October 2005

Bill: Enjoyed the Fort Clayton history that you've presented. I was at Ft. Clayton 1953 to '55, first with the 45 Recon ("45th Cavalry") and then with the 7461st (?) Signal. Visited Panama in 2000 and wanted to show my wife the old garrison, but the Panamanians wouldn't let me on post.

Harry Lenzing  lenzing@ptd.net 

Bill

Thank you very much for the great effort you must have put out to design and maintain such an excellent site. I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed looking at the remarkable collection of photos you have organized.

I was born in Panama and raised in both Panama and the Canal Zone. I have lived and attended schools in Ancon, Balboa, Diablo, Curundu, Pedro Miguel, etc. I graduated from Balboa High School in 1955. I am now living in California.

Thanks again for the trip down nostalgia lane. I will forward your site to my family members so they too can enjoy.

Bill Greene  panabill@sbcglobal.net 

Hello. My name is Carmine Mazza. I have been browsing through this web site almost all day. It really brought back a lot of good memories. I was stationed up at Summit Radio Station, just across the main entrance to Summit Gardens. I was there from Mar of 68 till about Mar of 69. I was then transferred down to Farfan barracks where we worked out of the Naval Communications Station at Ft. Amador. The pictures that I saw today brought back a lot of memories. Rio Mar, Taboga Island, the interior of Panama with the local fruit and vegetable stands along the way to Rio Mar. I have some pictures stored away  somewhere and I would like to share them with you. I am not a speed demon with things, it might take me awhile to get my act together with them, but I will try to do it. My total hitch at  NAVCOMSTA Balboa was 2 years, and I enjoyed the heck out of it. Well that's about it for now. As soon as I can, I will try to dig up those flicks and e-mail them to you.   My e-mail address is tooseas512@aol.com

Dear Sir:

I want to announce the passing of my beloved father, Walter Anthony Battistella, formerly Purser on the SS Cristobal of the Panama Canal Line and Clerk of the Federal District Court in the Canal Zone.  We was aboard the Cristobal during the 1960s and 1970s.  He died at approximately 0400AM at the VA Medical Center in Battle Creek, Michigan where he had been transferred after hurricane Katrina forced his and other evacuations from the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Gulfport, Mississippi after a short battle with cancer.  He was routed from the AFRH in Gulfport via the AFRH in Washington, DC to the Battle Creek facility.  Some of his last conscious thoughts and smiles of memory were of the Cristobal.  I welcome contact from anyone who knew my father on the Cristobal or elsewhere and would be willing to share their reminiscences and photographs.  Please post this at the appropriate site for those who might have known him.  Let me know if you will if there is a website specifically devoted to the SS Cristobal.  God bless you, Dad; you are truly missed.

Walter Battistella II

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