>
Below is a list of changes that have been made to this site since August 6,
2002
October 19, 2008:
** Add two slideshows of the 2008 Reunion picutes from San Francisco.
Click
here to see part 1.
Click
here to see part 2.
August 27, 2008:
** Added cruise books for several APA ships (USS Lycoming APA-155, USS Napa APA-157, and USS Edgecomb APA-164) that were built with the Lowndes.
Click
here to see goto the cruise book page.
August 10, 2008:
** Updated web site for the 2008 reunion.
August 9, 2006:
** Added the Diary of Cox. Harley Max Welker covering everyday of his time on the Lowndes.
Thanks again to Harley's daughter Bonnie (Welker) White for providing this.
Click
here to see Max Welker's Diary.
July 26, 2006:
** Added 1945 photos from the collection of the Lowndes' Cox. Harley Max Welker
(May 12, 1919 - July 3, 1986). Thanks to Harley's daughter Bonnie (Welker) White
and the other Welker children for sharing these. Click
here to see the Welker Collection.
Nov 16, 2005:
** Added a new search feature that will allow you to search through all the
text data on this site. Great for finding names. Try it.. Click
here to search the USS Lowndes Web Site
Sept 20, 2005:
** Added photos from the 2005 Chicago Reunion and updated the reunion info to
show Seattle as next year's reunion. Click
here to view the Chicago Reunion photos.
May 14, 2005:
** Added USS Lowndes Repair Documents (San Francisco - July-Aug 1945) . I, also,
found these in the National Archives. Click
here to view these documents.
May 7, 2005:
** Added USS Lowndes Decommissioning Documents from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.
I found these in the National Archives. This includes the official document
that releases Capt. Weintraub from command. Click
here to view these documents.
Feb. 4, 2005:
** Added the 1944, 18 page booklet: Life Aboard A Transport. This is what they
gave to the Marines and Army troops when they boarded an APA. Click
here to view this booklet.
Feb. 3, 2005:
** Added the US Patent documents for Andrew Jackson Higgins Landing Boat - The
LCVP Click
here to goto the patent documents and design drawings.
Oct. 24, 2004:
** Added film footage of the damaged USS Logan (APA-196) at Iwo Jima. The Logan
traveled more with the Lowndes than, probably, any other ship so this should
be a familar image to the Lowndes crew. Click
here to goto the Logan page/videos.
Oct. 19, 2004:
** Added another slideshow of photos from Branson, MO reunion (part 2). Click
here to see the photos.
Oct. 15, 2004:
** Added information for next year's reunion in Chicago. Click
here to see the Reunion page.
Oct. 15, 2004:
** Added videos from Branson Reunion.
Click
here to view the footage of Jim Stafford meeting the group.
Click
here to view the Banquet-Photo-shoot video.
Oct. 15, 2004:
** Added a slideshow of photos from Branson, MO reunion. Click
here to see the photos.
Oct. 7, 2004:
** Added the names of Ellis Robert Morton and Dick "R" Clark to those Lowndes
men killed at Iwo Jima. Click
here to go to the Memorial page.
Sept. 7, 2004:
** Added Book Synopsis for "William Lowndes and the Transition of Southern Politics.
1782-1822". Click
here to go to the William Lowndes page.
August 12, 2004:
** Added Bud's August 2004 newsletter. Click
here to go to the Newsletter Page
August 6, 2004:
** Added Bud's June 2004 newsletter. Click
here to go to the Newsletter Page
June 14, 2004:
** Added U.S. Naval Training - Farragut, Idaho - Picture Book. Click
here to see the booklet.
May 29, 2004:
** Added info on the APA Film Project (The Bayfield Archives). This was/is a
major project. Overwelming and proud to be part of it. Click
here to go to the APA Film Project Page.
Feb 15, 2004:
** Added Jan 2004 Newsletter. Click
here to enter the Newsletters Page.
Feb 2, 2004:
** Added info about another APA book: "Attack Transport: The Fisrt APA" Click
here to see the APA Book/Movie page.
Jan 30, 2004:
** In the Spirit of NASA and the Mars rovers, I took this Opportunity to add
some 3D photos of the Lowndes Museum model. Just like the NASA photos, you need
the 3D Red/Blue glasses to view these. Click
here to see the Lowndes in 3D.
Click
here to see how to get a free pair of the required 3D glasses.
Jan 27, 2004:
** Added "The Ships We Build". A picture book of Kaiser Shipbuilding in Vancouver,
WA. Click
here to see this booklet.
Dec 29, 2003:
** Added the Marine Corps' "Iwo Jima Battle Report". "The most comprehensive
video ever produced on the battle of Iwo Jima".
Click
here to see Part 1 of this 60 minute video (for Microsoft Windows only)
Click
here to see Part 2 of this 60 minute video (for Microsoft Windows only)
Dec 2, 2003:
** Added a new index to Deck Log using the daily info from the Lowndes History
Calendar. Click
here to see the first page of this new index.
Nov 30, 2003:
** Added a new section to the War Pictures page: "Just After The War". I added
a few pics from 1947. Looking for more. Click
here to see the 1947 page.
Nov 25, 2003:
** Added the Formal Group photos from the Biloxi (2003) Reunion.
Click here to see the Lowndes Lovelies.
Click
here to see the Lowndes Uglies.
Nov 9, 2003:
** Added the complete USS Lowndes 2004 History Calendar. Click
here to view the Adobe Acrobat Calendar File.
Nov 8, 2003:
** Added a Navy training film: Small Boat Operations (LCM, LCVP, APA) which
was filmed in 1944. Click
here to see this video.
Oct 18, 2003:
** Added a preview (first 6 months) of the USS Lowndes 2004 History Calendar.
Click
here to view the Adobe Acrobat Calendar File.
Oct 18, 2003:
** Added my photo of Mom and Dad at the Iwo Jima Memorial in Washington D.C.,
1970. Click
here to see this photo.
Oct 17, 2003:
** Added the signatures of Captain Perdue and Navigators Don MacPherson, and
William Ramsey to the Deck Log page. Click
here to go to Deck Log page.
Oct 8, 2003:
** Added video from the Reunion trip to the Biloxi Maritime & Seafood Industry
Museum Click
here to see this Video.
Oct 7, 2003:
** Added video from the Reunion day trip to New Orleans and the D-Day Museum
Click
here to see the New Orleans and D-Day Museum Video.
Oct 6, 2003:
** Photos from the 2003 Biloxi Reunion. Boy, it was great to get back to the
reunion and what great weather we had. I'll add more photos later when I get
them from Bud. Click
here to see the Biloxi/New Orleans photos.
Click
here to see the Biloxi Banguet Video.
Sept 15, 2003:
** Freezing the Web Site again to make another version of the Lowndes CD-ROM
for the 2003 Reunion.
Sept 15, 2003:
** Added a Decklog Index to interesting events on the Lowndes. Did you know
that Captain Purdue left the Lowndes for Medical reasons? That's what the Deck
Log says. Click
here to see this new Deck Log Index.
Sept 9, 2003:
** Crew Index to the Deck Log Complete!!!. This, by far, was the most time consuming
effort of this project. About 40 hours to scan the 860 pages and another 40
hours to read through it and build the crew index. Over 800 Navy men served
on the Lowndes. Many for the full 20 months and some for just a few weeks. What's
left to do? .... another index to interesting events on the ship like ship fires,
special exercises... all kinds of stuff. Click
here to see the Deck Log Crewmen Index.
Sept 7, 2003:
** On this final day of the Museum exhibit, I added a low-res short video of
the Iwo Jima - Okinawa Exhibit with the Lowndes Model. Click
here to see this video.
Sept 6, 2003:
** I found an original Colliers April 14, 1945 issue with a larger picture of
the USS Lowndes Boat #21 (LCVP) stuck in the black sand of Iwo Jima. I have
added this to the Boat 21 page. Click
here to go to see this picture.
Sept 6, 2003:
** Updated Crew Index to the Deck Log. Index now covers Sept 1944 through Dec
1945 and the Month of April 1946. Click
here to see the Deck Log Crewmen Index.
Sept 4, 2003:
** Updated Crew Index to the Deck Log. Index now covers Sept 1944 through August
1945 and the Month of April 1946. Some of the crew got into a lot of trouble
around July/August of 1945 on those Liberties. Check it out. Click
here to see the Deck Log Crewmen Index.
Sept 2, 2003:
** Updated Crew Index to the Deck Log. Index now covers Sept 1944 through May
1945 and the Month of April 1946. Click
here to see the Deck Log Crewmen Index.
Aug 18, 2003:
** Added Top Honor award (July 12, 2003) from www.MilitaryWorld.com for the
USS Lowndes Web Site. Click
here to see a list of winners.
Aug 8, 2003:
** Added story and pictures from todays newspaper article about our (The APA
Historical Preservation Project) effort to save the last APA (The Gage - APA-168).
Click
here to see this article.
Aug 5, 2003:
** Added another WWII film ( "What Makes A Battle" ) that includes footage from
an APA. Click
here to see this video.
Aug 5, 2003:
** Added a index to scenes in the APA-175 USS Karnes 1945 film which is on the
War Video and Audio page. Click
here to see this index.
Click
here to see part 1 of the USS Karnes Film.
Click
here to see part 2 of the USS Karnes Film.
Aug 4, 2003:
** Added a scanned image of the WWII Sheet music of "Stars and Stripes on Iwo
Jima" to the WWII Video + Songs page. Click
here to see this modified page.
Aug 4, 2003:
** Added some scanned images from another WWII item I got from an Estate auction:
"Song and Service Book from Ship and Field". Click
here to see a few pages.
July 30, 2003:
** NEW !! 1945 Photo !! USS Lowndes Boat #21 (LCVP) stuck in the black sand
of Iwo Jima Click
here to go to see this picture.
July 26, 2003:
** Added more pictures of the newly completed USS Lowndes Museum Model!!! Click
here to go to see these pictures.
July 26, 2003:
** Added a new Lowndes Trivia game.. Test your memory.. Click
here to go to goto the games page.
July 22, 2003:
** Added pictures of the newly completed USS Lowndes Museum Model!!! Click
here to go to see these pictures.
July 21, 2003:
** Added scanned images of the Lowndes' War Diary. Click
here to enter the War Diary.
July 17, 2003:
** Added entire list of Crew and links to each mentioned member of the crew
into the Deck log. Only about 25% of the links are setup now. Click
here to see the Deck Log Crewmen Index.
July 16, 2003:
** Added the March 2003 Newsletter from Bud Kautz. Click
here to enter the Newsletters Page.
July 15, 2003:
** Added a letter from Don Bowman's Family to Fred Brinkman (1946). Click
here to see the letter.
July 15, 2003:
** Added a letter from Norman Richards' Family to Fred Brinkman (1945). Click
here to see the letter.
July 12, 2003:
** Added a scan of a greeting card from a boy at the Naval Training Station
at Farragut to his mother. Click
here to goto the Deck Log Calendar.
July 11, 2003:
** Added Deck logs for Feb, Mar, and April 1946. DECK LOG COMPLETE!!! Click
here to goto the Deck Log Calendar.
July 9, 2003:
** Added Deck logs for Jan 1946. Click
here to goto the Deck Log Calendar.
July 8, 2003:
** Added Deck logs for Nov and Dec 1945. Click
here to goto the Deck Log Calendar.
July 7, 2003:
** Added Strom Thurmond at the USS Lowndes Myrtle Beach Reunion. Click
here to see this addition.
July 6, 2003:
** Added Deck logs for Oct 1945. Click
here to goto the Deck Log Calendar.
July 4, 2003:
** Added Deck logs for Aug and Sept 1945. Click
here to goto the Deck Log Calendar.
July 3, 2003:
** Added Deck logs for May and June 1945. Click
here to goto the Deck Log Calendar.
July 1, 2003:
** Added Deck log for July 1945. Added link to main page that will take you
to the deck log for the same day in WWII. Added a link to a Japanese translation
of the entire USS Lowndes site. Click
here to goto the Deck Log Calendar.
June 30, 2003:
** Added Deck logs for Mar and April 1945. Click
here to goto the Deck Log Calendar.
June 28, 2003:
** Added Deck logs for Feb. 1945. Click
here to goto the Deck Log Calendar.
June 27, 2003:
** Added Deck logs for Nov 1, 1944 through Jan 31, 1945. Click
here to goto the Deck Log Calendar.
June 24, 2003:
** Added Deck logs for Sept 14, 1944 through Oct 31, 1944. Click
here to see the first entry in this log.
June 19, 2003:
** Added a Navy training film: Amphibious Assualt which was filmed on a WWI
APA. Click
here to see this video.
June 19, 2003:
** Added color film/video taken on the USS Karnes (APA-175) in 1945. In 2 parts.
Click
here to goto Video page which has these 2 links.
June 19, 2003:
** Added calendar and links for the Deck Log. Deck log scans should start coming
in next week. Click
here to see this Calendar page.
June 13, 2003:
** Added a 1950s color training video: Amphibious Assault to the War videos
page. A WWII APA (and its function) is featured in this 26 minute video. Click
here to see this video.
June 11, 2003:
** Added more sea music to pages.Click
here to hear one of these.
June 5, 2003:
** Fixed broken links on War Video/Audio page.Click
here to see this addition.
May, 26, 2003:
** Added "Other Attack Transport Sites" page.Click
here to see this addition.
May, 26, 2003:
** Finished adding new blueprints of the Lowndes.Click
here to see this addition.
May, 26, 2003:
** Added links "Click here to see this addition" to entries on this page to
make it easy for someone to go directly to changes listed on this page.
May, 24, 2003:
** Began adding new (and much improved) blueprints of the Lowndes to the models/blueprints
page.Click
here to see this addition.
May, 22, 2003:
** Added a scan of the U.S. made Leaflet dropped on Japan instructing Japanese
how to Surrender. Added link to this was added to the War pictures page. Click
here to see this addition.
May, 21, 2003:
** Added photos (and link on War Pictures page) from U.S. Naval Training Station
- Farragut, Idaho from Fred Brinkman's collection. Click
here to see this addition.
farragut.htm May, 20, 2003:
** Added photos (War Pictures part 7) of Lowndes crew on Iwo Jima and Saipan
from Fred Brinkman's collection. Click
here to see this addition.
March, 30, 2003:
** Added several NG 1945+1946 photos of Tinian, Saipan, and Ulithi to Calvin
Bull's Diary page. Click
here to see this addition.
March, 30, 2003:
** Added NG 1946 map of pacific with some good historic facts. Click
here to see this addition.
March, 15, 2003:
** Added, to the memorial page, newspaper articles about Norman Richards (donated
by his Brother Keith). These were from 1945-1948. Click
here to see this addition.
March, 1, 2003:
** Added Fred Brinkman's hand drawn map of Lowndes route into Japan and his
Lowndes framed picture (drawing) with the ship's military awards. Click
here to see this addition.
Feb 22, 2003:
** Added new page with Books and Movies about WWII Attack Transports. Click
here to see this addition.
Feb 22, 2003:
** Added (to the Ship page, and link in History page) History and photos of
all Haskell Class Attack Transports. Click
here to see this addition.
Feb 17, 2003:
** Added the Treasure Island Souvenir Booklet to the War pics page. Click
here to see this addition.
Feb 17, 2003:
** Added Oregon Ship Building Company - "Record Breakers Book" from WWII. This
is the Builder of the Lowndes. A whole city of 35,000 built in Oregon just to
build Victory and APAs for WWII. Added to the War pics page. Click
here to see this addition.
Feb 8, 2003:
** Added March and June 2001 newsletters (which I just located).
Feb 6, 2003:
** Added table with all past reunions (City, State, State Flag, Date, Attendees,
Hosts). Click
here to see this addition.
Jan 31, 2003:
** Added a computer model of the Lowndes (Actually, this is just a simple model
of a WWII Victory ship which had the same hull as the Haskell class ships).
Lots of enhancements will go into this in the future. It's located on the Blueprint/Models
page. Click
here to see this addition.
Jan 30, 2003:
** Added Fred Brinkman's 1945 Shellback documents to war pictures page. Click
here to see this addition.
Jan 26, 2003:
** Added a video (to the reunion and memorial pages) from the Memorial presentation
at the Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg, TX (1995 Reunion). Click
here to see this addition.
Jan 25, 2003:
** Added "The English Book" pictures and notes from Fred Brinkman. This is Fred
Brinkman's story about a gift to him from a Japanese man during the Lowndes
trip to Japan. Click
here to see this addition.
Jan 24, 2003:
** Added Yellow Beach Pre-invasion photo and 1945 post-invasion notes from Fred
Brinkman. Added this to the War Pictures page. Click
here to see this addition.
Jan 22, 2003:
** Made another USS Lowndes CD (Version January 2003) based on all Web features
to date. Used larger and higher quality mpegs for video and added Iwo-Jima pictues
to CD.
Jan 20, 2003:
** Added the Fred Brinkman WWII Diary/Log to the Personal Accounts Page. Click
here to see this addition.
Jan 19, 2003:
** Added a link to "Marines on the Lowndes" page to the main Lowndes page. Click
here to see this addition.
Jan 18, 2003:
** Added another set of War pictures (Part 6). Added more blueprint drawings
of the ship. Click
here to see this addition.
Jan 18, 2003:
** Added more blueprint drawings of the ship. Click
here to see this addition.
Jan 17, 2003:
** Added more to the Calvin Bull WWII Diary/Log at www.usslowndes.net/calvin.htm
and to the Personal Accounts Page. Click
here to see this addition.
Jan 14, 2003:
** Added Mr. Kautz's Dec 2002 Newsletter and Group photos of Ind Reunion under
the reunion pictures page. Click
here to see the Loveies photo. Click
here to see the Men's photo.
Jan 11, 2003:
** Bought extra disk space (25 to 75MBs) and added video files to the Reunion
videos page. Added more maps to the "USS Lowndes Route" page.
Jan 6, 2003:
** Added the first part of Calvin T. Bull's Diary (Donated by his sons) under
the personal accounts page. Click
here to see this addition.
Jan 5, 2003:
** Added Fred Brinkman's map and Lowndes charted journey with an animated display.
A "USS Lowndes Route" link on the main page. Click
here to see this addition.
Jan 3, 2003:
** Added some scanned images of Fred Brinkman's original Iwo Jima letter to
the personal accounts page. Click
here to see this addition.
Dec 16, 2002:
** Added a portrait of William Lowndes on http://www.usslowndes.net/lowndes.htm.
Click
here to see this addition.
Dec 7, 2002:
** Added a Google Search to the main page.
Nov 10, 2002:
** More spelling corrections. Added a link to the newsletter page to the list
of missing Lowndes crewmen.
Nov 6, 2002:
** Added war pics part 5. 30 more photos from my Dad's collection that I just
found. Includes several photos taken on Iwo of the Lowndes beach party members.
Also, a nice photo of Norman Richards with my Dad. Click
here to see this addition.
Nov 5, 2002:
** Added, under the war pics page, pictures from the Camp San Luis Obispo Picture
Book (1944) Click
here to see this addition.
Nov 3, 2002:
** Spelling corrections in Newsletters (about 50% complete). The scanning and
OCR of printed documents introduces some typos and spelling errors which have
to be manually corrected.
Nov 2, 2002:
** Added USS Lowndes Resolutions in memory of Norman Richards and Don Bowman
(to the memorial page). Also corrected spelling/typo errors in history page.
Oct 22, 2002:
** Added Biloxi, MS. as the tentative location for the 2003 reunion.
Oct 13, 2002:
** Added March and August 1992 newsletters.
Oct 12, 2002:
** Added first newsletters: Jan-90, june-90, Nov-90, Feb-91, Mar-91, and Aug/Sept-91.
Oct 6, 2002:
** Added Senate Resolution recognizing 1996 Lowndes Reunion. Added June 1994
newsletter. Added "Autographs of my Lowndes Friends (1945)".
Oct 5, 2002:
** Added (to the memorial page) 50th Annv of WWII ceremony program for Norman
Richards and Don Bowman.
Sept 28, 2002:
** Wow! That's all I have in the way of newsletters...Added May 1993 and April
1995. 25 newsletters scanned and on-line. Let me know if you have others.
Sept 27, 2002:
** Added Jan. 1998, Aug. 1998, Dec. 1998 newsletters.
Sept 26, 2002:
** Added USS Lowndes search capabilities under the Newsletter section. If you
want to search all newsletters and documents on this site, just go to the newsletter
page and enter a search string. It will return all web pages in the site that
contain the search words. Also added the July 1997 newsletter.
Sept 25, 2002:
** Added March 1999, June 1999, July 1999 newsletters.
Sept 24, 2002:
** Added July 1996 and Jan. 1997 newsletters.
Sept 22, 2002:
** Added April 1996 newsletter. Started additions for future USS Lowndes CD-ROM
which will include large Video files from reunions and Iwo Jima related video
and audio.
Sept 21, 2002:
** Added June 1995, August 1995, and January 1996 newsletters.
Sept 20, 2002:
** Added Oct. 1994 and Jan. 1995 newsletters.
Sept 19, 2002:
** Added Aug./Sept. 1993, Dec. 1993, and March 1994 newsletters.
Sept 17, 2002:
** Added Dec 1992, March 1993, and May 2002 newsletters. Many more to do..
Sept 13, 2002:
** Added August 2002 newsletter.
Sept 7, 2002:
** Added 25 more pictures to a Part 4 of the Lowndes War pictures. These were
photos from Fred Brinkman.
Sept 6, 2002:
** Added scanned images of the real Dog-tags of Don Bowman and Norman Richards
to the memorial page.
Sept 5, 2002:
** Added 1945 pictures of the Richards' Family to the Memorial page. Added San
Antonio Reunion pictures. Added West Palm Beach Formal Group photos.
August 31, 2002:
** Added the Video of the Senate Resolution presentation to and Speech by William
Lowndes III at Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach, SC (1996).
August 30, 2002:
** Added a Video page with videos of the Lowndes Men (Myrtle Beach) and the
Lowndes Senate Resolution presentation.
August 26, 2002:
** Added part 3 to the WWII Slideshows/Pictures.
August 24, 2002:
** Added to the memorial page and placed Iwo Jima audio clip on Iwo Jima Recollections
page.
August 22, 2002:
** Added Bud Kautz's "Recollections of Iwo Jima" (put together from the input
of many noted Lowndes members in 1995). Placed this on the "Personal Accounts"
Page. Good stuff.
August 17, 2002:
** Cosmetic changes and added animated APA-154 ship on main page.
August 11, 2002:
** Added a games page and Lowndes hangman game.
August 10, 2002:
** Dediacted the Web site to the late Lowndes members and, especially, Don Bowman
and Norman Richards. This was added to the main page.
August 8, 2002:
** Added instant ebay auction search for "Attack Transport" items on the www.usslowndes.net/ship.htm
page.
** Added Ind. IN weather report to the reunion page.
August 7, 2002:
** Added the blueprints for the Main deck of the Lowndes to the www.usslowndes.net/ship.htm
page. This is a large file and may take a couple of minutes to completely load.
WebTV viewers will only be able to see a scaled down version of this.
August 6, 2002:
** Finished making WebTV compatibility changes.
** Added a security (password) to the Lowndes' Newsletters section since the
newsletters may contain personal notes for just the Lowndes reunion group to
view. I will send out the password after I add items into this section. Currently,
nothing is in there.
Return
to the Main USS Lowndes Page
