July 2004 President's Corner

Bill Rentz '55, USNAAA Atlanta Chapter President

Let me take this opportunity to congratulate the new Atlanta Chapter Officers and Directors, elected for 2004-2005 at the June monthly meeting, and to thank them for their willingness to serve this great Chapter. Included in that gratitude are the Past Presidents and Trustees who serve on the Board of Directors and provide wisdom, sage advice, and continuity. All the names are on the Chapter web site and on the front of the newsletter, so I won’t list them all here. The Chapter cannot thrive without their time and effort to provide members with a schedule of activities that appeals to them and also may appeal to that large group of alumni that resides in the Atlanta and surrounding Georgia area who have not yet joined our Chapter. That’s where we need your help.

Dick Fitzgerald ’62 serves on the Board of Directors as our Director of Membership. He has been writing and calling a lot of those alumni recently to encourage them to join us or to tell us what we can do to make them want to participate in the fun and camaraderie we so much enjoy. We are striving to raise our Atlanta Chapter membership numbers to the level that will put us in the top nine Chapters in the country. Why? You may ask. Because that assures the Atlanta Chapter a Trustee position on the USNA Alumni Association Board of Trustees! That gives us a voice in the governance of OUR national Alumni Association. Is that important? We think it is! A free nametag, a Chapter Directory, and an Email list of activities and announcements from our fabulous Website are other worthwhile benefits.

So if Dick or one of his assistants calls you, tell him what’s on your mind, give him your cooperation, and help him contact other classmates, shipmates, squadronmates, or neighbors whom you know are not members. Also, please help us update our database. If you see an error in your entry or in someone else’s, call Mike Herger ‘90, our Chapter Database Manager, or use the form provided on the Website to correct your entry. Mike has agreed to continue in that job as a Chapter Board support position to provide us with the technical capability and continuity to better serve the Chapter.

Speaking of membership and the growth of our Chapter, it is a fitting time for me to pay tribute and honor to our Chapter founder, CAPT Felix de Golian, Jr., USN (Ret.)’37, who recently passed away at the age of 90. He served his country during World War II and came back to Atlanta to his family business and started the Atlanta Chapter of USNA AA in 1946. He was Chapter President in 1946 and 1947 when the Chapter used to meet at the Officer’s Club at old NAS Atlanta (now Peachtree-DeKalb Airport), where I joined the Navy in 1949. An article about him is on our Chapter Website, so I won’t repeat it all here, except to say that he was a colorful character and we owe him a great debt for getting this ball rolling. We should honor his memory by keeping this Chapter one he would be proud of.

Finally, you could not help but be moved by the military honor guards, military music, and many other aspects of President Reagan’s funeral. It had to make you proud to be an American and a former member of the military. I was on active duty before, during, and after his term in office, and was second CO of USS CALIFORNIA (CGN 36), which was commissioned in 1974 when he was Governor of California. If you don’t have a feel for what his presidency meant to the U. S. armed forces, you should read the book “The Nightingale’s Song”.

By the way, do you all know whom the Navy Captain was who presented the U.S. Flag to Mrs. Reagan at the end of the graveside service in San Bernardino? Some of the networks covering the service did not say who he was. His picture was on the front page of the AJC commemorative section about the funeral. He was the current CO of the USS RONALD REAGAN (CVN 75). I have had to serve as Honor Guard Commander for military funerals on several occasions at Arlington (the extra duties assigned to active duty Navy Captains in Washington), and those words which are said to the widow upon presentation of the flag after removal from the casket by the honor guard, which are standard protocol, “ This flag is presented to you from a grateful nation for your husband’s service”, are the hardest to deliver I have ever experienced. They come just after Taps is played and they usually bring forth tears the family has been holding back bravely for a long time. The Skipper also said some other words, and I don’t read lips, but I think he told her that the flag had flown briefly on the flag mast of the USS RONALD REAGAN.

Hope all had a safe and patriotic Fourth. What a country!

Bill Rentz ’55