Fall Field Day '07:  It must have been the pretty girls of Silver Wings that did it.  The Silver Wings—Arnold Air Society visited as part of a convention during our Fall Field Day in 2006.  We placed a photo of the ladies posing with Field Day volunteer Russell Rosenberger on the cover of the January '07 issue of the KIDD's Compass newsletter and we received our first registration check for Field Day '07 less than three weeks later!  [Mental note:  Get the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders for the next cover!]  By the weekend of October 25-28, we had twenty-six (26) people signed up with another ten (10) prospective attendees.  Out of that thirty-six, twenty-seven people arrived from all over the country—Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, and Wisconsin.   Following in the footsteps of what weekly volunteer Bill Long and Ed Gilliam have been doing with opening up new long-term storage in the old Bulk Stores space (C-309-A), we assembled a Field Day crew to do the same with the old Engineering Storage compartment (C-308-A) opposite of it on the port side.  Tom Andreasen (DD-679), Fred Beach (DD-776), Clay Burris, Dan Kātze (DD-734), Mac Mackensen (DD-699), Noah Randall, Russell Rosenberger (DD-528), Donald Shaffer (LST-758), Hank Taddeucci (DD-661), and Clint Williams (WLM-562) all joined the crew for this back-breaking task.  It involved relighting the space, cleaning it out, going through the equipment stored there to determine what could be used, and moving it over into Bulk Stores.  The teenagers—Noah and Clay—handled a lot of the heavy lifting which the older crew appreciated.   This year saw sunny skies throughout the whole Field Day.  That was a real pleasure for Hank Taddeucci who managed to get a direct flight this year instead of via Shangri-La like last year.  Hank went on a recruitment spree at home and brought along neighbors Dan Kātze and Donald Shaffer.  Clint Williams was our very first representative in eleven years of field days from the Coast Guard.  After crawling out of the belowdecks storage areas, these guys teamed up and remounted our last couple of life rafts after repositioning a bit of their ropework.  From there, they moved on to stretching new canvas over our Quarter Deck awning and running new line for our halyards on the Signal Bridge.  Clint teamed up with Ship's Superintendent Bob Holt afterward to replace the Captain's chair on the portside bridge wing.   Noah and Clay joined Max Igleheart (BB-40) and Scott Agnew (DDG-46) in giving the Galley and the Vegetable Preparation space not one, but two new coats of paint.  Bob Holt gave them the wrong color!  They forgave him though and, after the second day, Max moved down below to clean and paint in the forward fireroom.  Richard Ammon (DD-661) was busy in the aft fireroom stenciling, chipping, and painting.  Tim Hayles was able to take off work and come down for one day of the event and he cleaned up the aft engineroom while Tom Andreasen did the same in the forward engineroom.  Noah and Clay, meanwhile, helped Ship's Painter Tracy Lewis remove the floater nets from the aft starboard basket for future painting.  Afterward, they collected all of the helmets from around the ship and painted them along with Ed Fuselier (DD-700).   Housekeeping was a key activity shipwide.  Frank Remkiewicz (DER-322) and Ed Eckert (DD-698) polished all of the stainless steel in the Galley and the Scullery, sorting all of the dishes, cups, and utensils, and arranging them in the dishwasher in the proper order, making both spaces look shipshape.  Frank continued this in the CPO's Mess while Ed moved down to IC-Plot to polish the stainless steel on the Mk-1A fire control computer.  Carl Dillworth (DD-546) and his wife Pat dusted and cleaned in the Sickbay.  Pat later joined Fred Beach in cleaning up our sewing room (the old Crew's Quarters, C-201L) before she and Carl got star-struck and became extras in the movie Dirty Politics which was filming outside the museum.  Roberta Chapman (WAVES) and her granddaughter Alexis Whitehouse (age 10) cleaned the Officer's Wardroom, placing a new tablecloth and new napkins and polishing all of the silverware.  One of our weekly volunteers saw the Wardroom the following week and, with a tear in his eye, stated that the Wardroom had "never looked so beautiful."  Bill Stutzenbecker, Ed Fuselier, and Russell Rosenberger polished brass in the Pilothouse and elsewhere aboard ship.   John Ellsworth (DD-591) stopped by for a couple of days and lent a hand with several of the above projects.  Chad Williams (USMM) and his son Steven LeMaglio (age 11) tackled the Captain's gig, sanding and priming its interior where Boy Scout Troop 136 left off in May.  George Seal and Dan Kātze worked on the firing mechanism of Gun Mount 52 while Carl Burris (DD-677) worked on the 1MC system and speakers.  Mac Mackensen tackled light bulbs and fuses and tracked down gremlins for most of the weekend.   Benjamin C. Fernandez (DDG-16 & FF-1074) and wife Jo Ann were not able to serve as our galley crew this year, so son Benjamin A. Fernandez (aka "Little Ben" or "Benji") took the job.  Later in the weekend, we got a nice surprise as Ben Sr. and Jo Ann arrived after things cleared up unexpectedly.  It turns out that no matter which Fernandez is cooking, the grub is excellent!   This was the largest Field Day in the history of the program here at the KIDD.  Our thanks go out not only to the crew, but also to Foundation member Mack P. Stringfield (DD-651 & DD-825) who made plans to join us but had to cancel due to unforeseen circumstances.  Mr. Stringfield donated his registration fee, plus a little extra, to the program to help defer expenses.  If you have not been to Baton Rouge for a Field Day, you've missed a lot of fun and camaraderie.  Please make it a point to join us in 2008.  It's a decision that you won't regret.