FROM 11 RETIRED SHIPS: 25 ex-crewmembers, 23 family members, 1 retired DesRon 21 commodore and 1 retired DesRon 21 staff member FROM THE ACTIVE DUTY SQUADRON: Commodore, 4 staff members, 9 crew and family members from 3 ships

Shipmates and friends on board Jarrett during the DesRon 21 and Friends Reunion in San Diego, 4 August 2002.San Diego, August 2–4, 2002 — Sixty-four people representing eleven World War II-era destroyers—Fletcher, Radford, Jenkins, Nicholas, O’Bannon, Chevalier, Strong, Taylor, De Haven, Maury and Ammen—plus shipmates and former shipmates of today’s Destroyer Squadron TWENTY-ONE attended a reunion August 2-4 at the Hilton San Diego Mission Valley.
   There were two fine presentations. At Saturday lunch, Capt. Phil Wisecup, commodore of today’s DesRon 21, narrated a slide show of USS Jarrett’s (FFG 33’s) 2002 return from Operation Enduring Freedom through the Solomon Islands in May, 2002, during which memorial

OVERHEARD:   “She outranks all of us!”   “How did you navigate and fight at the same time [in the Solomon Islands]? … It must’ve been like a knife fight in a telephone booth!” — Commodore, DesRon TWENTY-ONE   “What did it look like during daylight?” — WWII Vet   “So how did your 5-inch gun work?” — Seaman, USS Elliot   “Did you really have to ram us [after we had our bow blown off]? I’ve been waiting 59 years to ask someone that question!” — Chevalier shipmate to O’Bannon shipmate. (Answer: “We were coming through the smoke at 30 knots. At only 250 yards, we had nowhere else to go!”)   “This was the best reunion I’ve ever attended, including our own.”—O’Bannon shipmate   “It truly was a great weekend, wasn't it? Words cannot express my feelings after sunday's memorial service.” — Commodore

se rvi ce s w er e he ld an d wr ea th s lai d of f Kula Gulf and in Ironbottom Sound. At a Saturday evening banquet, author and Solomon Islands authority Capt. Russell Crenshaw USN (Ret.) related his perspectives from on board USS Maury in 1941–3 in a speech so well received that the group hopes to hear more next year.
   Shipmates from both eras mingled in a tour of USS Elliot (DD 967) on Saturday and a memorial service and photo session on board Jarrett on Sunday. Adm. Halsey’s 1943 message to the squadron, preserved by Nicholas’s John Everett, was one of many artifacts on display in the hospitality room, and a framed reproduction was presented to Tactical Training Group Pacific, while Jarrett’s Solomon Islands ensign and chart and other honors were exchanged with oldtimers.
   Participants agreed this first-of-its kind event was so well conceived and executed by Jenkins’ Arnie and Rose Fluster—even the finances ended “in the black”—that they look foward to repeating it next year, with all WWII South Pacific destroyermen and friends and interested parties invited to attend.