USS GOLDSBOROUGH DDG-20 1963-1993

Goldsborough Shipmates,

I regret to announce the death of a very dear shipmate and friend, Jim Cole. He will be dearly missed by all. To Yvonne and Family, our hearts and thoughts are with you at this very sad time.

Funeral Services will be 12:30 pm Tuesday, May 26th at Kerr Brothers Funeral Home, Harrodsburg Rd. Burial will be in Camp Nelson National Cemetery. Visitation will be 5-8 pm Mon. at the funeral home.

Memorial contributions are suggested to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, 875 N. Rand, Suite 225, Arlington, Va. 22203-1977

The address of the Funeral home is: 3421 Harrodsburg Rd. Lexington, Ky. 40513, Phone 859-223-3140, Fax 859 223 3195

Chip Chapin, Vice President

Goldsborough Shipmates,

I received a call today from Mr. David Schoenle, who is a retired Marine and currently works for the VA out of their Buffalo, NY office. He is working on a agent orange claim for a Goldsborugh shipmate and he needs some information about the ships movement after it was hit by shore batteries in December of 1972.

First let me explain the two types of agent orange contact that the VA is considering. One is PRESUMPTIVE EXPOSURE, which is what the vast majority of the deep water ships and crews would be claiming. DIRECT EXPOSURE applies if you were a brown water sailor, traveled up rivers or were on the ground in Vietnam at any time and on the ground means even a steel pier in DaNang harbor.

Mr. Schoenle is trying to determine that after the ship was hit, the initial repairs were done in the DaNang harbor prior to going to Japan for permanent repairs. If, and there is where the big if comes in to play, the ship did tie up in DaNang harbor the crew at that time may be eligible for the DIRECT EXPOSURE compensation which much easier to approve and means quicker compensation for the vet.

As such, Mr. Schoenle needs any documentation that the ship did in fact tie up in DaNang or go into the dry dock area. Ships logs, crew photos, a POD, anything that documents the ship being in DaNang harbor would be a tremendous benefit to our fellow shipmate.

This damaged was after my deployment so I need crewmembers from the 72 cruise to search...

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Here are two very historic handwritten letters (found at the end of this post-- click 'Read More' to continue) which were authored in 1860. These rare documents were stored for years in England by the family Augusts Phillimore, Captain in the Royal Navy and commander of the British frigate " Curacoa". They were later sold at an estate sale and then again sold at an auction where Mr. Jim Spencer of Norfolk, England purchased them to add to his historic document collection.

When he was doing research on Captain Goldsborough he found our web site which inspired him to forward the orginal letters to the Association for preservation. Mr. Spencer wrote,

"I have had a lot of fun in researching them, but having found your website and Goldsborough Association details, I consider that, morally, they belong to you. Please, therefore, accept them for your archives with my best wishes to you all and the ship."

The orginal letters have been sent to the Naval Historian for permanent preservation on behalf of Mr. Spencer and all Goldsborough crew members.

Basically what the letters refer to is an incident on April 21st 1860, when a British skiff, commanded by some likly intoxicated British sailors, allegedly rammed a skiff from the U.S. Frigate Congress which was at the time, commanded by Lt. Smith. Smith, taking exception to the behavior of the British sailors actions, filed a formal complaint with Captain Goldsborough. The next day, April 22, Captain Goldsborough...

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Welcome to the brand new USS GOLDSBOROUGH blog/website. In the ever changing world of technology, this new blog, is another way for shipmates to keep in touch.

As the Association begins its tenth year, many changes have occured since its inception in San Diego a decade ago. Our founding fathers did a great job in getting us moving forward and bringing what had been a vision of those faithful few in the beginning to what we have today. We're an organization with over 900 registered members that holds an annual reunion to bring old friends and shipmates together to share their love for our ship and to rekindle friendships from decades long past.

Be sure to check out our roster list by dates. Going to your time on board you may be able to find long lost shipmates. If they have an e-mail address, you will hopefully be able to contact them directly.

Our annual reunions are also a great place to see old friends and to share with others the time you had on “Goldy”. We would love to hear from any crewmember or their family.

God Speed to All,

Pat Taylor (HM2), President