Years Aboard: 71-73

Rank/Rate: EM/3

Division: R

Last Residence: Unk

Commemorative:

Gary came aboard Badger in '71. He made the ship's 1st Wes Pac and enjoyed his time and friends while stationed there!

In 1975 Gary was killed by a drunk driver. His friends Mitch, Tyrone, and Larry Hunter were able to be with us at this time of loss!.

Years Aboard: 70-74

Rank/Rate: DK/1

Division: Supply

Last Residence: Unk

Commemorative:

My dad, DK-1 Ed Carey was a Plank Owner and served on the Badger until 1974. I have very fond memories of the Badger from Todd Shipyard until its assignment to Pearl. If anyone has any info on Joe Sheets or Barry Butz, I would love to here about it. My dad pasted away in July '98 and remained very proud of his shipmates and the legacy of the USS Badger DE-1071.

Thank You from a very proud son.

Years Aboard: 74-75

Rank/Rate: Commanding Officer (CO)

Last Residence: (Unk)

Commemorative:

Commander Fahey took command of the USS Badger in Subic Bay, Rebublic of Phillippines halfway throught the Badger's second deployment. He commanded Badger through special operations around Guam, a fleet missle exercise in an intensive ASW operation in the South China Sea. CDR. Fahey brought the Badger to Hong Kong, Keelung, Kaohslung, Taiwan and Midway Island for vists prior to completion of the Badger's second deployment at Pearl Harbor May 18th.

Commander Fahey (later promoted to Captain) is buried near the Pentagon.

Years Aboard: 71-73

Rank/Rate: MM/3

Residence: Portland, OR

Commemorative:

The BADGER's 2nd cruisebook was dedicated in memoriam to Jeff Gorski and the following Eulogy is from Page 2. "He served on BADGER for two years as a Machinist Mate, but he is remembered as a quiet concerned friend. Jeff was a real part of this crew. He shared the long hours and disappointments. He laughed and enjoyed good times too. There is a unique thing about a Destroyer in that each man becomes an essential part of the whole thing. When the crew loses a member, the ship suffers and the man is sorely missed. The BADGER remembers her men. We remember Jeff."

Jeff and a couple of shipmates were swimming at a beach in Guam. Evidently this particular beach was very close to the outlet of a river from the islands’ interior. Jeff got caught in the outflow current from the river and pulled out to sea. Despite his shipmates valiant efforts to save him he drowned. Jeff was the BADGER’S first casualty.

Years Aboard: 70-73

Rank/Rate: BT/3

Division: B

Last Residence: Vader, WA

Commemorative:

John Killian was a BT-3 on Badger from commissioning until about 1973. A helluva good guy and a hard worker. He married a young WAVE in Long Beach and I have heard they were married about seven years and had a daughter. They got divorced and he married Kristy in 1980. They  were honeymooning at Fawn Lake when Mount St. Helens erupted. See article and memorial links below for more information.

Click here: The Capital City's Newspaper Online

Years Aboard: 70-74

Rank/Rate: BTFA

Division: B

Last Residence: Bullhead City, AZ

Commemorative:

Chester Allen Lusk was a plank owner on the Badger and served from 1970 - 1974. Chester passed away 29 Sept 2006 after a valiant battle with cancer. Thanks and God Bless the USN.

Years Aboard: 83-85

Rank/Rate: CAPTAIN

Last Residence: White Stone, VA

Commemorative:

John Malcolm Schantz, Capt. USN (Ret.), 66, of White Stone died October 12, 2007.

Malcolm was born in Long Beach California, the oldest son of the late RADM Curtiss W. Schantz (DC) USN and the former Catherine McLellan of Seattle Wash. During childhood, he moved with his family among various duty stations. In 1955, he won a scholarship to Valley Forge Military Academy and in his senior year was second in command of the Corps of Cadets. He then attended the Naval Academy, graduating with the Class of 1963.

On graduation he went to sea in USS Conway . He married the former Sarah Taft Gates of Howell, Michigan, to whom he remained happily married for 43 years. He graduated from the Destroyer School in 1965, and served over ten years at sea in destroyers and amphibious ships, and as officer in charge of a support base for river patrol boats in the Mekong Delta. For his Viet Nam service, Lt. Schantz was decorated with the Legion of Merit and Combat “V.” He later commanded frigates Rathburne and Badger in the Pacific Fleet. He loved the sea, relished the challenges of command, and enjoyed a reputation for initiative. In 1983, under his command, Badger was awarded the Meritorious Unit Citation for special operations during the search for Korean Air Lines Flight 007, and was commended by the Director of NSA.

Shore duty included staff assignments in Naples, Italy; Roosevelt Roads; London, England; and Pearl Harbor. He deftly avoided Washington duty until his last assignment in the Pentagon as Director of Surface ASW in OP-95. There, he wrote the Navy's ASW Master Plan, for which he was decorated with a second Legion of Merit.

A heart attack resulted in disability retirement in 1988 after 26 years of service. He worked for three years for EDO Corp in New York and then taught High School Physics in Wakefield, Va.. He was headmaster of a private school for several years before finally retiring in 1998 to a farmhouse on Virginia's Northern Neck.

He remained active tutoring school children in math, and pursuing his hobby of rifle marksmanship.

Surviving are his wife of 43 years, Sarah Taft Gates Schantz; a son John M. Schantz, Jr. of Chantilly and his brother, Curtiss W. Schantz, Capt. USN (Ret) of Virginia Beach. He was preceded in death by a sister, Patricia Jean Webb.

If anyone wishes to contact the Schantz family please email John M. Schantz Jr. at johnschantz@comcast.net