I once said that I seldom post things unless they're important to me for some reason. Last week, such an event took place. Cam (my wife) and I went to Reno to lose our money, and we succeeded wonderfully. But we were also there for a reunion of the crews of Coast Guard Cutters STORIS, BRAMBLE and SPAR on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of their successfully navigating the Northwest Passage in 1957.
The event took place at Harrah's and included the Coast Guard Band playing a public concert on the Harrah's Plaza as well as programs conducted by the Honor Guard and Silent Drill Team. The music was great and attracted hundreds of people just passing on the sidewalks. The Drill Team was so impressive. I was truly amazed watching rifles with bayonets flying through the air and spinning in the hands of these dedicated young professionals.
There was a banquet in the evening and just down the hall was a U.S. Navy reunion for the USS Salisbury Sound. Theywere hoping to have a flag ceremony and present the flag to the widow of one of their CO's, but were struggling with proper procedure (it had been a lot of years since they had performed military maneuvers), and Vice-Admiral Papp, the CG's Chief of Staff (and our guest speaker) had the CG honor guard go next door and perform the ceremony for them. Definitely a proud moment and it was nice for them to be of service.
In 1957 the U.S. Coast Guard had an Antarctic Service Medal, but not an Arctic Service Medal. The crews of these three ships were promised that if they ever devised an Arctic Service Medal, each would get one. In 1976, the CG did devise an Arctic Service Medal, but the efforts in 1957 were forgotten about, ... until September 6, 2007. Admiral Papp called each one of the still surviving crewmembers of that trip (before my 65-67 deployment) including sons, duaghters and widows of deceased members forward and presented them with their long overdue medals. It really brought tears to my eyes.
Finally, the important issue that forced me to write. As was noted several months ago, the CGC STORIS was finally decommissioned after 65 years of service, 16 of them as the "Queen of the Fleet" (the oldest cutter in the Guard). In March she was sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge, was stripped of her Coast Guard identity including her slash and was dismissed to the mothball fleet in Suisun Bay near San Francisco where she sits now. There is a movement afoot and progressing nicely to remove the STORIS from this terrible predicament and return her to Alaska. The capital city of Juneau (where she was stationed at one time) wants to give her a permanent home and make a museum out of her. She would be at a location where passengers departing all of the cruise ships that visit Juneau would walk right by her, so they anticipate that she should be a true success at presenting Coast Guard and Alaskan history. I am doing what I can to support this effort, a little financial, but mostly writing my congressional reps in support of the bill to transfer the STORIS to the non-profit museum project. So I will simply encourage everyone to check out the website at
www.storismuseum.org and do what you can. And thanks for taking the time to read this.
Rich
