September’s meeting of the PBY Memorial Foundation at CPO Club in Oak Harbor had two reasons to celebrate on Tuesday —  and both were marked by the number “13.”

The PBY members had the happy occasion to celebrate their 13th year as an organization. And the group was also remembering the contributions made by the USS Salisbury Sound (AV-13), homeported at Seaplane base in the 1960’s.

“We thought it pretty neat that it was our 13th anniversary, and the ship’s designator is AV-13,” said Onee Hedeen, PBY Memorial  Foundation secretary. “So we thought we’d celebrate two things at once this month,” she said.

The group’s guest speaker was member and retired Navy Commander Wes Westlund, a chaplain who served aboard the vessel, a seaplane tender, from 1965 to 1967. Special guests from as far away as Canada and Texas attended the meeting.

Foundation member Win Stites called the meeting to order, led the pledge of allegiance, and before introducing Westlund, reminisced about the group’s beginnings back in 1998.

“We’ve grown from 14 members then, at that first meeting, to 33-plus today,” said Stites.  He noted that some of the founding members were no longer with them today.

“At least half of them used to drive from Seattle each month, to attend our meetings,” said Stites. “In their honor, we thought we’d have a cake made to celebrate all their efforts.”

He referred to the decorated sheet cake, bearing the number 13. The cake also bore the likeness of the USS Salisbury Sound, affectionately known as “Sally”.

Westlund shared with the group some of his experiences while in the Navy. He remembers, very vividly, the severe earthquake and resulting tsunami in Alaska in 1964.

“There were many killed — and the devastation, you cannot imagine,” he said.

Natural disasters such as that, not to mention the trauma of war, are why good chaplains are so essential, said Ron Hancock, who served aboard the USS Salisbury Sound as a Navy airman in the 1960’s.

“Things happened that made me question my faith at times,” said Hancock. “It meant so much to me to have a good Christian chaplain to help those of us who were struggling with our faith.”

Melvin Beck, who served as a Navy Ensign aboard the seaplane tender, recounted his memories of a severe storm that took place once while he was officer of the deck.

In a more humorous vein, he told the group that every time the ship pulled into Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, “Radio Hanoi would report that we’d been sunk.”

Another warm-hearted remembrance came in the form of a letter read aloud to the group.

Former Navy seaman Mark Webb, who served on the seaplane tender, was also personally acquainted with Westlund.

Webb’s letter recounted personal recollections of Westlund, as well as giving a general thank you to Oak Harbor and the PBY Foundation, “for helping keep the memory of the PBY Catalina (seaplane) alive.”

Out-of-town guest Lesley Bond, from Wichita Falls, Texas, served on those PBY’s from 1944 to 1946. It was Bond’s first trip back to Whidbey Island in 65 years, he said.

PBY Vice Chairman William Stein presented Bond with not only a PBY commemorative coin, but also a PBY cap, as mementoes of his visit here.

“It feels good to be back up here,” said Bond. “The country here is just beautiful.”