Webmaster's Note: It took the threat of really never seeing her again that I chose to drive the 900 mile round trip to Newport R.I. to participate in the Veteran's Day Commemoration at pierside of the USS Forrestal & Saratoga. I wasn't alone; about 50-60 other shipmates, their wives, children, and grandchildren, came to the same realization.
It's hard for the mind to remember after 44 years how big she is. One can only stare in awe at her bulk; she still looks formidable, this the first of the super carriers...the Forrestal class. Since 1993 she has rested there waiting for her human creators to decide her fate. Despite the unsuccessful attempts of her shipmates, some plank holders, to save her, the Navy has decided to sink her as a man-made reef, unlike the Oriskany, in deep water, perhaps because her hull is still classified.
All-in-all, she doesn't look bad. Like those of us who sailed with her, she has the wrinkles of age; some paint hastily applied to prevent the elements from further degrading her; gangways we used to look at, with relief, from the returning liberty boats plying through choppy waves. Our home, away from home. The work place of our youth; the experiences of a lifetime that haven't diminished with fading memories.
What is it that makes us revere the ships that we sail? Why do we get pulled back time and again? They were part of our lives; the formative part; the part that made us into the men we have become. Unlike other life experiences, the Navy packed the excitement of flight deck operations, and seeing foreign places: belly dancers in Istanbul; the ruins of the Middle East; the ports of call that provided the opportunities for good and bad...much like the world we faced after the Navy. We were so young, then.....where has it gone?
Who could say it better than this: "Any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile ... can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction, 'I served in the United States Navy.'" President John F. Kennedy, 1963, Annapolis MD /h3>
Farewell CVA-59.
Some responses to the above tribute:
Created on ... September 05, 2007