Florida Chapter NCVA Site
Beset by hurricane Milton the week before and still affected by flood water and high winds, the 2024 FLNCVA get together went amazingly well. When the St. John’s River Ship Company had to cancel the cruise down the St. John’s river due to flood waters on lake Monroe combined with high winds half of those who had booked the cruise decided not to attend. The six of of that did attend had a great time dockside with a fine lunch and good entertainment provided by the crew.
This year we are planning a little SEA-DUTY. We are going to have a luncheon on the St. Johns River ship (Barbara-Lee), departing from Historic Downtown Sanford, Florida at 10:30am on the 19th of October. Our luncheon will include a 3 hour voyage up the St. Johns River aboard the Barbara-Lee. A full table service menu is provided and will include your choice of the following:
You will enjoy climate-controlled comfort as you cruise up the St. Johns river. Reservations can be made by phone (321 -441-3030) and reference the NCVA reservation # 4232 8743. Cost is $79.52 per person. Free parking is available at the pier (433 N. Palmetto Ave., Sanford, FL 32771). Reservations must be made by September 15th.
Additionally, we have made rooms available at the Hampton Inn located in Altamonte Springs if your planning on an overnight visit. They can be contacted at (407) 331-0220. Be sure and reference NCVA. For those coming in on the 18th and staying at the Hampton Inn, we will probably visit the Italian Restaurant located around the corner that night for dinner.
If you have any questions, please contact John Koval at (321 277 6180) or by email (johnkoval46@gmail.com).
By John Koval
The annual reunion was held the weekend of 9/09/2023 at the Hampton Inn located in Altamonte Springs, Florida. As part of our annual tradition, the Florida Chapter honors a Sailor-of-the-Year . This year’s honoree is CTR1 Bridgette Beriault from the reserve component (NIOCGA) NAVOPSPTCEN Orlando, Florida. Lt. Nicholas Russo accepted the award on her behalf.
Deputy Sheriff’s from the Seminole County Financial Crime Task Force presented a lecture on the many scams that are currently targeted at our senior citizens. I believe all in attendance found this presentation interesting.
How will the expected government shutdown affect the VA? They have posted a web page that explains what to expect from the VA if there is a government shutdown. Follow this link to see their post.
The Florida Chapter NCVA (FLNCVA) is holding their annual reunion the weekend of September 8-10, 2023 at the Hampton Inn and Suites located at 161 North Douglas Avenue, Altamonte Springs, Florida 32714. We are inviting any member of the NCVA who wishes to attend.
Contact the Hampton Inn at (407) 331-0220 and give them the code “NCVA” for your reservation. Room rates are $105 for either the Standard Queen (double queens) or the Standard King. Reservations must be made by August 16,2023.
Our guest speaker will be a Deputy Sheriff from the Seminole County Financial Crimes Task Force discussing a number of topics related to forgery, identity theft, embezzlement, contractor fraud and other scams as they apply to senior citizens.
Once again, our banquet will be provided by Magic Occasions at $25 per person. You can direct any questions to John Koval at (321) 277-6180 or johnkoval46@gmail.com.
Please RSVP to John by August 16th as we are limited to 50 guests per meeting room restrictions.
Rear Admiral William (Bill) D. Masters, Jr of Ormond Beach, Florida a long time member and ardent supporter of the Florida Chapter NCVA passed away on Tuesday, April 4 2023. He will be always remembered and greatly missed.
There will be a celebration of life on Wednesday, April 12, 2023 at 2:30pm At the Halifax River Yacht Club, 331 South Beach Street, Daytona Beach, Florida 32114. If you choose to wear a uniform (optional), the uniform is Service Dress Blue. Please arrive at least a little early. The family has requested in lieu of flowers, please donate To the Honor Flight Network (honorflight.org) or American Heart Association (heart.org). His obituary is posted at https://baldwincremation.com/obituaries/william-masters-jr/.
If you will be attending please RSVP by this Saturday, April 8th to John Koval. Ph: (321) 277-6180; Email: johnkoval46@gmail.com
Sep 14, 2022
Contact us at this link if you know any of these people.
John Langfeldt, 95 years young, of Palm Beach Gardens, FL is a long time member of the FLNCVA. John served as a Communication Specialist on Station Able, Guam during World War II. This is a picture of John and some of his shipmates on the island. Thank you John for clearing the Japanese from this island and making it the paradise it has become for those of us that followed you. If you can identify any of these people please contact us at this link and let us know.
Another successful FLNCVA annual reunion was held the weekend of 9/11 at the Hampton Inn located in Altamonte Springs, Florida. Thirty- Four persons were in attendance for the reunion dinner on Saturday (9/10) which included ten CT’s from the reserve component (NIOCGA), NAVOPSPTCEN Orlando, Florida.
FLNCVA always honors a Sailor-of-the-Year. This years honoree is CTR1 Melissa Mikulenchak.
Scott Storz, our guest speaker, gave a very interesting presentation of the Deland Naval Air Station Museum’s recovery and restoration of WWII aircraft.
the 2022 Reunion photos have been posted to the Members Only site under the Archives page. You will need to login there to see them. See you all next year or perhaps even sooner. I hear Jack Maher may be planning a spring outing.
The 2022 Florida Chapter Naval Cryptologic Veterans Association (FLNCVA) reunion will be held at the Altamonte Springs Hampton Inn and Suites on 9 to 11 September 2022. This is the same location as last year’s reunion. Email and regular mail announcement with full details have been sent out to members soon. If you didn’t get yours contract us using the contact form and let us know.
Please save the date and send John Koval your RSVP by 10 August so we can notify the caterer of the number of meals we need. Details are on the Members-Only site. You can send me a note using the “Contact Us” form under the “About Us” link (also linked in the above paragraph) if you need a login account.
Update July 24, 2020: This year’s guest speaker is Scott Storz from the Deland Naval Air Station Museum.
Menu:
Kalua Pork or Rosemary Garlic Chicken
Sweet Corn Casserole, Green Bean Casserole, Mashed Potatoes
Salad and Dessert
Joe Martfeld/Web Master
Finally we were able to hold our 2021 Reunion at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Altamonte Springs, FL from 10 to 12 December 2021. The 2020 reunion was canceled due to COVID-19 and the 2021 reunion was delayed from September until December due to the soaring number of Delta variant cases. It was great to see folks again and chat in person. We just squeaked the reunion in between the Delta decline and Omicron which seems to be barreling its way into Florida and the rest of the country. Talk about pandemic fatigue!
Some of the members enjoyed a tasty dinner on Friday evening, 10 December at Antica Pizzeria just a block from the hotel. The food was fantastic and the evening was a great success with excellent comradery. The next day, the annual membership meeting was held at 1:00 pm in Joe Martfeld’s hotel suite with 10 members present. Not a large gathering by any means but better than the previous couple of meetings. The main topic of the meeting was how to pare down our association’s bureaucracy to fit the dwindling membership. It was decided to reduce the board members from five to three and they would serve until they step down or voted out of office at the annual meeting. The membership is now streamlined to one category, Active. We are open to eligible non-members attending our functions and plan to have more than one function per year.
The reunion concluded Saturday evening with our “banquet” where we honored the 2021 NR NIOC GA-Orlando Sailor of the Year, CTN3 Jeffery Johnson with a plaque presented by our guest speaker, FLNCVA member and former NR NOIC GA-Orlando Command Master Chief, CTICM (ret) Mary Ann Floyd. Petty Officer Johnson’s command was well represented at the event with six members present. We all had a great evening and look forward to next year. Hopefully COVID-19 and it’s many variants will no longer be a threat in the new year.