Flamin Caiman News
January 8, 2010
2010 Reunion - May 17-20, 2010
Reno, Nevada
This is where you can read the latest news and goings on with the USS Caiman Association and it's members and other topics of interest.
2010 Reunion
Our 2010 Reunion in Reno is only months away. It's time to get moving and make your reservations and register. The Yeo and Smitty have put together another winner. It looks like we will break a new attendance record for this one so fill out the registration form and mail it in and call the hotel. You can get all the details on the Reunion Page and get ready to have a great time. Don't procrastinate - you snooze you loose.
Holland Club
We now have a Holland Club list of USS Caiman shipmates that have made it into this exclusive club. As more members are inducted into the club we will update the list.
The Holland Club was established in May 1964 and was adopted as part of the Constitution and bylaws of the US SubVets Association.
The Holland Club was established to recognize USSVI members who had been qualified in Submarines 50 or more years.
CONGRATULATIONS to all of our members for achieving this major milestone!
2008 Reunion
What a great time we all had in Branson! Branson is a great location for reunions. The hotel did a great job in taking care of us too. We had over 200 in attendance.
Take a look at the pictures and videos in the gallery and you will see some of what went on. You can also view some of the videos on YouTube. To find the videos on YouTube either use this link, or search YouTube for "flamincaiman". Come back once in awhile as more pictures and videos will be added from time to time.
Some of the highlights of the reunion included: Bent Christiansen gave us an update on how he is doing in recovering from Katrina and how he appreciates the support of the USS Caiman Association in helping him get back on his feet; Ken "Goat" Sanderlin was roasted at the luncheon; We made some changes to our bylaws at our business meeting and we voted to have the next reunion in Reno in 2010; We cruised the lake on the Branson Belle paddle wheeler and saw a great show including a magic show that a few of our own were involved in; We topped off the three days with a great time at the banquet - the food was great too! We were blessed with super weather once again.
The 2008 Reunion was a lot of fun. There are always ways to do it better so if you have any ideas for the Reno reunion, click here and give us some feedback.
Gallery Update
Have you visited the Gallery lately? There's a whole lot of new pictures there and a whole new Video section. Check it out.
USS Caiman Association Membership
The USS Caiman Association is now over 245. A BIG THANK YOU to all the shipmates that have joined our ranks! Joining the Association is completly voluntary. Membership dues goes 100% towards our on going expenses for newsletter printing, postage, hosting of this web site and planning for reunions. For more information on our USS Caiman Association just go to our Join page. If you would like to join, print out the form and mail it in.
Smitty (Doug Smith, the Association Secretary) continues to look high and low for more USS Caiman shipmates. He has made his goal of 1200 by our next reunion. Now, it's getting real difficult, so if you have any clues or have some time to help us look, please get hold of Smitty. Here's the scoreboard:
- Sailing List: 1216
- Live Souls: 571
- Association Members: 251
- Lost List: 210
At the reunion in 2006, Bob Mehrling and Bob Hyde each graciously donated $500 to fund the cost of a records search by the Naval Personnel Command Manpower Center for 290 USS Caiman shipmates. The list was comprised of all the names on our lost list that were E-5 or above when they were on the Caiman. The results are in. Of the 290 names 33 are on Eternal Patrol and 49 names were found and letters were sent. There were 208 not found. This means the Navy does not have a current record on them. The records only go back 20 years. If one of these shipmates went on Eternal Patrol before that time the Navy will not have a record of them. Thus far we have heard from 3 of those that received letters. The hunt continues.
In late 2004 the Association purchased all the microfilm records from the Navy that shows when people reported aboard, transferred off and other info. Smitty, Yeo and Whit have spent hours going through all of them. The microfilm turned out to be a gold mine of information to help find our shipmates. All shipmates that we have located are on the sailing list. The lost list contains all the names of shipmates we are still looking for.
We have 285 on our email list. If you want to be on our email list you have to put yourself on it! Click here to subscribe. If your email address changes go here.
Are you Lost?
If you served on the USS Caiman and just found our web site, WELCOME HOME! Please fill out our Contact Information form and we will get right back to you.
Old Newsletters
Every so often we send out a newsletter to our members via snail mail. Just in case you can't find one of them, you'll find them right here:
Non-Profit
The USS Caiman Association is a Non-Profit organization thanks to the efforts of Mr C. (Randy Christison). Effective August 12, 2004 we are exempt from Federal Income Tax under section 501(c)(19) of the Internal Revenue Code. See our Join page for further details.
Who Are You?
If you were you on Caiman in the mid 50's you might be able to help us identify this shipmate. Charlie Cloud wants to buy him a drink or two. Anybody?
Gallery Update
The Photo Gallery has over 130 photos from our 2008 Reunion in Branson. If you have some pics from the reunion or from your time on the Caiman, please send me an email, or snail mail me or phone me. You do remember the phone don't you. No, no it's doesn't have a crank on it.
By the way, if you haven't taken a look at the Gallery for awhile, you might want to take a peek as there were about 200 pictures added early in 2008. Thanks to the many shipmates that contributed these great pictures.
I collected a lot more pictures at the 2008 reunion and will be going through it all and adding more photos to the Gallery over the coming months.
I'm looking for an original 1957 edition of The Periscope so I can get a good scan of an article of Caiman's visit to Australia and a picture of four of our Caiman shipmates. If you have it, please send it to me and I will get it back to you asap. Thanks!
Topside Watch Log
Remember the tattered green watch logs we used to scribble in when we were on watch? Well, we've got one for you here on our web site so you can say whatever is on your mind. Just click on the green book with the FlaminCaiman and you'll be there. Look at the bottom of this and most pages on the web site and you'll find the book.
Please complete our Contact Information Form to get on our Master Sailing List Click here.
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