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William
Wood III Project Response Letter |
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02 Jan 2005 |
P. O. Wheeler
Captain, U. S. Navy
Director of Naval History (Acting)
Department of the Navy
Office of the Chief of Naval Operations
2000 Navy Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20350-2000
Dear Captain Wheeler:
Thank you for your letter of 27 Dec 04 regarding naming a new Navy destroyer in
honor of Dr. William Maxwell Wood, the first Surgeon General of the US Navy. I
understand that Senator Levin asked that you respond directly to me.
And thank you for your kind words of recognition toward Dr. Wood, the USS
William M. Wood Association, and the crews of the DD-317 and DD-715, the
destroyers previously named after Dr. Wood. They are most appreciated.
While I acknowledge your comment that the number of deserving candidates for
ship naming far outnumbers the ships in the current building program, I also
have noted the recent trend of the Navy to name many of the current DDG’s after
namesakes of previous Navy ships. Of the last 18 DDG’s named (88-105), 12 of
them, including the last 10, have been named for individuals who have had
previous Navy ships named for them. And a number of those names represent the
3rd, 4th, and even 5th ships named for the same individual. Furthermore, a
number of the predecessor ships had been decommissioned as recently as only 10
years ago. In light of this trend, I feel that our request to name a new Navy
destroyer the USS William M. Wood is fitting and reasonable. As you have noted,
the last ship to bear Dr. Wood’s name, the DD-715, was decommissioned over 28
years ago, on 1 Dec 1976.
As you know, Dr. Wood had a long and distinguished Navy career, 43 years plus
another two in retirement directing hospitals for BUMED. While he was not an
officer of the line, and therefore was unfortunately under-recognized during his
career, his was a commanding presence wherever he served, and his
accomplishments far exceeded the normal duties of a Navy Surgeon, particularly
his dangerous journey through Mexico gathering and communicating vital military
intelligence to Commodore Sloat and to the Secretary of the Navy during the
outbreak of war with Mexico. In addition, Dr. Wood was always a vigilant
champion of the Navy Medical Corps, working tirelessly to increase the
recognition of Surgeons and Corpsmen to improve the quality of the Navy’s
medical capabilities, which was finally accomplished after the Civil War during
President Grant’s tenure in office. Dr. Wood was also an advocate for the
average sailor of the day, striving for progress in the recognition, living and
working conditions, and treatment of ordinary sailors. In short, Dr. Wood’s
watch was outstanding and is deserving of continued recognition by the Navy. Dr.
Wood’s dedication and outstanding performance clearly raised the bar regarding
performance and recognition for medical and other staff officers of the Navy.
While many of the recent DDG’s that have been named include re-namings of
previous Navy destroyers, most are of the DLG and DDG/CG classes that were in
service during the 70’s to mid 90’s, and none have been re-namings of the many
Sumner and Gearing class destroyers that served as the mainstays of the US Navy
destroyer force throughout the post WWII and Cold War eras. The USS William M.
Wood (DD-715) represents one of the last of the Gearings to be decommissioned
after serving our country well for over 31 years. Her service started in post
war patrols in the Pacific and Yellow Sea until she was soon transferred to the
Atlantic Fleet as US military attention shifted from Japan and Germany to the
growing threat presented by an aggressive and expansive Soviet Union. She made
19 Mediterranean cruises including an extended 3-year deployment, homeported in
Greece. There, she safeguarded our carriers, confronted the growing menace of
the Soviet Navy, and conducted special operations gathering vital intelligence
while steaming outgunned in the midst of the latest and most powerful ships of
the Soviet Navy. She asserted US Naval presence by acting as the flagship of
destroyer squadrons entering the Black Sea, cruising close to the Soviet coast,
as well as by patrolling international hotspots when tensions flared including
the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Lebanon Crisis, and the Dominican crisis. She was
selected to accompany the Canberra with President Eisenhower aboard, and
rendered international aid during the catastrophe in Volos Greece. The service
of the USS William M. Wood was exemplary during this time of international
tension with the Soviet Union, deserving continued recognition not only for her
own service, but as a notable representative of the entire force of Sumners and
Gearings that served our country well during the Cold War era.
The USS William M. Wood Association was founded approximately 10 years ago by
CDR Charles Traub III, USN, retired. CDR Traub was CO of the USS William M. Wood
(DD-715) during 1970-71 while the Wood was primarily conducting special ops
shadowing the Soviet fleet in the Med. He has pretty much single handedly built
the Wood Association into one of the largest and most active US Navy veteran’s
destroyer associations in existence today. He has located over 1,500 former
shipmates and has provided the leadership to develop the association to what it
is today. We recently held our 8th annual reunion in Jacksonville Florida, with
86 shipmates and about 140 total attendance. Our next reunion is in Chicago in
2005 and we expect to attract many Midwest US shipmates who have not been able
to attend a reunion to date. We have held our reunions in Norfolk, Va Beach,
Washington DC, Myrtle Beach, Boston, Philadelphia, and Jacksonville, and are
scheduled to be in Charleston SC in 2006. Our reunions attract public attention
wherever we go, and are uniformly admired by people we meet in our host
communities. Though most of us are in our 50’s to 80’s, we continue to show the
flag and our ship’s photos, hull number, banner, hats, and silhouette. Our
reunions generally include activities that are Navy related, including ship,
naval base, and museum visits, and we always have a color guard and conduct a
memorial service for shipmates who have made their final cruise. Our reunion in
Chicago will be highlighted by a visit to the US Naval Recruit Training Center
in Great Lakes, Ill. By moving our reunions from city to city we have been able
to allow a large number of our located shipmates to attend one or more reunions,
and as a result have one of the highest percentages of active participation by
shipmates of any of our peer associations. Through this association I have had
the honor of meeting many shipmates from all eras on the Wood, from 1945 plank
owners to 1976 decomm crew, and I have to say, that each of them to a man is
proud to be a citizen of the US, a veteran of the US Navy, and former crew
member of the USS William M. Wood. Our reunions, along with being social events,
are also a testament to all three of the above. We have formally discussed the
possibility of a new Navy destroyer being named the USS William M. Wood at our
annual business meeting, and have voted overwhelmingly that we would consider it
an honor to see another ship named the USS William M. Wood during our lifetimes.
Our Association has made contact with a number of descendents of Dr. Wood, and
we are happy that they have joined in support of our efforts to name a new Navy
destroyer the USS William M. Wood. They share our enthusiasm for this honor.
Our Association and Dr. Wood’s descendents would be honored to attend the
christening of the next USS William M Wood. We understand that the authorized
Arleigh Burke DDG’s have only been named through DDG-105. We are hopeful of
having one of the remaining unnamed Arleighs in the shipbuilding pipeline named
for Dr. Wood. We understand that the DDX series destroyers will not begin to
come into service until the end of the decade, so strongly prefer that one of
the new Arleigh Burkes be named after Dr. Wood rather than waiting for a DDX
series destroyer.
In closing, I am hopeful that I have “made the case” for the Navy naming a new
destroyer the USS William M. Wood, and that you would concur with our
recommendation and champion our request in your annual submission of suggested
names to the CNO and SECNAV. I would be more than pleased to discuss any of the
above with you further at your convenience, and can arrange for discussions with
CDR Traub and other trustees and officers of our association if you would like.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
James M Thomas
Former RM2 – 1969-72
USS William M Wood Association
CC: The Honorable Senator Carl Levin
Captain Kevin M. Wensing
The Honorable Gordon R. England
ADM Vern Clark |
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