It begins on May 18, 2003 when an email signed by Jaci and John Mackinson arrived from England, advising that they had a plaque in their possession which John, then in the Royal Air Force U.K., had found while snorkeling in Tobruk (Harbor), Libya in 1969. They described it as a casting with the words U.S.S. Douglas H. Fox DD 779 across the top and bottom and an embossed picture of a broken submarine, with a fox landing on top to cause its sinking. They wondered how it got there and were now trying to find out. When the word was passed to Tom "Windy" Sherman RMSN '51-'53, he called the Mackinson's from his home in Long Beach, California, and before the conversation was over all three "had tears in their eyes", recognizing that the plaque was going home, as Windy remembered the plaque from his time aboard ship and had asked for it to be sent to him directly.

Next Windy sent an email to all Association members relaying the story and asking if anyone knew how it might have got into the harbor in Tobruk. Immediately a response came back from then Lt. jg Ron Ghiradella, now Commander Ghiradela, USNR, (Ret.). Ron, who resides in North Merrick, NY, wrote as follows:

"I certainly remember the Fox's stop in Tobruk in 1961, which extended from May 22 to May 25. As a gesture of goodwill our crew put together a playground for the local school. The U.S.S. Mitschner was also anchored in the harbor. There were several visits by both enlisted men and officers to the RAF base at El Adem. I suspect the plaque in question was given to the school when we erected the playground. Or then again it could have been given to our British hosts at the air base. It was a habit at that time to give out those plaques as goodwill gestures.

Once Quadaffi came to power in 1969 just about anything reminding the Libyans of our friendship and charity was disposed of. This could have been the case with the plaque. As Watch Officer during the last night of our stay in Tobruk, we had a number of incidents involving our own officer personnel which would probably be better to relate at our next reunion. "

The Mess Decks photo was taken in 1964 during our Med cruise. The Fox was steaming at about 20 knots. As you can see the one mate does not have a tray in front of him. He was quite seasick and our great chow was not agreeing with him. I requested he strike his best pose for the picture. All four of these mates had recently came aboard and this was their first time at sea. He accepted to have the photo op. If you look closely you can see he was truly not feeling well. I can well remember in stormy seas with my arm wrapped around that tray while eating to keep it from flying off the mess deck table. I was lucky as I never got seasick. As you moved forward from the mess decks one ladder down was the communications division head. A little more forward and down another ladder was our berthing compartment. The second most forward berthing compartment aboard the Fox. Man what a ride when in that rack, just rocked one right to sleep. I truly thought our cooks did a great job and I have no complaints about Navy chow. Coffee was a little strong and a lot of grinds in that cup, surely kept one awake.

We ran port and starboard watches in the radio shack, Not much time for anything else but standing watches, chow call, mid rats, GQ and whatever else transpired during a 24 hour day. Oh forgot, what were those little things in the bottom of the cup when we drank that bug juice. What you cannot see in the mess decks is where the commissary men did the cooking and the scullery where all the trays and misc flatware were cleaned. And, by the way, I did my three month tour in those mess decks in that scullery and other functions. I can well remember after we got back to Norfolk after a Gitmo Bay shakedown cruise as the Fox just came out of Fram II, I believe late 1962. After spending about four months in Portsmouth Va., Naval Shipyard and three months of mess cooking I thought I would never get to the radio shack. Well I did and what I was taught in Radioman A school came back very quickly.

One event I will never forget, on a mid watch a certain RM2 broke into the officers ice cream locker and we all had homemade ice cream that early morning. The next day the skipper got on the 1mc and requested the bandit to identify himself and no punishment would be given out. Well no one stepped up to the plate and of course no one told. Shortly after this announcement we had a PI at sea. First PI at sea I ever remember. I was standing on the starboard side in dress whites when the skipper took my cap off, stated my hair was too long and sent me down to the ships barber for an unflattop. Think he had an idea who took that ice cream as that locker was not too far from the Radio shack.

Andrew McGinley RM3 1962-1965

I met and became friends with Bill Cosby Sr. (See Bill with his son Bill Jr. on the Fox in 1966.) He was from Philadelphia and I lived outside the city so we sort of really hit it off. I must say being 18 years old he was sort of like having a father. He was from Philadelphia and we used to sit up on the deck and talk all the time. I have both the 1966 and 1967 Med Cruise books and cannot figure out why he is only in the 1967 book. I know he often missed ship movements, which might explain a sleeve full of hash marks and only an E3 rating. There is no doubt in my mind that he served during WWII. I do not know how his Navy career ended, but sometime in the middle of 1968 he went on leave and never returned to the Fox. That was the last time I saw him. I tried for several years to track him down and called every Cosby in the Philadelphia phone book but hit nothing but road blocks. I assume that he has passed on by now and will remain a mystery. From a note by Howard Longstreth, SN, 66-68, June 2008.

[ From Wikipedia.  Bill Cosby, Jr., was born in 1937 in the Germantown district of North Philadelphia. 
He grew up in an all-African American housing project where his mother, Anna, struggled to raise him 
and his younger brothers. His father, William Cosby, Sr., served as a mess steward in the U.S. Navy 
and was away for  months at a time.     When Bill Jr. learned  he would have to repeat the tenth grade 
at Germantown High, he dropped out and  in 1956 also enlisted in the Navy, later saying,. "If you stayed 
in for 20 years, you knew at least you'd get a certain amount of money for the rest of your life." 
Away from school, Cosby realized the importance of an education and used his four years in the Navy 
to prepare for the day when he would continue his schooling. Bill Jr. starred  in The Cosby Show 
which was launched in 1987, and he his wife, Camille, became active philanthropists donating $20 
million to Spelman College in Atlanta, the biggest single contribution ever made to a black college.]