Daisy Mae Newsletters
How the Des Moines Newspaper got it's nick name, by Donald P Schaffer
I went on board on August 4, 1954 after the ship came out of drydock in Portsmouth to repair a
5" inch gun mount that was damaged in the North Atlantic on the 1954 Midshipman cruise to
Stockholm and Denmark.
For the next three weeks, the ship was getting prepared for the 1954 Med cruise so we were busy loading supplies and ammo. We got underway in early September (2.3 or 5) and on the first day at sea it was announced on the 1MC that in honor of the ships 6th year in service, everyone that had a birthday on any given day of the cruise will get a birthday cake on that day. My birthday is September 8th, so I was anticipating a nice cake.....but it never happened. The 8th came and went so I shrugged it off and figured that it was because I just came on board and the “new guys” weren’t on their list.
Anyway, along with the birthday cake announcement, they also announced that they were looking for a new name for the ships’ newsletter and whoever comes up with a winning name will also receive a cake .
The results were written in Vol 1 No.1 of the new newsletter they called the “Daisy Mae” (The following is MY narrative, not the story in the newsletter)
In the early to mid 50's, Al Capp’s cartoon “LIL ABNER” was the most popular and most talked about . Whenever a story was written about the ship or it’s crew members, the term used to describe anything was “DesM’s” this, or “DesM’s” that. The most popular character in the cartoon (for obvious reasons for sailors) was “Daisy Mae”, his girlfriend. After repeating the name DesM many times, and with the cartoon being as popular as it was, and as hot as Daisy Mae was in the cartoon, it just seemed natural that “DesM” turn into DaisyMae as a natural progression, so that’s how they came up with the name. The winner (who I think worked in the print shop) DID get a cake,.... but not me, and I have never forgotten that oversight. .
Don Schaffer IC2 E-Div
1954-1957
I went on board on August 4, 1954 after the ship came out of drydock in Portsmouth to repair a
5" inch gun mount that was damaged in the North Atlantic on the 1954 Midshipman cruise to
Stockholm and Denmark.
For the next three weeks, the ship was getting prepared for the 1954 Med cruise so we were busy loading supplies and ammo. We got underway in early September (2.3 or 5) and on the first day at sea it was announced on the 1MC that in honor of the ships 6th year in service, everyone that had a birthday on any given day of the cruise will get a birthday cake on that day. My birthday is September 8th, so I was anticipating a nice cake.....but it never happened. The 8th came and went so I shrugged it off and figured that it was because I just came on board and the “new guys” weren’t on their list.
Anyway, along with the birthday cake announcement, they also announced that they were looking for a new name for the ships’ newsletter and whoever comes up with a winning name will also receive a cake .
The results were written in Vol 1 No.1 of the new newsletter they called the “Daisy Mae” (The following is MY narrative, not the story in the newsletter)
In the early to mid 50's, Al Capp’s cartoon “LIL ABNER” was the most popular and most talked about . Whenever a story was written about the ship or it’s crew members, the term used to describe anything was “DesM’s” this, or “DesM’s” that. The most popular character in the cartoon (for obvious reasons for sailors) was “Daisy Mae”, his girlfriend. After repeating the name DesM many times, and with the cartoon being as popular as it was, and as hot as Daisy Mae was in the cartoon, it just seemed natural that “DesM” turn into DaisyMae as a natural progression, so that’s how they came up with the name. The winner (who I think worked in the print shop) DID get a cake,.... but not me, and I have never forgotten that oversight. .
Don Schaffer IC2 E-Div
1954-1957
