Wednesday, September 8, 2010

The Rest of the Tour

Here's the final part of our tour.

Berthing Area
Just a narrow room with 4 rows of cots lining the walls

Captain's Cabin
See that phone in the bottom right corner?

It had a direct line straight to the White House.

Wheelhouse

Looking out over the main deck from the wheelhouse

The MASH Jeep

                       Click on the photos to enlarge.

I am so glad that we went to see this floating piece of history. To my kids and even myself, WWII seems as if it were a long time ago. However, it really wasn't.
Many people my age had grandparents that fought during WWII and the stories and tales that they can tell us our priceless. I'm sure many are not pleasant, as with any war, but they are part of our history and well worth hearing.
If this ship or any others like it arrives in your area it is well worth your time to tour it. Not only will you hear tales from the crew but you will see gentlemen that once served aboard these boats that come to revisit and hear their descriptions as they walk the decks.
I was taken back as I listened to several gentlemen that were there to visit. They were (I'm guessing) in their 80's or 90's, yet their memories were so vivid of their time spent on these ships.

5 comments:

West Side of Straight said...

Oh what a tour you had! We've had a similar one dock at Duluth, on Lake Superior and yes it is such a good tour to take a family, especially kids. They don't have enough history anymore in school about WWII and WWI. A tour like this makes it more real for the kids and some get more interested after seeing a ship like this. Such valuable knowledge talking to our older veterans. Great post.

Steph said...

We've visited the USS Alabama many times where it is parked in Mobile Bay. We were even there in the early 90s when Steven Seagall filmed "Under Siege" on it. We could see actors running around and helicopters flying around from our motel!

Farmchick said...

Looks very interesting....what a great lesson for your kids and you too! Come say hi. :)

Carmen S. said...

What a wonderful ship, it looks like a great tour!!!

Nancy M. said...

Very cool! What a great place to visit. I love history! Thanks for sharing the tour with us!