Carry On
USNA Class of 1963

The most beautiful phrase in the English language?  Perhaps that is a temporal question:  At one time in your life it was "I love you" - another time, "All You Can Eat."  (For some of us, those two may have occurred in the same era.)

Today it may be something more prosaic like "The mortgage is paid."  But for a thousand young men in the summer of 1959, there was no question   -   absolutely nothing sounded so good as ....
"Carry on, Mister!"


Carry On - Contents [send contributions to WebMaster@USNA63.org]
The Laws of the Navy
Cannonballs
Mr. B
Men of Annapolis
Class Facts
Nostalgia Pier
Color Company Competition
For Bubbleheads Only



The Laws of the Navy - you didn't have a Plebe Year if these don't sing for you -



Cannonballs
Recipe provided by Frank Edrington


Among other conversations at the 35th Reunion were a couple involving Plebe Year and the ingestion of Cannon Balls for dessert.  A number of the guys recalled this gustatory delicacy with fondness so I told them I have a recipe which, I think, came from Shipmate some years ago.   So, here is the recipe for everyone.

U.S. Naval Academy CannonBalls (The Edible Kind) Roll out a one (1) ounce piece of pie dough into a circle approximately six
(6) inches in diameter.  Place a cored, peeled apple in the center of the
pie dough.  Fill the center of the apple with cinnamon-sugar mix.  Fold the
pie dough around the apple and place the conglomeration onto a greased
(non-stick) cookie sheet pan.  Bake the apples at 400 degrees Fahrenheit
for approximately twenty-five (25) minutes or until the apples are soft.  Be
careful you don't burn the pie crust.

Hard Sauce:  Place the granular sugar and butter into a mixing bowl and
beat them until they are thoroughly mixed.  Add either Vanilla or Rum
flavoring (to Taste, as the Flavor Gods demand) to the sugar-butter mix and
stir it in.  I recommend the Rum Flavor - no cracks from guys with long
memories of Cruises and O'Clubs!

When the apples are baked, place a good, healthy dollop of Hard Sauce on
top of the apple-in-crust. Then, eat the whole thing remembering fondly
those few times you were allowed to eat Cannon Balls while in the blissful
state of "Carry-On".



Easy Hard Sauce:  While it's quite possible to make Hard Sauce with granulated sugar as specified, it's a lot quicker and easier to use confectioners (powdered) sugar.   It's more a culinary than a gustatory matter, but it's so.

Hard sauce is simply flavored thick texture cake frosting.  Confirm with the ladies that 'from scratch' icing is made a lot easier with confectioners than granulated sugar.  It makes smoother stuff regardless of beating and takes a lot less beating effort to dissolve in the butter.

-  Bill Kennedy


Certificate of authenticity:   The preceeding recipe has been served aboard USS John Marshall (SSBN-611) on the 38th submerged day of the last patrol before overhaul inside the Arctic Circle at 105 feet and five knots (standard patrol depth and speed for a prompt stop, hover, and launch).



Mr. B
    One of the legends of our time at Annapolis was Mr. B - that mysterious voice that resounded over the mess hall PA system with an entirely irreverent and unauthorized review of the morning's menu.  Mr. B had a long and storied career - as it turns out, he was a member of your Class of '63, and never captured by the administration - although there were some close calls.  It's a fascinating story, and even involves Uncle Charlie as a co- conspirator.  Read it all here, complete with some audio sound effects.
         &nbs p; Introduction to Mr. B
         &nbs p; Mr. B Audio Effects
        Illustrat ed History of Mr. B

"Men of Annapolis"

    Bud Alexander, Class of '56, wrote this article for Shipmate on his research involving the "Men of Annapolis" TV series televised back in 1957 - 58.   Bud compiled quite a bit of information about the evolution of the series, the stories involved, and the reaction of the alumni from the classes of '62 - '68.  He requested members of the classes of '62 - '68 to e-mail any recollections of the series and any comments they may have on the impact the series might have had on influencing them to attend the Naval Academy.  Bud was  impressed with the response.
    Comments included:  "Men of Annapolis planted the seed...",  "...first introduction to the fact that such a school existed", "...absolutely and unequivocally the reason I went to USNA".  Many similar comments were submitted.  A retired flag officer e-mailed:  "The 'Men of Annapolis' had a profound effect on me....I came home from the fields one evening, saw this wonderful place somewhere far away on the East Coast where the guys wore white uniforms and carried swords, and I said, 'that's for me!' "
    The distribution of the first 91 responses:  '62 - 3, '63 - 5, '64 - 25, '65 - 4, '66 -10, '67 - 43, '68 - 0, '69 - 1.   Almost universally, the responses credit "Men of Annapolis" with being a positive influence on the alumni's knowledge of and interest in attending USNA.  The project resulted in an article for the November "Shipmate".    Contact Bud at Budalxandr@aol.com.



Class Facts

1,206 entered the Class of 1963 on 7 July 1959

876 graduated, 319 did not

Our Class of 1963 spawned 19 Flag Officers plus five civilian equivalents:
Four Vice Admirals:  Dave Robinson, Bill Earner, George Emery, Dave Frost.

Fifteen Rear Admirals:   Ken Carlsen, Denny Conley, Karl Kaup, Tom Robertson, Dave Oliver, Rich Wilson, Larry Marsh, Paul Tobin, Rick Rohrbach, Jack Donegan, Tom Hall, Denny Vaughan, Wes Jordan, Joe Strasser, Lee Tillotson.

Five appointed positions within Executive branch agencies:
    Steve Duncan was an Assistant SecDef for Reserve Affairs under the Reagan and Bush administrations (considered four-star equivalent, as a senior position  in DOD).
    Roger Mehle was an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under Don Regan (Secretary of Treasury) during the Reagan Presidency.
    Mario Fiori, Assistant Secretary of the Army
    Tom Hall, Assistant Secretary of Defense
    Dave Oliver, Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense
    (Tom Hall and Dave Oliver are also Navy Flag Officers)



Here are the Flag numbers on our Class as crunched by Dick Augur:

USNA '63 CLASS STATISTICS

Started         1,206     100%
Graduated      876        74%
Admirals           19          2%
 

Distribution of our 19 Class Admirals
USNA Co. Admirals
%
USNA Co. Admirals
%
1
0
0
 
13
2
11%
2
1
5%
 
14
0
0
3
2
11%
 
15
1
5%
4
0
0
 
16
0
0
5
0
0
 
17
0
0
6
0
0
 
18
1
5%
7
0
0
 
19
0
0
8
3
16%
 
20
2
11%
9
1
5%
 
21
0
0
10
0
0
 
22
1
5%
11
0
0
 
23
2
11%
12
0
0
 
24
3
16%

 
Summary of Flag Sources - USNA '63
USNA Company
Flags
%
Cumulative
8
3
16%
16%
24
3
16%
32%
3
2
11%
42%
13
2
11%
53%
20
2
11%
63%
23
2
11%
74%
2
1
5%
79%
9
1
5%
84%
15
1
5%
89%
18
1
5%
95%
22
1
5%
100%

46% OR 11 OF THE 24 COMPANIES HAD FLAG OFFICERS

54% OR 13 OF THE 24 COMPANIES DID NOT PRODUCE A FLAG OFFICER

2 COMPANIES HAD 3 FLAG OFFICERS EACH
 - 6 out of 19 ADMIRALS CAME OUT OF 2 COMPANIES
 - 32% OF THE ADMIRALS CAME OUT OF 8% OF THE COMPANIES

4 COMPANIES HAD 2 FLAG OFFICERS EACH
 - 14 out of 19 ADMIRALS CAME OUT OF 6 COMPANIES
 - 74% OF THE ADMIRALS CAME OUT OF 25% OF THE COMPANIES

5 COMPANIES PRODUCED ONE FLAG OFFICER EACH

Question:
   What was the factor that made the 8,24,3,13,20 & 23 companies produce all those flag officers?

-  Dick Augur


Carl Doughtie was the first United States Naval officer, the first USNA graduated aviator, and the first member of our class to die in the Vietnam War:  10 June 1965.




Our oldest classmate was born on 3 March 1937.
Our youngest classmate was born on 26 June 1942.

The youngest child:  Millie and Jeff Niss's daughter, Kyla Louise Niss, born November 13, 1994.
Based upon circumstantial evidence, it is estimated that the oldest child was born during our second class year.

In terms of average class rank, the top company was 7th, the anchor was 23rd.
    (Note:  23rd produced 2 Admirals).



Our Supe, Uncle Charlie, did wartime patrols as CO of an SS.   He is mentioned in Gene Fluckey's book "Thunder Below."  In his Lucky Bag portrait [page 13, reproduced at left] there appears to be enough metal on the Navy Cross ribbon to suggest three awards.  Maybe the Army DSC was awarded by the Army for something he did for them and maybe a Navy Cross too.  Anyone know for sure?

On November 28, 2013 Jim ring noticed the above and volunteered this information:

I saw on our Web site that there was a question about the Army DSC that Uncle Charlie had in addition to the Navy Cross for his wartime submarine activity. I have recently been reading a lot of books about submarine activities in WWII and apparently in the early part of the war, the skippers of the submarines operating out of Australia were being awarded DSC's by Mc Arthur for their patrols. In some cases they were also being awarded Navy Crosses for the same patrol. Nimitz put an end to that.


Nostalgia Pier
By the time we graduated:
    *  Marilyn Monroe was already dead (at age 36)

Plebe [calendar] Year:
    *  16 February 1959:  Fidel Castro becomes premier of Cuba
    *  9 April 1959:  NASA selects the first 7 US Astronauts
    *  9 June 1959:   1st ballistic missile sub launched [USS George Washington (SSBN- 598)]
    *  7 July 1959:  The best damn class enters the best damn school in the world
    *  19 September 1959:  Krushchev loses temper when denied trip to Disneyland
    *  2 October 1959:  "The Twilight Zone" first appears on TV
    *  2 November 1959:  Van Doren admits receiving answers to TV's $64,000 Question show
 

Secondclass Year:
    *  13 August 1961: Construction of Berlin Wall begins
    *  23 August 1961: East Germany curbs travel (East to West Berlin)
     *  5 October 1961: JFK advises Americans to build fallout shelters
     *  11 November 1961:  First official American military arrives in VietNam:  2 Army Helicopter cos.

Firstclass Year:
    *  5 August 1962: Marilyn Monroe dies three days before scheduled re-marriage to Joe Dimaggio
    *  5 June 1963:  The best damn class graduates from the best damn school in the world
    *  24 June 1963:   1st demo of home video recorder (BBC studios)
    *  Entire year of 1963:  That Was The Year That Was ...  (events from throughout 1963)



Can you remember...

 
Price Comparisons
 
1963
Today
Class Ring (no stone)
$75
$350
Class Crest
$25
$225
 half- gallon milk
$0.51 
$2.28 


For Bubbleheads Only
Suggestions for the ex-submariner that misses "the good old days on the boat":



Carry On!
This page updated:
  July 18, 2008
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