Keeping Apace

IN MEMORIAM

Byron D. "Jug" Varner
Commander, U.S. Navy (Retired)
1923-2006

Dear Friends,

Our beloved Byron passed on peacefully on November 17th, 2006. We hope you will join his family in celebrating his life and character, and what he has meant to so many people throughout the years.

Byron's passion was this Web site and the research and writing that provided information and perspectives for military active and retired families.

In his honor we will keep the site active and each day present a random article from the archives.

Bonnie Varner, Vickie Varner Johnson, Roy Varner, and Gary Varner

GITMO: Thirty-One Years Later

The old saying, "you can hardly get there from here," is true of Guantanamo Bay. First of all, one must obtain permission from the Navy Department. That requires time-consuming coordination and approval by various commands. Then, one must go to Norfolk Naval Air Station. "Gitmo," as it is also known, is not a direct flight from most airline terminals.

I served on the Admiral's Staff there from 1963-1965 as Public Affairs Officer, and Officer-in-charge of the Armed Forces Radio and TV Station. My son Roy, who accompanied me on this trip as photographer, graduated high school there the year we left.

Read the full article on a visit to Guantanamo Bay...Thirty-One Years Later...

From the archives:
BATTLESHIP TEXAS (1989)

By CDR Byron (Jug) Varner, U.S. Navy (RET)

The battleship Texas, a dreadnought that steamed thousands of miles during her naval service during two world wars, recently logged a few more for the first time in 40 years. Getting started was not easy, however.

She had been on public display at the San Jacinto Battleship Park since April 1948. Sitting in the Houston channel silt four decades had mired her to the bottom as if it were concrete. It took six commercial tugboats more than five hours to break the ship free and pull her into the main channel in one piece.

Once out of her berth, the only hindrance was an unmovable rudder, frozen 15 degrees to starboard. That malfunction required a tedious nine hour tugboat journey to the Todd Shipyards in Galveston, 40 miles away.

A $5.1 million facelift funded by the the Texas Parks and Wild Life Department will restore the Texas to her previous war-time condition. The “Mighty T” will then return to her original berth, at Battleship Park.

The Battleship Texas Advisory Board is requesting donations of old Navy uniforms to outfit the volunteer crew that will man the ship when she returns. If you wish to contribute a WWI or WWII Navy dress or working uniform for this purpose, send it to: Uniforms for the Texas, 3527 Battleground Road, La Porte, Texas 77571.