Commander R. E. Lawrence, was born in Akron, Ohio, on April 10, 1915, and lived most of his pre-naval life in the area around Cleveland and Lakewoon, Ohio.

Beginning his naval career with his entry into the U.S. Naval Academy, at Annapolis, Maryland, in 1935, Cdr. Lawrence graduated in June of 1939. His first sea assignment was the USS New Orleans, (CA 32). Aboard the New Orleans, Cdr. Lawrence served through the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and almost every major naval campaign in the Pacific during World War II. The New Orleans would have kept intact this record of service execpt for a Japanese torpedo that carried away the entire bow section of the heavy cruiser during a night battle off Guadalcanal in Nov. of 1943.

Many varied duty assignments came to Commander Lawrence after he left the New Orleans in 1944 with the rank of Lieutenant Commander, following five and one-half years of service in various billets ending as Air Defense and Assistant Gunnery Officer. He was attached to the staff of COMMANDER CARRIER DIVISION SIX, who was in command of a Fast Carrier Task Group in the final year of World War II, and after the war went to shore duty at Camp Peary, Virginia and Bainbridge, Maryland.

In July of 1948 he received orders to the USS EDISTO, (AGB 2). The EDISTO, an icebreaker, made many interesting cruises, with Cdr. Lawrence as Executive Officer, ranging from its home port of Boston, Massachusetts, to Greenland and the waters of the Canadian Arctic.

Again reporting for shore duty in December of 1949, Cdr. Lawrence served on the staff of the COMMANDER MILITARY SEA TRANSPORTATION SERVICE, PACIFIC AREA, until his assumption of duties as Commanding Officer, USS DUNCAN, on December 19, 1952.

After being relieved by Commander E. E. CONRAD, USN, in September of 1954, Commander Lawrence reported to the COMMANDER SERVICE FORCE, PACIFIC FLEET, to assume the duties of FORCE GUNNERY OFFFICER.

Commander Lawrence's most notable decorations include the Bronze Star, the Pacific Asiatic Area ribbon with nineteen battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation.

Commander Edward E. Conrad, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1914. Following his graduation from high school, he attended Saint Louis University from 1932 until 1934, the year of his entry into the U.S. Naval Academy, at Annapolis, Naryland.

Receiving his commission as Ensign in June of 1938, Commander Conrad was assigned to the USS OMAHA, (CL 4), where he performed the general duties assigned to junior officers, as the OMAHA cruised the waters of the Mediterranean for a period of two years.

Transfer orders from the USS OMAHA tothe US NAVAL SUBMARINE SCHOOL, New London, Connecticut, in 1940, proved to be a turning point in his career, as it marked a temporary end of his above-sea duties.

In the fall of 1940, following his graduation from the US NAVAL SUBMARINE SCHOOL, after a three-month coursde, Cdr. Conrad was ordered to the recommissioning detail of the USS S-11 (SS 116), soon to rejoin the active fleet. During 1941, the first year of a two year tour of duty aboard the SS-11, he received his promotion to Lieutenant (j.g.) while serving in various departments. The second year, he assumed the position of Executive Officer of the SS-11, which was stationed in Panama at the outbreak of the hostilities now know as World War II. Toward the end of his cruise in the SS-11, he was promoted the grade of Lieutenant, in June of 1942.

When the USS HAKE (SS 256) was commissioned in the fall of 1942, Cdr Conrad found himself aboard as Engineering Officer, and during the HAKES wartime patrols in the European and Southwest Pacific Areas, he again filled the berth of Executive Officer. From 1944 to 46 he continued his undersea service, predominatly in the Pacific area serving as Executive Officer of the USS TORO, (SS 422) from 1944 to 1945, and as Commanding Officer of the USS DENTUDA (SS 335) from 1945 to 1946, and receiving promotions to Lieutenant Commander and Commander in the interim.

In 1946, withthe receipt of orders to the US NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL, his duty asignments carried him to the OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and to the KNOLLS ATOMIC POWER LABORATORY, General Electric Company in Schenectady, New York. Upon completion of these assignments he was awarded a Master of Science degree by the US NAVAL POST GRADUATE SCHOOL.

Commander Conrad again returned to sea in 1949, as Commanding Officer of the USS CORPORAL, (SS 346), based in Key West, Florida, and operating in the Atlantic area. Following this assignment he reported to the PENTAGON BUILDING, Washington, D.C., in 1951, for duty as ADMINISTRATIVE AIDE TO THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY. In 1952, having completed this duty, he undertook the task of OFFICER-IN-CHARGE, NUCLEAR BRANCH, TECHNICAL TRAINING GROUP, ARMED FORCES SPECIAL WEAPONS PROJECT, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

On September 6, 1954, Commander Conrad reported to the USS DUNCAN, at Subic Bay, Philippine Islands, to relieve Commander Robert E. Lawrence as Commanding Officer.

Commander Conrad now resides in Coronado, california, with his wife daughter and three sons.

Lieutenant W. G. Chartier, the son of Mr. and Mrs. W.J. Chartier of San Diego, California, was born in August of 1919 at Manistique, Michigan.

Attending Saint Norbert's College in DePere, Wisconsin, Lt. Chartier enlisted in the naval reserve at Green Bay, Wisconsin as an apprentice seaman and was ordered to active duty in April of 1941, a result of the impending war.

Serving as a seaman aboard the USS ARTIC, (AF 7), he was spared the terror of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, as the ARTIC cleared her assigend berth nineteen hours befoe another ship, the USS OGLALA, (AM 4) was sunk while moored at the berth previously occupied by the ARTIC.

The early part of World War II found Lt. Chartier aboard the USSS ZEILIN, (APA 3) at the initial and sustaining assults on Guadalcanal, for which action the ZEILIN was awarded the Naval Unit Commendation, and the initial assault upon Attu in the Aleutians. Armistice Day of 1942 the ZEILIN was crippled by Japanese divebombers as it reinforced the Marine divisions entrenched on Guadalcanal.

The most notable of Lt. Chartier's wartime experiences was duty aboard one of the Navy's first LSMR's at Okinawa. his ship, the LSMR 193, on picket station in company with the USS HADLEY, (DD 774), and the USS EVANS, (DD 552), withstood an all-out assault of some one hundred-fifty Japanese suicide aircraft, absorbing seven crippling hits while accounting for forty-three enemy aircraft. For this action, Lt. Chartier was awarded the Bronze Star with Combat Clasp, and his ship the Presidential Unit Citation.

In 1943, Lt. Chartier, then a Yeoman First Class, was recommended for and commissioned as an unrestrictd line Ensign.

Accxepting a regular navy commission in May of 1947, Lt. Chartier served twenty-three months aboard the USS CIMMARRON, (AO 22) on the Arabian oil run, followed by an eighteen-month tour aboard the USS RICHARD B. ANDERSON, (DD 786), as Operations and CIC Officer. It was during this tour, in May of 1949, that he was promoted to his present rank. The ANDERSON was awarded the BATTLE EFFICIENCY PENNANT in 1950 as top destroyer type in the Pacific, and most noteworthy, her Operations Department was designated by COMCRUDEPAC as Outstanding.

This assignment was followed by successive tours of duty as CIC Observer/Instructor with the FLEET TRAINING GROUP, San Diego, student at Marquette University under the Navy five-term program, and as a General Line School student at Monterey, California.

Lt. Chartier reported aboard the DUNCAN in March of 1954, relieving Lieutenant Commander James M. Ashley, Jr., as Executive Officer. (wgc)

Duncan Officers

First Row, Left to Right: LTJG J. P. Gillett, Supply and Dispersing Officer; LTJG M.N. Toselt, Gunnery Officer; Commander E. E. Conrad, Commanding Officer; LT W. G. Chartier, Executive Officer; LTJG J. P. Wise, Operations Officer; LTJG W.W. O'Dell, Engineering Officer.
Second Row, Left to Right: LTJG D. F. Kingsley, Chaplain; LTJG R. E. Thompson, Navigator; LTJG J. J. Von Der Wische, CIC Officer; ENS. R. E. Eadie, First Lieutenant; LTJG K. N. Mill, A.S.W. Officer; ENS. W. T. Herrmann, Assistant Communications Officer; ENS. R. F. Lohr, Electrical Officer; ENS. J. B. Sissom, Communications Officer.
Third Row, Left to Right: LTJG G. Hecht, Damage Control Assistant; LTJG P. J. Hanson, Electronics Officer; ENS. D. E. Cummings, Main Propulsion Assistant; LTJG G. H. Boyd, Assistant Gunnery Officer; ENS. J. F. Tore, Fire Control Officer.

Duncan Chiefs

Front Row, Left to Right: O.O. Olson, MMC; R. N. Hollomen, QMC; M. Beruman, BTC; W. E. Haynes, GMC; R. F. LeGall, BMC; G. A. Lyman, MMC; Second Row, Left to Right: P. Willard, HMC; D. W. Hancock, MMC; H. L. Combs, Jr., EMC; J. C. Schultz Jr., FTC;
Not Present: C. A. Thornton, CSC

Undress Whites with open ocean in the background, We're on our way!

Making steam and steaming, Duncan's engineers - Don't Sweat It!

Over the side, on deck, or topside, shipswork is "work without end, amen!"

Liberty Call! Heading ashore, Lookin for the right joint, Found it!

Crewman Leland Hewgley Slide Show

All images in the animation must load in before showing in sequence.

Each image above is the lead image in an animated series of photos taken by Leland Hewgley aboard Duncan in 1954.
TOP ROW - LEFT: Photos of ships . TOP ROW - CENTER: Duncan sailors on and off the ship. TOP ROW - RIGHT: People and places.

Ports of Call!

Welcome to Sasebo located in southwest Japan

Yokosuka, Japan - western pacific home to the U.S. Seventh Fleet!

Kaoshiung, Taiwan; Republic of China

Historic Subic Bay, Republic of the Philippines

Hongkong, China

My Guestbook

Created: Sunday, July 27, 1997 Last update: Tuesday, July 18 ©Copyright 2001 USS Duncan DDR 874 Crew & Reunion Association The information you receive on-line from this site is protected by the copyright laws of the United States. The copyright laws prohibit any copying, redistributing, retransmitting, or repurposing of any copyright-protected material.