So, what a year it’s been recovering from COVID, eh? We’re still not out of the woods, but most of us have been able to achieve some sense of what we consider normal in our own lives, whatever normal means. This pandemic affected everyone differently and for me it kept me from doing the one thing that would finish out the project – placing the plaque at the wreck site of STRONG in the Kula Gulf. Again, not giving up on that just yet. For what it’s worth, it’s time to share my end of year letter of any accomplishments on the project. Unfortunately I haven’t much to share for myself (well, perhaps one really cool thing that you’ll see in a bit), but others who have worked with me do have some news.
January – I learned of a new series produced by Lone Wolf Media titled “Lost Ships” that would air on Fox Nation. Lone Wolf bought the rights to all of the video once owned by Vulcan, Inc. of their shipwreck hunting expeditions and turned many of the more notable adventures into 8 episodes. Paul Mayer was interviewed in his home in Tennessee and later went to their headquarters in Maine for shooting alongside his former boss Rob Kraft and researcher and historian Parks Stephenson who is currently the new director at the USS KIDD DD-661 Museum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Be sure to visit there if you get a chance and say hello to Mr. Stephenson.
February – Paul was in Maine this month for 9 days filming for the series. He was accompanied by Seth Paridon (Deputy Director of the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum at Camp Shelby) Bill Toti (retired US Navy captain) and others from the Naval History and Heritage Command.
It was also announced that the Solomon Islands and other island groups in the South Pacific would reopen their borders in July to visitors. This has a major economic impact on this part of the world and the news is very welcome.
March – Sadly, nothing to share here.
April – We lost Edwin Deering, twin brother to Edward “Eddie” Deering, a young man lost on Arundel Island with Miller, Floyd Lawrence, Danny Mullane, Al Oberg and Frank Armbruster. Eddie and Al died soon after reaching shore. I connected with Ed’s family a few years ago and we first met them in 2019 at the September reunion in Savannah, Georgia. He attended with his daughter in law Cynthia Deering. It was a pleasure to meet them and again at the reunion in Dayton, Ohio in 2021. Ed was 99 years old.
May – Last month the Destroyer History website was discovered to be down. I worked with the late Dave McComb’s widow, Meredith McComb to get it back up and running. She worked hard to get the new admins of the site to reopen the site. It took some time, but finally success!
Steve and Mari Harding had a wonderful trip to Minneapolis, Minnesota to give talks on his NY Times best-seller The Last Battle, and the book following The Castaway’s War titled Escape From Paris. He also shared the news that he and Mari were soon to become first time grandparents! Congrats to his son Ian and wife Sophia on the birth of their child due in August. That’s the best news in the world.
James Carter of the South Pacific WW2 Museum included a really nice story about the STRONG project and Lt. Miller in their newsletter for this month. A really nice boost, so thank you again Jimmy!
I learned the new “Lost Ships” series would premier on May 29th on Fox Nation. If you have not seen them, they were very interesting and well produced.
June – The South Pacific WW2 Museum learned they would finally be building their new museum facility! The plans for the building were posted on line and it looks wonderful. I really hope to visit there some day. Tourism there opened back up in July from the COVID lockdowns. They are now welcoming ships and visitors again.
July – This was probably the best and only thing of note from my end this year. I learned that someone I had been acquainted with for about 10 years (online, we have not yet met in person) was a movie producer! This was a huge surprise to me, because I’m aware of 2 other businesses that this very busy and brilliant person owns, so where do they find the time? Either way, when I asked them about it, we started a really interesting conversation back and forth that I ended up sharing with Stephen Harding. Ultimately we had a Zoom chat with this person about the possibility of making a movie of The Castaway’s War! Because of this interest, Steve made inquiries with Gold Circle Films, the group that had previous options on the film. They had a writer from Australia produce a script and we had hoped they might release it if they do not plan on repurchasing an option. We are still waiting on any thoughts they might have.
Before anyone gets too excited, let me be clear. This friend of mine is VERY invested and interested because they are aware of the work I’ve done over the past decades and after talking with Steve that cinched it. However, in order for this to happen there have to be a lot of other people to greenlight it, find funding, put together a script (unless Gold Circle comes around – a new script could cost around $50,000) and more. This particular producer has done very well in a short time. If you have Amazon Prime and Prime Video, there is a movie there called “Prizefighter” starring Russell Crowe and an up and coming young man named Matt Hookings. Matt is essentially the Sylvester Stallone of England in that to get this movie made he had to write the script, come up with the funding, act as a main character and then join with other very talented individuals to produce the thing. Our friend the producer was one of the executive producers on this project and it’s done very well in the UK and Australia, but is also viewable here. I’ve seen it and I’m not normally a fan of boxing, however this tells a true story from the early 19th century and it’s beautifully done. I have every confidence that my friend will do whatever they can to help us in this, maybe next year will be the year. They have experience with other WW2 projects as well, so it’s in their wheelhouse. It’s something to look forward to.
August – In order to sweeten the pot, Steve sent signed copies of his books to our producer friend in London to read and share with partners. We hope they read them and get inspired, see the value of these WW2 stories and decide to turn them into major motion pictures. Time will tell.
September – Paul Mayer and his beautiful wife Rosie came through Kentucky on their way home from a visit to Ohio. We met them at Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. One of the historic buildings has been turned into a restaurant/inn and the food there is top notch. We had a nice walk around the village, did some shopping at the gift store and then a wonderful meal. They had plans to stay the night there, so we went home after dinner. It’s always so nice to see them and I really appreciate they are still friends even after the ship has been found.
For the first time in 10 years, Greg and I were not able to attend the reunion held in Newport, Rhode Island this year. Family health issues kept us away and we really missed it. The reunion next year is more attainable and a driving distance instead of flying in Huntsville, Alabama. Plan on coming if you can!
October – It seems History.net decided to fire 5 of its 8 editors of all the magazines they print, and Stephen Harding is now a free man. A real shame and such a bad move on their part. At any rate, this doesn’t stop the man. He’s now contemplating another book and building a proposal. I can’t say much now, but soon as I have anything to share about it, I will.
His son Ian Harding (formerly of Pretty Little Liars and currently Long Slow Exhale) has a new holiday Christmas movie coming out on the Hallmark Channel titled “Ghosts of Christmas Always”. The movie was released in November.
November – Our friend David Mearns of Blue Waters Ltd. featured a merchant vessel in his book The Shipwreck Hunter, the LUCONA. This particular ship was owned by an unscrupulous and cruel man who devised a way to make money that involved sinking a ship and killing all on board, then claiming insurance. The TV series Drain the Oceans on National Geographic has filmed an episode in their upcoming season starting November 29th about this ship. As far as we know, the episode won’t air until early in 2023. I will keep all informed of the air date.
December – The month isn’t over yet, however I don’t anticipate anything new at this time. I am truly happy for the accomplishments of my friends and saddened by any losses we have had as a project group. If anything of note does happen after I release this letter, you will be the first to know, all of you! On that note, I’d like to wish everyone a very happy holiday season, whatever holiday you celebrate, and look forward to a more eventful new year in 2023!
Keep me posted, any of you on any accomplishments I can share. Also remember I love for families to share stories on their sailor or any other family member, man or woman who served in WW2.
With love from Project USS STRONG DD467,
Tammi
January – I learned of a new series produced by Lone Wolf Media titled “Lost Ships” that would air on Fox Nation. Lone Wolf bought the rights to all of the video once owned by Vulcan, Inc. of their shipwreck hunting expeditions and turned many of the more notable adventures into 8 episodes. Paul Mayer was interviewed in his home in Tennessee and later went to their headquarters in Maine for shooting alongside his former boss Rob Kraft and researcher and historian Parks Stephenson who is currently the new director at the USS KIDD DD-661 Museum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Be sure to visit there if you get a chance and say hello to Mr. Stephenson.
February – Paul was in Maine this month for 9 days filming for the series. He was accompanied by Seth Paridon (Deputy Director of the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum at Camp Shelby) Bill Toti (retired US Navy captain) and others from the Naval History and Heritage Command.
It was also announced that the Solomon Islands and other island groups in the South Pacific would reopen their borders in July to visitors. This has a major economic impact on this part of the world and the news is very welcome.
March – Sadly, nothing to share here.
April – We lost Edwin Deering, twin brother to Edward “Eddie” Deering, a young man lost on Arundel Island with Miller, Floyd Lawrence, Danny Mullane, Al Oberg and Frank Armbruster. Eddie and Al died soon after reaching shore. I connected with Ed’s family a few years ago and we first met them in 2019 at the September reunion in Savannah, Georgia. He attended with his daughter in law Cynthia Deering. It was a pleasure to meet them and again at the reunion in Dayton, Ohio in 2021. Ed was 99 years old.
May – Last month the Destroyer History website was discovered to be down. I worked with the late Dave McComb’s widow, Meredith McComb to get it back up and running. She worked hard to get the new admins of the site to reopen the site. It took some time, but finally success!
Steve and Mari Harding had a wonderful trip to Minneapolis, Minnesota to give talks on his NY Times best-seller The Last Battle, and the book following The Castaway’s War titled Escape From Paris. He also shared the news that he and Mari were soon to become first time grandparents! Congrats to his son Ian and wife Sophia on the birth of their child due in August. That’s the best news in the world.
James Carter of the South Pacific WW2 Museum included a really nice story about the STRONG project and Lt. Miller in their newsletter for this month. A really nice boost, so thank you again Jimmy!
I learned the new “Lost Ships” series would premier on May 29th on Fox Nation. If you have not seen them, they were very interesting and well produced.
June – The South Pacific WW2 Museum learned they would finally be building their new museum facility! The plans for the building were posted on line and it looks wonderful. I really hope to visit there some day. Tourism there opened back up in July from the COVID lockdowns. They are now welcoming ships and visitors again.
July – This was probably the best and only thing of note from my end this year. I learned that someone I had been acquainted with for about 10 years (online, we have not yet met in person) was a movie producer! This was a huge surprise to me, because I’m aware of 2 other businesses that this very busy and brilliant person owns, so where do they find the time? Either way, when I asked them about it, we started a really interesting conversation back and forth that I ended up sharing with Stephen Harding. Ultimately we had a Zoom chat with this person about the possibility of making a movie of The Castaway’s War! Because of this interest, Steve made inquiries with Gold Circle Films, the group that had previous options on the film. They had a writer from Australia produce a script and we had hoped they might release it if they do not plan on repurchasing an option. We are still waiting on any thoughts they might have.
Before anyone gets too excited, let me be clear. This friend of mine is VERY invested and interested because they are aware of the work I’ve done over the past decades and after talking with Steve that cinched it. However, in order for this to happen there have to be a lot of other people to greenlight it, find funding, put together a script (unless Gold Circle comes around – a new script could cost around $50,000) and more. This particular producer has done very well in a short time. If you have Amazon Prime and Prime Video, there is a movie there called “Prizefighter” starring Russell Crowe and an up and coming young man named Matt Hookings. Matt is essentially the Sylvester Stallone of England in that to get this movie made he had to write the script, come up with the funding, act as a main character and then join with other very talented individuals to produce the thing. Our friend the producer was one of the executive producers on this project and it’s done very well in the UK and Australia, but is also viewable here. I’ve seen it and I’m not normally a fan of boxing, however this tells a true story from the early 19th century and it’s beautifully done. I have every confidence that my friend will do whatever they can to help us in this, maybe next year will be the year. They have experience with other WW2 projects as well, so it’s in their wheelhouse. It’s something to look forward to.
August – In order to sweeten the pot, Steve sent signed copies of his books to our producer friend in London to read and share with partners. We hope they read them and get inspired, see the value of these WW2 stories and decide to turn them into major motion pictures. Time will tell.
September – Paul Mayer and his beautiful wife Rosie came through Kentucky on their way home from a visit to Ohio. We met them at Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. One of the historic buildings has been turned into a restaurant/inn and the food there is top notch. We had a nice walk around the village, did some shopping at the gift store and then a wonderful meal. They had plans to stay the night there, so we went home after dinner. It’s always so nice to see them and I really appreciate they are still friends even after the ship has been found.
For the first time in 10 years, Greg and I were not able to attend the reunion held in Newport, Rhode Island this year. Family health issues kept us away and we really missed it. The reunion next year is more attainable and a driving distance instead of flying in Huntsville, Alabama. Plan on coming if you can!
October – It seems History.net decided to fire 5 of its 8 editors of all the magazines they print, and Stephen Harding is now a free man. A real shame and such a bad move on their part. At any rate, this doesn’t stop the man. He’s now contemplating another book and building a proposal. I can’t say much now, but soon as I have anything to share about it, I will.
His son Ian Harding (formerly of Pretty Little Liars and currently Long Slow Exhale) has a new holiday Christmas movie coming out on the Hallmark Channel titled “Ghosts of Christmas Always”. The movie was released in November.
November – Our friend David Mearns of Blue Waters Ltd. featured a merchant vessel in his book The Shipwreck Hunter, the LUCONA. This particular ship was owned by an unscrupulous and cruel man who devised a way to make money that involved sinking a ship and killing all on board, then claiming insurance. The TV series Drain the Oceans on National Geographic has filmed an episode in their upcoming season starting November 29th about this ship. As far as we know, the episode won’t air until early in 2023. I will keep all informed of the air date.
December – The month isn’t over yet, however I don’t anticipate anything new at this time. I am truly happy for the accomplishments of my friends and saddened by any losses we have had as a project group. If anything of note does happen after I release this letter, you will be the first to know, all of you! On that note, I’d like to wish everyone a very happy holiday season, whatever holiday you celebrate, and look forward to a more eventful new year in 2023!
Keep me posted, any of you on any accomplishments I can share. Also remember I love for families to share stories on their sailor or any other family member, man or woman who served in WW2.
With love from Project USS STRONG DD467,
Tammi
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