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USCG LIGHTSHIP SAILORS ASSOCIATION, Inc. [ ] 2012 [ ] 2013 MEMBERSHIP DUES FORM (Web Form)

[ ] New [ ] Renewal Please PRINT your information (even if you submitted it before); we will then update our database.

Check all Applicable: [ ] USCG Lightship Sailor Veteran [ ] Other Associations [ ] CG Active Duty [ ] LS Veteran’s Family Member [ ] Former CG (non-Lightship) [ ] CG Reserve [ ] LIGHTSHIP Interest, Friend, Association [ ] CG Retired [ ] CG Auxiliary

Membership Level, and Dues Rate; [ ] Full Membership – VET or MBR. $25.00 Annually [ ] Group / Business $50.00 Annually [ ] Life Membership $300.00 (1x life fee) $______________

USCG Lightship Sailor Veterans Please fill in below:

LSA MEMBERS / GROUP or BUSINESS / LIFE MEMBERS Fill in as it applies to you:

Submit any additional information you may wish, on the back of this form, or on a separate sheet of paper. Annual Dues period runs on the fiscal year; October 1 thru September30. LSA Donation (Optional):

[ ] General Fund, [ ] Lightship Preservation $___________ Enclose this form with your check or money order, made out to the: “USCG LIGHTSHIP SAILORS ASSOCIATION, Inc. ”Total Submitted $___________

Please mail to: Everett St Louis Membership Director Thanks, 522 S Canterbury Road

Everett St Louis Canterbury Ct 06331

r Group / Business Name:

First Name:

Middle Initial Nick Name:

Street Address:

City: State: Zip:

Spouse/Other:

E mail Address or Web Site:

Telephone Number:

Year Born:

Lightship Name

Hull #

LS Service Dates (From - To)

Your Rank/Rate: Aboard

Commanding Officer:

Other Info:

[ ] Family / Friend: [ ] Lightship Interest: [ ] Other USCG: [ ] Other Groups, etc.:

PRESIDENT

Larry Ryan

1st VICE PRESIDENT

Everett St. Louis

2nd VICE PRESIDENT

Bob Gubitosi

SECRETARY

Debra Dasch

TREASURER

Fred A. Pelger

DIRECTORS AT LARGE:

Dave Addicott

Rick Gryder

Roland Holloway

Dennis Cosmo

SPECIAL PROJECTS

Bob Gubitosi

Arts and Graphics

Dennis Cosmo, Past Pres.

Web Master

. Rick Gryder

Chaplain

Rev. Adrian Van Houten

Historian

Ron Janard

President’s Report 2

Secretaries Report 3

Short Sea Story 4

Meeting Agenda 5

Registration form 6

For info.

THE FOG HORN I WILL NOT ABANDON YOU LIGHTSHIP NOT IN CORRECT POSITION

Volume 3 Issue 38 Newsletter of The U.S. Coast Guard Lightship Sailors Association Reunion Edition 2012

Membership Dues 2

Letter to Members 3

Reunion

Registration Form

4

Membership Report 5

Secretaries Report 6

Short Sea Story

Veterans Affairs Reunion Overview Sea Story #2 General Quarters

In Remembrance Chaplain’s Message

7

8 9 10 11

12

My Brother Lightship Sailors, Members and Friends of The LSA:

Annual meeting time again and time for our Reunion Edition of our newsletter. This hot dry

summer seems to have kept everyone busier than usual and I can’t seem to get anything done.

Plans are completed for our annual meeting in Mobile, AL. The hotel has guaranteed our room rates for 3 days in advance of our meeting and three days at the end for those of you that

will be taking in the sites on your own. There is a lot to be seen and enjoyed in the area, in-

cluding stops in the surrounding area as far west as New Orleans ( WWll Memorial) and mu-seums in Pensacola, FL.

My sincere apologies for not being able to publish the names of our Life Members as planned,

we just had a lot of information that we needed to include, I will make a special request to have this included in the next edition.

Please see the letter received from the Lewes Historical Society on page 8. As this is a name

change for the old “Overfalls Group” that owns and maintains the beautifully restored

“Overfalls Lightship”, and now owns the Lightship Sailor artifacts recently donated as a re-sult of loosing our display space on Cape Cod. We moved the artifacts from our storage unit

to Lewes in May, my thanks again to Everett St Louis and Ron Janard ( and his friend ) in

loading our displays. Their help was a huge savings in expenses. We are looking forward to visiting Lewes to see how they choose to display our memorabilia.

Elections for the new board will be during our General Membership Meeting on Thursday

October 18. Please see the notice on page 11. We need volunteers to fill these positions, please consider standing for nomination to help guide our organization and help preserve our

history.

I will be stepping down as president and chairman of the board at the closing of our meeting

in Mobile after 8 years leading this fine group of Lightship Sailors and our friends. I would request that you continue the same support to my successor as you have to me. This duty has

been “Good Training’ for me, which reminds me of an old saying: REAL CHIEFS use the

term ‘Good Training’ to describe any unpleasant task such as scraping bilges, the sides

of the ship or having to sleep on your seabag in the parking lot because there was no

room in the barracks.

I received a message from one of my old friends from Colorado that I would like to share. He

was attending a wedding in Seattle and happened to meet by chance one of our members, Ed Walkley. Something was said about Coast Guard and Lightships and Ed proudly showed his

LSA membership card. Stories like this makes our every effort worthwhile.

I hope to see you all in Mobile, if not then, in 2013.. Location TBA in Mobile. Fair Winds and Keep the Light Shining,

Larry Ryan

Page 4 The Fog Horn

REGISTRATION FORM USCG LIGHTSHIP SAILORS Association, Inc. [501(c) (3) Corp]

2012 REUNION to be held in MOBILE, AL October 18, 19 & 20.

Please check your category:

NAME______________________________ [ ] USCG LIGHTSHIP VETERAN ADDRESS:__________________________ [ ] LSA MEMBER ____________________________________ [ ] LIFE MEMBER PHONE_____________________________ [ ] NEW MEMBER E-MAIL_____________________________ [ ] GROUP MEMBER Other Information you may wish to add:

REUNION FEES Dues for 2013(Optional) Three Membership Levels

At $110.00/person Full: $25.00 Group: $50.00 Lifetime: $300.00 NAME: FEE: DUES: TOTAL: (Dues Period 1 Oct to 30 Sep Annually) ____________________________ $_______ _____________ $_________ ____________________________ $_______ _____________ $_________ ____________________________ $_______ _____________ $_________ ____________________________ $_______ _____________ $_________ REUNION FEES TOTAL $_______ DUES TOTAL $_________

Please fill in the above reunion registration form. Enclose this form with your check or money order, made out to the: “USCG LIGHTSHIP SAILORS ASSOCIATION, Inc.”

Mail to our LSA Treasurer: Fred A Pelger 1107 East Saguaro Drive Globe, AZ 85501-2047 All dues and donations are tax deductable.

NOTE: Please make ALL hotel reservations directly with the hotel: Marriott Mobile 251-476-6400 For the $89.00 per night special rate you must call the hotel direct and specify USCG Lightship Sailors

To be completed by the Reunion Committee

TOTAL AMOUNT RECEIVED $_______________ Check #______________ Date____________ Received By______________

Page 5 The Fog Horn

Foghorn Membership Report Fall 2012

Membership for the year has matched 2011, thanks to the Twelve (12) new members we gained. We also gained 7 New

Life Members bringing that total to 56. There are still Thirty (30) 2011 members who have yet to pay 2012 dues. Now it

is time for 2013 Dues as the New Fiscal Year begins on October 1ST. We have been able to obtain several dues payments from individuals who haven’t paid since before 2011. An updated summary will be presented at the Annual Meeting. I

am pleased with the response from members regarding the drive to get dues paid early in the year. During the past few

month “Free Pass” membership cards were sent to members who we have not heard from since 2008 and before. We did this to try and establish contact. Only one of the 80+ letters were returned as undeliverable and sadly we learned of the

passing of a few members. We hope to improve our receipt of dues for 2013 and we have a good start as the annual

meeting approaches. Our by Laws provide for a membership Committee and it would be very helpful if a couple of people, with some experi-

ence with excel spread sheets , came forward and offered to help with the data keeping duties. The work would be fo-

cused on the accuracy of member information , minor spread sheet design updates, and publishing Web files for the

Name and hull lists, Please also consider offering your talents to the Board of Directors and always feel free to let us know how we are doing

in our mission to serve you.

Sincerely

Everett St Louis 1ST V.P and membership Director

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HISTORIANS REPORT

Hello to all Lsa members, hope this has been an enjoyable summer for all. This past year has been a busy and exciting one. I have had the opportunity to attend a couple of Coast Guard events, and have met two or three former lightship sailors whom were not aware of the LSA!. As your historian , I believe it is part of my job, so to speak, to spread the word of the lsa existence. Believe me, I do. When meeting or speaking to any former Coasties, wheth-er at a C.G. event or aboard the Nantucket lv112, I always ask their past coast guard du-ties, and inquire if they served aboard a lightship. I make it a point to hand out lsa histori-an cards, and inform them of our organization and web site. It is so important to keep the lsa alive and growing. We all know too well, as time goes by, the ageing of our members cannot be stopped. The membership dwindles.. with this in mind, it will be exciting during our upcoming reunion, to partner with the local CPOA. This partnership can be a positive step in attracting interest and possibly grow lsa member-ship. I applaud Larry ryan and all who are responsible for making this happen. See you in mobile! Ron janard lsa historian **********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

“Who among us are meant to help bring forth the light?”

Page 6 The Fog Horn

Secretary’s Report Debra Dasch

Greetings to all Lightship Sailors and Members of the LSA Family,

Here we are in the dog days of summer! Sweltering heat and humidity have been with many of us for most of

the summer season, some also experiencing severe drought, and some severe fires. Our thoughts and best wishes are

with those who have suffered through these catastrophic events. We look forward to relief soon as Autumn makes its way to our doorstep, and an excursion to Mobile, Alabama

might be just the perfect way to end the summer. A time to enjoy some southern hospitality in this beautiful area of our

country, and visit with old friends, and make some new ones, from the LSA . Plan to join us for the reunion where a good time is always had by all.

Since most of the planning for the reunion was done some time ago, the Board of Directors has not had a tre-

mendous amount of business to conduct since the last newsletter. We received the patches for this year’s reunion, de-signed by Dennis Cosmo. What a great job he has done once again!

The transfer of artifacts to the Overfalls Maritime Museum Foundation has been completed and we feel they are

in very safe and capable hands. Pictures submitted to the LSA remain with our group in the hands of our historian, Ron

Janard. The LV 118 is a testament to the dedication of the Overfalls membership and their ability to accomplish the seemingly impossible. If you have not seen the LV 118 in Lewes, Delaware lately you will be very pleasantly surprised

at the improvements to the ship as well as to the park she is now the showpiece of. Check out their website:

www.overfalls.org Speaking of websites … If you haven’t checked out our website lately please do so at:

www.uscglightshipsailors.org You will find some great information on all sorts of LSA and Coast Guard items of in-

terest. I especially like the “then and now” section with pictures from boot camp days. These guys just got better look-ing every year! Thanks to our webmaster, Rick Gryder, for his expertise and his enhancements to our website! He does

a phenomenal job!

One of the most important functions at this year’s reunion will be the election of our officers and other members

of the Board of Directors (BOD, all positions will be up for election). Any member in good standing who would like to volunteer for a position on the BOD is encouraged to do so by contacting Bob Gubitosi or Larry Ryan. New faces are

welcomed and encouraged, as some of our board members have been serving a long time and are impatiently awaiting

their relief crew! Hoping to see you all in Mobile! Respectfully submitted,

Deb Dasch, Secretary

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THE CLOSING OF ‘FRED’S PLACE’ For those of you with internet access, and even for those of you that don’t use the internet, Fred’s Place was created by a

retired Coastie as a method to maintain and contact shipmates, record some of our stories among many other features. Fred’s Place was a tool many of us used to find both the LSA in the early beginnings, and then find a few of our ship-

mates we served with. His website had listing for every unit and billet in the Coast Guard for all active duty, retired, and

those that served. Fred’s Place closed on September 1st, and the new site should open by September 18th on the URL:

http://70.34.206.166/~uscgship/ Please log in and support this new site for all Coasties.

Submitted by Rick Gryder and Skip Martin *********************************************************************************************************************

“Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of congress. But I repeat myself”

Mark Twain

Page 7 The Fog Horn

ON THE DECK OF A LIGHTSHIP, A BOYS DREAM COMES TRUE

Larry Johnston, Florida Today Jan 12, 2012 (reprinted with permission)

New York City and its environs have innumerable things to make you marvel.

Right now, I’m standing on the deck of the 132-foot lightship Winter Quarter tied up near the statue of Liberty. It is a boyhood dream come true. Let me explain.

When I was a kid, I spent a great deal of time building plastic models. My bedroom was full of planes and ships. Build-

ing them was a great life lesson of how to follow instructions while keeping your glue-soaked fingers from messing up the works while keeping wet decals from sliding sideways. My models were not perfect. Maybe it was the inadvertent

inhalation of the glue.

One of my favorites was a lightship model. My father knew more than a little about lightships. Sometimes he would take my ragged model and tell me what they did and how they suffered the harsh weather at sea.

“Larry”, he would begin, “off the coast of America from Maine through North Carolina, there are treacherous shoals and

rocks waiting to snare un suspecting ships at night and in bad weather like this.” I would sit wide-eyed as pieces of my

model fell off as if rankled by the upcoming story. “Beginning in 1820, lightships protected our coast by anchoring themselves close to hazards, then displaying distinctive

lights to warn away any who accidently came too close. They remained in one place for months through every storm and

season. “Would you like to hear what happened to the lightship, Nantucket, back in 1934? The passenger liner Olympic, sister to

the Titanic, was proceeding too fast in the fog and was unable to avoid ramming—I know this sounds familiar—the poor

Nantucket and sank her. Seven sailors lost their lives. “But mostly lightships sat monotonously as the sea rocked back and forth.”

Dad would roll my little model in time with his words. Soon, I would turn a pale shade of green and Dad knew his story-

telling was ended for a time.

So here I am on the deck of one of these heroic little ships thinking about how they would rock back and forth. Oops, I feel that pale green feeling again. Time for this story to be over.

Submitted by George ( Skip ) Coleman

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“It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate tireless minority keen to set brush fires in peoples minds”

Samuel Adams

Page 8 The Fog Horn

LEWES HISTORICAL SOCEITY

LSA Reunion Annual Patch The annual patch for 2012 is dedicated to the loss crewmen of the sinking

of both the Blackthorn and White Alder as there were no Lightships at

Mobile. As in the past, a patch will be included as part of our registration

for the annual meeting.

Dennis Cosmo, Past President, Chairman Arts & Graphics

Larry Ryan, President USCG Lightship Sailor’s Association

Dear Larry:

Through you I send greetings to all of the LSA members. I would like to convey these greetings in person but schedul-

ing conflicts make that impossible for the 2012 meeting in Mobile. I enjoyed meeting with you when you brought the LSA artifacts to Lewes in May. We still have not finalized our situa-

tion with the Lewes Historical Society (LHS) for the display of the artifacts because we have had an exciting new devel-

opment come up. An historic vessel is being rebuilt here in Lewes and in the process their crew has removed and de-clared surplus the pilot house which measures 6’ X 16’. The crew has offered the pilot house to the Foundation and we

would like to bring it to our grounds and affix it to the back of our Ship’s Store. We would use the pilot house for more

Ship’s Store space and for the display of artifacts. We are now in ticklish negotiations with the City for authority to bring in the new structure. Until we are through that process and know what artifacts (if any) will go in the pilot house,

we don’t want to make further commitments to LHS.

We have another initiative that we discussed when you were here. The Foundation would like to create a memorial to all

lightship sailors on our grounds. There are many ways that this could be done: a bronze plaque, a stone monument, etc. If we are to do this, we want something prominent that makes a bold statement. We are thinking of a life size statue of a

lightship sailor cast in bronze. There is a sculptor here in Lewes who creates statues that, in addition to being very life

like, capture the emotion of the subject. While it will be the perfect memorial, the price will be in the range of $100,000. This will take some creative fund raising on our part and any assistance that the LSA could provide would be most wel-

come.

As always, we welcome the LSA members to Lewes whenever your schedules permit. On a more formal scale, if the venue for your 2014 meeting is not yet set, we invite you to consider Lewes. We feel we have a great town which pro-

vides the perfect home for the Lightship Overfalls. Generally our weather in late October is delightful so when it is all

put together it makes an ideal venue.

I wish you a most successful meeting in Mobile and we look forward to seeing the LSA members often. Sincerely yours,

Tracy Mulveny,

President

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“Be who you are and say what you feel. Because those who mind don’t matter, and those

who matter don’t mind”

Dr. Seuss

Page 9 The Fog Horn

USCG LIGHTSHIP SAILORS ASSOCIATION, Inc. 2012 ANNUAL REUNION … To be Held in

Mobile, AL … October 18, 19 & 20.

Quick Overview of Basic Reunion Information to Help in your Planning!

Hotel: Marriott Mobile 3101 Airport Blvd. Reservations call: 1-251-476-6400

Mobile, AL Our LSA Special Rates are: $89.00 per night plus tax ( includes full breakfast for 2 per room). Rooms must be reserved under “USCG Lightship Sailors Association” block for special rate.

Make certain to say you are with the USCG Lightship Sailors Assn. to get the $89.00 special rate. NOTE: Directions to Hotel;

Located 8 miles East of the Mobile Airport. Public transportation is available to hotel from airport. Un-

limited free Parking on hotel property south side.

LSA Reunion Tentative Schedule: Thursday October 18, 2012 07:00 am… Hospitality Room opens

08:00 am – 2:00 pm: LSA Registration on the mezzanine, receive ID Badge. 2:00 pm – 4:45 pm: Annual Membership Meeting. 5:00 pm… LSA Social Gathering

Friday October 19, 2012 Planned activities and tours will be announced Thursday and will depend on attendance. We have a lot of interesting options, all depends on interest levels.

Saturday October 20, 2012 9:00 am..Board bus for lunch and tour of Battleship Alabama

12:00 noon Lunch in the Ward Room, hosted by USCG Chief Petty Officers Assoc. 2:00 pm… Annual Lightship Sailors Memorial Service and Wreath Laying Ceremony.

5:00 pm… Annual Banquet Dinner with cash bar, and annual auction.

Note: As a courtesy to our guest speaker, the bar will be closed during his presentation.

The Hospitality room will remain open both days for those unable to attend our day trips, coffee & soda will be available.

FEE: All of the above are included in the low $ 110.00 per head fee.

PAYMENTS: Hotel: Make reservations and payments directly with the hotel.

Note: Unless otherwise noted, Lunch and Dinner are on your own. Saturday lunch on the Battleship Alabama and of course the Banquet Dinner.

Sunday October 21, 2012 09:00 am … After the official program closes, Southern Gospel Country Style Music by LSA Members, Adrian and Sharon Van Houten. Please join us for this wonderful Mini Chapel Service. (location TBA)

Page 10 The Fog Horn

FROM OUR WEBSITE

Rick Gryder, Webmaster One of the great tools of today is the internet, allowing us to be in touch with and locate Lightship Sailors and other in-

terested parties that would have been nearly impossible only a few short years ago. One of the most recent responses

came from the great grandson of the commanding officer of LV100 on Blunts Reef Station in December, 1941. The

commanding officer in 1941 was Alfred J.M. Prien, the great grandson making the contribution is Neil Prien. Our sincere appreciation to Neil in forwarding such an interesting and historic one of a kind document.

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GENERAL QUARTERS Chiefs Corner

Page 11 The Fog Horn

SERIOUS CONTRIBUTION TO OUR HISTORY As most everyone knows, the 1940 census was just made public and available to everyone in the past 90 days.

Pat Wills, CWO USCG ( Retired) has researched all available census records, compiling a roster of all crew

members on all of the lightships available in 1940. These names will be added to our known crew list during

the next quarter.

Our sincere appreciation to Pat for his efforts. *&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

SPECIAL NOTICE: We are desperately searching for pictures of all Lightship Sailors from boot

camp through their active duty days serving aboard Lightships. These are wanted for posting on the website

under “Then and Now”. Which means, we want a picture of you “Then” and “Now”. Please help by sending

your pictures to either Larry Ryan or Rick Gryder, Web Master.

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ELECTION REMINDER We will be holding our elections this year in Mobile for all positions on the board of directors. Let me emphasize, all

positions are open for nominations from the floor with two incumbent officers that will not be standing for nomination

for another term, as follows:

President not standing for another term

2nd Vice President not standing for another term All appointed chairmen positions also expire including a very important responsibility that of Director of Membership.

Please feel free to ask any question regarding the responsibilities and what may be required.

THE QUALIFICATIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Be a member in good standing, and we encourage our ladies to consider joining our elected board of directors, be com-puter competent to send and answer e-mails ( all of our business is via electronic except for the annual meeting ) agree to

serve as chairmen as appointed by the president, and agree to check for messages at least every 24 hours. THE COMPENSATION

In addition to being able to write off 100% of your expenses incurred in attending the annual meeting you will have the satisfaction of knowing you have contributed to the effort in keeping our history alive and preserved [ is there a greater

reward? ] *********************************************************************************************************************

“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else” Ben Franklin

A MEMORIAL TO A LOST LIGHTSHIP AND CREW

Nearly 100 years ago one of the most disastrous storms in history struck Lake Erie and became known as the “white hur-ricane” sinking 19 ships killing 250 people including sinkinking Lightship #82 with 6 crewmen ( that we honor at each

of our annual memorial services). LV #82 was actually stationed in Canadian waters off of Point Albino, just opposite

Buffalo, NY and was known as “Buffalo Lightship”. As in all other lightship disasters, no memorials for either ship or lost crews have ever been established, and along comes three Ontario Historians, bent on recognizing this loss. Rick Do-

an, Paul Kassay Jr and John Robbins requested funds from both Canada and the US Coast Guard which was rejected.

The LSA was contacted through one of our active duty Master Chief members for our help.

Your board of directors voted to offer financial assistance and donated $1700 out of our historical preservation fund. The memorial will be in Waterfront Park, Crystal Beach, ON. And should be completed before years end.

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A MESSAGE FROM OUR CHAPLAIN Rev. Adrian Van Houten

Most Recent Crossing The Bar

Updated 09-1-2012

CROSSED OVER THE BAR 2011-2012

Lightship Sailor Veteran Crossed Over LSA Notified

Stanley Mansell SR Sept. 3 2011 November 25, 2011

108/530 Five Fathom 1953

Neal Ross Campbell (founding member) Feb 12, 2012 Feb 13, 2012

106/528 Relief 1961

Malcom Pullen unknown Feb 24, 2012

113/535 Swiftsure Bank 1948

YOU ARE RELIEVED OF THE WATCH, REST IN PEACE

Dear Fellow LSA members and friends.

The time is drawing near f or our memorial service in Mobile, A;. Once again we are looking

forward to our gathering. We need to be thinking about the elections of the board, the board meeting,

the general members meeting. Other events that will occur will be, our social times, safety on the trips

we take, the banquet and auction. If you have something to donate it will be appreciated. I will be pray-

ing for traveling mercies for all of you. May your journeys be pleasant and fun. Sharon and I have

done a lot of traveling this year. Observing the greatness and beauty of our nation, the nation we helped

to secure and protect. Let us never forget the freedoms we have that have been secured by those who

serve today. The USCG has changed, but the motto is the same “ Semper Paratus always ready or al-

ways prepared”. Are you ready to do your duty to attend the reunion and support the LSA for future

generations? If you need prayer please let me know. God bless you all.

Your Chaplin Adrian

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“The rights of man comes not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God”

JFK, 1961