CONGRATULATIONS!

Naval Air Station Whidbey wins
Installation Excellence Award Again

For the second time in three years, Commander, Naval Installations Command selected NAS Whidbey Island as the Navy’s top large installation this year and the overall recipient for the Navy’s Installation Excellence Award.

AND

I am very honored to inform all of you that we have been awarded “Outstanding Council” for the sixth year in a row.  Congratulations!

Though I do not have the full breakdown, we are one of very few (10 of 260) who received this award nationally. Six may unprecedented. This represents an entire decade as either Outstanding or Meritorious Council.  Seattle was also awarded Outstanding Council, Bremerton received Meritorious Council.

Each award is distinctive and each represents an outstanding effort all year long. Thank you for all of the hard work you do for our Picnic, Reception, Veteran’s Day, SOY Luncheon, SOY Parade entry, numerous Navy and Cadet awards, plus other areas of supporting our Sea Services.

Thank you also to Diane Devlin for your outstanding attention to detail and thoroughness in your award submission for the council … written during brief periods of coherency while in the midst of pneumonia no less.

Steve Bristow, OHAC President

Wednesday 23 May 2018

On this date in . . .  

1953 Schools 1st use Cliff's Notes  

AND IN MILITARY HISTORY
https://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com

1908 – Part of the Great White Fleet arrived in Puget Sound, Washington.
1930 – Lieutenant Commander Elmer F. Stone received a medal from Congress for extraordinary achievement in making the first successful trans-Atlantic flight in 1919. Stone was the pilot of the Navy’s NC-4.
1939 – The US submarine Squalus sank off the coast of New Hampshire. A diving bell designed by Charles “Swede” Momsen (d.1967) brought 33 survivors (26 perished) safely to the surface. This was the first successful undersea rescue operation to retrieve a sunken submarine crew.
1943 – The USS New Jersey, Admiral “Bull” Halsey’s flagship during WWII and the only Battleship to provide gunfire support during the Vietnam War, is commissioned in Philadelphia, PA for service in WWII.  BB62 was built at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, and launched December 7, 1942- just a year after the Pearl Harbor Attack brought America into WWII.   The USS New Jersey (BB62) was actually the second ship to be called “New Jersey”, the first being BB16, a turn of the century (19th century) battleship. The first Battleship New Jersey (BB-16) was a Virginia class pre-dreadnought that served from 1906 until she was sunk as a bombing target in 1922. She sailed with the Great White Fleet and served her country in World War I as a training vessel.  New Jersey was decommissioned on February 8, 1991 in Long Beach, California and later towed to Bremerton, Washington where she resided until heading home to New Jersey. She was officially stricken from the Navy list on February 12,1995 but was then ordered reinstated by an order of congress as a mobilization asset under Bill 1024 section 1011. On January 4, 1999 New Jersey was again stricken from the Navy list and IOWA replaced her as a mobilization asset. On September 12, 1999 New Jersey began her Final Voyage home from Bremerton, where she had rested in mothballs for the last 8 years. On November 11th, she arrived at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Since that time, she has been restored, opened and established as an educational museum and a tribute to the brave sailors who served on her during her long and distinguished career. The Battleship New Jersey opened as a Museum and Memorial in October 2001.

The Navy League has three missions:

1.  to enhance the morale of active-duty personnel and their families,
2.  to inform Congress and the American public on the importance of strong sea services, and
3.  to support youth through programs that expose young people to the values of our sea services.