From the Ships Office

Honoring Farragut

Training station to veterans reunite

Erica Curless
Staff writer
August 18, 2006

September is likely the last get-together of World War II veterans schooled at the Farragut Naval Training Station.

Yet the graying sailors who travel to Bayview for the final national reunion will leave a bit of themselves. Each veteran who attended boot camp at the training station between 1942 and 1946 can inscribe their name in a new sculpture that will grace the front of the Brig Museum.

The Farragut veterans commissioned Coeur d'Alene artist David Clemons to create a bronze sculpture to reflect the

rite of passage that the teenage naval recruits faced when they arrived at Farragut. Nearly 300,000 sailors, known as boots, passed through the camp that is now a state park on the shore of Lake Pend Oreille.

That's how Clemons came up with the bust of a sailor he nicknamed "Mac."

"He's a no-nonsense guy that gets the job done," Clemons said this week while using tiny knife-like tools to carve the stoic face from oil-based clay. It's an idealized portrayal of a serviceman.

Yet Mac's not alone. Upon closer inspection, the surface of his face is composed of hundreds of smaller faces with more personal expressions. Some are handsome, others awkward. A few look angry, and others appear to be dreaming of a girl back home or a voluptuous pinup.

David Clemons sculpts a detailed relief onto a clay statue of a sailor's head.

"Yes, it's a unified naval force, but it's all these individual stories that went into the heritage that is Farragut," Clemons said.

And for all those sailors worried about a civilian getting the representation correct – don't. Clemons consulted with his father, Ray, a Navy veteran who lives in Hayden.

The four-day reunion begins Sept. 7, with the unveiling and signing of the statue the next day at noon.

Merton Gene Cooper arrived at Farragut in 1944. He now lives in Port Orchard, Wash., and writes the reunion newsletter and keeps tabs on the mailing list. He expects about 500 veterans to attend.

He's eager to see the sculpture and preserve his name forever. For him, it's sad that the reunion is ending after two decades, but the planners are tired.

"I'm one of the young ones, and I'm crowding 80," said Cooper, who already has his RV space reserved.

That's another problem for the function. It's estimated that about 200 of the Farragut veterans die each year. Cooper always lists the ones he knows of in the newsletter's TAPS section. The latest edition has 95 names.

Last year organizers decided 2006 is the last gig. It's the 60th anniversary of the training camp, which had a population of about 50,000 at its peak, making it the largest town in Idaho. And it's the 20th annual reunion. Cooper said that means it's ending on a high note.

Unless someone younger wants to take over.

What: Farragut Naval Training Station national reunion.

When: Sept 7-10.

Where: Farragut State Park in Bayview, Idaho.

Call: Merton Gene Cooper (360) 876-4470 or Farragut State Park (208) 683-2425.

Reprinted from the [Spokane, WA]

Contributed by Del Orthouse, GMM3, 63-67