On June 5th the Herald of Everett, WA published an article on me captioned as “Former Sailor dreams of saving his old ship”, reproduced on enclosed sheet. Since then I have had some promising news. This mailing is to attract your attention and ask that you take appropriate steps to have the subject ship removed from Disposal status and placed on Historical Review. This ship is named for the Kawishiwi River east of Ely, MN.

I believe well maintained, retired oilers should be put to good use, not disposed of. The oiler on which I am a Plank Owner, USS Kawishiwi AO-146, is one of six built in the 1954-56 time frames. They were the first and only ones to have sleek lines. Two have already been scraped. You can see my web site “http://navy.memorieshop.com/ “, about these six ships and 8 more.

No museum exists for oilers. Too many persons are not aware of their existence and how important they are. Even the new “TAKE” needs to be subsidized by an oiler. I have had people come up to me and shake my hand for being a veteran where I explain what an AO is. They come back with, “I guess they have all gone away because of Atomic Power”, where I have to straighten them out.

I have enclosed a brochure that provides information about my ship and what I believe is possible. I am not a person with funds or connections to help with this. My career after the navy was as telecommunications plant engineer, including Hector, MN.


Thanks for your help.