This has also ended my attendance at the Council of Class Presidents (COCP).  Since I will no longer drive to Annapolis I asked Bob Flood if he would attend the meeting on 19 Nov..  He did and called me yesterday to give me a quick rundown.  I will report to you when I receive the minutes; however, one thing he commented on was that the Class of ’19 is 27% female.  That reminded me that our Class Memorial Honor Scholar is Jessica Cozine whose thank you note I included in the Sept-Oct column.  Here is additional information about Jessica, which I believe you will find of interest.  She attended Salpointe Catholic High School in Tucson, AZ where she lettered in track and field.  She spent all four years at school as a member of the marching, symphonic and jazz bands and was the drum major during her senior year.  Jessica was a member of various clubs and student organizations, including being a Student Ambassador leader where she spoke to prospective students and parents at open houses and local junior high schools.  Outside of school, she volunteered with Habitat for Humanity and was a catechism teacher at her church.  Under Foundation sponsorship, Jessica attended Northwestern Preparatory School in Crestline, CA, and University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ for second semester.

A letter from Jack LeDoux responding to my plea for column material.

One of the most interesting things I did while in the Navy might be of interest to the Class.  My last assignment before I retired was as the director of the Navy shore based nuclear program.  One of my projects was the Fairway Rock job.  Since it is written up on the Internet, everyone can access it by entering “Fairway Rock” and go to Radioisotope Generator.  The story as written is pretty good but it leaves out the way it was accomplished.

When I first took over the job at Navfac I realized that we had over 200 men operating one nuclear plant in the Antarctic, the PM3A.  We had a new admiral coming in to Navfac (ADM Corradi) and I knew he would want to know what those 200 men were doing.  I told my Navy and civilian crew we better find other things to do.  Within a few weeks Corradi asked me to present our program to him.  I realized the program would be cancelled if that were all we did.

We did come up with several ideas: running the health physics program for the whole Navy; a nuclear power plant for Guam; the use of radioisotope generators.  To inform the rest of the Navy what these RTGs could do we wrote up a small brochure about them, where they were, what they did, and who made them.  Sent this info to all Navy commands.  The best part of RTGs is they work anywhere without the need for oxygen.  Two weeks later I got a call from the electronics lab in San Diego that they urgently needed one for tracking submarines in the Bering seas.  They were using a propane generator that lasted half a year due to snow.

I told them that Martin Marietta had one that we might be able to get but it would cost $25,000 to $50,000.  They told me cost was not a factor.  I called Martin in Baltimore and they agreed to let the Navy use this one with cost in the future.  I went to the AEC to get a license to move this radioactive thing.  Got one in 4 days.  Checked with the Air Force to fly it from Boston to Alaska.  They said they had a plane that could move it (5000 lbs) in 10 days.  Had to get ADM Anderson, CNO, to request it and he did immediately.  Contacted the Army Chemical Corps to move it from Baltimore to Boston.  They agreed.  Had to move it from Alaska to the Rock and Navy air could not do it but they recommended a bush pilot in Alaska.  Called him and he agreed if fuel could be placed in two spots for his chopper.  The Army Corps of engineers did that for us.  Finally we had the Coast Guard monitor the flight to Fairway Rock.  The Rock is almost 600 ft high.  So 10 days after the phone call from the Lab we had the generator operating on the Rock.  All of this with no paper work or fund transfers and many organizations in the mix.  The only paper work that I can remember is the Navy message to the Air Force.  Finally 15 years after I retired, on a visit to D.C. I checked with my old outfit and was told the generator was still working.  I think they retired the RTGs in 1995 almost 30 years later.  I think it took 18 months for every body to be paid.  Amazing!

Scribe’s note: if you have a 50 year book read Jack’s bio therein.  Also, the Internet gives you additional geographical and historical info about the Rock.