Local veterans enjoyed their monthly breakfast get-together on September 2nd at the Senior Center. In addition to good chow, the veterans feasted on military memories and military history.
Art Brooks reviewed his active duty experiences on a guided missile cruiser which allowed him to visit several ports in the Pacific. Mike Shepard told us about an event involving a battleship offshore of Viet Nam.
Veterans who died in the past month, and others who are on “sick call” were remembered.
Military events of September 2nd were particularly noteworthy. Lt jg George H. W. Bush was rescued by an American submarine from a remote ocean location after his aircraft was shot down in 1944. September 2nd was also the day the allies officially accepted the surrender document from Japan. This occurred on the USS Missouri (BB-63) in Tokyo Bay in 1945.
Tribute was paid to Charles Nickerson (Holliston) who survived the airborne assault on D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge. Nickerson earned two Silver Stars and many other decorations.
After the formal breakfast, a van-full of veterans traveled to New Bedford where they toured Battleship Cove and its floating “museum” of retired Navy ships.
A sampling of veterans who took part in the breakfast dialogues, and some who toured Battleship Cove are in the attached photo. L to R: William T. Hamilton, USN; Russell H. Ellsworth, USN; James T. Ellsworth, USN; Peter C. Redding, US Army, holdin a photo of the USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (DD-850) moored at the Cove; David Almy, US Army, with a photo of the signing of the Japanese surrender document on the “Big Mo;” Neal H. Swenor, USAF, displays an action photo of yet-to-be President Bush being rescued; and, Phillip E. Gradie, USAF, showing a news headline of the surrender held by Madame Chiang (Soong) Kai-shek.
The next Vets Breakfast is scheduled for 7 October 2022, at 0900 hours at the Hopkinton Senior Center.