Von Zipper disagrees on History

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Keith Holman
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Von Zipper disagrees on History

Post by Keith Holman »

I had this email on the Yahoo group. Before I make the changes, I would appreciate someone else who has first-hand knowledge confirming what he has told me.
Glenn Keiffer <von.zipper@> wrote:
There is a big mistake to the history of the Madison. The Blue crew
fired the A3 Polaris missile and the first patrol the Madison made was
sometime real close to November 1, 1964. It was an 88 day patrol from
Charleston. The rest were from Rota. I made Patrols 1,3,5,7,9, and
11. The Blue crew was out to sea for Christmas and New Years in the
years 1964,65, and 1966. That is why Swede and I wrote the song,"Who'd
Your Wife Spend Christmas With?' That song was performed by "The
Mindsnappers" on the James Madison on the 3 patrol. The Mindsnappers
were Swede (Helge Sjolund Jr.) lead sing and song writer, Erik Von
Zipper(Glenn Keiffer), lead guitaress and song writer, and Louie 'The
Lip' Dornato, a man to give us some class.

The Zipper has spoken and these facts are true and undisputed.
As noted on the page, the source was the "official" welcome aboard package from 1982.
~Keith
Reunion Association President
MattBaseflug
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Post by MattBaseflug »

Hmmmm.....official only means that who ever wrote the official document, some yoeman I would venture, that is the way it was as he understood it. It doesnt necessarily make it fact. Its possible if a couple other people coroborate Eriks version then I would tend to believe his story.
Nav ET Div, Blue, 83-87
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Re: Von Zipper disagrees on History

Post by thackworth »

I see Glenn Keifer made some statements on the History of the USS James Madison. I reported for duty on the Madison on June 16th 1963 while the boat was still being built at Newport News Ship yard. I had just completed Polaris "C" school in Damn Neck VA. I left the Boat in July of 1967. I am not sure I can verify all of Glenn's claims about the different dates of commission and sea trails. I do know he is in error on a couple of events. In the summer of 1964 we did do operational ready trails prior to being deployed. Glenn said after the trails we all flew back to Charleston S.C. I remember flying back to the Hampton Virginia area and we landed at the Langley Air Force base. We had turned the boat over to the Gold crew a few days prior to that. I remember seeing the blue crew get off the plane and it looked as if we had been in battle somewhere. The concussion of the launch had made the ship first sink then recover violently and the mess cook in the galley had a full tub of potatoes shift and he received a broken leg. The trolley that Glenn said he was operating during the launch took another casualty in that the trolley hit one person that was on the gold crew and who had looked between the missile tubes to find where the trolley was. The trolley hit him in the head. After the launch the sergeant valve that was near the top of the missile tube but still inside the boat began leaking and the water coming in was a mixture of sea water and launch fuel residue. I when up to manually shut the valve and the water temporary blinded me. By the time we reached Hampton Va I was still having trouble seeing out of both eyes. However I am now 62 and my near vision is still 20/20. One fellow with a nich name of "Mule" I believe he was an Engineman had for what ever reason dove off the prier at Cape Kennedy and split his head open. The Tide was out. I believe one of the Navigation people (ET Ford) had got into a fight with another ship's Sailor that was at the cape with us and he was a little bursed by the event.

I can not recall how we then got back on board the boat. I do know that we were headed up the Cooper River in Charleston and Captain Skoog turned around and went back out to Sea to ride out the Hurricane Dora. We were at 300 feet and the storm bounced us around like popcorn. Looking up the storm on the internet I see it hit the Charleston area around September 12th 1964. Somewhere in all of this we ended up at the Naval Weapons Depot on the Cooper River to load our missiles. It was late October and I was on deck helping with the load and it was snowing. It was unusual to see snow in South Carolina. I do know we had a 7 week shake down cruise and some Naval exercises around this time. My orders (now turning yellow) transferring me to sea duty has a date stamp of January 17,1965. I presume this is when we headed to sea. I remember leaving Charleston and it must have taken us a full week to get on station in the North Atlantic. I was attending school in mid April of 1965. So the first patrol more than likely was between Jan 17th 1965 and late March or very early April 1965.

Just some trivia. The Ship's logo was designed by a Blue Crew Missile
Technician and I can't remember his name. He was on the Blue crew and I
know he made at least one patrol. The Weapons officer on the Gold Crew
Lt. Leroy Collins was the officer that choose the logo design. I know this guy made the one patrol because he used the head in the missile compartment and some one had forgot to put a sign on the door telling everyone they were blowing the sanitary tank. This guy was big and muscular and with wet toilet paper and all he stormed into the mess area looking for the guy blowing the sanitary tank. To this day I do not think anyone ever gave up the person.

Yes Glenn did have a band and sang with Louie Dorneta and his friend
Swede. None of them could sing worth a lick and they all thought they were Bob Dylan groupies.

Any more that I can help with on those early days of the Madison I would
gladly respond since I am now retired.

Sincerely

Ted Hackworth MT2(SS)(1963-1967)
Edit:I edited your address and phone number out because this area is not a "hidden area". ~Keith



Keith Holman wrote:I had this email on the Yahoo group. Before I make the changes, I would appreciate someone else who has first-hand knowledge confirming what he has told me.
Glenn Keiffer <von.zipper@> wrote:
There is a big mistake to the history of the Madison. The Blue crew
fired the A3 Polaris missile and the first patrol the Madison made was
sometime real close to November 1, 1964. It was an 88 day patrol from
Charleston. The rest were from Rota. I made Patrols 1,3,5,7,9, and
11. The Blue crew was out to sea for Christmas and New Years in the
years 1964,65, and 1966. That is why Swede and I wrote the song,"Who'd
Your Wife Spend Christmas With?' That song was performed by "The
Mindsnappers" on the James Madison on the 3 patrol. The Mindsnappers
were Swede (Helge Sjolund Jr.) lead sing and song writer, Erik Von
Zipper(Glenn Keiffer), lead guitaress and song writer, and Louie 'The
Lip' Dornato, a man to give us some class.

The Zipper has spoken and these facts are true and undisputed.
As noted on the page, the source was the "official" welcome aboard package from 1982.
dboutell
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History

Post by dboutell »

I remember that I joined the Madison Blue Crew on its second or third long run. I made six runs and they were all out of Rota, Spain. I certainly cannot dispute anyones account of actual dates. I remember that band. It seems like Art Cotherman was part of it, too, maybe not. Even if Art wasn't part of that band, he could certainly play the guitar and sing.

Eric and Sweed and I rented a place out on Rememberance Road that was at one time a pizza parlor. I forgot who else was out there with us. I remember that we painted the toilet bowl black inside and out. We took all of the shelves out of the fridge so that it could hold a keg of beer. We parked our motorcycles in the dining area of the pizza parlor. The back part was where there were at least three bedrooms and a fairly large living room/kitchen combination area. The old pizza parlor was PARTY CENTRAL for certain. :twisted:
dboutell
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History

Post by dboutell »

:oops: Eric corrected me. It was Little Italy on Remount Rd.
swede1128
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The Mindsnappers

Post by swede1128 »

After 40 years this may be the only photo of the Mindsnappers in existence. From left to right - Eric Von Zipper, Swede, Louie
Click here
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