Bob Logsdon Honored on his 100th Birthday

Last year on September 1, 2017, Bob Logsdon turned 100 years old. See “Bob Logsdon: 3-war veteran celebrates 100 years” https://www.highlandnews.net/community/bob-logsdon--war-veteran-celebrates-years/article_b8fe9b3c-928b-11e7-832e-2fdede828c24.html. He was given the flag that was flown over the US Capitol in his honor. Bob was honored by the local, District and International Rotary Club where he and his wife Donnis are long time members. He received a personal letter from the Secretary of Defense.

Bob enlisted in the Navy in 1945. After boot camp in San Diego, he went to Radar school, then was assigned to an aviation repair ship, USS Aventinus ARV(E)3, which went from San Diego to Pearl and Okinawa. Due to a bad typhoon, the trip was via the China Sea. In Okinawa we performed repair on aircraft brought to our docked ship. When WWII was over, he returned to San Diego for discharge, opting to stay in the Reserves, training new recruits until recalled to active duty in 1950 to take the Laffey out of "mothballs."

He reported aboard Laffey in 1950 as Radarman 3rd Class. He recalls his pride that “Laffey had the best radar in the Fleet”. He was aboard during the Korean War. He says “We were shooting and dodging the enemy’s shells but never took a direct hit. We were hit by some shrapnel. Our big concern was to avoid the floating mines. We picked up a wounded airman. We carried some prisoners of war”. He recalls riding out terrible typhoons but loving the around the world cruise. He left the Laffey in 1953 and remained in the US Navy reserves until 1977 retiring as a Chief Radarman (now Chief Operations Specialist). With his love of photography, he had a very successful photography business. He has taken and shared many, many photos from 1950 to present including many Laffey reunions. The link to Bob's Photo Album 1950 – 1952 http://www.laffey.org/Cruises%20made%20by%20USS%20Laffey%20(DD%20724)/Bob%20Longsdon's%20Album/logsdon1.htm. Bob's album consists of several hundred slides starting with the Laffey being taken out of mothballs in San Diego, California, around the world cruise, and arrival in Boston, Massachusetts.

Bob and Donnis love to travel in their RV. They plan to fly to Charleston to attend the Fall 2018 Laffey Association Reunion after his 101st birthday. We all thank Bob for his service and support for the Laffey Association. Thanks to Ari Phoutrides for scanning Bob’s photos and for creating the web pages that we can all appreciate. Well done Chief Bob Logsdon for your service to the US Navy and the country.