A little background on the origin of USS St. Lo Association provides the best insight into our organization's evolution. In 1984 Task Unit 77.4.3 (Taffy 3) held a 40th Anniversary Memorial in Charleston, S.C. to honor their shipmates who were killed in action at the Battle Of Leyte Gulf. All survivors from Taffy III were invited to attend this ceremony as representatives from their respective ships. At the Taffy III 40th Anniversary Memorial, the USS St. Lo was represented by approximately 30 survivors. Before concluding the event, the USS St. Lo group gathered for dinner with their spouses and talked about the moving memorial they had just witnessed that day. How appropriate it would be to assemble more USS St. Lo survivors and honor their own shipmates who had been killed in action on October 25, 1944. A number of other Taffy III ships had already formed their own associations and were holding annual reunions. The idea was born then, and if other ships of Taffy III could do it, so could the shipmates of the USS St. Lo. The group then decided to hold the first USS St. Lo Association Reunion in St. Louis, Missouri in 1985. Paul and Corky Michel volunteered to host this first reunion. John Ibe predicted 200 guests, and actually had more than 300 attendees participate. The focal point for the reunion was to bring together the USS St. Lo survivors and

their families to honor and pay tribute to the ship’s crew and squadron who made the ultimate sacrifice on October 25, 1944, when the USS St. Lo was sunk by a kamikaze during the Battle off Samar in Leyte Gulf. In addition, the setting would provide USS St. Lo survivors and their families an opportunity in which to renew friendships and exchange accounts of their personal experiences. The USS St. Lo Association has continued to host reunions each October on the anniversary of the sinking of the USS St Lo. Each year the reunion grows in attendance, with 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation attendees, and others who have just heard of the group interested in hearing the stories. At the 2002 Tucson, Arizona reunion, Jim Hornfischer attended and was able to use material and interviews from the reunion to use in his book, Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors. Everyone, including family and non-family members are more than welcome to attend, and are guaranteed to have a good time. The greatest hope of these WWII Navy veterans is that the legacy of the USS St. Lo and its crew would be preserved for generations to come. We won't forget, we will remember.