US NAVY CRUISER SAILORS ASSOCIATION Providence Reunion New Orleans, LA; MAY 15-20, 2016
Pictured above is Jim Cozine and Jim Chryst. Jim Cozine is presenting an oil painting, he had commissioned in Yokosuka circa 1962 of John Paul Jones, to Jim Chryst, for his service as President of the USS PROVIDENCE Association. John Paul Jones’ first command was the Sloop Providence, during the Revolutionary War. In addition, Jim Cozine presented a book entitled “John Paul Jones’ last cruise”. The 110 year old book is a narrative of the return of John Paul Jones’ body from France to the United States in 1906. On the inside cover of the book is a label with the inscription “Ship’s Library, USS VESTAL” VESTAL was moored outboard of the USS ARIZONA at Pearl Harbor. During the attack her mooring lines were cut and the Captain moved the VESTAL, which was taking on water, between bombing runs, to be beached in shallow water. VESTAL was repaired and returned to action. So, the book is a survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor. It is a real treasure and a great Naval History book.

Standing Left to Right: Dick Zweber, Ed Schreier, Rodney Voelker, Dave Johnson, and Hank Cosgrove; Seated Left to Right: Lloyd Ellis, Bill McCubbin, and Jim Chryst Standing and holding book: Jim Cozine; Alan Chase not in picture.

Standing Left to Right: Dick Zweber, Ed Schreier, Rodney Voelker, Dave Johnson, and Hank Cosgrove; Seated Left to Right: Jim Cozine, Lloyd Ellis, Bill McCubbin, and Jim Chryst; Alan Chase not in picture.
1747 - 1792
John Paul Jone's marble and bronze sarcophagus at the United States Naval Academy

In 1905, Jones's remains were identified by U.S. Ambassador to France Gen. Horace Porter, who had searched for six years to track down the body using faulty copies of Jones's burial record. Thanks to the kind donation of a French admirer, Pierrot Francois Simmoneau, who had donated over 460 francs, Jones's body was preserved in alcohol and interred in a lead coffin "in the event that should the United States decide to claim his remains, they might more easily be identified." Porter knew what to look for in his search. With the aid of an old map of Paris, Porter's team, which included anthropologist Louis Capitan, identified the site of the former St. Louis Cemetery for Alien Protestants. Sounding probes were used to search for lead coffins and five coffins were ultimately exhumed. The third, unearthed on April 7, 1905, was later identified by a meticulous post-mortem examination by Doctors Capitan and Georges Papillault as being that of Jones. The autopsy confirmed the original listing of cause of death. The face was later compared to a bust by Jean-Antoine Houdon.
Jones's body was ceremonially removed from interment in a Parisian charnel house and brought to the United States aboard the USS Brooklyn (CA-3), escorted by three other cruisers. On approaching the American coastline, seven U.S. Navy battleships joined the procession escorting Jones's body back to America. On April 24, 1906, Jones's coffin was installed in Bancroft Hall at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, following a ceremony in Dahlgren Hall, presided over by President Theodore Roosevelt who gave a lengthy tributary speech.[27] On January 26, 1913, the Captain's remains were finally re-interred in a magnificent bronze and marble sarcophagus at the Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis.[28] From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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