were only three of us from the South in B2. There was an EN3 from my hometown of Richmond VA, who I had met in Basic and we kept running into each other afterwards. He reported aboard the Halfmoon in Dec. '66 and I came aboard in March '67. We were released the same day in May '69 and traveled back home together. We are still in touch with each other on a regular basis. Anyway, Beeson was a great guy to have served with. We were told about it in April '69 as I remember, but no details. We did what he would have wanted us to do, and went to the club and proceded to get trashed. I do remember one thing, although I don't remeber the source. He didn't like wearing a helmet or flack jacket, although I don't even know if they had one big enough to fit him. He was a big man well over 6' tall and about 230 to 250 Lbs. He was standing and was raked down his side from his head to his waist. The GM , I believe his name was Rossi, took it in his midsection, but survived. They had left the ship in Bermuda after we had completed an Echo patrol in July '68. They were ultimately assigned to the same 82'. Oh yeah, I was going through some old pics, and found a picture of the Point Kennedy when she was along side for fuel. Charlie S.

Thanks for the info on Chief Beeson.

Never got to meet him,he was up in DIV 12,I was in DIV 13 out of CAT LO,south of his area of ops about the same time he died in March 1969.