| The Annual Lee Doyel Report 2006 |
| Lee Doyel was the Engineering Officer aboard the USS Tracer AGR-15 in 1962-62. Many years later, Lee retired as a Captain in the U.S. Navy. He has never forgotten his roots and is our ship's number one spokesman. Lee has attended the last ten Annual Reunions. Each year he writes up his comments on the annual reunion which we refer to as the Doyel Report. Dear Shipmates, The 11th reunion of YAGR’s was held on 18, 19, 20 May 06 in St Louis, MO at the St Louis Airport Hotel. There were 124 men and 112 spouses/guests for a total of 236. This was slightly down from last year. There was a pre reunion tour Wed. night of a dinner river boat cruise on the Mississippi River. On Fri. five bus loads of members went on a driving tour of St Louis proper going by various historic sites and the Busch Brewery. The busses then dropped off the group at historic St Charles (first state capital) for lunch and shopping. The hospitality room was open regular hours and individuals renewed old friendships and made new ones. Tracer had 15 crew members and tied with the Searcher (AGR-4) which also had 15. Tracer only had one first timer, MM2 Roy Neal and his wife, Janet. CDR Reid, who has missed the last few reunions, attended along with his wife, Ann. Tracer men attending were: BAYER, BIGGS, COGGINS, COSKI, DOYEL, HENZEN, JERZEWSKI, KING, MANN, NEAL, PADGETT, PHELPS, REID, RUSH & SMITH. Neal brought some pictures which included the change of command ceremony when Barney relieved Reid. Harry Miller reported that a total of 2032 former crew members had been located with 61 located this past year. There are 13 ships that have located 100 or more of their former crew members. This reunion went in the red for the first time in years. However it was only $226 which was made up from the dues receipts. Association finances were in good shape which means the dues will stay at $15 a year. The group also voted to give the USS Mass. (BB-59), where the YAGR display is, $1,000 to their general fund for the fourth year in a row. Harry felt the ship display would probably be completed this coming year. To date $20,735 has been spent on the space/displays. Harry also reported progress on the book about YAGR’s. He had four rough draft copies for discussion/review. He said it was very rough and was presented primarily for format. It will be soft back approximately 8 ½ by 11 on good quality paper (ala National Geographic type) with color logos and a color fold out of the ship silhouette. There could possibly be CD included with the various deck schematics, etc. Selected “sea stories” would be in the back portion of the book. Completion date is at least 1 year down the road. Price is projected to be around $20 plus shipping. There were some blanks in various areas and Harry asked for help in filling them. He specifically asked for a picture of a weather balloon launch, CIC layout, pre-commissioning ship pictures, radio & radar data and any information on RADRONONE (West Coast). I would add that the section on Tracer was very sparse, almost non-existence. Even the Watchman (AGR-16) had more then us. Some ships had whole histories of their service including patrol dates with station numbers. I suspect someone from their ships had been to the archives in Washington DC to obtain the information. It would be nice if anyone in or near DC could do some research there on the ship’s deck log (Quartermaster’s Notebook) in the coming months. Speaking of DC, that is where the group voted to have next year’s reunion. Nashville, Detroit and Buffalo were also considered. Harry also asked that the group consider holding a reunion on a cruise ship at a future date. Considering hotel & meals & the registration fee, the cost would be close to the same or slightly higher. As usual it was a very successful gathering. Those of you who have never attended one should give serious consideration to attend one. Ask any first timer. I think there are only two or three that have only attended one time and not returned to another one. Regards, Lee Doyel |
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