Welcome Aboard, Shipmate! 

Our main purpose for this association is to celebrate with pride, those that served aboard the USS MASSEY through her nearly 30 years of duty, including three wars coupled with the many years of training to keep the ship and crew in a constant state of combat readiness. A special remembrance of our association is for the man who gave his life in the Battle of Midway and then his name to the ship, LCDR Lance Massey.

We maintain these traditions through our Association’s activities like this web site and reunions. Over the past 35 years, many men and women have dedicated their time to make this association what it is today. A special thank you to Jack Zagaros who started this association in 1988. Jack served on USS MASSEY during WWII and has attended all but a couple of our reunions.

I know all of the association members, their families, and friends look forward to our annual reunions. Our 2020 and 2021 reunions scheduled to be in Buffalo, NY were canceled due to the Covid-19 virus. Thank goodness we were finally able to have our Buffalo Reunion last Fall and I can say it turned out to be a great time by all who could attend. This year our reunion will be in Norfolk, VA. I hope many of our shipmates, family, and friends can attend. Dick Pearsall and Gordon Risk are this year’s reunion coordinators and they have put a great schedule of events but also allocated plenty of time that can be spent in the hospitality room catching up on sea stories or sharing family stories and activities.

If you have never attended one of our reunions, please consider this one! It’s marvelous to witness the great camaraderie with the crew, wives, sons & daughters as they meet again or for the first time. We are very pleased to have welcomed back widows and family members of our crewmen each year.

Our web site offers the history, pictures, reunion news, and a place to find old shipmates or to ask questions. We are sure as you browse our pages, you will recall events and times that you would like to share. Join us by visiting the Join the Crew page, filling out the membership form and mailing it to our Secretary today.

Darrell Hanson, 70-72
President USS MASSEY Association