March 28, 2025 • 26 mins
When most people visit a museum, they walk through history. But aboard the USS Edson, you're walking inside it. In this episode, Navy veteran and lifelong Bay City resident Bill Randall takes us deep into the hull of a Vietnam-era destroyer—now a floating museum—and deeper still into the heart of what it means to serve, remember, and preserve.
From scavenging radar systems through old-school bartering (“we traded a torpedo for it”) to turning the ship into Michigan’s most haunted Halloween attraction, Bill and his dwindling crew of volunteers have spent over a decade keeping this legend alive—one paintbrush stroke, one ghost story, one overnight scout trip at a time.
More than a warship, the USS Edson is now a living monument, a place where memory, education, and community collide—moored just off the Saginaw River.
Links:
USS Edson Website: https://svnsm.com/
USS Edson Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ussedsonmuseum
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Bill Randall (00:00):
Before they scrap all the ship, especially in Philadelphia, they
(00:02):
give museum ships first crack at 'em.
To get parts off of them.
So we'll go over there, you know, forthree days for a week or whatever and,
and try to get parts that we need.
We have gotten like a radar from aship that was down in, uh, Louisiana.
There was a radar that was down there.
So we went down there, we traded, I don'tknow, like a torpedo for it or whatever,
and we brought it backand put it up on the mast.
Cliff Duvernois (00:24):
Hello everyone.
Welcome back to Total Michigan, wherewe interview Ordinary Michigans doing
some pretty extraordinary things.
I am your host Cliff DuVernois.
So there's one thingthat I'm really proud of.
Actually.
There's a lot of things aboutMichigan that I'm really proud of.
One of the things that really hits hometo me, as well as to so many of you
that are out there, is that we've allhad family members that at one point
in time have decided to sacrifice self.
(00:47):
For the good of us all, and thatis serving in our nation in one
of the military, uh, branchesthat are out there, and I salute.
Every single person who has everdecided to step forward and to
make that sacrifice for all of us.
And as I'm going around the state ofMichigan, one of the things that I
like to do is I always like to takea moment to look up what is perhaps
(01:08):
some kind of a military museum or, orsomething that might be historical that
we could all just really appreciate.
And more importantly, who arethe people that work so hard?
To bring this history to life andto remember the stories of the brave
men and women who have actuallyserved our country with distinction.
So today I find myself in Bay Cityand I'm actually on the USS Edson.
(01:31):
And sitting with me today is Bill Randall,one of the chief volunteers that works
here that takes everybody on a tour.
Maybe you've actually met himbefore 'cause he is the guy.
But Bill, how are you?
Bill Randall (01:43):
Well, thank you.
Thanks very much.
Welcome aboard.
Thank you.
It's great to have you here.
Cliff Duvernois (01:47):
so Bill, if you would, why don't you tell us.
What is the USS Edson?
Bill Randall (01:51):
Okay.
The Edson is a, uh, Vietnam eradestroyer navy destroyer that
served 10, 10 tours in Vietnam.
She had a, a, a lifespan ofabout 30 years from 1958 to 1988
is when it was decommissioned.
The Edson kind of has a, a, a, therelationship of Bay City is that Bay
City used to have Defo ship buildingon the Saginaw River, and they built
(02:12):
ships very, very similar to the Edson.
And, uh, I remember Juanita used to watch'em go down there and launch those ships.
But, that, and for recruiting purposesand for educational purposes and trying
to preserve our history is why we're here.
Cliff Duvernois (02:25):
And so now for the Edson, was it actually built here?
Where was it built?
Bill Randall (02:30):
No, the Edson was actually built in Bath, Maine.
Okay, okay.
that was built in Bath,Maine or somewhere.
a lot of these ships were,this is a Forest Sherman class.
Destroyer were built in, say, theWashington Navy shipyard, but these
were built on the East Coast, andoriginally there were 18 of these ships.
Okay.
Cliff Duvernois (02:44):
So let's take a step back here for a second.
bill, where are you from?
Where did you grow
Bill Randall (02:47):
up?
Okay.
I grew up here in Bay City my whole life.
I spent in Bay City, but I joined theNavy upon graduating high school in 1974.
I know that's a long time ago,
Cliff Duvernois (02:56):
not that long ago.
Yeah, I know.
Yeah.
But I,
Bill Randall (02:57):
I, I joined a Navy because I, I wanted to get training in a specific
job and I wanted to see some of the worldthrough the pour hole, I guess, because
that's what I saw through the pour hole.
But, that's why I went in.
I spent six years in theNavy and that's why I'm here.
Thank.
Thank you for your support.
I really appreciate that.
Absolutely.
So, I've been, been around a lot ofdifferent places, seen a lot of things.
I've done a lot of things as ayoung man, I don't regret it.
(03:19):
I've learned an awful lot and I wouldn'tgive it up for a million bucks, but
that's why I am here to convey to, peoplethat come on board to convey what it
was like to actually have to do this.
Because people don't have an understandingof what it's like to have to serve on
something like this is a whole different.
Lifestyle.
And, uh, it's very, very regimented,for a young man to get disciplined
Cliff Duvernois (03:40):
discipline where you got it.
You, uh, definitely.
So, because I, I know you weretaking me on the tour of this, uh,
earlier, before we sat down to do theinterview, and it is amazing to me.
First off, I, I, I thinkmy head would be hurting.
I noticed that it was too tall.
I noticed that too.
Always.
I, the whole time.
Yeah.
But the, the, just the close quarters.
(04:01):
Yeah.
And it, it's amazing.
'cause then you got, yougot people going both ways.
Yes.
You know, down those particular hols.
Yeah.
So, you know, you were talkingbefore about making the adjustment.
What was like, maybe like oneof the biggest adjustments
that, that really like,
Bill Randall (04:13):
Well the big, one of the biggest one I have to say is being away
from home and being away from your loves.
But on board the ship.
You know, you had, well this particularship at about 270 people on board,
And you're always in somebody's way,especially passing through a passageway,
excuse me, pardon me, excuse me.
Pardon me.
But you have to think this.
When the ship like this goes tocombat readiness, when they announce
combat stations in general quarters,people on the ship are on a dead run.
(04:35):
So trying to run through a ship likethis, it takes some practice to do this
because you're gonna trip on something
Cliff Duvernois (04:39):
rather.
Yep, yep.
And this is not only just, running downthese really thin, ho hallways, it's.
Going up ladders up, laddersdown, ladder down ladders.
And, and some of them are Yeah.
Like straight up and down.
Yes.
Some of 'em are.
Yeah.
Yes.
Yeah.
Bill Randall (04:51):
But you have to think too, Cliff that most of the people on
this ship, when I came on board theseships, they were about 19 years old.
That's the majority of the people.
So we're pretty agile.
we're, we thought we werebulletproof back then.
I couldn't do it today.
Yeah, right.
Well, we, we knew everythingthere was to know back then.
Yeah.
I said absolutely.
Yeah.
Yep.
Yeah, it's, it's definitely a change oflifestyle, but when you go to bootcamp,
(05:13):
they teach you how to become from acivilian to a team member because you have
to work as a unit, onboard these ships.
Uh, things can go wrong very,very fast, and your life would
depend upon something like that.
So you have to pick it up pretty quick.
Cliff Duvernois (05:26):
So you were telling me before about, for this particular ship
now, 'cause it was built in Maine, right?
How did it come to Bay City?
Bill Randall (05:35):
Okay.
The, the story is this ship used tobe a museum ship in New York City.
It was part of the IntrepidAirspace Museum and.
It was there for 13 years and theyhad let this go because most of
the funding and attention went tothe aircraft carrier, the Intrepid.
So they let this one go and theyput it into a mothball fleet in
Philadelphia where it's scheduled tobe scrapped at some point in time.
(05:57):
I.
It was sitting there for a number ofyears out in the, uh, out in the weather.
So when we out it here, it wasreally, really in bad condition.
But what we did is we towed thisup, out of Philadelphia, up to St.
Lawrence Seaway, and it tookabout three weeks to, uh, to
get her here by two tugboats.
And that has been almost 13 years ago.
So we've been here foralmost 13 years now.
Cliff Duvernois (06:16):
Now, what was the, I guess, what was the decision?
'cause I mean, you really could have.
Well, I, I don't, I'm not gonna sayyou could have parked any boat here.
Right.
But you, any number of otherships that you had a choice.
Right.
So what was it about the Edson?
Bill Randall (06:28):
Well, this means that she's a destroyer, here in Bay
City, used to be a ship buildingcompany called Defoe Ship Building.
And they had employed, God, probablyabout 3000 people, and they were
working 24 hours a day around the clock.
And they built destroyers verysimilar to this ship here in Bay City.
Ah, okay.
Cliff Duvernois (06:44):
Okay.
So it took them three weeks to get here.
Yeah.
Finally gets here.
Yep.
And.
You were saying before, I, I believeyou mentioned it was like, like we, like
Bay City had to write a check for aboutthree quarters of a million dollars.
Bill Randall (06:55):
Well, it wasn't Bay City.
Bay City didn't writea check for anything.
We did.
The, the Saginaw Valley NavalShip Museum owns this ship.
This does not belong to Bay City.
Okay.
Yeah.
We are actually, we areactually in Bangor Township.
Is where we're, where, where we're at.
Yep.
Uh, the other side ofthe bridge is Bay City.
So, yeah, it was a, it was a lot ofspaghetti dinners, Cliff, and I don't,
(07:16):
I don't eat spaghetti anymore, youknow, but yeah, it was, it was, it was
donations and grants and some, some ofthe volunteers was their own money put
into this thing because when the shipgot here, we had, about 35 volunteers.
And all of us that workhere we're all volunteers.
Right.
And today we have about sixpeople taking care of her is
'cause we're dying off basically.
(07:36):
And people are leaving and it's, itis been so, so many years, but, uh,
trying to get some new volunteers here,
Cliff Duvernois (07:43):
It's a little difficult.
Right.
Yeah.
So let me ask you this question here.
'cause you know, the shipcomes in, it's docked.
You were talking about35 volunteers, right?
Yep.
At this point in time, you'vedone your service, right?
Yep.
And you know, you've gotten out, you'vetransitioned over to civilian life.
What was it that made you say, youknow, I wanna be a part of this?
(08:03):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Bill Randall (08:04):
I guess this is, I have this fascination of ships.
I've always had a fascination.
That's basically why Iwent in the Navy too.
But it's a, it's a, a labor of lovetrying to keep this, like I say, trying
to convey the message to people who don'tknow what it's like to have to do this.
That's my main functionhere, besides painting.
But, uh, and that's thereason that I'm here.
And I, that's why when it got here,that's why I joined this volunteer team.
(08:27):
I.
Just to take care of her.
Cliff Duvernois (08:29):
Now, when you're talking about, 'cause you, you made, you made a
comment before about when it got here,it sat, it was sending de mothball Right.
And it was in pretty rough shape.
Yes.
So now your, your organizationalready wrote a check Yeah.
For three quarters of a million dollars.
Yeah.
To get the ship here.
I can imagine it's a pretty penny.
Bill Randall (08:47):
It is.
Well, it's just trying to get it here.
Like I said, there's two tugboats andI, I might be wrong, but I, I wanna
say they were outta Louisiana and it's,one of 'em was an ocean going tug.
So it taught, you know, it cost alot just in fuel just to get it here.
But, uh, it took years.
I.
To, to raise that kind of money.
'cause this was actuallystarted, I wanna say like 1992.
So it took years to raise thatkind of money to get it here.
(09:08):
Yeah.
uh, as it went along naturally, thegroup got bigger and bigger 'cause
they wanna see it come in here.
But, yeah, now it's, uh, now it's here.
Like I say, taking care ofher is an undaunting task.
She's like, uh, she takes abig bite when she takes a bite.
It's a really, really bigbite in the, in the finances.
Cliff Duvernois (09:21):
Oh, I bet.
Bill Randall (09:22):
Yeah.
Yeah,
Cliff Duvernois (09:22):
I bet.
Yeah.
Now, what was it, you know,coming on here for you anyways?
'cause I know there's.
you didn't serve on the exit?
No, I did not.
No.
By other two ships, right?
Yep.
What is coming on here, what was that likefeeling for you after all those years?
Bill Randall (09:35):
It's like, uh, it brings back a lot of memories.
It really does.
'cause I was, I was mentioningearlier, even, even the smell of an
inside of a Navy ship smells exactlythe same as every other Navy ship.
It's the same grease, samepaint, same oil, same everything.
So it still smells the same, but beingback on the ship, To me, it's a thrill.
I love being here.
I love showing her off.
But yeah, it's, it's, it's a good time.
Cliff Duvernois (09:57):
And when we were walking around, uh, before Don, you were showing
me all the different areas of the shipor whatever it is, and it was almost like
in some way, like if I was watching usthrough like the lens of a movie mm-hmm.
Like I could almost like turnand see like crewman Yes.
Standing there.
Yes, absolutely.
Somebody coming down the.
Stairs.
Yeah.
Slide and stuff.
And I imagine for you there's alot of those types of memories.
Bill Randall (10:15):
There is.
There is.
I still try to get down the slide, downthe stairways, you know, you know, it's
just the, the sudden stop at the end thatI, you know, my, my brain says yes, but
my body says, no, don't do that anymore.
Cliff Duvernois (10:26):
Yeah.
Bill Randall (10:26):
But yeah, it's just because in her 30 year career, she
had a lot of crew members in here.
Oh, I bet.
Yeah.
Yep.
She was stationed in, uh,Long Beach, California.
And after Vietnam, they transferred overto, uh, Rhode Island, and it became a
training vessel for Navy reservists.
And it was there for, uh,I forgot, umpteen years.
And then they just let it go andbecame a museum in New York City.
Cliff Duvernois (10:45):
Wow.
Yep.
So now you were talking before there,there's a sister ship to this one
that's located in Yeah, Bremerton.
It's in Bremerton, Washington.
Okay.
Bill Randall (10:52):
Yeah.
It's the USS Turner Joy.
And it's the same class as the ship.
Matter of fact, it's a mirror imageof the ship, and it is also a museum.
Now.
She's been out there a littlelonger than we've been here.
Right.
But they're right next door to a shipyard.
So getting supplies.
It's pretty easy, you know,find the spare parts for Edson.
Eh?
It is a little, little tough,you know, if you don't make
'em, you gotta try to find them.
Cliff Duvernois (11:11):
Well, you don't have a Home Depot.
Bill Randall (11:12):
No, no, no, no.
They don't sell.
They don't sell radars at Home Depot.
Cliff Duvernois (11:16):
And now as far as.
As the ship goes, we're talkingabout, you know, you brought it here,
you've done all this volunteer workat any point in time, like how, how
many volunteers were working on this?
Because I could imagine there couldbe like a lot of people there.
Bill Randall (11:29):
Yeah, there were a lot of people.
And sometimes we'll get scoutsover here that'll, they'll
work on the ship for the day I.
Just to stay on the ship at night.
Oh, okay.
So we kind of trade, you know,volunteer work hours, right.
For, to stay on the ship.
But, uh, over her, over, uh, 12 plusyears here, there's been quite a few
volunteers that have been here naturally.
The people that are here all thetime, like I say, we're down to about
six people that are here constantly.
(11:49):
But through, through thecourse of the years, yeah.
We have people stop by and they, uh,asked me, well, what do you want?
What do you want me to do?
And I said, show up.
That's all you gotta do.
You know, there's amillion things to do here.
So, yeah.
if people are looking for, they have to,if they have to do volunteer work like our
schools do, they'll come here and they'llwork and get their volunteer hours in.
So we've had, uh, like EagleScouts do projects on the ship.
(12:10):
So through the years yeah.
We've had people come over and, anddo a little bit of work and, you know,
trying to get 'em to stay, you know?
Cliff Duvernois (12:16):
Yeah.
Bill Randall (12:16):
Yeah.
These days it's kind of hard.
So, like pulling teeth
Cliff Duvernois (12:18):
I bet.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And before you made a comment too,and I want to chase that down.
If something does break on the shipor need to be replaced, whatever.
It's Right.
Where do you get parts?
Bill Randall (12:27):
We make 'em, if we make 'em or we, uh, we go to one of the shipyards
if we can get it, because shipyards,there's a navy yard in Philadelphia
that has, uh, a warehouse that hasnothing with parts, but trying, trying
to get it, uh, is, is kind of hard too.
A lot of the stuff we do ourselves.
or we have gotten like a radar from aship that was down in, uh, Louisiana.
There was a radar that was down there.
(12:48):
So we went down there, we traded, I don'tknow, like a torpedo for it or whatever,
and we brought it backand put it up on the mast.
Cliff Duvernois (12:55):
Oh, Torp.
You give you a raise.
Bill Randall (12:57):
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
It's trading, trading material.
But uh, that's gotta becool thinking all around.
Well, once a year when they, whenthey, before they scrap all the ship,
especially in Philadelphia, theygive museum ships first crack at 'em.
To get parts off of them.
So we'll go over there, you know, forthree days for a week or whatever and,
and try to get parts that we need.
But now you're in competition with about50 other ships, so it's a mad dash, you
(13:19):
know, it's like they, they, they hit thestarter's pistol and man, everybody's
running, trying to get some parts.
And, and we did a few years ago.
Yeah.
And it was, uh, it was in.
Philadelphia and it was in Januaryand it was really, really cold.
Sweet Moses.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Philadelphia In January.
Yes.
Yep.
So we got some parts off ofit and we brought 'em back.
But, finding some of the major parts,they just don't make 'em anymore.
So we have to kind of, uh,uh, make our own or make
(13:40):
something that's similar to it.
but just basically it's justfor a static display usually.
As long as it looks like it, you know.
There you go.
Cliff Duvernois (13:46):
That's the part.
Awesome.
Hell yeah.
For our audience, we're gonnatake a quick break and thank
our sponsors when we come back.
Uh, bill is gonna continue todazzle us with his brilliance
and sharing us some really coolstories about, uh, the USS Edson.
And, uh, we will see you after the break.
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Hello everyone.
Welcome back to Total Michigan, wherewe interview Ordinary Michigans doing
some pretty extraordinary things.
I'm your host Cliff DuVernois.
(14:31):
Today we're having a very animatedinterview with Bill, with, with
Bill Randall, uh, on the USS, Edson.
Bill, before the break we were talkingabout how you got the ship back here,
you had all these volunteers thatwere working on the boat, bringing it,
restoring it, back to as pristine, asconditioned as you could possibly get.
Bill Randall (14:49):
Yes.
Yep.
Cliff Duvernois (14:50):
Now, with it being in, pristine shape, why
don't you talk to us about.
Some of the different ways that youtry to get the community involved,
try to get people to the ship.
What are some of the different Okay.
Events
Bill Randall (15:04):
that you do, whatever?
We're, we're, we have allkinds of events here, Cliff.
We've had, uh, like I was tellingyou, we have six weddings here.
We've had, uh, high school graduation.
Parties here.
We've had business meetings here.
if you have an event, you canactually take the ship for the day
if you wanna do something like that.
But we have all kinds of events.
We have a lot of overnight stays.
A lot of scouting groups come here.
Oh, that's amazing.
Yep.
Yep.
(15:24):
A lot of school groups, uh, we havethe, uh, sea Cadets, they come here and,
uh, these are kids that are eventuallygonna join the Navy outta school.
And when they come here, naturally they'rein uniform and we take advantage of that.
'cause when, when they spend thenight, we had one of our volunteers
show naturally we have someone fromthe museum spend the night with them.
And what he did was he took a fog machine,he fogged a couple of other spaces
(15:45):
inside, and about three o'clock in themorning he run a fire drill on them.
And they had to find a mannequinsomewhere in that smoke,
simulating a fireboard ship.
And they didn't, they did.
Yeah.
They didn't know they were gonna have it.
But yeah.
As far as events, we've had,like I say, weddings and parties
and, and we do a lot of, uh.
Paranormal events, believeit or not, that are here.
Oh, I bet.
I bet you this place is just
Cliff Duvernois (16:04):
a high paranormal activity.
It is, it is.
Bill Randall (16:06):
It is.
even the general public will bewalking through and someone will tell
me, well, something pulled my hair.
Some, something tapped me on theshoulder and they'll ask me, well,
is, is this place haunted or not?
I say, well, you know,why do you say that?
Because if something, thatmight have happened to 'em.
But, uh, yeah, we have a lot of that stuffand, and people spend the night here.
some people, if they runinto paranormal events.
(16:26):
Won't spend a night here.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Their intention was to do that, butthey won't be spending a night here.
But yeah, we do all kinds
Cliff Duvernois (16:33):
of events here.
Bill Randall (16:34):
Yep.
Cliff Duvernois (16:35):
And actually, 'cause you talked about the paranormal thing.
The last time that I was here was duringone of your Halloween events, right?
Yes.
Where you just turned into likesome kind of a haunted ship.
Yes.
And
Bill Randall (16:42):
yeah.
Cliff Duvernois (16:42):
People hiding throughout and the little maze that you had to
Bill Randall (16:44):
walk through.
Yeah, sure.
Sure.
We have, uh people thatcome in and do that.
And uh, it's a huge hit.
It has been rated one of the numberones in Michigan, the state of
Michigan, and it is huge becausethey'll take the ship at the end of
September and all the way throughOctober to the first week of November.
And it is amazing the work that theseguys do it, they put into this thing.
It's, I've been through it afew times and it's scared me.
(17:06):
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
Cliff Duvernois (17:07):
It's great.
It's fantastic.
It's gonna be interesting, yeah.
To be able to come in and see theship from a completely different,
it is angle, I mean, it's the sameship, but now that you've got, yeah.
If you were talking before aboutyou've got laser lights and.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, people hiding the steel.
Yeah.
Bill Randall (17:19):
Live
Cliff Duvernois (17:19):
actors.
Yeah.
Bill Randall (17:20):
Yeah.
Well, it's, uh, it's, it's kindof neat the way they do that,
but, I worked it for four years.
I did it.
Yeah.
I, it was fantastic.
It was a lot of fun.
And, uh, for a pun we say, we scaredthe ship outta you is what we do.
Cliff Duvernois (17:33):
Yeah.
It's huge.
Yeah.
And so with all these events that aregoing on here, and there's a couple
more that I wanna circle back to,but you mentioned something, during
the break that I really wanna hit in.
TripAdvisor Loves
Bill Randall (17:46):
you.
Yeah.
Loves, yes.
And we are actually the number one thingto see in Bay City, and we're rated as
the number one thing to visit in Bay City.
So we get a lot of people naturallylooking for something to do
and they'll go to TripAdvisor.
And we have, for the pastfew years now, we've had the
number one rating in Bay City.
We have a lot of people that comehere in the summertime, which
also brings in a lot of commerce.
(18:06):
For Bay City.
we're actually located in BangorTownship, but people stay at the hotels.
We have a map in the office.
It's a world map and we give visitors apin to put in that map where they're from.
There's all kinds of 'em inEurope that have come over here.
Really?
We've had people from, from Russia.
We've had people from allover the world come here.
You know, some people may, mighthave an interpreter of them.
(18:27):
You know, you got a good,a group of six people only.
Yeah.
Only one will speak English.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So that makes for a long tour.
Cliff Duvernois (18:34):
Yeah.
Yep.
But yeah, we bring alot of people in here.
That is absolutely great.
Yep.
And now to, to go back to a couplethings that you said before, people
could stay the night on the ship.
Yes.
So if we're talking about, people likewhat is like the largest group that
you've ever had versus what's, okay?
You could like.
Yep.
A couple come and stay.
Right.
Bill Randall (18:52):
Last summer we had a, a group of 98 people.
Cliff Duvernois (18:55):
Sweet Bulls.
Bill Randall (18:56):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, uh, yeah, they all spent the nightship and there was a conglomeration of
different scout groups that were here, butthey were dispersed throughout the ship.
And what they do is theystay in the cruise quarters.
That's what they actually sleep to getthe full, full effect of what it was like.
Two weekends ago we had 60people on board, and that's
about as much as you wanna get.
'cause 90, 90 some people that's, that's.
Too many.
(19:16):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Then you gotta keep tab and littleJohnny's out on the deck gonna
jump over the side or whatever.
So you gotta keep tats on these people.
But yeah, we are able to accommodate very,very large groups and we do, down to a
group of five people, even the generalpublic, if you wanna stay on board a
ship, if you have a group of five peopleor more, we'll give you a group rate.
So that's what we do.
And if we've had five people,you know, a family come on board,
Cliff Duvernois (19:36):
so what does that look like?
If somebody's gonna come spend the night,is it, You got the beds already made.
There's a mint on a pillow.
You gotta bring a sleeping bag.
How does that work?
Bill Randall (19:44):
No, no mitts on the pillow.
This is not princessScrew, like Yeah, yeah.
We don't have a buffet here.
This the navy?
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah.
well, the rocks have a mattresson 'em and they're, they're
washable mattresses on it.
But all you gotta do is, isbring your, bring your sleeping
bag and your pillow and or your
Cliff Duvernois (19:57):
blanket or whatever you, you're good to go.
Nice.
Yeah.
Because a lot of the, a lot ofthe bunks that you had down there
when you were showing me beforeactually have like a mattress there.
Bill Randall (20:04):
Yes.
They all on
Cliff Duvernois (20:05):
there.
We do all the beds
Bill Randall (20:06):
on the ship, do have a mattress on 'em.
In the, in the officer state room whereI showed them they have a bigger bed.
So a lot of people will take thosestate rooms, you know, it's kind of the,
the premium thing on board the ship.
But, yeah, we, they get the fullexperience, you know, ly you can get up.
We have all, uh, some of 'em we offercontinental breakfast, so we have that.
And if we're gonna say feed the scouts,we got all kinds of pizza over here.
So it's, it's a big deal.
(20:27):
Yeah.
Cliff Duvernois (20:28):
Oh, I can just imagine a, a pizza delivery showing up to the
ship with all these pizzas in there.
'cause if you've got like 60kids Yes man, they can, oh,
they go burn shoes and pizza.
Absolutely.
Yeah, they do.
Yep, yep.
Yes they do.
so one of the things I wanna circleback to is when we're talking about
like restoring the ship, when ofthe things that really impresses
me is how much of the ship.
(20:49):
Still functions.
It still Okay.
Works.
Like you were talking about rightbefore you were sharing with me
about the lathe machine, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So talk to us a little bit aboutwhy it's important to make sure
that the stuff still works.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Why not just have it on stand display?
Bill Randall (21:01):
Well, most Navy shifts a, as you know, they have
a machine shop onto repair parts.
Mm-hmm.
The machine shop that's on theEdson is a working machine shop.
The machinery that's in theredoes work and I still use it.
Uh, that's what I didwhen I was in the Navy.
So every now and then, if I had to makea job for a ship, I'll make it there.
most everything in the galley,in the, in the, the, the
kitchen so to speak, does work.
And we have used it at certain times.
(21:23):
some of the heat and some ofthe state rooms does work.
I didn't tell you that.
Yeah.
But, uh, there's a lot of workingthings on, on board a ship.
It's kind of a hands-on thing.
Kids come aboard.
They wanna push thisand pull that and Yeah.
We have a lot of thingsthat are, are working.
Some of the phones, some of the,uh, the sound power telephones, they
work on the sound of your voice.
Right.
Some of them work.
And when you dial up one ofthe rooms that you're not.
(21:44):
Out by you see somebody walkby it and that phone rings
saying it gets your attention.
Cliff Duvernois (21:48):
Oh, I bet.
Yeah.
Yeah, I bet.
And you're also sharing too, thatfor a lot of the parts that were on
the ship for people that were workinghere, and, and it just goes without
saying, but back in the day, I.
The l The volume?
Yeah.
Like the noise.
Yes.
That could be created.
Yes.
The steam that was created.
Yes.
You were talking aboutlike a lot of steam power.
Yes.
Yeah.
On this ship.
Yeah.
You know, when you think aboutships, now that's, everybody thinks,
(22:10):
oh, it's all nuclear clear, right?
Yeah.
This
Bill Randall (22:11):
was all steam.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But even on a nuclear ship,it's just another way to heat
water that you don't, yeah.
You don't have to refuelthat for 30 years though.
But it's another way to heat waterthat goes through a turbine that drives
now electric motors, where on boardit was all mechanical on the ship.
But yeah.
The, the ship is, it'slike a living thing.
And when you're out at sea and you'rebouncing around at sea, the, the
(22:32):
ship has a, a certain vibe to itand a certain noise, and it's when
you don't feel that, and when youdon't hear that something is wrong.
Yeah.
You know, because
Cliff Duvernois (22:40):
it's like a living creature.
yes.
You know, the, the, so the parallelthat I draw to that is, uh,
driving down the road to my car.
Yeah.
And all of a sudden, likesomething doesn't feel right.
Yes.
You know, like there's like an extra noiseand it's there or is not there, right?
Yes.
Right.
Someone's like, uh oh.
Yeah.
You go, I wanna take a look at it.
What is that?
What, what is that?
Bill Randall (22:57):
Did I just lose a tire or what?
What's going on there?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I
Cliff Duvernois (23:00):
don't think
Bill Randall (23:01):
I lost the tire.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, this ship is compared, likeI say, 270 enlisted men on, on
onboard the ship versus an aircraftcarrier carries 5,000 people.
That is a small, that's a small city.
That's a small city that's, you could bethere a long time and not know everybody.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Or
Cliff Duvernois (23:14):
this one, you got to know just about everybody.
So actually, let me ask you this question.
if the Edson or, another shiplike to set out the sea, how
long could you stay out then?
you could probably stay out
Bill Randall (23:23):
there for a good six months because what you
do is you replenish at sea.
So if you're, you say you, you,uh, expanded all your ammunition.
You, you run out of food, you willactually have a supply ship come alongside
and you're cruising alongside thisother ship and they run over in what's
called a highline, to get food and, andammunition and stuff of, of that nature.
So you can still seefor a long, long time.
So
Cliff Duvernois (23:42):
basically if to, to kinda like couch it from another turn.
Well, no, because you can not onlyget food, but you can also get fuel.
Bill Randall (23:50):
Yes.
Right.
Cliff Duvernois (23:50):
That's where he took on
Bill Randall (23:51):
fuel.
This ship particularly took on, fuelabout once a week because at 47 gallons of
fuel to the mile, he burned up some fuel.
Sweet.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
227,000 gallons of fuel.
Yep.
That's amazing.
Yeah.
What was
Cliff Duvernois (24:05):
the top speed again?
Bill Randall (24:06):
It was 36 knots, about 41 miles an hour.
So that was, that was.
Pretty fast.
Yeah, that's hauling.
There's some boats on the riverthat don't go that fast, but yeah.
That's, that's moving.
Yeah.
You're cutting throughwater pretty, pretty
Cliff Duvernois (24:17):
fast.
Awesome.
Now, if somebody is coming here, they'venever been here before, What would be some
of the things that you would recommend?
Like if you're gonna spendsome time on the ship, this
is what I recommend you see.
Bill Randall (24:27):
Okay.
Actually, it, it was the, thecruise birthing to see how
people lived onboard the ship.
Nice.
the engineering spaces, like theengine rooms, it's unlike anything
that you can even imagine with, youknow, how that was put together.
and seeing what it waslike to work in there.
some of the weapons systems, andthe, the galley, I mean, there's.
There's probably 90% of this shipthat's open to the public, and
if you wanted to schedule a, aguided tour, we'll get you in some
(24:50):
spaces that people don't get to go.
And we've done that before,so it worked out rather well.
Cliff Duvernois (24:55):
Nice.
Yeah.
And so Bill, if somebodyis listening to this Yeah.
They wanna come and check out Sure.
The USS Edson.
Yep.
how can they find you?
What's the best way to do that?
Okay.
Bill Randall (25:04):
On our website is Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum.
The website is S-V-S-N-M stands forSaginaw Valley Naval ship museum.com
is our website.
Okay.
And we also, uh, uh, on a Facebook,we have a Facebook page also, but if
you wanted to say purchase tickets.
Buy, uh, merchandise from the,from the store, or whatever.
You can do that on our website.
(25:24):
We have all our numbers and it's,it's an interactive website, so
you can do an awful lot on it.
Perfect.
Yeah.
And now where can they, wherecan they find you on a map?
Okay.
On a map we are on, if, if you, uh,put in, uh, Google Maps, whatever,
we are actually in Bangor Township.
and you can get here off theexpressway, down Wilder Road.
Toll bring you right into here.
So it's easy to find.
Perfect.
Yep.
Bill, thank you
Cliff Duvernois (25:44):
so much for taking time to chat with us today.
Absolute appreciate ly.
Thanks, Cliff.
It was great having you here.
Yeah, absolutely loved it.
Yeah.
Great.
For our audience, you can alwaysroll on over to Total Michigan.com
and click on Bill's interview and getthe links that he mentioned above.
We will see you next time.
Yeah.
When we talk to another Michigan ordoing some pretty extraordinary things.
We'll see you then.
Before they scrap all the ship, especially in Philadelphia, they
(00:02):
give museum ships first crack at 'em.
To get parts off of them.
So we'll go over there, you know, forthree days for a week or whatever and,
and try to get parts that we need.
We have gotten like a radar from aship that was down in, uh, Louisiana.
There was a radar that was down there.
So we went down there, we traded, I don'tknow, like a torpedo for it or whatever,
and we brought it backand put it up on the mast.
Cliff Duvernois (00:24):
Hello everyone.
Welcome back to Total Michigan, wherewe interview Ordinary Michigans doing
some pretty extraordinary things.
I am your host Cliff DuVernois.
So there's one thingthat I'm really proud of.
Actually.
There's a lot of things aboutMichigan that I'm really proud of.
One of the things that really hits hometo me, as well as to so many of you
that are out there, is that we've allhad family members that at one point
in time have decided to sacrifice self.
(00:47):
For the good of us all, and thatis serving in our nation in one
of the military, uh, branchesthat are out there, and I salute.
Every single person who has everdecided to step forward and to
make that sacrifice for all of us.
And as I'm going around the state ofMichigan, one of the things that I
like to do is I always like to takea moment to look up what is perhaps
(01:08):
some kind of a military museum or, orsomething that might be historical that
we could all just really appreciate.
And more importantly, who arethe people that work so hard?
To bring this history to life andto remember the stories of the brave
men and women who have actuallyserved our country with distinction.
So today I find myself in Bay Cityand I'm actually on the USS Edson.
(01:31):
And sitting with me today is Bill Randall,one of the chief volunteers that works
here that takes everybody on a tour.
Maybe you've actually met himbefore 'cause he is the guy.
But Bill, how are you?
Bill Randall (01:43):
Well, thank you.
Thanks very much.
Welcome aboard.
Thank you.
It's great to have you here.
Cliff Duvernois (01:47):
so Bill, if you would, why don't you tell us.
What is the USS Edson?
Bill Randall (01:51):
Okay.
The Edson is a, uh, Vietnam eradestroyer navy destroyer that
served 10, 10 tours in Vietnam.
She had a, a, a lifespan ofabout 30 years from 1958 to 1988
is when it was decommissioned.
The Edson kind of has a, a, a, therelationship of Bay City is that Bay
City used to have Defo ship buildingon the Saginaw River, and they built
(02:12):
ships very, very similar to the Edson.
And, uh, I remember Juanita used to watch'em go down there and launch those ships.
But, that, and for recruiting purposesand for educational purposes and trying
to preserve our history is why we're here.
Cliff Duvernois (02:25):
And so now for the Edson, was it actually built here?
Where was it built?
Bill Randall (02:30):
No, the Edson was actually built in Bath, Maine.
Okay, okay.
that was built in Bath,Maine or somewhere.
a lot of these ships were,this is a Forest Sherman class.
Destroyer were built in, say, theWashington Navy shipyard, but these
were built on the East Coast, andoriginally there were 18 of these ships.
Okay.
Cliff Duvernois (02:44):
So let's take a step back here for a second.
bill, where are you from?
Where did you grow
Bill Randall (02:47):
up?
Okay.
I grew up here in Bay City my whole life.
I spent in Bay City, but I joined theNavy upon graduating high school in 1974.
I know that's a long time ago,
Cliff Duvernois (02:56):
not that long ago.
Yeah, I know.
Yeah.
But I,
Bill Randall (02:57):
I, I joined a Navy because I, I wanted to get training in a specific
job and I wanted to see some of the worldthrough the pour hole, I guess, because
that's what I saw through the pour hole.
But, that's why I went in.
I spent six years in theNavy and that's why I'm here.
Thank.
Thank you for your support.
I really appreciate that.
Absolutely.
So, I've been, been around a lot ofdifferent places, seen a lot of things.
I've done a lot of things as ayoung man, I don't regret it.
(03:19):
I've learned an awful lot and I wouldn'tgive it up for a million bucks, but
that's why I am here to convey to, peoplethat come on board to convey what it
was like to actually have to do this.
Because people don't have an understandingof what it's like to have to serve on
something like this is a whole different.
Lifestyle.
And, uh, it's very, very regimented,for a young man to get disciplined
Cliff Duvernois (03:40):
discipline where you got it.
You, uh, definitely.
So, because I, I know you weretaking me on the tour of this, uh,
earlier, before we sat down to do theinterview, and it is amazing to me.
First off, I, I, I thinkmy head would be hurting.
I noticed that it was too tall.
I noticed that too.
Always.
I, the whole time.
Yeah.
But the, the, just the close quarters.
(04:01):
Yeah.
And it, it's amazing.
'cause then you got, yougot people going both ways.
Yes.
You know, down those particular hols.
Yeah.
So, you know, you were talkingbefore about making the adjustment.
What was like, maybe like oneof the biggest adjustments
that, that really like,
Bill Randall (04:13):
Well the big, one of the biggest one I have to say is being away
from home and being away from your loves.
But on board the ship.
You know, you had, well this particularship at about 270 people on board,
And you're always in somebody's way,especially passing through a passageway,
excuse me, pardon me, excuse me.
Pardon me.
But you have to think this.
When the ship like this goes tocombat readiness, when they announce
combat stations in general quarters,people on the ship are on a dead run.
(04:35):
So trying to run through a ship likethis, it takes some practice to do this
because you're gonna trip on something
Cliff Duvernois (04:39):
rather.
Yep, yep.
And this is not only just, running downthese really thin, ho hallways, it's.
Going up ladders up, laddersdown, ladder down ladders.
And, and some of them are Yeah.
Like straight up and down.
Yes.
Some of 'em are.
Yeah.
Yes.
Yeah.
Bill Randall (04:51):
But you have to think too, Cliff that most of the people on
this ship, when I came on board theseships, they were about 19 years old.
That's the majority of the people.
So we're pretty agile.
we're, we thought we werebulletproof back then.
I couldn't do it today.
Yeah, right.
Well, we, we knew everythingthere was to know back then.
Yeah.
I said absolutely.
Yeah.
Yep.
Yeah, it's, it's definitely a change oflifestyle, but when you go to bootcamp,
(05:13):
they teach you how to become from acivilian to a team member because you have
to work as a unit, onboard these ships.
Uh, things can go wrong very,very fast, and your life would
depend upon something like that.
So you have to pick it up pretty quick.
Cliff Duvernois (05:26):
So you were telling me before about, for this particular ship
now, 'cause it was built in Maine, right?
How did it come to Bay City?
Bill Randall (05:35):
Okay.
The, the story is this ship used tobe a museum ship in New York City.
It was part of the IntrepidAirspace Museum and.
It was there for 13 years and theyhad let this go because most of
the funding and attention went tothe aircraft carrier, the Intrepid.
So they let this one go and theyput it into a mothball fleet in
Philadelphia where it's scheduled tobe scrapped at some point in time.
(05:57):
I.
It was sitting there for a number ofyears out in the, uh, out in the weather.
So when we out it here, it wasreally, really in bad condition.
But what we did is we towed thisup, out of Philadelphia, up to St.
Lawrence Seaway, and it tookabout three weeks to, uh, to
get her here by two tugboats.
And that has been almost 13 years ago.
So we've been here foralmost 13 years now.
Cliff Duvernois (06:16):
Now, what was the, I guess, what was the decision?
'cause I mean, you really could have.
Well, I, I don't, I'm not gonna sayyou could have parked any boat here.
Right.
But you, any number of otherships that you had a choice.
Right.
So what was it about the Edson?
Bill Randall (06:28):
Well, this means that she's a destroyer, here in Bay
City, used to be a ship buildingcompany called Defoe Ship Building.
And they had employed, God, probablyabout 3000 people, and they were
working 24 hours a day around the clock.
And they built destroyers verysimilar to this ship here in Bay City.
Ah, okay.
Cliff Duvernois (06:44):
Okay.
So it took them three weeks to get here.
Yeah.
Finally gets here.
Yep.
And.
You were saying before, I, I believeyou mentioned it was like, like we, like
Bay City had to write a check for aboutthree quarters of a million dollars.
Bill Randall (06:55):
Well, it wasn't Bay City.
Bay City didn't writea check for anything.
We did.
The, the Saginaw Valley NavalShip Museum owns this ship.
This does not belong to Bay City.
Okay.
Yeah.
We are actually, we areactually in Bangor Township.
Is where we're, where, where we're at.
Yep.
Uh, the other side ofthe bridge is Bay City.
So, yeah, it was a, it was a lot ofspaghetti dinners, Cliff, and I don't,
(07:16):
I don't eat spaghetti anymore, youknow, but yeah, it was, it was, it was
donations and grants and some, some ofthe volunteers was their own money put
into this thing because when the shipgot here, we had, about 35 volunteers.
And all of us that workhere we're all volunteers.
Right.
And today we have about sixpeople taking care of her is
'cause we're dying off basically.
(07:36):
And people are leaving and it's, itis been so, so many years, but, uh,
trying to get some new volunteers here,
Cliff Duvernois (07:43):
It's a little difficult.
Right.
Yeah.
So let me ask you this question here.
'cause you know, the shipcomes in, it's docked.
You were talking about35 volunteers, right?
Yep.
At this point in time, you'vedone your service, right?
Yep.
And you know, you've gotten out, you'vetransitioned over to civilian life.
What was it that made you say, youknow, I wanna be a part of this?
(08:03):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Bill Randall (08:04):
I guess this is, I have this fascination of ships.
I've always had a fascination.
That's basically why Iwent in the Navy too.
But it's a, it's a, a labor of lovetrying to keep this, like I say, trying
to convey the message to people who don'tknow what it's like to have to do this.
That's my main functionhere, besides painting.
But, uh, and that's thereason that I'm here.
And I, that's why when it got here,that's why I joined this volunteer team.
(08:27):
I.
Just to take care of her.
Cliff Duvernois (08:29):
Now, when you're talking about, 'cause you, you made, you made a
comment before about when it got here,it sat, it was sending de mothball Right.
And it was in pretty rough shape.
Yes.
So now your, your organizationalready wrote a check Yeah.
For three quarters of a million dollars.
Yeah.
To get the ship here.
I can imagine it's a pretty penny.
Bill Randall (08:47):
It is.
Well, it's just trying to get it here.
Like I said, there's two tugboats andI, I might be wrong, but I, I wanna
say they were outta Louisiana and it's,one of 'em was an ocean going tug.
So it taught, you know, it cost alot just in fuel just to get it here.
But, uh, it took years.
I.
To, to raise that kind of money.
'cause this was actuallystarted, I wanna say like 1992.
So it took years to raise thatkind of money to get it here.
(09:08):
Yeah.
uh, as it went along naturally, thegroup got bigger and bigger 'cause
they wanna see it come in here.
But, yeah, now it's, uh, now it's here.
Like I say, taking care ofher is an undaunting task.
She's like, uh, she takes abig bite when she takes a bite.
It's a really, really bigbite in the, in the finances.
Cliff Duvernois (09:21):
Oh, I bet.
Bill Randall (09:22):
Yeah.
Yeah,
Cliff Duvernois (09:22):
I bet.
Yeah.
Now, what was it, you know,coming on here for you anyways?
'cause I know there's.
you didn't serve on the exit?
No, I did not.
No.
By other two ships, right?
Yep.
What is coming on here, what was that likefeeling for you after all those years?
Bill Randall (09:35):
It's like, uh, it brings back a lot of memories.
It really does.
'cause I was, I was mentioningearlier, even, even the smell of an
inside of a Navy ship smells exactlythe same as every other Navy ship.
It's the same grease, samepaint, same oil, same everything.
So it still smells the same, but beingback on the ship, To me, it's a thrill.
I love being here.
I love showing her off.
But yeah, it's, it's, it's a good time.
Cliff Duvernois (09:57):
And when we were walking around, uh, before Don, you were showing
me all the different areas of the shipor whatever it is, and it was almost like
in some way, like if I was watching usthrough like the lens of a movie mm-hmm.
Like I could almost like turnand see like crewman Yes.
Standing there.
Yes, absolutely.
Somebody coming down the.
Stairs.
Yeah.
Slide and stuff.
And I imagine for you there's alot of those types of memories.
Bill Randall (10:15):
There is.
There is.
I still try to get down the slide, downthe stairways, you know, you know, it's
just the, the sudden stop at the end thatI, you know, my, my brain says yes, but
my body says, no, don't do that anymore.
Cliff Duvernois (10:26):
Yeah.
Bill Randall (10:26):
But yeah, it's just because in her 30 year career, she
had a lot of crew members in here.
Oh, I bet.
Yeah.
Yep.
She was stationed in, uh,Long Beach, California.
And after Vietnam, they transferred overto, uh, Rhode Island, and it became a
training vessel for Navy reservists.
And it was there for, uh,I forgot, umpteen years.
And then they just let it go andbecame a museum in New York City.
Cliff Duvernois (10:45):
Wow.
Yep.
So now you were talking before there,there's a sister ship to this one
that's located in Yeah, Bremerton.
It's in Bremerton, Washington.
Okay.
Bill Randall (10:52):
Yeah.
It's the USS Turner Joy.
And it's the same class as the ship.
Matter of fact, it's a mirror imageof the ship, and it is also a museum.
Now.
She's been out there a littlelonger than we've been here.
Right.
But they're right next door to a shipyard.
So getting supplies.
It's pretty easy, you know,find the spare parts for Edson.
Eh?
It is a little, little tough,you know, if you don't make
'em, you gotta try to find them.
Cliff Duvernois (11:11):
Well, you don't have a Home Depot.
Bill Randall (11:12):
No, no, no, no.
They don't sell.
They don't sell radars at Home Depot.
Cliff Duvernois (11:16):
And now as far as.
As the ship goes, we're talkingabout, you know, you brought it here,
you've done all this volunteer workat any point in time, like how, how
many volunteers were working on this?
Because I could imagine there couldbe like a lot of people there.
Bill Randall (11:29):
Yeah, there were a lot of people.
And sometimes we'll get scoutsover here that'll, they'll
work on the ship for the day I.
Just to stay on the ship at night.
Oh, okay.
So we kind of trade, you know,volunteer work hours, right.
For, to stay on the ship.
But, uh, over her, over, uh, 12 plusyears here, there's been quite a few
volunteers that have been here naturally.
The people that are here all thetime, like I say, we're down to about
six people that are here constantly.
(11:49):
But through, through thecourse of the years, yeah.
We have people stop by and they, uh,asked me, well, what do you want?
What do you want me to do?
And I said, show up.
That's all you gotta do.
You know, there's amillion things to do here.
So, yeah.
if people are looking for, they have to,if they have to do volunteer work like our
schools do, they'll come here and they'llwork and get their volunteer hours in.
So we've had, uh, like EagleScouts do projects on the ship.
(12:10):
So through the years yeah.
We've had people come over and, anddo a little bit of work and, you know,
trying to get 'em to stay, you know?
Cliff Duvernois (12:16):
Yeah.
Bill Randall (12:16):
Yeah.
These days it's kind of hard.
So, like pulling teeth
Cliff Duvernois (12:18):
I bet.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And before you made a comment too,and I want to chase that down.
If something does break on the shipor need to be replaced, whatever.
It's Right.
Where do you get parts?
Bill Randall (12:27):
We make 'em, if we make 'em or we, uh, we go to one of the shipyards
if we can get it, because shipyards,there's a navy yard in Philadelphia
that has, uh, a warehouse that hasnothing with parts, but trying, trying
to get it, uh, is, is kind of hard too.
A lot of the stuff we do ourselves.
or we have gotten like a radar from aship that was down in, uh, Louisiana.
There was a radar that was down there.
(12:48):
So we went down there, we traded, I don'tknow, like a torpedo for it or whatever,
and we brought it backand put it up on the mast.
Cliff Duvernois (12:55):
Oh, Torp.
You give you a raise.
Bill Randall (12:57):
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
It's trading, trading material.
But uh, that's gotta becool thinking all around.
Well, once a year when they, whenthey, before they scrap all the ship,
especially in Philadelphia, theygive museum ships first crack at 'em.
To get parts off of them.
So we'll go over there, you know, forthree days for a week or whatever and,
and try to get parts that we need.
But now you're in competition with about50 other ships, so it's a mad dash, you
(13:19):
know, it's like they, they, they hit thestarter's pistol and man, everybody's
running, trying to get some parts.
And, and we did a few years ago.
Yeah.
And it was, uh, it was in.
Philadelphia and it was in Januaryand it was really, really cold.
Sweet Moses.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Philadelphia In January.
Yes.
Yep.
So we got some parts off ofit and we brought 'em back.
But, finding some of the major parts,they just don't make 'em anymore.
So we have to kind of, uh,uh, make our own or make
(13:40):
something that's similar to it.
but just basically it's justfor a static display usually.
As long as it looks like it, you know.
There you go.
Cliff Duvernois (13:46):
That's the part.
Awesome.
Hell yeah.
For our audience, we're gonnatake a quick break and thank
our sponsors when we come back.
Uh, bill is gonna continue todazzle us with his brilliance
and sharing us some really coolstories about, uh, the USS Edson.
And, uh, we will see you after the break.
Are you enjoying this episode?
Well, I can tell youthere's a lot more to come.
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(14:09):
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Hello everyone.
Welcome back to Total Michigan, wherewe interview Ordinary Michigans doing
some pretty extraordinary things.
I'm your host Cliff DuVernois.
(14:31):
Today we're having a very animatedinterview with Bill, with, with
Bill Randall, uh, on the USS, Edson.
Bill, before the break we were talkingabout how you got the ship back here,
you had all these volunteers thatwere working on the boat, bringing it,
restoring it, back to as pristine, asconditioned as you could possibly get.
Bill Randall (14:49):
Yes.
Yep.
Cliff Duvernois (14:50):
Now, with it being in, pristine shape, why
don't you talk to us about.
Some of the different ways that youtry to get the community involved,
try to get people to the ship.
What are some of the different Okay.
Events
Bill Randall (15:04):
that you do, whatever?
We're, we're, we have allkinds of events here, Cliff.
We've had, uh, like I was tellingyou, we have six weddings here.
We've had, uh, high school graduation.
Parties here.
We've had business meetings here.
if you have an event, you canactually take the ship for the day
if you wanna do something like that.
But we have all kinds of events.
We have a lot of overnight stays.
A lot of scouting groups come here.
Oh, that's amazing.
Yep.
Yep.
(15:24):
A lot of school groups, uh, we havethe, uh, sea Cadets, they come here and,
uh, these are kids that are eventuallygonna join the Navy outta school.
And when they come here, naturally they'rein uniform and we take advantage of that.
'cause when, when they spend thenight, we had one of our volunteers
show naturally we have someone fromthe museum spend the night with them.
And what he did was he took a fog machine,he fogged a couple of other spaces
(15:45):
inside, and about three o'clock in themorning he run a fire drill on them.
And they had to find a mannequinsomewhere in that smoke,
simulating a fireboard ship.
And they didn't, they did.
Yeah.
They didn't know they were gonna have it.
But yeah.
As far as events, we've had,like I say, weddings and parties
and, and we do a lot of, uh.
Paranormal events, believeit or not, that are here.
Oh, I bet.
I bet you this place is just
Cliff Duvernois (16:04):
a high paranormal activity.
It is, it is.
Bill Randall (16:06):
It is.
even the general public will bewalking through and someone will tell
me, well, something pulled my hair.
Some, something tapped me on theshoulder and they'll ask me, well,
is, is this place haunted or not?
I say, well, you know,why do you say that?
Because if something, thatmight have happened to 'em.
But, uh, yeah, we have a lot of that stuffand, and people spend the night here.
some people, if they runinto paranormal events.
(16:26):
Won't spend a night here.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Their intention was to do that, butthey won't be spending a night here.
But yeah, we do all kinds
Cliff Duvernois (16:33):
of events here.
Bill Randall (16:34):
Yep.
Cliff Duvernois (16:35):
And actually, 'cause you talked about the paranormal thing.
The last time that I was here was duringone of your Halloween events, right?
Yes.
Where you just turned into likesome kind of a haunted ship.
Yes.
And
Bill Randall (16:42):
yeah.
Cliff Duvernois (16:42):
People hiding throughout and the little maze that you had to
Bill Randall (16:44):
walk through.
Yeah, sure.
Sure.
We have, uh people thatcome in and do that.
And uh, it's a huge hit.
It has been rated one of the numberones in Michigan, the state of
Michigan, and it is huge becausethey'll take the ship at the end of
September and all the way throughOctober to the first week of November.
And it is amazing the work that theseguys do it, they put into this thing.
It's, I've been through it afew times and it's scared me.
(17:06):
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
Cliff Duvernois (17:07):
It's great.
It's fantastic.
It's gonna be interesting, yeah.
To be able to come in and see theship from a completely different,
it is angle, I mean, it's the sameship, but now that you've got, yeah.
If you were talking before aboutyou've got laser lights and.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, people hiding the steel.
Yeah.
Bill Randall (17:19):
Live
Cliff Duvernois (17:19):
actors.
Yeah.
Bill Randall (17:20):
Yeah.
Well, it's, uh, it's, it's kindof neat the way they do that,
but, I worked it for four years.
I did it.
Yeah.
I, it was fantastic.
It was a lot of fun.
And, uh, for a pun we say, we scaredthe ship outta you is what we do.
Cliff Duvernois (17:33):
Yeah.
It's huge.
Yeah.
And so with all these events that aregoing on here, and there's a couple
more that I wanna circle back to,but you mentioned something, during
the break that I really wanna hit in.
TripAdvisor Loves
Bill Randall (17:46):
you.
Yeah.
Loves, yes.
And we are actually the number one thingto see in Bay City, and we're rated as
the number one thing to visit in Bay City.
So we get a lot of people naturallylooking for something to do
and they'll go to TripAdvisor.
And we have, for the pastfew years now, we've had the
number one rating in Bay City.
We have a lot of people that comehere in the summertime, which
also brings in a lot of commerce.
(18:06):
For Bay City.
we're actually located in BangorTownship, but people stay at the hotels.
We have a map in the office.
It's a world map and we give visitors apin to put in that map where they're from.
There's all kinds of 'em inEurope that have come over here.
Really?
We've had people from, from Russia.
We've had people from allover the world come here.
You know, some people may, mighthave an interpreter of them.
(18:27):
You know, you got a good,a group of six people only.
Yeah.
Only one will speak English.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So that makes for a long tour.
Cliff Duvernois (18:34):
Yeah.
Yep.
But yeah, we bring alot of people in here.
That is absolutely great.
Yep.
And now to, to go back to a couplethings that you said before, people
could stay the night on the ship.
Yes.
So if we're talking about, people likewhat is like the largest group that
you've ever had versus what's, okay?
You could like.
Yep.
A couple come and stay.
Right.
Bill Randall (18:52):
Last summer we had a, a group of 98 people.
Cliff Duvernois (18:55):
Sweet Bulls.
Bill Randall (18:56):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, uh, yeah, they all spent the nightship and there was a conglomeration of
different scout groups that were here, butthey were dispersed throughout the ship.
And what they do is theystay in the cruise quarters.
That's what they actually sleep to getthe full, full effect of what it was like.
Two weekends ago we had 60people on board, and that's
about as much as you wanna get.
'cause 90, 90 some people that's, that's.
Too many.
(19:16):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Then you gotta keep tab and littleJohnny's out on the deck gonna
jump over the side or whatever.
So you gotta keep tats on these people.
But yeah, we are able to accommodate very,very large groups and we do, down to a
group of five people, even the generalpublic, if you wanna stay on board a
ship, if you have a group of five peopleor more, we'll give you a group rate.
So that's what we do.
And if we've had five people,you know, a family come on board,
Cliff Duvernois (19:36):
so what does that look like?
If somebody's gonna come spend the night,is it, You got the beds already made.
There's a mint on a pillow.
You gotta bring a sleeping bag.
How does that work?
Bill Randall (19:44):
No, no mitts on the pillow.
This is not princessScrew, like Yeah, yeah.
We don't have a buffet here.
This the navy?
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah.
well, the rocks have a mattresson 'em and they're, they're
washable mattresses on it.
But all you gotta do is, isbring your, bring your sleeping
bag and your pillow and or your
Cliff Duvernois (19:57):
blanket or whatever you, you're good to go.
Nice.
Yeah.
Because a lot of the, a lot ofthe bunks that you had down there
when you were showing me beforeactually have like a mattress there.
Bill Randall (20:04):
Yes.
They all on
Cliff Duvernois (20:05):
there.
We do all the beds
Bill Randall (20:06):
on the ship, do have a mattress on 'em.
In the, in the officer state room whereI showed them they have a bigger bed.
So a lot of people will take thosestate rooms, you know, it's kind of the,
the premium thing on board the ship.
But, yeah, we, they get the fullexperience, you know, ly you can get up.
We have all, uh, some of 'em we offercontinental breakfast, so we have that.
And if we're gonna say feed the scouts,we got all kinds of pizza over here.
So it's, it's a big deal.
(20:27):
Yeah.
Cliff Duvernois (20:28):
Oh, I can just imagine a, a pizza delivery showing up to the
ship with all these pizzas in there.
'cause if you've got like 60kids Yes man, they can, oh,
they go burn shoes and pizza.
Absolutely.
Yeah, they do.
Yep, yep.
Yes they do.
so one of the things I wanna circleback to is when we're talking about
like restoring the ship, when ofthe things that really impresses
me is how much of the ship.
(20:49):
Still functions.
It still Okay.
Works.
Like you were talking about rightbefore you were sharing with me
about the lathe machine, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So talk to us a little bit aboutwhy it's important to make sure
that the stuff still works.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Why not just have it on stand display?
Bill Randall (21:01):
Well, most Navy shifts a, as you know, they have
a machine shop onto repair parts.
Mm-hmm.
The machine shop that's on theEdson is a working machine shop.
The machinery that's in theredoes work and I still use it.
Uh, that's what I didwhen I was in the Navy.
So every now and then, if I had to makea job for a ship, I'll make it there.
most everything in the galley,in the, in the, the, the
kitchen so to speak, does work.
And we have used it at certain times.
(21:23):
some of the heat and some ofthe state rooms does work.
I didn't tell you that.
Yeah.
But, uh, there's a lot of workingthings on, on board a ship.
It's kind of a hands-on thing.
Kids come aboard.
They wanna push thisand pull that and Yeah.
We have a lot of thingsthat are, are working.
Some of the phones, some of the,uh, the sound power telephones, they
work on the sound of your voice.
Right.
Some of them work.
And when you dial up one ofthe rooms that you're not.
(21:44):
Out by you see somebody walkby it and that phone rings
saying it gets your attention.
Cliff Duvernois (21:48):
Oh, I bet.
Yeah.
Yeah, I bet.
And you're also sharing too, thatfor a lot of the parts that were on
the ship for people that were workinghere, and, and it just goes without
saying, but back in the day, I.
The l The volume?
Yeah.
Like the noise.
Yes.
That could be created.
Yes.
The steam that was created.
Yes.
You were talking aboutlike a lot of steam power.
Yes.
Yeah.
On this ship.
Yeah.
You know, when you think aboutships, now that's, everybody thinks,
(22:10):
oh, it's all nuclear clear, right?
Yeah.
This
Bill Randall (22:11):
was all steam.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But even on a nuclear ship,it's just another way to heat
water that you don't, yeah.
You don't have to refuelthat for 30 years though.
But it's another way to heat waterthat goes through a turbine that drives
now electric motors, where on boardit was all mechanical on the ship.
But yeah.
The, the ship is, it'slike a living thing.
And when you're out at sea and you'rebouncing around at sea, the, the
(22:32):
ship has a, a certain vibe to itand a certain noise, and it's when
you don't feel that, and when youdon't hear that something is wrong.
Yeah.
You know, because
Cliff Duvernois (22:40):
it's like a living creature.
yes.
You know, the, the, so the parallelthat I draw to that is, uh,
driving down the road to my car.
Yeah.
And all of a sudden, likesomething doesn't feel right.
Yes.
You know, like there's like an extra noiseand it's there or is not there, right?
Yes.
Right.
Someone's like, uh oh.
Yeah.
You go, I wanna take a look at it.
What is that?
What, what is that?
Bill Randall (22:57):
Did I just lose a tire or what?
What's going on there?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I
Cliff Duvernois (23:00):
don't think
Bill Randall (23:01):
I lost the tire.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, this ship is compared, likeI say, 270 enlisted men on, on
onboard the ship versus an aircraftcarrier carries 5,000 people.
That is a small, that's a small city.
That's a small city that's, you could bethere a long time and not know everybody.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Or
Cliff Duvernois (23:14):
this one, you got to know just about everybody.
So actually, let me ask you this question.
if the Edson or, another shiplike to set out the sea, how
long could you stay out then?
you could probably stay out
Bill Randall (23:23):
there for a good six months because what you
do is you replenish at sea.
So if you're, you say you, you,uh, expanded all your ammunition.
You, you run out of food, you willactually have a supply ship come alongside
and you're cruising alongside thisother ship and they run over in what's
called a highline, to get food and, andammunition and stuff of, of that nature.
So you can still seefor a long, long time.
So
Cliff Duvernois (23:42):
basically if to, to kinda like couch it from another turn.
Well, no, because you can not onlyget food, but you can also get fuel.
Bill Randall (23:50):
Yes.
Right.
Cliff Duvernois (23:50):
That's where he took on
Bill Randall (23:51):
fuel.
This ship particularly took on, fuelabout once a week because at 47 gallons of
fuel to the mile, he burned up some fuel.
Sweet.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
227,000 gallons of fuel.
Yep.
That's amazing.
Yeah.
What was
Cliff Duvernois (24:05):
the top speed again?
Bill Randall (24:06):
It was 36 knots, about 41 miles an hour.
So that was, that was.
Pretty fast.
Yeah, that's hauling.
There's some boats on the riverthat don't go that fast, but yeah.
That's, that's moving.
Yeah.
You're cutting throughwater pretty, pretty
Cliff Duvernois (24:17):
fast.
Awesome.
Now, if somebody is coming here, they'venever been here before, What would be some
of the things that you would recommend?
Like if you're gonna spendsome time on the ship, this
is what I recommend you see.
Bill Randall (24:27):
Okay.
Actually, it, it was the, thecruise birthing to see how
people lived onboard the ship.
Nice.
the engineering spaces, like theengine rooms, it's unlike anything
that you can even imagine with, youknow, how that was put together.
and seeing what it waslike to work in there.
some of the weapons systems, andthe, the galley, I mean, there's.
There's probably 90% of this shipthat's open to the public, and
if you wanted to schedule a, aguided tour, we'll get you in some
(24:50):
spaces that people don't get to go.
And we've done that before,so it worked out rather well.
Cliff Duvernois (24:55):
Nice.
Yeah.
And so Bill, if somebodyis listening to this Yeah.
They wanna come and check out Sure.
The USS Edson.
Yep.
how can they find you?
What's the best way to do that?
Okay.
Bill Randall (25:04):
On our website is Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum.
The website is S-V-S-N-M stands forSaginaw Valley Naval ship museum.com
is our website.
Okay.
And we also, uh, uh, on a Facebook,we have a Facebook page also, but if
you wanted to say purchase tickets.
Buy, uh, merchandise from the,from the store, or whatever.
You can do that on our website.
(25:24):
We have all our numbers and it's,it's an interactive website, so
you can do an awful lot on it.
Perfect.
Yeah.
And now where can they, wherecan they find you on a map?
Okay.
On a map we are on, if, if you, uh,put in, uh, Google Maps, whatever,
we are actually in Bangor Township.
and you can get here off theexpressway, down Wilder Road.
Toll bring you right into here.
So it's easy to find.
Perfect.
Yep.
Bill, thank you
Cliff Duvernois (25:44):
so much for taking time to chat with us today.
Absolute appreciate ly.
Thanks, Cliff.
It was great having you here.
Yeah, absolutely loved it.
Yeah.
Great.
For our audience, you can alwaysroll on over to Total Michigan.com
and click on Bill's interview and getthe links that he mentioned above.
We will see you next time.
Yeah.
When we talk to another Michigan ordoing some pretty extraordinary things.
We'll see you then.
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