I joined over 50 "old" Radiomen attending The Coast Guard CW Operators Association's Third Annual Meeting in Charleston, South Carolina from October 17th through the 22nd. Ah, the echoes of ditty dah dits and sea stories flooded the city as the ZUTTERS and their XYLs gathered here and there.

For those of you that were not fortunate enough to be a Coast Guard Radioman in the days of Morse Code (ditty dah dits), let me explain some terminology, ZUT is the fraternal order of Coast Guard CW Operators - Zeta Upsilon Tau. We call ourselves, ZUTTTERS, Brass Pounders or anything else except late for watch. XYLs are our spouses, it's an abbreviation for Ex-Young Lady. You have to remember we formed our fraternal order long before Political Correctness so you won't find any 'significant others' being mentioned here.

I've misplaced my Schedule of Events but our group enjoyed a walking tour of old Charleston, a breakfast/business meeting, a toured the USS Yorktown and the USCGC Ingham, and a great dinner cruise. In fact about 30 or so brass pounders held a hamfest aboard the Ingham communicating with those ZUTTERS that couldn't make it to the Annual Meeting. A highlight of the week was an old fashion cookout and get-together hosted by Wesley (Wes) and Irene Leitch. Wes introduced us all to frog-more stew. I know there was shrimp in that pot but I didn't see any frogs - must be one of those South Carolina things! The week was topped off on our final day with a boat ride to and tour of the Fort Sumter National Monument.

Let me regress back to Wes' cookout. I don't know exactly how our transportation was arranged but I understand the Chief of Police in Charleston is an ex-Coastie and offered us the use of a bus to transport everyone from the hotel to Wes' home. Wes doesn't live exactly in the center of town. He doesn't exactly live in the suburbs either - I'll put it this way, we passed a sign stating "End of State Maintenance" several miles from Wes' home. We lost pavement and then lost the dirt road and ended up on a dual path lane through what could easily be called "swamp". Amazingly, amongst the cypress trees and old oaks, Wes and Irene have a lovely 20 acre "patch of Eden" at the end of that dual path lane. The trip to and from Wes' home isn't my point here at all. I failed to mention the 'bus' we were using was a Charleston Police Department Bus !! driven by two officers of the Charleston Police Department. When we left the dirt road, even the Officer/Driver got into the festive mood and soon the lights and siren were flashing and blearing away. We arrived at Wes' home laughing at what someone came up with. You know you're a redneck when your friends come to your cookout in a Police Department Bus! Now no one could make up such a story so below you can see photographic evidence of "our chain gang" arriving at Wes and Irene's home.

Hey! We're suppose to be going to a cookout!

Here's some photos taken on our Dinner Cruise.

Doug & Virginia Stevens

Rick & Pat Lods

Fred & Maryann Riley

Robert & Delores Warbutton

Fred and Martha Goodwin

Alan Jackson and Virginia Lucchi

George Lucchi and Lila Clay (Jackson)

Leonard & Lois Goodwin

Lee & Marcia Morris

Dick & Phyllis Leisy

George & Elaine Manning

Jim & Marilynn Huffman

Frank & Kennie Warren

Wesley & Irene Leitch

Max & Phyllis Ferrill

Carl & Ann Johnson

R. Peter Carlson and Joe Wright

David & Cheryl Johnson

Fred & Mary Siegel

Kelly (a good sport) & Don Donner

Dinner Cruise Table One

Dinner Cruise Table Two

Dinner Cruise Table Three

Dinner Cruise Table Four

Dinner Cruise Table Five

Dinner Cruise Table Six

John & Sandee Potts

Ron & Mary Hudson

The following ZUTters didn't make the Charleston Meeting but by the look of them they certainly should have been aboard the Police Bus! LOL Some of these photos were submitted, others taken off the bulletin board at my local Post Office - I've edited the photos to remove the rewards being offered.

James 'Ferg' Ferguson

Wade & Judy Lankford

Charlie & Elaine Brogdon

Bob Smallwood

Garret Conklin

Pete Westerberg

That's all Folks - dit dah dit dah dit