I was doing some research on my Father, John Greksouk and came across the USS Salt Lake City website with you listed as the contact. I noticed that your index lists him as deceased with no date.

He died on January 13, 1998 at the age of 86 while residing in McLean, Virginia and was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery with full honors.

Dad served onboard Salt Lake City during the late 30's and was advanced to RM2c in 1938 and RM1c in 1939 while onboard. During the war he was advanced to Chief Radioman, Warrant Office and was then accepted in the original Limited Duty Officer (LDO) program as a Naval Communicator field of the Operations designator. He served in a number of ashore communications billets for the remainder of his 30 years of service retiring as a Commander in 1962.

He was married to Elaine for over 50 years. Elaine passed away on August 19, 2004 and joined Dad in Arlington. They had three children; Suzzane b. 1939; John Gary (me) b. 1941 and Nicholas b. 1952.

As an added note, I joined the Navy in 1958 and also became a Radioman eventually being promoted to Chief Radioman. I was subsequently promoted to Chief Warrant Officer and then accepted for the LDO program as a Naval Communicator. I retired in 1984 as a LCDR.

My Dad always had the most fond memories of the Salt Lake City and his shipmates from those days. He told me a number of marvelous SLC stories over the years. I retired from the Navy in San Diego and my folks came out for the a SLC reunion there in the 80's. I visited the hospitality suite with them several times and enjoyed it immensely.

After SLC, Dad went to a Destroyer out of Philadelphia where I was born. Then to Radio Material School (RMS) in Washington, DC. This school was referred to in those days as "Bellvue" because of the area where it was located. He then was in a Field Technical Service out of Washington whose members traveled to various ships/stations to install and train members on new technology communication system. It was about this time that he was commissioned under the LDO program.

After the war we were in Pearl Harbor from 1947-1950 at the Communication station. It was here that he met
Charlie Klouck who was also an SLC alumni and is in your index. They became life-long friends and we saw the Kloucks many, many times over the years both in their active duty and retired days. 1950-54 was again in the DC area at Main Navy. 1954-56 at Naval Communication Station Morocco; then 1956-59 as the OIC of Naval Communication Station Washington's transmitter site located in Annapolis, MD. His final tour from 1959-1962 was as the first Commanding Officer of the Naval Radio Station location in Jim Creek, Washington about 30 miles north of Everett, Washington.

I hope this finds you and yours healthy and happy and enjoying the New Year.

Best regards,

Gary Greksouk