Reunions
2022 Norris Reunion
Dates and Time
October 19th - October 22nd, 2022
Embassy Suites
5055 International Blvd North
Charleston, SC 29418
PHone: 1-800-362-2779
USS NORRIS GROUP
Details
Reunion Cost: $156 per person
Room Rate: $159 Single / Double
Includes breakfast and partaking in the nightly complimentary reception featuring beer, wine, soda and snacks.
FREE AIRPORT SHUTTLE
DEADLINE: August 29th, 2022
ITENERY
| Date | Time | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Monday 19 | 1400 | Registration. Hospitality Room is open |
| Tuesday 20 | 0915 | Board bus for tour of city |
| 1130 | Lunch (you pay) | |
| 1330 | Board bus for harbor tour | |
| 1630 | Return to hotel | |
| 1830 | Dinner | |
| Wednesday 21 | 0900 | Crew meeting * |
| Free Time | ||
| 1630 | Banquet | |
| Thursday 22 | FAREWELL |
* We will have a VA representative, Berh MacDonnald and Navy Seal, Jeff (call name KoKo) to give us information about the VA.
Notes
While doing the mailing of the last newsletter, I noticed a lot of members live with in a hop, skip and jump of Charleston. Hope to see some of you at the Reunion!
It has been suggested by another ship I know that instead of a 50-50 raffle, several people bring gifts to raffle by selection. We would sell tickets at $6 for 20, put bags in front of the gifts, you would place as many tickets as you want in the bag, then we would draw a ticket to see who won.
TAPS
| Name | Rank | Years of Service |
|---|---|---|
| STONE, Charlie | YNSN | 56-58 |
| EDWARDS, Edward | FT3 | 53-55 |
| SMALL, Walter | MM1 | 47-48 |
| ELSTON, Robert | MM2 | 63-64 |
| MELLLIOS, George | YN3 | 61-63 |
| BOULLE, Jenson | RD3 | 50-51 |
| DUNHAM, Randy | BM2 | 67-68 |
USS KITTY HAWK
Last oil-fired Carrier
Bound for the Scrapyard
The USS KITTY HAWK (CV-63 formerly (CVA_63) the Navy's last oil-fired carrier, began her final journey January - a 19000-mile trek from Bremerton, Washington, rounding Cape Horn (she is too big for the Panama Canal), and heading to a shipbreaker's yard in Brownsville, Texas.
The KITTY HAWK served 48 years before her decommissioning in 2009. Commissioned at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in April 1961, she was built at a cost of $264 million dollars ($2.5 billion in today's dollars. (I stood on the Delaware Memorial Bridge and watched her head for the Atlantic Ocean). Shipbreaking Limited, her ultimate destination, acquired her for the lowest possible bargain basement price: 1 cent.
Serving six tours of duty in Vietnam, the KITTY HAWK was the first carrier to receive a Presidential Unit Citation, for her service during the Tet Offensive and other combat operations in Vietnam. She spent her final decade of service as the forward deployed carrier at Yokosuka, Japan.
At the time of her decommissioning, the KITTY HAWK was the Navy ship with the second-longest active status (after the frigate Constitution), a record that was surpassed by the ENTERPRISE (CVN-65) in 2012. Efforts were made to raise money to preserve the KITTY HAWK as a museum ship, but in the end, her fate, like that of so many venerable vessels, will be the scrapyard.