The Gold Country Chapter

Sons of the American Revolution

Minutes of the 15 August 2009 Meeting

At Lou LaBonte’s Restaurant, Auburn

By Compatriots Keith Bigbee and Michael Lucas

President Griswold called the meeting to order at 9:00 AM. Chaplain Ron Williams gave the Invocation. Our Historian, Barry Hopkins, led the Pledge of Allegiance followed by the SAR Pledge, which was led by Compatriot Dick Shepherd.

There were 18 Members and 21 guests in attendance. President Griswold welcomed all the guests and asked each of them to stand and identify themselves and their city. One of our chapter members, Al Chinn and his wife Barbara, had driven from Bishop to hear Mr. Robinson’s presentation.

President Griswold then recognized all of the DAR members in attendance: Coreena Ross, Ann Young, JoAnn Cupp, and Vice Regent Armida Manifor from the Capt. John Oldham Chapter; Winona Virgil from the Emigrant Trails Chapter; and Barbara Chinn from the Palisades Chapter.

President Griswold asked for a motion to approve the July meeting minutes as published in the newsletter. A motion was made, seconded, and passed approving the minutes. He then pointed out the information in the program that was handed out by our greeters, Dale and Coreena Ross. He explained that the chapter is trying a new meeting format, focusing on our guest speakers and allowing time for fellowship during five meetings of the year. Business meetings will be held four months of the year; the remaining meetings will be dedicated to the community awards, Constitution Day Parade and picnic, and the annual Christmas party.

President Griswold then inducted our newest member Jerry Kopp into the Chapter; Jerry gave a few words of gratitude on becoming the chapter's newest member.

A flyer was handed out and a signup sheet was passed around for the Constitution Day picnic on September 13th in Nevada City. We took a break in the meeting for breakfast and fellowship.

President Griswold introduced Ted Robinson's son in law, John Keane, who introduced our guest speaker. LCDR Robinson spoke very briefly of his time with John F. Kennedy and then went on to tell us a great story of courage from an unlikely hero in WW II. After service on PT boats, Robinson became a captain of a Landing Ship, Tank (LST). He was assigned the extremely dangerous mission of extracting Army soldiers who were about to be annihilated by the Japanese on Okinawa. Extracting the soldiers required that he move his LST into a narrow cove during a typhoon. As well as the desperate soldiers waiting to go onboard, there was a long line of trucks stuck in the mud on a narrow path. The trucks at the rear were loaded with severely injured soldiers who could not be moved out of their trucks. In order to save their lives, Robinson had to move all the vehicles into his LST, while under fire. After successfully moving the trucks into the LST, Robinson could not move the ship away from the rocks because of the typhoon. Robinson attempted to use some of his Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP) ships as tugboats. However, this approach failed to turn the LST away from the rocks. Robinson was left with only one option to save his ship and all its occupants. In parallel with this exciting sequence of events was a story of Seaman 2nd Class Kelly. Towards the end of the war, the Navy was inducting less qualified personnel into service. Kelly was one such seaman. Kelly was a thief and everyone except Robinson wanted him court-martialed. Robinson wanted to rehabilitate Kelly and make something of him by giving him increased responsibilities. Robinson was warned by his crew that Kelly was hopeless and would eventually let them down. When all was about to be lost, a suicide mission by Kelly became Robinson’s only option to save his ship. Kelly was called upon to crash his LVCP at full speed into the LST, hopefully providing enough momentum to turn it away from the rocks. Kelly became the hero that day and saved everyone from certain death. Kelly survived the crash but was left with severe permanent injuries. Those in attendance were deeply moved by Ted Robinson’s amazing story of courage. At the urging of his family, LCDR Robinson recently published a book documenting his life experiences. After the meeting, Ted Robinson autographed books purchased by our members.

The meeting was concluded with a Moment of Silence in recognition of our passed compatriots. Ron Williams gave the Benediction and Bob McClurg led us in the SAR Recessional. The meeting was adjourned at 11:00 AM.