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 LOG-19 EDITORS NOTES
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1963, W AS A BLACK DAY
ABOARD THE HANCOCK, AS WE AWOKE TO THE NEWS THAT PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY HAD DIED OF AN ASSASSIN'S BULLET. ON
THAT SAME DAY THE EDITORSHIP OF LOG 19 WAS TURNED OVER TO ME, AND WITH A HANDPICKED CREW OF EXPERTS, I WENT TO
TOKYO TO COMPILE THIS JOURNAL OF THE 1963 WESTPAC CRUISE.
AS WE TRAVELED NORTH, WITH THIS GREAT RESPONSIBILITY UPON
OUR SHOULDERS, WE TOOK STRENGTH FROM THE LIFE OF THIS GREAT MAN, AND COULD THINK OF NO FINER TRIBUTE THAN TO DEDICATE
THIS WORK TO HIS MEMORY.
OUR JOB WAS DIFFICULT, BUT WITHOUT THE EFFORTS OFCOMMITTEE
CHAIRMAN CDR. J.J. GALLEGHER, ENS JIM MILLER, CHIEF KIMBALL, AND THE PHOTO LAB CREW, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN IMPOSSIBLE.
THEIR LONG HOURS OF WORK, AND THE THOUSANDS OF PICTURES THEY PROVIDED ARE DEEPLY APPRECIATED. I THINK YOU WILL
AGREE THAT THE PHOTOGRAPHS IN THIS LOG 19 ARE THE BEST. ALSO A NOTE OF THANKS IS DUE RONALD BLOOMQUIST OF FOX DIVISION
WHOSE WATERCOLOR PAINTINGS INTRODUCE OUR PORTS OF CALL, AND TO FABIAN BACHRACH FOR HIS PORTRAIT OF THE LATE PRESIDENT
KENNEDY.
MOST OF ALL, I WISH TO THANK THE STAFF OF THIS LOG 19,
FOR THE COUNTLESS HOURS OF WORK WHICH THEY PUT IN TO GIVE YOU THE FINEST CRUISE BOOK POSSIBLE. TO BOB MILLER, WHO
ALWAYS HAD THE RIGHT PHOTOGRAPH, DON DERRYBERRY, WHO ALWAYS PROVIDED THE RIGHT WORDS, AND GRANT GASTON, WHO ALWAYS
HAD HIS BRUSH IN HAND TO PROVIDE THE ARTWORK, I WISH TO ADD MY PERSONAL THANKS, FOR WITHOUT THEM THERE WOULD BE
NO BOOK.
TO SEIKE-SAN AND ALL THE STAFF OF DAITO, WHOSE ENTHUSIASM
AND ENCOURAGEMENT HELPED US WHEN THE GOING GOT A LITTLE ROUGH, A VERY SPECIAL DOMOARIGATO.
THIS IS YOUR BOOK, A RECORD OF YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS, AND
IT IS THE HOPE OF THE ENTIRE LOG 19 STAFF THAT IN THE YEARS TO COME, AS YOU LEAF BACK THROUGH ITS PAGES IT WILL
HELP TO RECALL MANY FOND MEMORIES OF THIS CRUISE IN WESTPAC.
BARRY
GASTROCK
EDITOR
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