Frederick Eugene Trani, Jr., Lieutenant, USN
CITATION: Award of the Silver Star. For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in armed conflict against Communist insurgent forces on the hostile island of Cu Lao Dung, Ba Xuyen Province, Republic of Vietnam, on 26 July 1967. While leading a small combat patrol, Lieutenant TRANI, serving with SEAL Team Detachment ALFA, encountered and subsequently was surrounded by a numerically superior enemy force. Unable to maneuver out of the enemy encirclement, Lieutenant TRANI attempted to contact supporting helicopters by radio, but before he could effectively communicate his unit's position, he experienced radio failure. Undaunted by lack of communications with supporting arms, he maneuvered his small unit into a tight defensive position. Though pinned down by constant enemy automatic weapons and rifle fire in a position that afforded only minimal protection for himself and his squad, and despite growing uncertainty of the arrival of assistance, Lieutenant TRANI courageously moved among his men and succeeded in keeping morale high. Faced with a limited supply of ammunition and the imminent threat of a coordinated enemy attack that might easily overrun his small unit, he methodically employed every conceivable means to attract the attention of armed helicopters which he could hear operating in the distance. Four unnerving hours passed before the armed helicopters arrived to assist his beleaguered unit. Able to employ only primitive methods, he succeeded in marking his position for the helicopters and directed their fire onto part of the Viet Cong forces surrounding him. He directed another helicopter to a safe location to land for extraction of his unit. He then organized his men and maneuvered them under continuing enemy fire to the extraction craft without casualties or loss of a prisoner who later yielded valuable intelligence information. Through his exemplary and professional leadership, unwavering courage under fire and inspiring conduct throughout a desperate situation, Lieutenant TRANI upheld the highest tradition of the United States Naval Service.

        Rick Trani died in September 1968 as a result of wounds received in combat in Vietnam

    Some quick news from the Deuterfront. Our son, Dan, erstwhile LT, USN and flight instructor at Pensacola, has just changed uniforms for Coast Guard blue. The navy was offering him LCDR stripes and a career-enhancing tour as fuels officer in a carrier. The Coasties came along and told him he could fly heloes forever as a SAR pilot in the Coast Guard, forever meaning until he could no longer pass a flight physical. He took them up on it, and now he and his 2500 hours of flight time, three years of instructor experience and night vision goggle expertise will continue to go flying. Sometimes I think the Navy doesn't learn so good.

Our daughter, Sarah, continues as an F-14 RIO with the Diamondbacks at Oceana. They're apparently going to transition to the new super-Hornets after their next cruise. Until then she's flying Bombcats and having a great time at it. I was able to get them a new snake for Christmas, a five-foot rattler from the piney woods of Georgia. Now the trick is for them to keep it out of the claws of the other squadrons at Oceana. The snake is mounted, skin splayed, head attached and gaping, on a seven foot long pine board. The taxidermist told me to mind the fangs -- they're still loaded. I mentioned that fact to the skipper, who looked at me as if to say: you know what's going to happen, don't you? It's now mounted just out of hand reach of the tallest guy they have in the squadron. It's still gonna happen. Oh well - aviators...

I have a new book coming out this month, called Hunting Season. You can check it out on my web site at ptdeutermann.com

Steve Coester and Jim DeFrancia	Cynthia DeFrancia, Steve and Yvonne Coester	Jim and Cynthia DeFrancia

Yvonne Changed Dates	Jim and Cynthia	Yvonne and Steve (?)

        Jim had a busy month of January. He sent this report about hosting a group of our classmates for business and pleasure.

    In January, the 10th annual Winter Meeting of the Trustees and Officers of the Class of 1963 Foundation convened at the DeFrancia home in Aspen. In attendance were Judy and Dave Puckett, Steve Duncan, Bruce Webb, Will Settle, Sonny Glassner, and Mike Rubel and his charming lady friend, Jamie. In addition to attending to the usual Foundation business of reviewing year-end reports from 2000, looking ahead to future programs and the like, we also managed to get in some skiing, hot tub time, and lots of great food and wine. The Foundation continues as a truly unique legacy for our Class. Also, I encourage everyone to look at our Web site and see the ties and cummerbund that we have had specially designed and made for Classmates' use. For a designated donation to the Foundation you, too, can be attired in the latest English silk tie of distinction! Check the Web site for details.

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        Here is a communication from our Class President, Steve Duncan:

    I am writing to inform you that after 20 years of energetic and big-hearted leadership of our Class Foundation, Jim Ring has decided to step down as the Foundation President. He has agreed to continue his service to the Class as a Foundation Trustee. At the January 13, 2001 meeting of the Foundation's Officers and Trustees, Dave Puckett, who resides in Toledo, OH, was elected as the Foundation's new President.

Most of you are aware of the great success which our Class Foundation has enjoyed over the past several years, but a brief summary will highlight the impact of Jim's many contributions. Since it was founded, your collective generosity has permitted the Foundation to provide almost $700,000 in tuition assistance to more than 80 sons and daughters of our deceased classmates. Foundation grants have also been made for other special projects, e.g., a Vietnam memorial service in Washington, D.C., support of the commissioning of the FITZGERALD (DDG 62), and support of the construction of Alumni Hall.

Currently, the Foundation is heavily engaged in the recently commenced "Living Legacy" fund drive of our Class. The funds which are being raised will be used to continue our "Taking Care of Our Own" projects and to finance projects or programs which are needed by the Naval Academy in furtherance of its mission. I know that you join me in expressing our collective gratitude to Jim for his many, and often unique, contributions to our Class and to the families of our classmates.

Respectfully, Stephen M. Duncan

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        As one more indication of the positive impact of the Class of 1963 Foundation, here is a note from the daughter of our late classmate Allan Smelley. It is the most recent of many such letters we have received from the children of our deceased classmates who have received scholarship assistance from the Foundation.

    This is a note of thanks to the members of the Class of 63 Foundation for your support and assistance to my brother Frederick and myself through our years in college at the University of Wyoming. Thanks to the generous scholarship provided by the Foundation, I received my degree in History and my brother received his degree in Russian. (Any of those who knew our father will certainly not be surprised that Rick also has a degree in German and speaks Spanish and French fluently, as well.) We really appreciated the Foundation's assistance during that time.

I am currently employed by the Federal Projects Division of Washington Group International (formerly Morrison-Knudsen) as a Proposal Specialist in Denver, CO. Thanks to the excellent education I received in college I was able to start with the company in a great position!

My daughter is very interested in physics (like her grandfather) and is in her school's Gifted and Talented Program. I believe that during her early years she was very influenced by seeing her mom attend and complete a university program. Lauren is very serious about her education and is attempting to be enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program next year. I am sure that Dad would be very proud of her as well.

Thanks again to you and the Foundation. Although nothing can replace Daddy, the generosity of his classmates was the difference in our successful college careers.

Sincerely, Cheryl (Smelley) Garrett

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        Judy and  Norm Shackelton have settled into their new digs in England and welcome contact from our classmates. Their new address is 21 Stafford Crescent, Thornbury, Bristol BS35 1DH, United Kingdom. E-mail is norm.shackelton@thalescvf.co.uk. Also in the U.K. is   Chuck Calvano, serving a stint as an Exchange Professor at the Royal Military College of Science. I'm sure he'll have some interesting stories to share with us.   Don Freese is Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Thomas More College, near Cincinnati.

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It was good to hear from Bill Coulter, who checked in with me in January, supplying this status report for your reading pleasure.

    Shan and I have been here in Boulder, CO, since I retired from the Navy in 1991. I have worked for a variety of primary subcontractors running the Department of Energy's old nuclear weapons plant, Rocky Flats, on the fringe of Denver, since then. We have four children: Lin who is married with four children in Gulf Breeze, FL, and Jane, Rob, and Neil, who are all mid-twenties, unmarried and living here. Here is a synopsis of our lives in 2000: Lin and her husband, Keith, presented us with our fifth grandchild in April. Rob flew to Rome in August for a week of sightseeing. He returned to Europe after Christmas for a backpacking month! In between, he found time to participate in a church mission trip to Mexico, fly to Hawaii with for a week, and graduate from University of Northern Colorado with a degree in Business. Neil, our other twin, after graduating from the University of Northern Colorado in May, had laser surgery on both eyes. Then both boys and 10 other young adults, including Jami, Neil's steady girlfriend of many years, set off for Ocampo, Mexico. Neil's van was caught in a freak windstorm, blew a tire, fishtailed, flipped, and rolled. Jami was ejected through a window and flew about 50 feet down the highway and into a barbed wire fence. When the van stopped, Neil and the others were able to walk out with only minor bumps and bruises! Jami was rescued from the fence and suffered only minor cuts and a broken pelvis. I drove down and brought her home where she has made a full recovery and is now skiing, big time. Neil, on return, aptly chose the Enterprise Rent-a-Car Company for his first full-time job where he is in their management program. Second daughter, Jane, is currently earning an RN degree.

Shan and I are trying out European travel to see if we like it. We made a very spur-of-the-moment weeklong trip to the Netherlands and Belgium in October on three days' planning! We liked that so well, we are going again in March. The weather is lousy, but at least you don't have to stand in line! Other than travel, we enjoy golf, tennis, and skiing. Colorado is a great place! Boulder weather sounds bad on the Weather Channel, but it is really quite mild, sunny, and dry. No matter the color of the sunset, there are few gales in the mountains!

I talked to Paul Schleifer this January. He and Jackie are still living on a boat in California, but are about to break ground on a home in Hawaii.

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        The ever-jolly Jim Lasswell sent this update recently:

    I finally completed the divestiture of all of the Ogden Corporation's government businesses and upon the sale of the last one left Ogden and joined Kathy Sridhar in her woman-owned, 8(a) Engineering Services business (INDUS Technology, Inc.). During the last year the company has grown from about five employees to almost 40. We have several prime and subcontracts supporting agencies from SPAWAR, SSC-SD, NSWC Dahlgren, and others. All this is going on for me while an increasing number of folks are moving to their RVs. My mailing address is 15734 Riparian Road, Poway, CA 92064. My phone is (858) 486-9224; e-mail addresses are jlasswell@industechnology.com. and jlasswell@aol.com.

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        Among the many classmates who have recently provided current biographical information for the Electronic Lucky Bag on our web site is Dick "George" Kell. Here's his submission:

    After 30 years in the Navy, I retired in 1993 as Commander Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. Then spent six months in Charleston, SC, but got bored and went to work for EG&G as Director of Safety and Health at Rocky Flats in Denver, CO. Spent four years there with EG&G and Kaiser-Hill in several jobs that included VP for Safety and Engineering, Deputy VP Engineering and Safety, and Deputy Nuclear Operations. In 1998 left Rocky and went with a small Engineering Company ( E2 Consulting Engineers) as COO; during this period my wife and I bought a home in Florida with the idea that I was going to retire in 2000. The summer of 2000 came but I couldn't seem to get the hang of retiring so I did some moving around looking for work, from Colorado to Florida to California and back to Florida. I quickly found that not many folks want to hire a 60 year-old guy with no practical skills! I did finally end up at the Kennedy Space Center where I am working in the facility design division and enjoying it a great deal. I would really enjoy hearing from any classmates. The phone is 321-264-4432; e-mail is Dick.Kell@E2.com.

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        Larry Marsh has supplied photos from the 20th Company's annual Washington, DC, Christmas dinner party. Dan Koczur won the big "gift" of the mounted Billy Bass. Larry says that Dan and Billy are naturals together. Click a photo for a larger image.

Dan and Karen Koczur, Larry Marsh	Charlie Robbins and Pat Smith	New friends Billy Bass and Dan Koczur

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   Perry Miles passed along this info about an opportunity for travel to northern Europe later this year.

   A couple of years ago on a Med Cruise (white boat vice gray), Anne and I ran into a group of about a dozen couples from '58 who welcomed us into their Istanbul-to-Rome party. Delightful folks. One of the wives is a travel agent who periodically organizes these events for '58, which includes special rates and events. They invited us to join them on their seventh trip, a cruise to Scandinavia and Russia in August of this year, and opened it to others in the class also. (Lest any went on liberty with me lo these many years past wonder what kind of people would invite ME back, rest assured that Anne housetrained me decades ago.) We can't go, but others in the class might have an interest. For information, call or email Diane Hughes (1 888 241 3670); stillcruisin@aristotle.net.. There is a web site for the August 2001 Scandanavian cruise: http://homepage.mac.com/mmclane/cruisn/marco1.html.
Not much new with me. Have done a couple of interesting consulting projects since I left Spirit Cruises in 1998, and am resisting the idea of real retirement.

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Thanks to Zimm Zimmerman for passing along this communication he received from Len Eaton:

   My wife and I have lived in the same home here in West Chester, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia, for the past 22 years. About four years ago, I took a new job with a metals processing and distribution company as their VP of Operations. Their corporate office is only 30 minutes from my home but we have 28 warehouses around the country where we inventory and process stainless, aluminum, brass, and copper in various forms from tube and pipe to sheet and plate. I travel a lot every week to deal with the issues at those locations. We built a new facility in Wichita this past year and are currently getting ready to build a new facility in Orlando. A couple of years ago, I was flying US Airways and the pilot was our own Bill Bradford. I had a good chat with him and he even told the flight attendants to take good care of me.

I know a lot of our classmates are retired now but as long as I enjoy good health, I intend to keep working. My son and daughter both live and work in the San Francisco area and with warehouses in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle, I get to see them every few months. I stay in contact with Dick Elsworth and he informed me of Fish Almond's death. I know at our 35th reunion, we were told that Fish was in poor health. He was a guy who really enjoyed living life and it's a shame that he wasn't able to bounce back.

I was one of the youngest in our class, so I am not 60 yet so I have to remember that a lot of our classmates are 62 and 63 years of age. We have our 40th reunion coming up in 2003. I remember those Old Grads coming back to the Naval Academy when we were there. Now we are them. However, I do think we look younger than they looked. At least I feel that way. My e-mail address is leonard.eaton@twmetals.com. My office phone is 610-458-1316.

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    Before ending this, I encourage you to visit the Alumni Association's web site at www.usna.com. Among the info and useful services there, you'll find a daily compilation ­ and archive -- of news about the Academy and alumni in the service, business, and private life. (I check it every day and find much interesting and useful news there.) A new and valuable feature of the site is an alumni locator. From the home page, click on"Alumni only"to use the locator to find contact info for your classmates and other alumni.

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   How was THAT for another superlative collection of news from your classmates! Join the fun by sending me some news about yourself, sir. The time is now, so carpe diem!

  QUALITY - '63

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This page is  Shipmate:     April 2001  posted on:  15 February 2001

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