CONTRIBUTE 5 VERSION

 

The official website of Raymond Vance Olszewski

Navy Veteran, Author, Publisher and

Har-Brack Class of 1957 Home Room Representative and for Life

Olszewski Enterprises Banner

 

Ray

Ray Olszewski

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Birdville, PA

 

Concordia Ray

Concordia Ray

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Cabot, PA

Last Update:  February 25, 2024

   Welcome and thanks for visiting my personal website. You can click the foregoing links in the menu above or those projects of mine shown below. Should you have the need to email me, please do so at:  ROlszewski@aol.com. If you have something to send to me, please use the mailing address below.  I made a move from Minnesota where I lived for fifteen years with my high school sweetheart, Nancy Alberta "Vicki" Burns Ingerson passed away from pancreatic cancer on 10 Aug 2023. My contact information is:

(703) 244-5678 (Cell)

160 Marwood Road, Apt 3324

Cabot, PA 16023-2250

(703) 244-5678

ROlszewski@aol.com

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Sign up to receive my announcements by clicking here.

This is NEWEST and LATEST Endeavor

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Volunteer Support to the AKVHS & Museum

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I have been a member of the Alle-Kiski Valley Historical Society for many years.  Since my return to Western PA where I was born and raised, I now dedicate my time as a volunteer to the mission and objectives defined by the Society at the Museum located on 224 East 7th Avenue, Tarentum, PA 15084.

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Click here to take you to Project of Digitalization of selected Museum Records and see what is available to history and genealogical researchers.

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If you are here looking for Tunny 282 Information which I maintain, it has been moved to a dedicated page on this website.  Click on the following link to get to it:

USS TUNNY (SS-SSG-APSS-LPSS) 282 HAS MOVED.

Tunny 282 Ship's Patches

Olszewski Studios Website Design & Maintenance

     Here is information about a website I created for my brother, Robert William Olszewski (B:1945), who is an artist that currently produces art for The Disney Company.  His business named Olszewski Studios and his website was launched in 2006 as an informational and historical reference for all of the art Robert has created since high school (Har-Brack Class of 1963). The amount of information covers from 1970 to present day.  That year he became a miniature artist for the world renown Goebel Company; the very same company that produced at one time the M.I. Hummel porcelain figurines.  Today, Olszewski continues to produce art for himself and for the Walt Disney Company's Parks and those related creations are sold by Disney online.  Get 'em while you can, folks. Where you can purchase his art can be found at: The Olszewski Studios On-Line Retail Store which is the artist's on-line store that sells Olszewski art.

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The Olszewski and Ajak Families' of Western Pennsylvania

THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS

   This project includes Information related to the Olszewski (my Paternal) and Ajak (my Maternal) relations who settled in Western Pennsylvania in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  Information about them is derived from the research work I have accomplished using the subscription services of ancestry.com.

Created May 26, 2022 and Last updated: February 25, 2024

Har-Brack Union High School Class of 1957

This is the website I created for my classmates as a tribute to them and to perpeuate their memories and achievements they have experienced through their lifetime careers and lives.

Web design and maintenance for the

St. Marys Submarine Museum

   In March 2019, I visited the St. Marys Submarine Museum located in St. Marys, Georgia a stone's throw from the U.S. Navy's Submarine Base, Kings Bay, Georgia. Because they bought several copies of my USS Tunny: A History, Tribute, and Memoir to sell, I offered my webmaster skills limited as they are, to get a website up and running for them. Please visit the St. Marys Submarine Museum website. I hope you like what you find.  Note that they have a significant amount of historical information about  USS Tunny SS, SSG, APSS, & LPSS 282.  Its the diesel submarine Tunny, not the nuke Tunny 682. I no longer maintain the website which is still up and running. 

The Will:  The Legacy of Benoni Evans Harrison and La Grange

This is a work in progress.  Please click here or the link above for updates.  This book was put on hold and my priorities shifted to writing and publishing the USS TUNNY Book.

Website Design for the

Arizona Silent Service Memorial Foundation

     This is a website I created for my friend and shipmate since 1959 non-other than former Tunny SSG Quartermaster Dan Moss who asked me to create it for his project to raise funds for the Arizona Silent Service Memorial (ASSM) in Phoenix, Arizona.  The website was established on 3/28/2015.  I no longer maintain this website.  Should you need to contact anyone about it, please contact Chris Urness, Chairman of the ASSM Committee.  

My Published Works

 

USS TUNNY:  A History, Tribute and Memoir

A Reunion in a book. This was a labor of love for ten years.  If you or someone you know served on the USS TUNNY, a United States Navy Gato class diesel electric submarine hull number 282, their name is in this book. I identify by name a total of 1,530 known officers and enlisted men who served on the Tunny 282 between 1942 and 1969.


    During Tunny’s nearly 28 years of service, she was converted twice from its original construction as a fast-attack fleet submarine (SS) to become the U.S. Navy’s first operational guided missile submarine (SSG) and afterwards she became one of three submarines that served as a troop transport (APSS and LPSS) delivering UDT and SEAL Teams during the Vietnam War.

   Using Tunny’s personnel records acquired from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), I constructed a database containing every crew member plus their related personnel actions found in the ship’s diaries. From that massive effort, three separate tables list those who made which of Tunny’s historic 33 patrols and deployments during its career. In addition, I provided where I could obtain the crewmen's , biographical information to include hometowns, and what happened to many of them after they left Tunny.


    One Chapter is devoted to paying tribute to Tunny’s leadership who served on her from 1942 through 1969 to include: There were 14 commanding officers; 19 executive officers; and, 18 Chiefs of the Boat (COBs). Another unique feature of the book is the extensive cataloging and history of Tunny’s artifacts, insignia, appellations, mottoes, and slogans.  Some call it a scrapbook.


    Read also the genesis of Tunny's mascot and the extensive bios of those who stole it from another submarine while sealing the Ronquil’s crew below. The other chapters describe and present the most comprehensive history ever published of Tunny 282. This historical account is filled with numerous achievements, stories and recollections of many former Tunny crew members who boasted they served not only on the oldest but also on the proudest ship in the U.S. Navy. Included is an examination of what it was like serving aboard Tunny as well as how much living space crews actually had aboard diesel submarines, which today just are no longer in the service of the United States Navy.  Many are monuments or museums displayed in harbors and rivers.  One of Tunny’s executive officers said in an article published by the Navy League, “…deploying on the WW II constructed boat to the North Pacific Ocean during the Cold War wasn’t for sissies.” Read a crew member’s person diary, a daily account about Tunny’s deployment during the Cuban Missile Crisis.


    Tunny’s WW II combat record resulted in the award of two Presidential Unit Citations, and when she was called to active duty again; she made the very first and 9 more Regulus Deterrent Patrols. She was the first and last to launch 100 Regulus-1 missiles during that Cold War Era. I was able to identify and name those who became the Navy’s first Guided Missilemen and the units they were assigned to. During Vietnam, Tunny was the Pacific Fleet’s oldest submarine serving on active duty delivering UDT and SEAL Teams in a record 14 special operations (SPECOPS) deployments.


    After decommissioning in 1969, Tunny’s unusual configured hull with its massive hangar still attached continued to serve her country but, this time as a target to be sunk by another submarine’s torpedo. Read the real story how that happened and exactly where Tunny reluctantly departed on Eternal Patrol on 19 June 1970.


    I served as the Tunny's longest serving yeoman during the SSG Era, spent 10 years in my retirement reaching out to hundreds of former Tunny crew members, collecting, researching, tabulating and writing the book’s manuscript. For many who purchased the first print edition found the book’s content to be very detailed, accurate, and informative. For many, the book brought them many memories; some liken it to attending a virtual reunion. Comments/reviews by former Tunny crew members and relatives are posted on my website along with hundreds, if not thousands, of former Tunny crew members photos. The manuscript for the first print edition was used to convert to this electronic version that is now being sold available on amazon.com for $15.00.

    Book Reviews and Comments.


Tunny History Book Cover

The Harrison-Norvill Cemetery:

An Abandoned Part of Prince William County’s Rich History

     This builds upon information I found through over 8 years of research relative to the origin and history of this 19th Century cemetery.  It provides a detailed history of the souls whose bodies are buried at the cemetery, their history, and their ties to the La Grange property, which today serves as a Virginia Farm winery, The Winery at La Grange, Haymarket, Virginia. The article published by the Virginia Genealogical Society, brings attention to the diminishing and deteriorating condition of the cemetery with hope that its poor state will be corrected, hopefully, someday.

Harrison-Norville Cemetery, Haymarket, Virginia

A Taste of Prince William County, Virginia Wine History

 

This book is the result of my research into Prince William County's wine production during the 19th Century. It features the following:

  • The Business of making wine in Prince William County,
  • Haymarket - Prince William County's Viticulture Center,
  • Wine Made from Manassas Grapes Wins a Bronze Medal
  • Prince William County's First Operational Winery on the Battlefield
  • 100 years after devastation, Viticulture returns to Prince William County

    This book was self-published in 2011 and is available for purchase from the author. 

ISBN: 978-0-615-42648-8

Cover

$12.95 plus $4.00 shipping

A Taste of Prince William County, Virginia Wine History

   A 16-page coloring book that describes the story of a car found abandoned in a junk yard by a gentleman who took it home and reconditioned it. It is a simple and expressive story that deals with a negative situation.

  As one turns the pages, the reader experiences the ability to read positive words and through coloration can express their feelings about this story's positive message.

This book was self-published in 2010 and is available for purchase from the author.

 

ISBN: 978-1-4490-6821-9

 

 

 

Book Cover

$12.95 plus $4.00 shipping

Tongue Tied:  A True Story

     A trued Story!  What is described in this story actually happened to me when I was a teenager working at Kramarick's Upholstering located in Tarentum, Pennsylvania (near my home town of Natrona Heights, PA).

A 'Necessary Misfortune'

     This is a story that I wrote in 2004 about courage and determination and a little about golf.  It is about one man's fight to overcome a "necessary misfortune" andget his life not back to normal, just back, period. In some respects, maybe this story is a lot aboutgolf, because it was the desire to play golf again that kept Phil Halcomb going.  Originally published in the March 2004 issue of Washington Golf Monthly Magazine

What's The Score After the Round?

     Results of an Analysis conducted of wine lists from Publics, Privates, and The Resorts.

GolfStyles Magazine, 2003

Sister Winery Program

American Wine Society Journal (Summer 2004)

Reliquary Articles for Prince William County, Virginia Library

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A Taste of Prince William County Wine History:  Who Knew?

Prince William County RELIC Reliquary Article: Volume 5, Number 3, Page 51 (2006)

Haymarket - Prince William County's Viticultural Center:  Who Knew?

Prince William County RELIC Reliquary Article: Volume 5, Number 4, Page 75 (2006)

Wine Made from Manassas Grapes Wins a Bronze Medal at the

1900 Paris Exposition:  Who Knew?

    Prince William County RELIC Reliquary Article: Volume 8, Number 4, Page 73 (2009)

Virginia Wine Gazette Articles

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Sister Winery Program Launched in Virginia

Virginia Wine Gazette (Harvest 2004)

The Winemaker Who Died of a Broken Heart

     A story about John Baptitsta Sciutto and his Manassas Battlefield Winery.

Celebrating Virginia Wine: 1976-2005 A Retrospective of Virginia

Wine Festivals

My Tours of Duty Serving in the U.S. Navy

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USS TUNNY (SSG-282) 1958-1962 Boat Yeoman

Frankly, serving on Tunny was the best tour I ever had.  It was so great I wrote a book about it.

Djakarta, Indonesia Defense Attache 1963-1965

  The tour of duty I had in Indonesia was another best ever tour. I lived on the economy during the time I while I was there and utilized the services of local servants, Sieman (house boy), Charles (Driver), and Babu (Washing and Clearning).  I was elected and appointed to the exhalted postion of Secretary of the Djakarta Golf Club.  In addition, during that time, President Sukarno's regime was overthrown in a Counter Coup.  This was an exciting time and I was able through various sources purchase and retain photographs of the funeral of the ten Indonesian military personnel who were killed resulting from the Coup. Click here to take you to the photos as well as those I found in my retained files.

OLSZEWSKI'S INDONESIA TOUR IMAGES

   Between 1963 and 1964, I served on the staff of the U.S. Defense Attache' office at the American Embassy, Djakarta, Indonesia.I was a YN2(SS) at the time and considered it to have been one of best of my Navy career assignments.  During that time, I accumlated a number of images which I have posted on this website.

Tribute to the U.S. Navy's JMIE PROGRAM

   During the Late 1980s/early 1990s, there was a program that was being developed called the Joint Maritime Information Element (JMIE). I served as the program's Deputy Program Manager under the leadership of Mr. Alfred "Al" Francis Pullin.  I was contacted by Mr. Fred Harrison who was working to develop the effort and asked me to join the program.  I was working at the former Sperry Univac Corporation which was absorbed into what is today known as UNISYS.  I worked directly with defense contractors to include SAIC and Lumintel in Northern Virginia.  These were some of the best of the best people to work with in bringing this program to fruition.  I have no idea what happened to it, and surmise it was absorbed into another "larger" program.  If you want to fill me in, contact me at:  ROlszewski@aol.com.  When I left the program transferring to DISA, I was provided a going away gift from those I had worked closely with at the Lumintel Corporation.  Click here to see what was written in the individual farewell messages that they had framed.

Other Significant Mentions and Tributes

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The Alle-Kiski Valley Goes to War Series

Hear and watch Ray Talk about his 23-year Navy Career in just 13 minutes!

produced by John Bailey

available for purchase at the

Alle-Kiski Valley Heritage Museum

Tarentum, Pennsylvania

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Click here!

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A Tribute to Those Who Served!

Three Alle-Kiski Valley (Creighton, Natrona Heights, and Brackenridge) Veteran's Memorials include Olszewski and Ajak family members who served during World War II. Their names are imortalized on these beautiful memorials. Click here to see the photos I captured during a visit in 2018 of the monuments, their locations, and the names who are listed.

Email: ROlszewski@aol.com

(703) 244-5678

160 Marwood Road, Cabot, PA 16023-2250