SOMOS PRIMOS: Dedicated to Hispanic Heritage and Diversity Issues

	BusinessWeek.com March 15, 2004 shares three scenarios for Hispanics identified by experts for Hispanics role in American life: Melting In Hispanics follow the path of all other immigrant groups and gradually meld into American life, giving up Spanish and marrying non-Hispanics. Acculturation Most Latinos speak both languages and retain much of their own culture and ties to the home countries, even as they adapt to US lifestyles. Mexifornia Many remain in Spanish-speaking enclaves and set the cultural and political agenda in soon-to-be majority-Hispanic states like California and Texas.
Hispanic Nation http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_11/b3874001_mz001.htm By Brian Grow, with Ronald Grover, Arlene Weintraub, and Christopher Palmeri in Los Angeles, Mara Der Hovanesian in New York, Michael Eidam in Atlanta, and bureau reports. Sent by Dr. JV Martinez, Joe.Martinez@science.doe.gov Dr. Refugio Rochin rochin@sacnas.org [[There were many articles in this issue of Business Week. Below are extracts.]] Hispanics are an immigrant group like no other. Their huge numbers are challenging old assumptions about assimilation. Is America ready? Maria Velazquez was born in a dingy hospital on the U.S.-Mexican border and has been straddling the two nations ever since. The 36-year-old daughter of a bracero, a Mexican migrant who tended California strawberry and lettuce fields in the 1960s, she spent her first nine years like a nomad, crossing the border with her family each summer to follow her father to work. Then her parents and their six children settled down in a Chicago barrio, where Maria learned English in the local public school and met Carlos Velazquez, who had immigrated from Mexico as a teenager. The two married in 1984, when Maria was 17, and relocated to nearby Cicero, Ill. Her parents returned to their homeland the next year with five younger kids. Advertisement The Velazquezes speak fluent English and cherish their middle-class foothold in America. Maria and Carlos each earn about $20,000 a year as a school administrator and a graveyard foreman, respectively, and they own a simple three-bedroom home. But they remain wedded to their native language and culture. Spanish is the language at home, even for their five boys, ages 6 to 18. The kids speak to each other and their friends in English flecked with "dude" and "man," but in Cicero, where 77% of the 86,000 residents are Hispanic, Spanish dominates. The older boys snack at local taquerías when they don't eat at home, where Maria's cooking runs to dishes like chicken mole and enchiladas. The family reads and watches TV in Spanish and English. The eldest, Jesse, is a freshman at nearby Morton College and dreams of becoming a state trooper; his girlfriend is also Mexican-American. "It's important that they know where they're from, that they're connected to their roots," says Maria, who bounced between Spanish and English while speaking to BusinessWeek. She tries to take the kids to visit her parents in the tiny Mexican town of Valle de Guadalupe at least once a year. "It gives them a good base to start from." The Velazquezes, with their mixed cultural loyalties, are at the center of America's new demographic bulge. Baby boomers, move over -- the bebé boomers are coming. They are 39 million strong, including some 8 million illegal immigrants -- bilingual, bicultural, mostly younger Hispanics who will drive growth in the U.S. population and workforce as far out as statisticians can project (charts). Coming from across Latin America, but predominantly Mexico, and with high birth rates, these immigrants are creating what experts are calling a "tamale in the snake," a huge cohort of kindergarten to thirty something Hispanics created by the sheer velocity of their population growth -- 3% a year, vs. 0.8% for everyone else. It's not just that Latinos, as many prefer to be called, officially passed African Americans last year to become the nation's largest minority. Their numbers are so great that, like the postwar baby boomers before them, the Latino Generation is becoming a driving force in the economy, politics, and culture. Cultural Clout It amounts to no less than a shift in the nation's center of gravity. Hispanics made up half of all new workers in the past decade, a trend that will lift them from roughly 12% of the workforce today to nearly 25% two generations from now. Despite low family incomes, which at $33,000 a year lag the national average of $42,000, Hispanics' soaring buying power increasingly influences the food Americans eat, the clothes they buy, and the cars they drive. Companies are scrambling to revamp products and marketing to reach the fastest-growing consumer group. Latino flavors are seeping into mainstream culture, too. The U.S. has never faced demographic change quite like this before. Certainly, the Latino boom brings a welcome charge to the economy at a time when others' population growth has slowed to a crawl. Former Housing and Urban Development chief Henry Cisneros, who now builds homes in Hispanic-rich markets such as San Antonio, says "Here we have this younger, hard-working Latino population whose best working years are still ahead," he says. Yet the rise of a minority group this distinct requires major adjustments, as well. Already, Hispanics are spurring U.S. institutions to accommodate a second linguistic group. The Labor Dept. and Social Security Administration are hiring more Spanish-language administrators to cope with the surge in Spanish speakers in the workforce. Politicians, too, increasingly reach out to Hispanics in their own language. What's not yet clear is whether Hispanic social cohesion will be so strong as to actually challenge the idea of the American melting pot. At the extreme, ardent assimilationists worry that the spread of Spanish eventually could prompt Congress to recognize it as an official second language, much as French is in Canada today. Some even predict a Quebec-style Latino dominance in states such as Texas and California that will encourage separatism, a view expressed in a recent book called *Mexifornia: A State of Becoming* by Victor Davis Hanson, a history professor at California State University at Fresno. These views have recently been echoed by Harvard University political scientist Samuel P. Huntington in a forthcoming book, *Who Are We. These critics argue that legions of poorly educated non-English speakers undermine the U.S. economy. Although the steady influx of low-skilled workers helps keep America's gardens tended and floors cleaned, those workers also exert downward pressure on wages across the lower end of the pay structure. Already, this is causing friction with African Americans, who see their jobs and pay being hit. "How are we going to compete in a global market when 50% of our fastest-growing group doesn't graduate from high school?" demands former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm, who now co-directs a public policy center at the University of Denver. Still, many experts think it's more likely that the U.S. will find a new model, more salad bowl than melting pot, that accommodates a Latino subgroup without major upheaval. "America has to learn to live with diversity -- the change in population, in [Spanish-language] media, in immigration," says Andrew Erlich, the founder of Erlich Transcultural Consultants Inc. in North Hollywood, Calif. Hispanics aren't so much assimilating as acculturating -- acquiring a new culture while retaining their original one -- says Felipe Korzenny, a professor of Hispanic marketing at Florida State University. It boils down to this: How much will Hispanics change America, and how much will America change them? Throughout the country's history, successive waves of immigrants eventually surrendered their native languages and cultures and melted into the middle class. It didn't always happen right away. During the great European migrations of the 1800s, Germans settled in an area stretching from Pennsylvania to Minnesota. They had their own schools, newspapers, and businesses, and spoke German, says Demetrios G. Papademetriou, co-founder of the Migration Policy Institute in Washington. But in a few generations, their kids spoke only English and embraced American aspirations and habits. Hispanics may be different, and not just because many are nonwhites. True, Maria Velazquez worries that her boys may lose their Spanish and urges them to speak it more. Even so, Hispanics today may have more choice than other immigrant groups to remain within their culture. With national TV networks such as Univision Communications Inc. (UVN ) and hundreds of mostly Spanish-speaking enclaves like Cicero, Hispanics may find it practical to remain bilingual. Today, 78% of U.S. Latinos speak Spanish, even if they also know English, according to the Census Bureau. Back and Forth* The 21 million Mexicans among them also have something else no other immigrant group has had: They're a car ride away from their home country. Many routinely journey back and forth, allowing them to maintain ties that Europeans never could. The dual identities are reinforced by the constant influx of new Latino immigrants -- roughly 400,000 a year, the highest flow in U.S. history. The steady stream of newcomers will likely keep the foreign-born, who typically speak mostly or only Spanish, at one-third of the U.S. Hispanic population for several decades. Their presence means that "Spanish is constantly refreshed, which is one of the key contrasts with what people think of as the melting pot," says Roberto Suro, director of the Pew Hispanic Center, a Latino research group in Washington. A slow pace of assimilation is likely to hurt Hispanics themselves the most, especially poor immigrants who show up with no English and few skills. Latinos have long lagged in U.S. schools, in part because many families remain cloistered in Spanish-speaking neighborhoods. Their strong work ethic can compound the problem by propelling many young Latinos into the workforce before they finish high school. So while the Hispanic high-school-graduation rate has climbed 12 percentage points since 1980, to 57%, that's still woefully short of the 88% for non-Hispanic whites and 80% for African Americans. Meld into the Mainstream The failure to develop skills leaves many Hispanics trapped in low-wage service jobs that offer few avenues for advancement. Incomes may not catch up anytime soon, either, certainly not for the millions of undocumented Hispanics. Most of these, from Mexican street-corner day laborers in Los Angeles to Guatemalan poultry-plant workers in North Carolina, toil in the underbelly of the U.S. economy. Many low-wage Hispanics would fare better economically if they moved out of the barrios and assimilated into U.S. society. Most probably face less racism than African Americans, since Latinos are a diverse ethnic and linguistic group comprising every nationality from Argentinians, who have a strong European heritage, to Dominicans, with their large black population. Even so, the pull of a common language may keep many in a country apart. Certainly immigrants often head for a place where they can get support from fellow citizens, or even former neighbors. Some 90% of immigrants from Tonatico, a small town 100 miles south of Mexico City, head for Waukegan, Ill., joining 5,000 Tonaticans already there. In Miami, of course, Cubans dominate. "Miami has Hispanic banks, Hispanic law firms, Hispanic hospitals, so you can more or less conduct your entire life in Spanish here," says Leopoldo E. Guzman, 57. He came to the U.S. from Cuba at 15 and turned a Columbia University degree into a job at Lazard Frères & Co. before founding investment bank Guzman & Co. Or take the Velazquezes' home of Cicero, a gritty factory town that once claimed fame as Al Capone's headquarters. Originally populated mostly by Czechs, Poles, and Slovaks, the Chicago suburb started decaying in the 1970s as factories closed and residents fled in search of jobs. Then a wave of young Mexican immigrants drove the population to its current Hispanic dominance, up from 1% in 1970. Today, the town president, equivalent to a mayor, is a Mexican immigrant, Ramiro Gonzalez, and Hispanics have replaced whites in the surviving factories and local schools. It's still possible that Cicero's Latino children will follow the path of so many other immigrants and move out into non-Hispanic neighborhoods. If they do, they, or at least their children, will likely all but abandon Spanish, gradually marry non-Hispanics, and meld into the mainstream. But many researchers and academics say that's not likely for many Hispanics. In fact, a study of assimilation and other factors shows that while the number of Hispanics who prefer to speak mostly Spanish has dipped in recent years as the children of immigrants grow up with English, there has been no increase in those who prefer only English. Instead, the HispanTelligence study found that the group speaking both languages has climbed six percentage points since 1995, to 63%, and is likely to jump to 67% by 2010. The trend to acculturate rather than assimilate is even more stark among Latino youth. Today, 97% of Mexican kids whose parents are immigrants and 76% of other Hispanic immigrant children know Spanish, even as nearly 90% also speak English very well, according to a decade-long study by University of California at Irvine sociologist Rubén G. Rumbaut. More striking, those Latino kids keep their native language at four times the rate of Filipino, Vietnamese, or Chinese children of immigrants. "Before, immigrants tried to become Americans as soon as possible," says Sergio Bendixen, founder of Bendixen & Associates, a polling firm in Coral Gables, Fla., that specializes in Hispanics. "Now, it's the opposite." Selling in Spanish A few companies are even going all-Spanish. After local Hispanic merchants stole much of its business in a Houston neighborhood that became 85% Latino, Kroger Co. (KR ), the nation's No.1 grocery chain, spent $1.8 million last year to convert the 59,000-sq.-ft. store into an all-Hispanic supermercado. Now, Spanish-language signs welcome customers, and catfish and banana leaves line the aisles. Across the country, Kroger has expanded its private-label Buena Comida line from the standard rice and beans to 105 different items. As the ranks of Spanish speakers swell, Spanish-language media are transforming from a niche market into a stand-alone industry. Ad revenues on Spanish-language TV should climb by 16% this year, more than other media segments, according to TNS Media Intelligence/CMR. The audience of Univision, the No.1 Spanish-language media conglomerate in the U.S., has soared by 44% since 2001, and by 146% in the 18- to 34-year-old group. Many viewers have come from English-language networks, whose audiences have declined in that period. The Hispanicizing of America raises a number of political flash points. Over the years, periodic backlashes have erupted in areas with fast-growing Latino populations, notably former California Governor Pete Wilson's 1994 effort, known as Proposition 187, to ban social services to undocumented immigrants. English-only laws, which limit or prohibit schools and government agencies from using Spanish, have passed in some 18 states. Most of these efforts have been ineffective, but they're likely to continue as the Latino presence increases. For more than 200 years, the nation has succeeded in weaving the foreign-born into the fabric of U.S. society, incorporating strands of new cultures along the way. With their huge numbers, Hispanics are adding all kinds of new influences. Cinco de Mayo has joined St. Patrick's Day as a public celebration in some neighborhoods, and burritos are everyday fare. More and more, Americans hablan Español. Will Hispanics be absorbed just as other waves of immigrants were? It's possible, but more likely they will continue to straddle two worlds, figuring out ways to remain Hispanic even as they become Americans. Why Are Latinos Leading Blacks In The Job Market? By Roger O. Crockett in Chicago The booming Hispanic labor force turns out to have an unexpected side effect: Latinos are outperforming blacks in the job market. Part of the reason stems from the fact that many Hispanics have less education or are vulnerable illegal immigrants willing to work for less pay. Economic and cultural factors play a role, too, say some experts, such as Latino immigrants' higher willingness to change cities to find a job. Add it up, and "many are hired to do work that blacks once had," says the Reverend Jesse Jackson. http://ads.businessweek.com/event.ng No question, Latinos have fared better in the job market recently. Despite the recession and the jobless recovery, their employment has surged by 27% since 1999, to 17.4 million last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (charts). Meanwhile, the number of employed blacks fell by 400,000 over this period, to 14.7 million. True, the Hispanic jobless rate has climbed two percentage points since its 2000 low, to 7.7% last year. That's because Latinos have entered the labor force to look for work at a faster pace than jobs have become available. Of course, Hispanics are highly diverse, so the total stat masks the 10% jobless rate for Puerto Rican men, for example, vs. a 6% rate for Cuban men, who tend to have more education. Still, black joblessness not only has been higher than the Latino average for years but has also jumped more: three percentage points since 2000, to 10.8% last year. Why such differences, even though there are roughly the same number of blacks and Hispanics in the U.S.? Chalk most of it up to the several hundred thousand Latinos pouring into the U.S. every year, mostly from Mexico. While many head for neighborhoods where they know someone, others have no established roots and are freer to chase jobs from California to North Carolina. Hispanics are also more likely to work in industries that have defied economic malaise, including agriculture, construction, and services such as laundry and landscaping. Construction has added 670,000 jobs in the past three years as builders kept pace with booming demand. Fully 12.5% of employed Hispanics work in construction, while only 4.7% of blacks do. Meanwhile, blacks have a long history of disproportionate employment in manufacturing, finance, and government -- all hit hard in recent years. Over 10% work in manufacturing, which shed nearly 1 million jobs in the past year. While 13% of Latinos work in factories, too, blacks are focused in much harder-hit durable goods such as cars, steel, and electronics. So they suffered factory-job losses of almost 500,000 since December, 2000, while Latinos, who tend to work in less affected industries, such as food processing, lost only 65,000 factory posts. Latinos' willingness to work for less pay may play a role in their faster hiring rate, too. At $440, the average weekly earnings of Hispanics are nearly 15% less than what blacks make and 31% less than whites. A lot of that reflects Hispanics' lower educational levels. More-educated blacks have walked away from the $9 an hour offered to entry-level workers by Canyon Fireplace in Anaheim, Calif. But Hispanics "take it and run," says owner Robert D. Lewis. The outcome: More Latinos than blacks are rising with the employment tide. Interview: In early February, BusinessWeek Correspondent Brian Grow spoke with Graciela Eleta, 41, vice-president and general manager of P&G's multicultural-marketing team, about why the company is ramping up efforts to capture the Hispanic market and whether Hispanics are changing the way America does business. Following are edited excerpts from their conversation: Question: You've said Hispanics are a key cornerstone of future growth in North America for Procter & Gamble. Why? Answer: It's obvious -- the changing face of North America. Today, the ratio of people over 70 years old is one to five [for Caucasians] vs. people of ethnic origin. In the less-than-29-years-old category, the ratio is one to one. So, you can expect that a full one of every two consumers in North America will be of ethnic origin -- and about a quarter will be Hispanic. We're looking at the multicultural arena as the wave of the future. Not participating in this growing demographic is no longer an option. Here Come The Latino Home Buyers Former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros says by decade's end, this group will buy some 3 million homes, including thousands from his company Few executives have had as varied a career as Henry Cisneros. He was the first Hispanic mayor of a major U.S. city (San Antonio). Later, he served as U.S. Housing & Urban Development Secretary under President Clinton and then as president of Hispanic broadcaster Univision Communications (UVN ) in the 1990s. Question: Isn't the reason that builders neglected these neighborhoods because the residents couldn't afford new homes? Answer: We're working a lot with lenders. Now they pay attention to things like the way they count rental experience, they help people correct credit problems. The Latino population is immensely hard-working. It's low-wage, but they have two, three, or four workers per household. In Southern California, 52% had at least three workers in the home. So the whole household functions as a middle-class unit. They may work as gardeners, but when you have three people working, they live like the middle class. It's a huge phenomenon. Question: So immigration, from your perspective, is still a good thing for the U.S.? Answer: It's going to be one of the saving graces of our country. Japan, like Germany, France, and Italy, is worried about the aging and homogeneity of their population. They are facing negative growth scenarios. Here in the U.S., we have this younger, hard-working population, whose best working years are still ahead. Most Americans don't recognize what an asset this is. Most people think they are less educated. They speak with an accent, but they are a huge contribution to the country. Question: Are Hispanics changing the way America does business? Answer: Yes. They are forcing companies to come to grips with marketing as we have known it in the past. The era of efficient marketing -- where you blanketed America with one, generic, white-bread message -- is gone. With fragmentation -- cable TV, the Internet, Hispanics, African Americans -- you really are faced with the challenge of how to touch that consumer in a cost-efficient, relevant, and timely way.
Latino New Urbanism http://www.latinonewurbanism.org/ 623 North Azusa Ave. Azusa, CA 91702, Phone: (626) 969-5599, Fax: (626) 969-3969 Sent by Robert Gonzales rgonzales@mexicanheritage.org
Heroism, Ferry Accident in Washington, D.C. Source of information Major Millie Rosa Sent by JV Martinez Joe.Martinez@science.doe.gov The Air Force Section Battle Commander for the 141st Air Control Squadron of the Puerto Rico Air National Guard is assigned to the nation's capitol to maintain air space security, that includes serving as air traffic controllers and maintaining communications equipment. About this mission, LTC Juan Jose Medina said, " Morale is high and we are extremely proud to have been chosen to protect the nation's capital ." Unexpectedly and through a fortunate coincidence the Rican National Guard was able to came to the rescue of passengers that were being transported on a ferry, a 36 foot pontoon boat , that capsized on March 6 in the Baltimore Harbor. (Reference: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news. March 8 edition.) The four airmen , MSG David Blakeley, SSG Antonio Acosta, SSG Alejandro Gonzalez, SSG Luis Nazario , happened to be on board the ferry named Seaport Taxi , a two ton boat, which was capsized by a sudden and unexpected air burst sending all the 25 passengers into the bay and of which only 22 survived. The airmen , who were on a pleasure trip on their day off, escaped from the boat by first breaking the windows, well underwater, and were able to help other passengers swim to safety despite 40 degree waters. Three passengers did not survive, a six-year old child and a 26-year old couple. All four airmen sustained minor injuries for which they received medical treatment at a local medical facility, and released. They authorized release of their names and the statements but did not consent to media interviews. Gonzalez , who suffered a cut on his head from a brush with the remaining broken window while escaping, said, "I don't know how to swim so I don't know how I got out. I just commended myself to God and asked him to give me one last breath to see my children." Gonzalez, "Two minutes after I was up and still catching my breath I was called by Acosta to help Blakeley bring up the crew mate." Blakeley expressed , "An angel saved me because I can not remember how I got out. I was the last one from our group of to come out. When the boat turned over water started coming in really fast. As the water started coming up to what was now the top of the boat I took a deep breath. A feeling of tranquility came over me and I thought about my wife and the soldiers with me. As I got ready to exhale I saw a light and the next thing I knew I was on the surface and saw our guys. As I came up I saw our guys and breathed a sigh of relief. I saw a couple with a child who still had 2 kids at the bottom and they were screaming for someone to help them. I swam down and felt a foot and got the crew mate who was turning purple. Acosta and Nazario gave him CPR and brought him back to life." An older man floated up and Acosta grabbed him by his jacket whereupon he and Gonzalez pulled him in. An older woman was helped by Nazario and Gonzalez. Survivors managed to reach the top of the boat on their own or were helped to do so. The overturned boat was about 1,000 feet from shore. The survivors were then rescued by the Navy Reserve. A female Navy Reservist by the name of Cruz , who was not on the boat, secured dry clothing, blankets, food for the survivors, including the airmen, and helped them to reach warm shelter. The involvement of Cruz, a Puerto Rican herself, shows that indeed it is a small world being that she took part in the rescue to provide critical comfort to other Puerto Ricans. Gonzalez added , "When the RC (Naval Reserve) came up they got into the water without a second's thought to get the others that were still down." He added the RC rescuers did not even stop to put on wet suits, they just dove right in. In light of the fact they were victims of the accident and still went on to save others Gonzalez said, "We were just at the right place at the wrong time."

Smithsonian Castle 1000 Jefferson Dr., SW.	National Archives Rotunda
World War II Memorial Dedication Hispanic activities at the National Archives and the Smithsonian
Plans are taking shape for the events being coordinated through the efforts of Latino Advocates for Education and the Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research in collaboration with Sam Anthony, Director of Program Lectures at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C. Friday, May 28 and Sunday, May 30 in the Washington Room (Room 121) - lectures, book signings, and panel discussions World War II Hispanic American Heroes: One and Apart. Over 500,000 Hispanic Americans served in the Army, Army Air Corps, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard. Historians, veterans, and authors will discuss the lives of several of these veterans. Each event will be 90 minute in length, including prepared remarks by the author/historian, and a question and answer session with the audience. These lectures will be held in the Washington Room (Room 121), and are free and open to the public. Reservations are recommended, but not required. Friday, May 28 at 10:30 a.m. - Lt. Colonel Henry Cervantes, USAF (Ret.) will discuss his book, "PILOTO, Migrant Worker to Jet Pilot". Born to a family of migrant workers, through initiative and determination, Hank Cervantes was able to rise above the want and misery of the Great Depression to succeed in a profession where few Latinos have. After serving as a pilot in the "Bloody 100th" Bomb Group in Europe during World War II, Hank returned to the States and pursued a military career that eventually earned him the rank of Lt. Colonel and a position in the Strategic Air Command (SAC) overseeing development of the top-secret B-58 Hustler, the world's first supersonic bomber. Friday, May 28 at 1 p.m. - Guy Gabaldon, USMC (Ret.) will discuss his service in WW2 and the film Hell to Eternity, based on his experiences in WW2. Marine PFC Gabaldon received the Silver Star (later Navy Cross) for actions performed on Saipan in 1944 when he captured over one-thousand Japanese soldiers and civilians. Will have video (Aguirre will have 15 minute video from 'This is your life') Friday, May 28 at 3 p.m. - Dr. Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez will present, "Unsung Heroes: Mexican American WWII Veterans Who Championed Latino Civil Rights." Based on her forthcoming book from the University of Texas Press. Rivas-Rodriguez, Director of U.S. Latino and Latina WWII Oral History Project at the University of Texas at Austin, will be joined by veteran Virgilio Roel, who served with the 517TH Parachute Infantry Regiment in the European Theater. Mr. Roel became a federal judge in American Samoa from July 1962 to September 1967 and is a member of Hispanic civil rights organizations, including the American GI Forum. This Oral History Project consists of interviews of over 450 Latinas and Latinos throughout the country.
Friday evening, May 28th, at 6:30 p.m., a reception will be held in the Smithsonian Castle. The reception is being sponsored by: Latino Advocates for Education, Inc. Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research American G.I. Forum Veterans in Community Service, Inc. Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives The reception will honor World War II Hispanic/Latino Veterans. White House and Pentagon dignitaries, including congressional leaders will be in attendance. Senator Orrin Hatch, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez and Congressman Ed Royce have agreed to act as Honorary Hosts of the reception. For information, email mimilozano@aol.com or LMaguirre@adelphia.net Please write, Reception information requested in the subject window.
Sunday, May 30 at 10:30 a.m. - Dr. Bruce Ashcroft will present "Verneda Rodriguez, Rosita the Riveter, and the Contributions of Latinas during World War II." The contribution of Latina women to the World War II effort is an emerging story - while these women did not fight on the front lines overseas, they served the nation in a multitude of ways. The session will focus primarily upon the career of Verneda Rodriguez, one of about 1,000 women pilots who flew in support of the U.S. military during the war. A discussion of Latinas in the military and in industry provides additional examples of their service will be followed by a question and answer session with the audience. Ashcroft is an historian with the Air Force at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. Sunday, May 30 at 1 p.m. - Historians Frederick and Linda Aguirre will discuss "America's Patriots: Mexican Americans in World War II" and "Books in Progress: Profiles of Mexican American Veterans of WW2." Profiles of veterans include: Pete Limon, USS Swan, Pearl Harbor attack survivor; Lt. Col. Gil Encinas Kuhn, 8th Air Force, B-17 Pilot; Salvador Maldonado, survivor of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis; Henry Duran, Battle of Corregidor and POW; Manuel Grajeda, Battle of Remagen Bridge; Alfred Aguirre and Eutiquio Martinez, Battle of Okinawa; David Gonzalez, Medal of Honor recipient; Julia P. Aguirre and Sara A. Miranda, "Rosie Riveters"; Al Garcia and his 5 brothers who served during World War II. By example, we honor the 500,000 Mexican Americans who courageously fought in every battle in the Pacific and European theaters.

Extract: Immigration: What Reform Will Bring to our Nation Sent by Lourdes Tinajero LourdesTinajero1@cs.com WASHINGTON, March 3, PRNewswire-FirstCall At the National Press Club forum, "Immigration: What Reform Will Bring to our Nation," Charlie Fote, chairman and CEO of First Data Corp called for action: "First Data Corp. and its subsidiary, Western Union, step forward to join a national call for a more enlightened debate. We seek and support ways to allow the voices of those most affected to be heard. This is a critical issue for our country and our consumers." The forum panelists included leaders from the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI), North American Integration and Development Center/UCLA. In the spirit of the forum's discussion, Charlie Fote, chairman and CEO of First Data Corp. said, "First Data proudly announces our $10 million commitment to the communities we serve here and abroad. By creating the First Data Empowerment Fund, we are announcing our intention to act as a long-term and active participant in the dialogue relating to critical issues such as immigration reform and economic empowerment." "This debate must take place in full support of the respect and dignity of immigrants and their families," Fote stated. Fote indicated that any legislation implementing immigration reform should honor the following principles: * A new immigration policy must recognize that immigrants strengthen the U.S. economy and diversify the social fabric of our society. * Any new policy must address the educational and health needs of immigrants' children. Children are our future -- they cannot be ignored. * The policy must contain a mechanism to reduce the backlog of families seeking to immigrate to the U.S. * There must be a fundamental reassessment of U.S. immigration and migrant worker policies, practices and laws as a means of living up to our democratic values. * A new policy must contain new regulations and requirements that are reasonable, enforceable and not overly burdensome to businesses or individuals. * There must be an acknowledgement that the solution to inhibiting undocumented immigration must address economic development and growth issues in the exporting countries from which immigrants come. * The new policy must appropriately balance the concerns of immigrants with the need to protect U.S. residents.
Congressional seats held by Hispanics Although 1 of every 3 Californians is Latino, they hold only 1 of 8 California congressional seats. Latinos hold 1 of every 4 seats in the state Capitol. While it is more difficult to determine the ratio among local elected officials, the Latino elected officials group estimates that about 1 in 20 local elected spots are held by Latinos. Copley News Service, extract from Demographics suggest Latino's clout could be much greater than it is. February 29, 2004
¡Si! Something must be done! By Ricardo Castañón/HispanicVista Occupational accidental death rate Mexican workers one in 16,000 US-born worker one in 28,000. An investigation conducted by The Associated Press, compared safety statistics among various ethnic groups. Justin Pritchard (AP) reports that the study covered from 1996 through 2002 and based its findings on data from the US Bureau of labor statistics. The annual death rate for Mexican workers was found to be -one in 16,000- while the average US born worker was -one in 28,000. Our brothers are more likely to be killed than other workers doing similar work. Kids in their teens get buried in ditches at construction sites or in the fields. Others get torn apart by heavy equipment -it is gruesome. Ignorance of the language and over eagerness are the major reasons why. Hispanic-Americans who master both languages fluently, need to start an educational campaign to get these folks to read bilingual materials. While there are some cases where indigenous immigrants don't even read Spanish, they still have that same drive to progress as the next guy. They will welcome every opportunity to improve their condition. Advocacy groups should distribute bilingual fliers at the work place. Workshops should be organized to train legions of volunteers that would visit work sites and conduct preventive seminars on safety standards. English reading and writing courses should be offered by bilingual instructors to the workers and their families. Pictures of accidents should be distributed along with slogans like: "Don't let this happen to you!" "No permitas que esto te pase a ti!" "Do NOT become an statistic!" "No te combiertas en estadistica!" "READ, learn English!" "Lee, aprende Inglés!" There are myriads of other messages that would have a positive effect on our folks. We owe it to our heritage, to our family principles and values. We MUST lend a helping hand and try to remedy this awful situation. They are out there helplessly in the middle of the battlefield. Few to guide them and many awaiting to take their place. We need to reach these folks NOW! We cannot wait 'till Spanish seminars are set up at conference rooms. How would undocumented folks learn about time, place and program' schedules? Even if they did, they are not likely to attend for fear of revealing their status and potential deportation. I urge those of us in the printing business, in the paper industry, in the translation services, in the publishing fields... to PLEASE pitch in. We need to design, print, and distribute thousands over thousands of multi color fliers. We need to get Spanish worded safety warnings and instructions to them. We need to make an effort to reach them out of their foxholes. Whether by volunteer workers going to the field, or by dropping them them of from an airplane, these fliers would be the first step in a truly effective method to improve their chances. The bright color fliers would catch their attention and make them think twice about the issue. Maybe even talk among themselves about it, and that's the goal we attempt to achieve. Documented or not, they are human beings in an strange territory. They are easy prey for all kinds of use and abuse by others. We have a moral and a traditional obligation to prevent that from happening. Most importantly, we need to let them know they are NOT alone! Their hopes would be re-lit learning that those of us already aboard are reaching out for them. They are as soft clay now, but they have an iron heart and a healthy brain. I know there is another Rosario Marin, another Andres Bermudez-Viramontes aka the "Tomato King" among them. Some of these now humble immigrants will eventually father and rear to maturity another Cesar Chavez, another Ricardo Sanchez, another Edward J. Olmos, another Hector Elizondo and etceteras. This is how our Hispanic genes get perpetuated along with our traditional values. The time for community reunion is NOW! Top and bottom constitute our union, our moral heritage. Let us pull together in a worthy cause! Let us invest in the future of our nation within our greater nation! Let us show every one, but most importantly to ourselves and our siblings, what we are made of. Let us put that fiber to the test. comfort and abundance have not softened it, we simply had not had an occasion to bring it about. Well... the time has come. Unbutton your shirt and open up your heart. Think and act as your conscience commands. I know we are all connected. Verdad que... Si? ------------------------------------------------------ Ricardo Castañón is a bilingual essayist contributing weekly columns to HispanicVista.com He has authored an anthology of motivational articles. Book information is at www.IkarosPress.com Ricardo is based in El Paso, TX He can be reached at Rico@IkarosPress.com 10520 Elmridge Ct. El Paso, TX 79925
Smithsonian Institute for Interpretation & Representation of Latino Cultures, June 21 to July 2, 2004 Application deadline April 9, 2004 For more information: http://latino.si.edu/SIIRLC or send an e-mail tolatinoconference@si.edu In 2002, scholars in Latino studies, archivists, and museum professions convened in Washington, D.C.. The purpose was to examine the current status of research and educational literature on the interpretation, representation, and documentation of Latino cultures in museums and academic programs within the United States and Puerto Rico. It is now available online in its entirety, and absolutely free of charge. Check it out at: http://latino.si.edu/researchandmuseums
Extract: Rise in Hispanics and Asian-Americans Is Predicted March 18, 2004, By REUTERS http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/18/national/18CENS.html? ex=1080656831&ei=1&en=b15468c62e11024a Sent by John Inclan galveston@yahoo.com WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) - The Hispanic and Asian-American populations in the United States are expected to triple by 2050, when non-Hispanic whites would account for the barest majority, according to a Census Bureau report to be released Thursday. Hispanic-Americans would make up nearly a quarter of the nation's population at mid-century, the report says. "This is going to be the workforce that sustains us as a nation, so we can make choices today that are dramatically going to change the outlook 20 or 30 years from now," Sonia Perez of the National Council of La Raza said Wednesday, referring to coming national elections. The number of Hispanic-Americans should rise to nearly 103 million from about 36 million, and their share of the population would nearly double, to 24.4 percent from 12.6 percent, the bureau report says. Asian-Americans, who now make up 3.8 percent of the populace, would represent 8 percent by mid-century, it says. Their numbers would increase to more than 33 million from nearly 11 million. The American population over all should also continue to grow, to about 420 million in 2050 from 282 million in 2000, the report says. But non-Hispanic whites would add only moderately to their numbers, to 210 million from 196 million. They would make up just 50.1 percent of the population in 2050, compared with 69.4 percent four years ago, when the last census was taken. The black population is projected to rise to 61 million from 36 million, raising its share of the total population to 14.6 percent from 12.7 percent.
PBS Presents New Miniseries Entitled "The New Americans" Sent by Howard Shorr howardshorr@msn.com On March 29, 30, & 31, 2004, PBS will be premiering a seven-hour miniseries THE NEW AMERICANS. "The series focuses on the search for the American Dream through the eyes of today's immigrants and refugees." (Independent Television Service (ITVS) http://www.itvs.org/outreach/ ) An extensive series guide and activity book can be downloaded from http://www.itvsorg/outreach/newamericans/guide/ To be aired on Oregon Public Broadcasting: On the Net: http://www.pbs.org http://www.opb.org/schedule/tv/program.php?t=NEW%20AMERICANS Showings EPISODE 1 (Monday, March 29) The two-hour film introduces Barine, Israel and Ngozi, refugees from Nigeria; Dominicans Ricardo Rodriguez and Jose Garcia, highly promising baseball players; and Naima, a young Palestinian woman who marries a Palestinian-American, Hatem. EPISODE 2 (Tuesday, March 30) This two-hour episode shows how the subjects struggle in differing ways and degrees to leave their countries of origin and then grapple with the initial culture shock of being in the United States. The second hour of the program introduces Pedro Flores, a Mexican meatpacker living in Liberal, Kansas, as he returns home to see his large, gregarious family on their ranch outside of Guanajuato. EPISODE 3 (Wednesday, March 31, 9 pm) The three-hour final episode continues to record the ups and downs of the individuals introduced in the previous programs, and incorporates the story of Anjan, an Indian computer programmer, and his wife Harshani and their adjustment to life in the U.S. The magic of Gregory Nava's 'American Family' returns By LYNN ELBER, Associated Press, March 30, 2004 At a theater screening of ''American Family,'' creator Gregory Nava got the reaction he wanted - and the one he hopes to draw from TV viewers. The audience of about 900 weighed in as two characters, a pro-Iraq War father and his anti-war daughter, exchanged angry words about the conflict in which another relative is serving. ''They went crazy. Some people supported Jess and they were applauding him,'' Nava recalled. ''Some people supported Nina and they were applauding her. You could see the division in the country right there in the audience.'' When the argument ended in a seemingly irreparable rift between the two, ''the theater turned stone silent,'' Nava said. That told him he had made his point. ''Because that's really what the show is about. The show's not about the politics of it, it's about the human emotion and how that affects people,'' he said. ''Here are these two people that love each other and they're going to be torn apart by political events.'' Using real events as a catalyst for the second season of PBS' ''American Family,'' about a Mexican-American clan in East Los Angeles, made sense to Nava. In fact, he's confounded by how television and pop culture in general steadfastly ignore the world's cauldron of conflict. ''Here we are in one of the most momentous changes the country's gone through since World War II and all of our lives are being changed forever,'' he said. Artists have an obligation to address that, said Nava, who speaks with the same vibrant enthusiasm and openness that infuses his work. ''It's something that people in the country need because that's something that drama's about, right? It's to entertain us, but in doing that to help us get through what's going on. It needs to be a healing experience, doesn't it?'' ''Me, personally, I couldn't see it any other way. I have a family, an American family, and this is what American families are going through right now. It was obvious.'' Nava gained attention as a writer-director in 1984 with the acclaimed ''El Norte,'' about oppressed Guatemalan teenagers seeking haven in the United States. In his varied career, he has written and directed ''Selena'' and wrote the screenplay for ''Frida.'' ''American Family,'' Nava's rare television foray, reaches back in 13 new episodes (debuting 7 p.m. EST Sunday) to relate the history of the Gonzalez family as well its present-day joys and sorrows. With a year's gap between the first and second seasons, Nava uses a Los Angeles wedding scene to reintroduce the characters of the saga, which also takes place in Iraq and revolutionary-era Mexico. Edward James Olmos (''Miami Vice,'' ''Stand and Deliver'') stars as family patriarch Jess Gonzalez, along with Constance Marie (''The George Lopez Show'') as activist daughter Nina and Yancey Arias (''Kingpin'') as eldest son Conrado, an Army doctor. Esai Morales (''NYPD Blue''), Rachel Ticotin (''Total Recall'') and young Parker Torres play other Gonzalez children, with Raquel Welch upping the series' glamour quotient as Aunt Dora. Sonia Braga is another family member, an ephemeral one: Her character, Jess' wife, died last season. That's part of the Latin American literary tradition of magical realism infusing the drama, and which Nava calls true to the tone of such novels as ''One Hundred Years of Solitude'' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. ''If you take the hard social reality out of it, it just becomes like a fairy tale type of thing,'' he said of the art form, which can open ''the doors to the past'' and fuse it with the present. ''We start to question what this country's about. What are we going to do, what's our future going to be?'' Nava tips his hat to another literary lion, Charles Dickens, as an inspiration. Dickens detailed society's shortcomings in novels including ''Oliver Twist'' and published them in serialized form. As Nava sees it, ''American Family'' is a complete tale, a movie offered up in 13 parts. Does that mean the series itself, the first broadcast drama about a Hispanic family, is over after two seasons? ''Obviously, anything can be continued,'' said Jacoba Atlas, PBS' co-chief programming executive who doesn't preclude a third year if the creative and financial stars align. ''This is a very rich family experience and Greg is a very creative person. But there is a conclusion to this storytelling.''

	The Parks at the Singapore Man-O-War Anchorage, April 29, 1950. We were part of a task force sent down to support the British who were fighting HUK Insurgents on the Malay Peninsula at the time.
May 1950, Floyd B Parks (DD-884), and John R. Craig (DD-885), on our way home from WESTPAC cruise.
We traveled through Dalles, Texas, to Shreveport, Louisiana, then East to Vicksburg, Mississippi. It was there that I gained my first impression that the Southerners were still fighting the Civil War. In a park in front of the state capitol building was a monument dedicated "To Our Beloved Civil War Dead" It was and obelisk about 50 feet high, that looked like a small replica of the Washington Monument, extremely impressive. Not far from it was a very small monument and plaque, dedicated to our "Beloved World War Two Dead". Going East, we traveled through Meridian, Mississippi, Montgomery, Alabama, Columbus, Georgia, then over to Savannah. From there we traveled up the Eastern Seaboard to New London Connecticut, where we arrived in the middle of a fierce snow storm. I reported for duty under instruction to the US Naval Submarine School, Groton, on January 4^th, 1951, and was assigned officer’s quarters. The first week involved taking a complete physical, and a rigid battery of written psychological tests, and a long interview with a navy psychologist to see if they could find a flaw in your makeup or character that would make you unsuitable for submarine duty. Next you were required to pass the submarine escape test, which was to train you to escape from a bottomed submarine. A 100 foot tower filled with water was used for this activity. This tower had and elevator up the out side that permitted access into the tower from depths of 25 feet and 50 feet below the top of the tank. Access was also made from the bottom of the tank with 100 feet to the top surface. There were air lock chambers at these level, exactly like the escape trunks found in the forward and after torpedo rooms of Fleet Submarines. You were trained to make and escape through the trunk to the surface of the tank using a Momsen Lung, which was a breathing device that you charged with oxygen. A frogman in Scubba gear would swim up along side you, and if he detects that you are in the slightest trouble, will grab you, hit you in the stomach to expel any residual air in your lungs that may expand and as you go up and burst your lungs, and drag you to the surface. After making three successful ascents from each depth of 25, 50, and 100 feet, using the Momsen Lung, you were required to make free ascents (escapes) from each of these depths without any device whatever. And these were tricky. In this method, one takes a deep breath, holds it and merely steps out of the airlock. Say you are at the bottom of the tank, the air you breath in the air lock is the same as that of sea pressure at 100 feet depth, so you have a lung full of compressed air. This air in your lungs provides the buoyancy to get you to the surface. In other words your lungs are like balloons full of air. The problem arises in that as you ascend and the pressure around you decreases. Your lungs expand, and will burst if some air is not released through your mouth as you go up. So you must release some of the air, but how much? If you release too much you will lose your buoyance or "run out of gas" and drown, unless you are close enough to the surface to see daylight and can swim up. If you hold too much air in, you are in danger of rising too fast and your lungs bursting as they expand from the reduced pressure. This is known as air embolism and is a leading cause of death among scuba divers who get in trouble and must make a free ascent. You are safeguarded in this training by a scuba diver who swims up alongside you. If you are letting too much air out and will run out of gas before you reach the top of the tank, he will reach over and grab your nose. If you are holding to much air back and rising too fast he will tap you on the chest. The rule was that you were supposed to follow the bubbles you were releasing from your mouth. If you were passing your own bubbles then you were too buoyant and were rising too fast. If on the other hand, your bubbles were rising rapidly and getting away from you, you were letting out too much air and "would run out of gas" before you reached the surface. What I have said is a real danger. Civilian scuba divers are lost every year when they get in trouble while diving and attempt a free ascent. All of us that successfully completed the "Tank" were given certificates. It is one of my treasured documents. We lost two of our officers in the escape training. They just didn’t want to take the training, and were returned to the fleet. Over the years they have only lost two people that I know of in the "Tank" due to some accident, but there could have been more. Our submarine training was extremely ridged, the idea being that if someone had a hitherto undetected flaw now was the time to find out about it. There were four basic departments at the school: Ordnance, Engineering, Operations and Tactics, and Submarine. Each was headed by a Commander who was a submarine hero from WW-II. There were a lot of Navy Crosses on the chests of this group. All taught classes, and it was a delight to get one to digress into the stories of his war patrols. They were all personable, and though there was a lot if discipline, there was also a lot of informal give and take. There were also a large number of experienced Chief Petty Officers on the staff, and listening to them and heeding their advice was a Godsend. There were two phases to our training, the theoretical " book learning" and the "hands on" practical side. The book learning phase involved considerable classroom work, where every system in a Fleet Submarine was studied in great detail. For the practical training we were divided into groups or "teams" of six students, and this group stayed together as a team the entire time. The practical side involved the use of high tech simulators and trainers. There was an attack trainer that was the exact replica of the conning tower of a submarine where we learned to make and approach and fire torpedoes. There was a diving trainer where you learned to dive and trim a submarine, and every station being manned a team member, and the stations rotated so that every member could master every diving station. On a Fleet Submarine these were the Conning Officer, Diving Officer, Diving Control Board and Vents Chief ( who was also Chief of the Watch), Trim and Drain Manifold Operator, and Air Manifold Operator. On the engineering side each team had to change a cylinder and connecting rod on submarine diesel. This was not and easy task, as these engines were huge 1600 Horse Power General Motors Diesels and 1400 horse Power Fairbanks Morse Diesels. Depending on what submarine you were ordered to, you might find either kind installed. This was dirty and difficult work, but it was to teach you what your enlisted ratings had to go through to complete this task. Later on, when I was Chief Engineer on Bashaw this background stood me in good stead. The at sea phase was a real experience. There were a couple of "School Boats" assigned the task of taking out two teams of officers a day to let us dive a real submarine. Wisely, the operating was in Block Island sound, where the depth was only 200 feet, and the bottom was sand or soft mud. If the boat got out of control during the dive for any reason, the most that could happen was that you would bounce off a sandy bottom, and as the boat was usually backing down emergency at this point, the impact was negligible. Every time a submarine goes to sea, the first dive of the day is called a "trim dive". Prior to diving the boat’s designated diving officer, who is normally the Chief Engineer, makes out a "Diving Compensation Sheet". This sheet records all the changes that have occurred on board since the last trim dive that might affect balance of the submarine. Examples of these are stores or fuel taken on board in port, torpedoes taken on board, or even the addition or loss of a crew member. The Chief Engineer then uses this balance sheet to transfer water between the trim tanks, so that when the boat makes its first dive of the day it will be reasonably in trim. Our school boat was the USS Bergall (SS-320). Remember this was the dead of winter and the topside and superstructure around the pressure hull of the submarine were covered with ice. I had the first student dive of the day. I filled out the compensation sheet under the supervision of the Chief Engineer. I cleared the bridge and had and dropped to the diving station in the control room. The two lookouts preceded me off the bridge and dropped down into the control room, the starboard lookout manning the bow planes, and the port lookout manning the stern planes. I bled a shot of high pressure air into the boat, and noted the manometer held at 3 inches of Mercury. This tells you the boat is tight, otherwise the pressure would leak off in a hurry. Next, you observed that the blow and vent manifold has a green board, indicating that all hull openings were closed. If a hull opening had been red, that would probably mean that particular opening was still open, and you would terminate the dive in a helluva hurry. You report to the conning officer in the conning tower, "Green Board Pressure In The Boat", at which time he gives you the ordered depth, usually 60 feet. At about 30 feet you start blowing the negative tank slowly. This is a tank that holds about 20,000 pounds of water, and is designed to get you down in a hurry, but must be blown dry if you are to achieve neutral buoyancy and swim around like a fish. In peacetime you usually dive with about a three to five degrees down angle. At 40 feet you slow to one third speed, as at the start of the dive the speed is usually Standard or Full to help drive the boat under. What happened in this case is that, I being green as grass, had not take into account the great amount of ice in the super structure of the boat, which in effect made us one giant ice cube, until the ice melted. As a result the Burgall would not go under as expected but seemed to hang up at 30 feet. The Captain in the conning tower began shouting at me to get him down, that there was a destroyer bearing down on him ! I ordered 5,000 pounds of water flooded into the auxiliary tank from sea to make us heavy, thinking that I must have screwed up horribly in the compensation. Then the ice melted, and I was heavy by the 5,000 pound I had just put in. Well the boat started down in a hurry, and I involved the old submarine adage, "BLOW, BACK, AND PRAY". I also had ordered all back full to make the stern squat. The net result of all this was that I was able to stop the boats rapid decent just short of plowing into the sandy bottom. I was to learn later that this was a favorite trick played on student officers in the Winter Class. I was also told that had I screwed up horribly that was excusable, but had I panicked and frozen at the dive, I would have been on my way back to the surface navy next day. In other words, any thing I did was OK, as long as I did something. Our class started with 110 officers. We lost 21 along the way for one reason or another, graduating 89. On graduation you were allowed to choose the submarine you wanted to go to by class standing. Each submarine was listed, along with it’s home port. I had worked very hard, as I wanted to go back to San Diego where I owned a home. As a result I stood 14 in the class. There were several boats to choose from that were home ported in San Diego. I chose the USS Blenny (SS-324) as she was not only home ported in San Diego, but was being converted in the shipyard to a high speed, streamlined GUPPY IA boat. I was detached from Submarine School at New London on June 22^nd, 1951. After another memorable trip across country to San Diego, and after taking some leave, I reported on board the Blenny in the San Francisco Naval Shipyard on July 12^th. At that time, the conversion was about 90 percent completed. Blenny completed her conversion in August 1951, and reported to Submarine Squadron 3, alongside the USS Sperry (AS-12) in San Diego. The remainder of 1951 and the early part of 1952 was spent furnishing Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW) services to destroyers and aircraft of the Pacific Fleet. Perhaps more important, this time frame served as a shakedown period to increase the proficiency of the officers and crew in handling a submarine that could achieve 21 knots on the half hour rate submerged, and especially learning how to snorkel, which really had it’s exciting moments, especially if there is any sea running. We departed for the Far East on April 30^th 1952, for patrol duty in Russian Waters. Since this patrol story has been previously documented, I will not cover it here.

The USS Blenny (SS-324) leaving San Diego for her Far East Patrol assignment on April 30, 1952.

The heart of this conversion was the installation of a BQR-4 sound array around the bow of the submarine. This array was a passive device which means you could listen only, and not transmit any energy through it. In the event, we were able to lay submerged in a sound channel and hear ships out to more than a hundred miles. The name of the game in hunting other submarines is to hear (detect) him before he hears you. The theory is that the skipper that puts the first torpedo in the water will be the survivor in a submarine to submarine encounter.

The BQR-4 was a real monster. It consisted of about 100 vertical cylindrical tubes, each tube about eight feet long and about 3 inches in diameter. These tubes were filled with crystals that relied on the pizzio - electric effect for there operation. That is, sound energy impinging on these crystals is converted to electrical energy which could then be amplified and displayed on a Cathode Ray tube, similar to a Radar Scope. To protect these tubes, the bow was fashioned into squares of sound transparent windows. These windows varied in size from 3 feet by 4 feet to 6 feet by 4 feet, and were fashioned to shape into a round bow. There was a space between the outer windows and the array of tubes that was filled with castor oil. The space was to provide a shock barrier to absorb protect the fragile tubes in case of colliding with a submerged log, a bad landing, or any other unforeseen event. Castor oil was chosen as it non corrosive transparent to sound energy.

Bashaw had been decommissioned for her conversion, and hence we officers were attached to the shipyard in an advisory capacity. We operated out of a "Line Shack" on the dock, and had an officer of the deck on duty 24 hours a day. The shipyard was working around the clock, in three eight hour shifts, so it was necessary to have a qualified submarine officer patrolling the boat 24 hours a day to prevent any grave error happening. These were prone to occur because Hunters Point had never been a primary submarine yard before, and this was their first submarine conversion. I will sight and example.

There is a signal ejection tube that may be located in either the forward or after torpedo room of a submarine, depending on the class of boat. It is used to eject flares during exercises with the fleet, and to launch distress flares. On a boat built by Electric Boat Company, such as Bashaw, this tube is located in the after torpedo room. On a boat built in the Portsmouth Navy Yard, this tube is located in the after torpedo room. The shipyard had orders to replace the ejection tube on Bashaw with a larger improve model, and we being an Electric Boat submarine had ours located in the after torpedo room. I was making my rounds through the boat on the Midwatch ( 12 midnight ‘till 4 in the morning ) when in the forward torpedo room a shipyard worker was setting up a huge drill. I asked him what he intended, and he responded that he was going to drill a hole in the pressure hull and install a signal gun. I informed him that we already had a signal gun in the after torpedo room, and I thought maybe there was a mistake, as he had the wrong torpedo room, and probable what was meant was to replace the existing signal gun in the after room. I suggested we wait until morning when we could check it out. He showed me his work order, and all it said was to install a signal gun in the forward torpedo room, with a blueprint of how to accomplish the work. He was determined to proceed. It was futile to argue, as he was a big man, so I called the deck watch. He still refused to leave until the deck watch drew his Colt .45 and ordered him off at gun point.

The next morning and official, black navy sedan pulled up to the gangway. Out jumped the shipyard commander, a four stripe navy captain, with blood in his eye. He was followed by our "prospective" Commanding Officer, Harold "Tut" Fry. The first words out of Tut’s mouth were, "I don’t know what you’ve done Paul, but I sure as hell hope you’re right." The first issue was the placement of the signal gun, which made me look like a hero, as drilling a hole in the pressure hole would at best having us end up with two signal guns, and at worst having us in hot water with the Bureau of Ships. Then there was the matter of threatening the use of deadly force on a shipyard worker. And interview with the deck watch settled that matter. It also turned out that some Yo-Yo of a navy architect in the design department had been referring to a set of Portsmouth Shipyard plans when he wrote the job order. We were the first of the four Submarines slated to be converted to SSKs at Hunters Point. The others were Bluegill (SSK-242), Bream (SSK-243), and Cavalla (SSK-244). Thus they learned on us.

The only other error they made, and this was fairly serious, was the relocation of the forward trim tank when they built the massive sonar bow. This tank, along with the after trim tank, are used in balancing the boat to a submerged trim on diving, and are located at the extreme ends of the boat. When they installed the huge hydra phone array around the bow, we lost two of our six forward torpedo tubes, and the forward trim tank, and bow buoyancy tank were both relocated. When we were scheduled to go to sea for our maiden test dive, our skipper wanted two things done. He wanted safety tracks installed on the weather deck, and the bow buoyancy tank moved aft several feet. The tracks were a simple matter, but moving the forward trim tank was a major job and the shipyard refused this request. The next thing that bothered him was that for our maiden test dive out of the yard, they had assigned us a diving area off the Farallon Islands in very deep water. The Captain made a simple point, assign us a shallow area for our test dive or he would not take the boat to sea, as he considered the location of the forward tanks might cause us problems. We were reassigned and area to the south of Point Montera with a depth of 200 feet, and a sandy bottom.

When we dove Bashaw, she took a sharp down angle, and headed down with a mind of here own. Blowing bow buoyancy and backing down full helped, but the net result was that we buried our nose in the sand and mud, and the stern was sticking out of the water. Thank God we didn’t dive in deep water. We could not get much bite with the screws, as they were partially out of the water, but rocking the boat by running the crew back and forth. and blowing all main ballast we freed the boat up. The main casualty was the "tender" bow. Five of the sonar window were damaged beyond repair. This not only was a tremendously expensive proposition, but kept us in the shipyard well beyond our scheduled completion date. There was another "casualty" that could not be predicted, and that was the leading man of one of the shipyard shops. There is a tradition in submarines, that when they go to sea on a maiden dive on completion of a shipyard overhaul, the leading man from any shop that worked on the boat goes to sea with her. The theory being that knowing this the quality of all work done is much more carefully supervised.. This is why when the Thresher (SSN-593) was lost off Portsmouth on October 4^th, 1963, eight of the 120 casualties were civilian shipyard workers. This particular leading man had a good scare, and he swore he would never go to sea on another submarine. He was transferred to that part of the shipyard working on surface ships.

In due time we completed the conversion, but we were still not a part on the US Navy. We had to pass a board of Inspection And Survey, before the navy would accept the submarine. One might think that since the conversion was done in a naval shipyard the acceptance would be automatic, but such is not the case. This board comprises 12 very senior, crusty old navy captains, and they swarmed over the ship in overalls and flashlights, and inspected every nook and cranny. I was amazed to see full captains crawling around in the bilges. When they find any discrepancies they order the shipyard to correct them. We then took the boat to sea with the board embarked, and Bashaw was put through every maneuvering exercise possible, including firing water slugs from every torpedo tube.

We were duly re-commissioned a ship of the United States Navy at the shipyard on March 28, 1953. Our guest speaker was Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood, USN (Ret). He had been Commander Submarines Pacific (COMSUBPAC) during WW-2. What a thrill it was for us young officers to get acquainted with famous submariner. We reported to Commander Submarine Squadron Three in San Diego for duty. However, we were not destined to spend much time in our homeport. First the navy was eager to determine just how good the sonar system was. So we were ordered to Hawaiian waters to evaluate the system under a variety of conditions. One problem that precluded determining the parameters of the system was the tremendous amount of biological noise in the water from whale and dolphin noises to snapping shrimp and croaker fish.

To solve this the navy constructed a special Sonar Barge, and moored it at Fox Island, which is on Puget Sound just across the narrows from Tacoma. The barge was actually moored on the Carr Inlet side of Fox Island. This site was chosen because of the brackish quality of the water. The large amount of fresh water from all the surrounding rivers and streams emptying into the inlet would actually guarantee the absence of noisy salt water sea life, thereby assuring a proper environment. The loudest noises heard were those of Mullets jumping and falling back into the water.

I was promoted to full Lieutenant on July 1^st , 1953. Bashaw spent the later part of 1953 and the first six months of 1954 operating with ASW Hunter Killer groups operating out of San Diego.

In the May of 1954 Bashaw deployed to WESTPAC for a six month tour in the waters of Japan and Korea. During this tour we furnished services to Commander Carrier Divsion 3, in the Badoeng Strait (CVE -116 ), and the carriers Bairoko (CVE-115), and Sicily (CVE-118). We were so good at evading the carrier aircraft that we were told to stay on the surface until the plane made contact. The rules were that once we were sure the plane had detected us we could dive. The aircraft was allowed to drop a 25 pound practice depth charge on our "swirl" as we dove, but not if any part of the super structure or periscope were showing. On one exercise and eager pilot dropped his charge on us before we were completely submerged. It destroyed the entire lens on the periscope, blew out all the periscope packing and we started taking a considerable amount of water down the periscope shaft. That ended the exercise for us. We put into Kobe, Japan, where the large Repair Ship Vulcan (AR-5) was stationed. They were the only ship in the Far East at the time with a crane tall enough to pull a 65 feet periscope straight up and drop another in place. A new periscope had to be flown out from the United States to Atsugi, Japan. Then it was trucked down to Kobe by the US Army. This resulted in three weeks of great liberty in Kobe. Best of all the tender personnel completely overhauled our air conditioning system, and completed many repairs during the wait. Bashaw was awarded the Korean Service Medal and the United Nations Service Medal for this tour.

On July 1, 1954, our much admired Commander Harold E. Fry was relieved Commander Charles B. Bishop, USN, in WESTPAC.

On returning to San Diego, I had received orders to the Naval Post Graduate School at Monterey for the Ordnance Engineering and Electrical Engineering Course. I was detached from Bashaw at San Diego on July 11, 1955, and reported for duty to the Naval Post Graduate School on July 27^th

1955. The Ordnance part of the course consisted of the study of physical chemistry, stoichiometric chemistry, and the chemistry of explosives. Mathematics courses started with review courses in differential and integral calculus, then progressed to linear differential equations, partial differential equations, and La Place Transformations, Stability of Servo Mechanism Systems by use of a Nyquist Diagram, a host of electrical engineering courses, and for submarine officers a course in acoustics an transmission of sound energy in the sea. The professors piled on the home work, especially on Friday and due Monday. Consequently, not much time was left for family life, even on weekends.

During the summer between our first and second year, the students were ordered to a navy activity to perform practical work in their field of endeavor. In my case I spent part of the summer at the Naval Ordnance Test Station at China Lake, California. There I was assigned to the Sidewinder Missile program, and became involved in the development of the Sidewinder Air to Air missile. This was to be of great benefit to me later on, although I didn’t know it at the time. When I became a Weapons Officer in the Naval Reserve, my Mobilization Billet was as Sidewinder Project Officer in the Bureau of Weapons. The remainder of the summer I was at the U.S. Naval Air Missile Test Center, Point Mugu, California.

On graduating in June of 1957, another round robin of visits to ordnance facilities was ordered. The most beneficial of these to me was ten day spent at the Missile Test Center, Point Mugu. This time was spent entirely on the study of the Regulus I missile. This was fortunate, as I had received orders to report to the USS Barbero (SSG-317), a Regulus I guided missile submarine.

In September another trip across country with kids and dogs was taken. On August 10^th, 1957, I reported on board the Barbero in Norfolk, Virginia. There I assumed the duties as Guidance Officer, and later Navigator. As third officer I took on other duties to assist the Executive Officer, and was acting Executive Officer in his absence.

Barbero1958

After two years at the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey I reported to the USS Barbero (SSG-317), in Norfolk, Virginia. The large round cylinder tank you see on the deck was a hanger that contained two Regulus Missiles stored back to back. They were stored in this hanger, with their wings folded on a cylinder system that operated on the same system as a colt revolver. You would surface the boat, raise the launching ramp hydraulically, run the missile out on the ramp, fire it, close the hangar door, and submerge to periscope depth. With a lot of practice we were able to do this in three minutes. We had radio control of this missile immediately, and guided it on its set path from periscope depth. Since it was a radio control bird, we could only guide it to our visible horizon, where we would turn it over to another guidance submarine. He in turn would pass it to another submarine. We had a division of six guidance submarines that could pass it along a couple of hundred miles, when it was turned over to and inertial guidance system within the missile. Because of the cold war we spent 22 months of the time I was on this boat deployed.

The Regulus I was actually a small turbo jet aircraft that carried a 100 megaton nuclear warhead. Even though by modern standards it was "bow and arrow", it was still a weapon with a big punch, and therefore a deterrent weapon. Two missile were stored inside a huge cylindrical hanger on the after deck. They were positioned in the hanger back to back, with their wings folded. They were mounted on a large cylinder that operated like and old fashion Colt Revolver. A launching ramp was located in the deck directly behind the hangar, that could be raised hydraulically when getting ready to fire the missile. After launch, the missile was guided initially by a radio control TROUNCE guidance system, and thereafter by a inertial guidance system built into the missile took over for it’s terminal phase. A submarine missile division consisted of the firing submarine and four guidance submarines. On firing the bird, I would keep control until it was no longer in my line of sight. The missile had two altitudes that it could be preset to fly at, 5000 feet, and 10,000 feet. The higher it flew, the longer it was in my line of sight for control. At this point I would turn the bird over to the first guidance submarine. By passing it from guidance submarine to guidance submarine you could carry the missile several hundred miles before putting it on it’s inertial system.

To practice we were based on the Naval Air Station at Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico. We would fire and exercise missile from a position near Saint Thomas in the US Virgin Islands at a designated target position On reaching this position, I would give the missile a "Dump" command, which was equivalent to firing it. During the exercise I had close radio contact with a "chase plane", and on giving the "Dump" command the chase plane would assume command of the missile, and land it (exercise missiles had wheels!) at the Roosevelt roads Naval Air Station. There the exercise missile would be reworked, and we could pick it us in a couple of days and fire it again. Several of these exercise missiles we considered old friends, in that we fired them many times. Other times we fired the missiles off of the Naval Missile Range, at Wallop’s Island, Virginia.

To fire a missile on and inertial guidance system you must know your exact longitude and latitude on launching, so that the missile computer has a starting point. Therefore it is necessary to calibrate the missile launching computer to a high degree of accuracy. This is done on the Wright Brothers Monument at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. This site has been surveyed to a first order survey, that is, it’s longitude and latitude is known to ten decimal places. The submarine lies offshore, close in, and takes continuous bearings on the Wright Monument for several hours to average out human observation error.

In the Summer of 1957 Barbero deployed on a Nato exercise, to be followed by and Arctic Patrol in Norwegian and Russian Waters. For the Nato phase, Barbero was based at the British Submarine Base at Portland, England. One trip, "To show the flag", was sailing to La Harve, France, from where some of us traveled by train to Paris. The British Navy always assigns a host ship to a visiting foreign naval vessel. That ship is responsible for taking care of your every need, including changing your money to English Pound, when we went to France. We were assigned a British destroyer to be our host. No sooner had we tied along side this ship (her name escapes me now), then a Midshipman came on board with and invitation inviting the wardroom to lunch, "to be served promptly at 1200 hours". In all innocence we trooped across the gangway, leaving only the duty officer on board. Greeting us as we stepped into the wardroom was a Midshipman with a tray of drinks in his hand. You must remember that alcohol is not permitted on board American naval vessels, so one is not prepared to get "snookered" at high noon. We kept waiting for the elusive lunch to be served, but it was soon apparent that the name of the game was to put the Yank under the table. Food was finally served at 3:00 pm., and by that time nobody cared. For the evening meal we would take over steaks and American movies to reciprocate their hospitality. The quickest way to get away from that situation was to take leave and go up to London, which I did. At that time, the exchange rate was highly favorable, so my money went a long way.

It was Sunday morning. In making my get away I did not get off Scot free. I crossed over to the British quarterdeck about 0930 to exchange some dollars for pounds. All was quiet as a church mouse topside. When I entered the wardroom one of the wildest parties imaginable was in progress, and right in the middle of the wardro