Parker Mundy, Kirk Webmaster, Passing

by Bon on January 8, 2012

in General

Our founding Webmaster, Kirk Plankowner, and dear friend of the Kirk, passed away unexpectedly in his sleep on December 23, 2011. Parker (Bill) served aboard the Kirk from 1972 -1975 and was proud of his service aboard the Kirk and his part in the rescue of the Vietnamese Navy at the end of the Vietnam war. His efforts as webmaster provided the venue for contacting hundreds of Kirk crewmates, thousands of Vietnamese families, and multiple reunions. His passing leaves a huge hole in the Kirk Association and a deep sorrow to those who knew him or were touched by him.

Fair Winds and Following Seas my brother.

Jim “Bon” Bongaard

 

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Kirk DE/FF 1087 Updates

by Parker on July 20, 2011

in General

Crewmates. We are working heavily to bring our website and Association back to where it was before July 2010. During our reunion in 2010 our website was attacked and brought to it’s knees. Fortunately our webmaster, Parker Mundy, had set up sufficient blockades to protect our shipmate database. So none of our protected personal information was compromised. This attack recquired us to set up a new protocol for our site, in it’s present state, to keep us up at a minimum level while we try to set up a new ultra secure section for the database information. Since then we have been struggling to keep this information offsite which limited the ability to update crewmates email and personal data.

We desperately need to get updates from every crewmember who was in our database and solicit information from any new members. I volunteer to be the portal for that information since I am the founding father of the Kirk Association (2004) and I am hopeful that I have your confidence that I will treat that information with the highest level of security. So please, send me an email regarding your current email address, and any other contact information you have. This will help us keep the Association viable, get the newsletters out to all of you, let you know about the 2012 reunion, etc.

Very Sincerely,
Jim “Bon” Bongaard  jbongaard@carolina.rr.com
jbongaard@carolina.rr.com
Founder, Former President, crewmember/plankowner, OS2 1972-1975, Recruitment Coordinator

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Crewmate Locator

June 15, 2011

If you are looking for an old Kirk crewmate I/we can help. Post here who you are looking for. Then send me a personal email with as much information on the crewmember as you know. Hometown, wife and kids names, any known address’s or phone numbers, etc etc. All this helps me on the hunt. [...]

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Kirk Plaque Found

February 5, 2011

November 10. 2010: Long Beach, California: Alpert & Alpert, Iron and Metal Inc.: Supervisor David Simmons does a walk through inspection of a newly arrived shipment of scrap metal from Hawaii. David is a former Navy Corpsman and Vietnam Veteran and is always on the lookout for possible historical items that might be coming through [...]

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Recuitment of Kirk Cewmembers

January 29, 2011

As Recruitment Coordinator it is my assigned duty (with great honor) to locate all past crewmembers of the USS Kirk DE/FF 1087 and assist them in joining the Kirk Association. I do this mostly for personal reasons, not to mention the Associaiton. Since the inception of the Association in 2004 in has been my profound [...]

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Winter 2010 “Newsletter”

December 17, 2010

Dear KIRK Shipmates, It has been a long time since our last newsletter. There is a lot to report on, so this may turn out to be longer than the others. We hope you find it interesting and informative. First of all, who are the “we” mentioned in the first paragraph? “We” are the new [...]

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“The Lucky Few” Online

November 21, 2010

Many of you have wanted an opportunity to view the movie created by the US Navy about the role of the USS KIRK during Operation Frequent Wind and Operation New Life. Well, that opportunity is here! Just click on http://www.navytv.org/channel.cfm?c=784&s=115.

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New Association Officers

September 5, 2010

I am thrilled to announce that I am turning the helm over to our next President. That being Peter Schermerhorn, a fellow OS from 1975. Also, our Historian, Hugh Doyle, has been persuaded to become the Vice President of the Association while maintaining his position of official Historian of the Kirk. As a reminder, please [...]

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NPR’s Third Story Is In The Can

September 1, 2010

The third and final article in NPR’s series about the USS Kirk is now complete. This third story is really a continuation of the first story, although they are all related. It sort of went like this: Kirk’s part in the evacuation of Saigon The July2010  reunion of Kirk officers and crew and our Vietnamese [...]

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NPR’s Second Broadcast…

September 1, 2010

This morning, NPR broadcast their second story about the USS Kirk’s Vietnam connection. This story focused primarily on our July reunion in Virginia and some of the emotional events and memories. Read more and listen to the recorded story at NPR’s website (story 2).

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