If you're a new Pack 3 family thinking about being part of the family trip to Charleston, SC in the Spring of 2010 (we only do this every other year), scroll waaaaaay down to the bottom and work up for pictures and a good sense of what happens on this outing, which gives us two nights sleeping aboard the USS Yorktown of WWII fame and a trip to Fort Sumter Saturday morning by boat to help raise the flags there.
And if you'd like to start now as 2010 trip co-ordinator, give me a holler!
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
More tales from "The Greatest Generation"
If you remember in "Tora, Tora, Tora!" the Japanese pilot that everyone liked so much and who led the planes to Pearl Harbor, you may find this story interesting, from a New York Times obituary a few days ago.
* * *
Jacob DeShazer, Bombardier on Doolittle Raid, Dies at 95
By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN
Published: March 23, 2008
Jacob DeShazer, a bombardier in the storied Doolittle raid over Japan in World War II who endured 40 months of brutality as a prisoner of the Japanese, then became a missionary in Japan spreading a message of Christian love and forgiveness, died on March 15 at his home in Salem, Ore. He was 95.
His death was announced by his wife, Florence.
On April 18, 1942, crewmen in 16 Army Air Forces B-25 bombers, commanded by Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle, flew from the carrier Hornet on a daylight bombing raid that brought the war home to Japan for the first time since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The raid resulted in only light damage to military and industrial targets, but it buoyed an American home front stunned by Japanese advances during the war’s first four months.
Corporal DeShazer, a native of Oregon and the son of a Church of God minister, was among the five-member crew of Bat Out of Hell, the last bomber to depart the Hornet. His plane dropped incendiary bombs on an oil installation and a factory in Nagoya but it ran out of fuel before the pilot could try a landing at an airfield held by America’s Chinese allies.
The five crewmen bailed out over Japanese-occupied territory in China and all were quickly captured. In October 1942, a Japanese firing squad executed the pilot, Lt. William G. Farrow, and the engineer-gunner, Sgt. Harold A. Spatz, along with a captured crewman from another Doolittle raid plane. Corporal DeShazer and the other surviving crewmen from his plane, Lt. George Barr, the navigator, and Lt. Robert L. Hite, the co-pilot, were starved, beaten and tortured at prisons in Japan and China — spending most of their time in solitary confinement — until their liberation a few days after Japan’s surrender in August 1945.
Amid his misery, Corporal DeShazer had one source of solace.
“I begged my captors to get a Bible for me,” he recalled in “I Was a Prisoner of Japan,” a religious tract he wrote in 1950. “At last, in the month of May 1944, a guard brought me the book, but told me I could have it only for three weeks. I eagerly began to read its pages. I discovered that God had given me new spiritual eyes and that when I looked at the enemy officers and guards who had starved and beaten my companions and me so cruelly, I found my bitter hatred for them changed to loving pity. I realized that these people did not know anything about my Savior and that if Christ is not in a heart, it is natural to be cruel.”
Corporal DeShazer gained the strength to survive, and he became determined to spread Christian teachings to his enemy.
Upon returning home, he enrolled at Seattle Pacific College (now Seattle Pacific University) and received a bachelor’s degree in biblical literature in 1948. He arrived in Japan with Florence, also a graduate of Seattle Pacific and a fellow missionary in the Free Methodist Church, in late December 1948. A few days later, he preached his first sermon there, speaking to about 180 people at a Free Methodist church in a Tokyo suburb.
In 1950, he gained a remarkable convert.
Mitsuo Fuchida, the Japanese naval flier who had led the Pearl Harbor attack and had become a rice farmer after the war, came upon the DeShazer tract.
“It was then that I met Jesus, and accepted him as my personal savior,” Mr. Fuchida recalled when he attended a memorial service in Hawaii in observance of the 25th anniversary of the attack. He had become an evangelist and had made several trips to the United States to meet with Japanese-speaking immigrants.
Mr. DeShazer spent 30 years in Japan doing missionary work, interrupted only by a sabbatical to earn a master’s degree at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky in 1958.
In 2001, he was a guest at the premiere of the movie “Pearl Harbor.”
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his sons Mark, of Winston, Ore.; John, of Coos Bay, Ore.; Paul, of Salem; daughters Ruth Kutrakun of Seattle, and Carol Dixon of Chicago; a sister, Helen Hindman of Iowa City; 10 grandchildren; and 6 great-grandchildren.
Over the years, Mr. DeShazer met on several occasions with Mr. Fuchida, who died in 1976.
“I saw him just before he died,” Mr. DeShazer once told The Salem Statesman Journal. “We shared in that good wonderful thing that Christ has done.”
* * *
Jacob DeShazer, Bombardier on Doolittle Raid, Dies at 95
By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN
Published: March 23, 2008
Jacob DeShazer, a bombardier in the storied Doolittle raid over Japan in World War II who endured 40 months of brutality as a prisoner of the Japanese, then became a missionary in Japan spreading a message of Christian love and forgiveness, died on March 15 at his home in Salem, Ore. He was 95.
His death was announced by his wife, Florence.
On April 18, 1942, crewmen in 16 Army Air Forces B-25 bombers, commanded by Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle, flew from the carrier Hornet on a daylight bombing raid that brought the war home to Japan for the first time since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The raid resulted in only light damage to military and industrial targets, but it buoyed an American home front stunned by Japanese advances during the war’s first four months.
Corporal DeShazer, a native of Oregon and the son of a Church of God minister, was among the five-member crew of Bat Out of Hell, the last bomber to depart the Hornet. His plane dropped incendiary bombs on an oil installation and a factory in Nagoya but it ran out of fuel before the pilot could try a landing at an airfield held by America’s Chinese allies.
The five crewmen bailed out over Japanese-occupied territory in China and all were quickly captured. In October 1942, a Japanese firing squad executed the pilot, Lt. William G. Farrow, and the engineer-gunner, Sgt. Harold A. Spatz, along with a captured crewman from another Doolittle raid plane. Corporal DeShazer and the other surviving crewmen from his plane, Lt. George Barr, the navigator, and Lt. Robert L. Hite, the co-pilot, were starved, beaten and tortured at prisons in Japan and China — spending most of their time in solitary confinement — until their liberation a few days after Japan’s surrender in August 1945.
Amid his misery, Corporal DeShazer had one source of solace.
“I begged my captors to get a Bible for me,” he recalled in “I Was a Prisoner of Japan,” a religious tract he wrote in 1950. “At last, in the month of May 1944, a guard brought me the book, but told me I could have it only for three weeks. I eagerly began to read its pages. I discovered that God had given me new spiritual eyes and that when I looked at the enemy officers and guards who had starved and beaten my companions and me so cruelly, I found my bitter hatred for them changed to loving pity. I realized that these people did not know anything about my Savior and that if Christ is not in a heart, it is natural to be cruel.”
Corporal DeShazer gained the strength to survive, and he became determined to spread Christian teachings to his enemy.
Upon returning home, he enrolled at Seattle Pacific College (now Seattle Pacific University) and received a bachelor’s degree in biblical literature in 1948. He arrived in Japan with Florence, also a graduate of Seattle Pacific and a fellow missionary in the Free Methodist Church, in late December 1948. A few days later, he preached his first sermon there, speaking to about 180 people at a Free Methodist church in a Tokyo suburb.
In 1950, he gained a remarkable convert.
Mitsuo Fuchida, the Japanese naval flier who had led the Pearl Harbor attack and had become a rice farmer after the war, came upon the DeShazer tract.
“It was then that I met Jesus, and accepted him as my personal savior,” Mr. Fuchida recalled when he attended a memorial service in Hawaii in observance of the 25th anniversary of the attack. He had become an evangelist and had made several trips to the United States to meet with Japanese-speaking immigrants.
Mr. DeShazer spent 30 years in Japan doing missionary work, interrupted only by a sabbatical to earn a master’s degree at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky in 1958.
In 2001, he was a guest at the premiere of the movie “Pearl Harbor.”
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his sons Mark, of Winston, Ore.; John, of Coos Bay, Ore.; Paul, of Salem; daughters Ruth Kutrakun of Seattle, and Carol Dixon of Chicago; a sister, Helen Hindman of Iowa City; 10 grandchildren; and 6 great-grandchildren.
Over the years, Mr. DeShazer met on several occasions with Mr. Fuchida, who died in 1976.
“I saw him just before he died,” Mr. DeShazer once told The Salem Statesman Journal. “We shared in that good wonderful thing that Christ has done.”
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
If You've Seen the Movie "Glory"
The actual site of the final battle for Battery Wagner, led by the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and Col. Shaw, was on the low island you see on the horizon in this picture, just behind Park Ranger Donell and the Pack 3 Cubs working on raising one of the five historic Fort Sumter flags (click the image to see a larger version)
More Photos! (And more to come)
(Remember, click the image for a larger version; more will show up over the next week, but i'm a slow uploader)
Driving across the Ravenel Bridge, the largest cable stay type bridge in the world, is a unique experience
After you cross the Cooper River from the peninsula that leads to Charleston, SC you enter Mount Pleasant and immediately turn to enter Patriots Point, which is more than "just" a WWII aircraft carrier
The arm of Charleston Harbor that reached past the berth of the USS Yorktown was a steady parade of massive cargo container ships, cruise ships (a Norwegian Lines vessel was in while we were there), and a flotilla of small sailboats from the College of Charleston
So, the guys bunkroom is, as we've seen, quite snug . . .
. . .while the Ladies' Accomodations are clearly in what were the officers' quarters
Trust me, the guys who have slept on board are fascinated by these photos; we would have taken photos in their restroom area, but there wasn't room for the camera so we couldn't do it
These showers & sinks may not look too unusual to you, but from the point of view of the guys, it's hard to believe that's on the same ship; if you wanted to change your mind while washing your hands, it was necessary to step out onto the catwalk to do so, then re-enter the bunk and slide sideways back to the "head," the Navy term for a restroom.
Moms, do these shots make you want to go and stay on board in 2010?
Nah, didn't think so; but hey, you go for the amazing experience, not the comfy beds
(Out at Fort Sumter) "Um, guys . . . guys, the rope . . . guys?"
The Park Ranger helps us all out!
Back on board "The Fighting Lady," Wolf and Webelos Carlson brothers inspect the flight deck, and find all in order; behind them is "the island" where the ship's bridge and command center is located
Driving across the Ravenel Bridge, the largest cable stay type bridge in the world, is a unique experience
After you cross the Cooper River from the peninsula that leads to Charleston, SC you enter Mount Pleasant and immediately turn to enter Patriots Point, which is more than "just" a WWII aircraft carrier
The arm of Charleston Harbor that reached past the berth of the USS Yorktown was a steady parade of massive cargo container ships, cruise ships (a Norwegian Lines vessel was in while we were there), and a flotilla of small sailboats from the College of Charleston
So, the guys bunkroom is, as we've seen, quite snug . . .
. . .while the Ladies' Accomodations are clearly in what were the officers' quarters
Trust me, the guys who have slept on board are fascinated by these photos; we would have taken photos in their restroom area, but there wasn't room for the camera so we couldn't do it
These showers & sinks may not look too unusual to you, but from the point of view of the guys, it's hard to believe that's on the same ship; if you wanted to change your mind while washing your hands, it was necessary to step out onto the catwalk to do so, then re-enter the bunk and slide sideways back to the "head," the Navy term for a restroom.
Moms, do these shots make you want to go and stay on board in 2010?
Nah, didn't think so; but hey, you go for the amazing experience, not the comfy beds
(Out at Fort Sumter) "Um, guys . . . guys, the rope . . . guys?"
The Park Ranger helps us all out!
Back on board "The Fighting Lady," Wolf and Webelos Carlson brothers inspect the flight deck, and find all in order; behind them is "the island" where the ship's bridge and command center is located
Monday, February 18, 2008
Pack 3 Leads Chapel Aboard Yorktown!
Thanks to Webelos Scouts Chris Carlson and Chris Gill (and Chris' mom, Joyce Meredith on the keyboard) who assisted with the Sunday morning chapel service in the Smokey Stover Theater aboard the USS Yorktown; for more info on the subject of the homily, click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Chaplains.
The theater is actually the forward elevator bay, with the platform permanently fixed up above flush with the flight deck. We watched "Tora, Tora, Tora!" there Friday night, and "The Fighting Lady" Saturday night, which is when we learned who Smokey Stover was. It's a very special place on a very special ship. We were honored to get the chance to offer worship for 250 of our fellow Scouts and family members -- then those of us who hadn't already had to leave bolted for our cars and started the 12 hour drive back to Licking County, Ohio.
The theater is actually the forward elevator bay, with the platform permanently fixed up above flush with the flight deck. We watched "Tora, Tora, Tora!" there Friday night, and "The Fighting Lady" Saturday night, which is when we learned who Smokey Stover was. It's a very special place on a very special ship. We were honored to get the chance to offer worship for 250 of our fellow Scouts and family members -- then those of us who hadn't already had to leave bolted for our cars and started the 12 hour drive back to Licking County, Ohio.
Pack 3 & Scouting Friends Raise Fort Sumter's Flags
(Gotta give you the full size version of this one -- click on the picture to see the large format)
Photos are coming in!
View from the Fort Sumter boat, heading around the bow of the USS Yorktown
Out on Fort Sumter in Charleston (SC) Harbor, Pack 3 helps raise the five historic flags
Tiger Ludwig shows off the fancy lodgings, in a gallery under the flight deck suspended over the hangar deck
Looking up from the Patriots Point dock at the fantail, where many of us enjoyed a sunny lunch on Saturday
Out on Fort Sumter in Charleston (SC) Harbor, Pack 3 helps raise the five historic flags
Tiger Ludwig shows off the fancy lodgings, in a gallery under the flight deck suspended over the hangar deck
Looking up from the Patriots Point dock at the fantail, where many of us enjoyed a sunny lunch on Saturday
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
More general information about the history and service record of the USS Yorktown is available at http://www.yorktownsailor.com, with a link below saying "Click here to watch the 61 minute Academy Award winning film, "The Fighting Lady." I will admit that it took me three tries to get it to load entirely, but the result is a computer screen sized version of the whole movie, and in the slightly different version from the standard release that we will see on board.
I highly recommend watching this if you can, and then still going to see it on the huge screen on the hangar deck Saturday night, because a) seeing it right where much of it was filmed literally feels different, and b) the small version will get you oriented for the wandering about we'll do all through Friday night and Saturday, while the big screen just caps out your experience in a very meaningful way.
If you don't know much about World War II or life in the wartime Navy (let alone Naval aviation), this is the perfect preparation. I wish they showed it Friday night, but since they don't, click on the link and give it a watch before the trip.
Scroll on down this page for Mapquest links and address details for your preferred map program, hotel info for early departers (or slow returners) in Beckley WV, and lots more orientation info.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Trip/Route Planning
The ground address is:
Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum
40 Patriots Point Road
Mount Pleasant, South Carolina 29464
which will get you a destination for --
www.mapquest.com
maps.google.com
A generic route can be found here:
http://www.mapquest.com/directions/main.adp?do=nw&go=1&r=f&aoh=&aot=&aof=&1a=S%20Main%20St%20%26%20Broadway%20E&1c=Granville&1s=OH&1z=43023&1y=US&1l=49scX63C7sNOgq8vMqrqqg%3d%3d&1g=Z9THRJyGx7ki0GwEMu7Uug%3d%3d&1pn=&1pl=&1v=INTERSECTION&1ffi=&1n=Licking%20County&1qn=&2a=40%20Patriots%20Point%20Rd&2c=Mount%20Pleasant&2s=SC&2z=29464%2d4377&2y=US&2l=6gh8xtwHrgcvo5A1XBC7KA%3d%3d&2g=1RkTyaRPkzZqqNFbYaeBmQ%3d%3d&2pl=&2v=ADDRESS&2ffi=&2n=Charleston%20County&2qn=Patriots%20Point&panelbtn=2&1qc=&q=Patriots%20Point&2pn=Patriots%20Point&2sb=Patriots%20Point%20Naval%20Museum%7c40%20Patriots%20Point%20Rd%7cMt%20Pleasant%7cSC%7c29464%7c32787807%7c%2d79904403%7c843%2d884%2d2727%7cUS&2qc=Amusement%20%26%20Recreation%20Nec
Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum
40 Patriots Point Road
Mount Pleasant, South Carolina 29464
which will get you a destination for --
www.mapquest.com
maps.google.com
A generic route can be found here:
http://www.mapquest.com/directions/main.adp?do=nw&go=1&r=f&aoh=&aot=&aof=&1a=S%20Main%20St%20%26%20Broadway%20E&1c=Granville&1s=OH&1z=43023&1y=US&1l=49scX63C7sNOgq8vMqrqqg%3d%3d&1g=Z9THRJyGx7ki0GwEMu7Uug%3d%3d&1pn=&1pl=&1v=INTERSECTION&1ffi=&1n=Licking%20County&1qn=&2a=40%20Patriots%20Point%20Rd&2c=Mount%20Pleasant&2s=SC&2z=29464%2d4377&2y=US&2l=6gh8xtwHrgcvo5A1XBC7KA%3d%3d&2g=1RkTyaRPkzZqqNFbYaeBmQ%3d%3d&2pl=&2v=ADDRESS&2ffi=&2n=Charleston%20County&2qn=Patriots%20Point&panelbtn=2&1qc=&q=Patriots%20Point&2pn=Patriots%20Point&2sb=Patriots%20Point%20Naval%20Museum%7c40%20Patriots%20Point%20Rd%7cMt%20Pleasant%7cSC%7c29464%7c32787807%7c%2d79904403%7c843%2d884%2d2727%7cUS&2qc=Amusement%20%26%20Recreation%20Nec
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Evenings on the Yorktown
Each night at 8:00 pm a movie will be shown in the vast theater made out of the forward bays of the hangar deck, the Smokey Stover Theater. Who was Smokey Stover ? You'll find out on Saturday night, when you watch the remarkable 1944 movie, shown in theaters all across the United States and Europe, "The Fighting Lady."
But first is Friday night, and I have to be honest with you. "Tora, Tora, Tora!" is a remarkable movie in its own right, a two hour twenty minute all-too-thorough view of the steps leading to Pearl Harbor. Made in 1970, it was the first joint Japan/US effort in movie making, and the noted director Akiro Kurosawa ("Rashomon") shot most of the Japanese half . . . which is verrrrry Japanese. When it isn't fairly tedious it can be, well, odd. Call it a cultural encounter.
If you and your child love history, especially WWII history, this can be interesting stuff. And when the story finally reaches the actual attack on Pearl Harbor, including extensive footage of planes launched from carrier decks which are in fact all filmed on board the Yorktown (as is the final shot of the Enterprise entering Pearl; not the Big E, but the Yorktown), the story becomes dramatic and exciting -- it's also almost two hours into the movie.
If you're still up, it's good. You've been warned.
For the Wikipedia entry, and IMDB page (click IMDB's trivia link for some intriguing notes), try these links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tora%21_Tora%21_Tora%21
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066473/
What you shouldn't let discourage you, after the length and relative tedium of much of "Tora, Tora, Tora!" is to miss Saturday's feature, "The Fighting Lady." Released when victory looked likely but not assured, even the actual name of the ship had to be hidden, giving the Yorktown her lasting nickname.
This film is largely documentary footage, of actual air camera footage from the aircraft and filming on board at the Marianas and Leyte. It is stirring and moving and occasionally heartbreaking, and is less than an hour. DO NOT MISS the movie Saturday night, please. One of the many compelling aspects of this movie is the realization, as you listen to the narration, that they really didn't know for sure how the war would turn out. It seems so inevitable from our vantage, and there is plenty of confidence by the time Robert Taylor voiced the soundtrack in 1944, but it wasn't so long for them since they weren't sure, and they still couldn't tell exactly how it would end.
The Manhattan Project was still as top secret as the actual name of the ship that starred in the movie, the USS Yorktown. Outside of a few scientists in the New Mexico desert and a handful of politicians in DC, no one had a clue how the war actually would end other than in a lengthy, painful, horrid invasion of Japan itself. You get a sense of that resolve and dread, and a great deal of pride, watching "The Fighting Lady" while aboard that self-same ship.
Those wiki and imdb pages are:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fighting_Lady
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036823/
Finally, for a general look at the ship we'll be aboard for two nights, rich with links, including to the largest battleship ever built which the Yorktown helped to sink, the Yamato, just click:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Yorktown_%28CV-10%29
But first is Friday night, and I have to be honest with you. "Tora, Tora, Tora!" is a remarkable movie in its own right, a two hour twenty minute all-too-thorough view of the steps leading to Pearl Harbor. Made in 1970, it was the first joint Japan/US effort in movie making, and the noted director Akiro Kurosawa ("Rashomon") shot most of the Japanese half . . . which is verrrrry Japanese. When it isn't fairly tedious it can be, well, odd. Call it a cultural encounter.
If you and your child love history, especially WWII history, this can be interesting stuff. And when the story finally reaches the actual attack on Pearl Harbor, including extensive footage of planes launched from carrier decks which are in fact all filmed on board the Yorktown (as is the final shot of the Enterprise entering Pearl; not the Big E, but the Yorktown), the story becomes dramatic and exciting -- it's also almost two hours into the movie.
If you're still up, it's good. You've been warned.
For the Wikipedia entry, and IMDB page (click IMDB's trivia link for some intriguing notes), try these links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tora%21_Tora%21_Tora%21
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066473/
What you shouldn't let discourage you, after the length and relative tedium of much of "Tora, Tora, Tora!" is to miss Saturday's feature, "The Fighting Lady." Released when victory looked likely but not assured, even the actual name of the ship had to be hidden, giving the Yorktown her lasting nickname.
This film is largely documentary footage, of actual air camera footage from the aircraft and filming on board at the Marianas and Leyte. It is stirring and moving and occasionally heartbreaking, and is less than an hour. DO NOT MISS the movie Saturday night, please. One of the many compelling aspects of this movie is the realization, as you listen to the narration, that they really didn't know for sure how the war would turn out. It seems so inevitable from our vantage, and there is plenty of confidence by the time Robert Taylor voiced the soundtrack in 1944, but it wasn't so long for them since they weren't sure, and they still couldn't tell exactly how it would end.
The Manhattan Project was still as top secret as the actual name of the ship that starred in the movie, the USS Yorktown. Outside of a few scientists in the New Mexico desert and a handful of politicians in DC, no one had a clue how the war actually would end other than in a lengthy, painful, horrid invasion of Japan itself. You get a sense of that resolve and dread, and a great deal of pride, watching "The Fighting Lady" while aboard that self-same ship.
Those wiki and imdb pages are:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fighting_Lady
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036823/
Finally, for a general look at the ship we'll be aboard for two nights, rich with links, including to the largest battleship ever built which the Yorktown helped to sink, the Yamato, just click:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Yorktown_%28CV-10%29
Saturday, January 5, 2008
For those getting a head start...
...an ideal location for Thursday night lodgings on the way to Charleston, SC:
Country Inn & Suites By Carlson Beckley
2120 HARPER ROAD
BECKLEY, WV 25801
(304) 252-5100
Map & Directions
http://www.countryinns.com/beckleywv
[nope, we don't get a percentage, but a bunch of us have stayed here in the past]
From the USS Yorktown Association website [Links are mine]
"Apollo 8 Recovery Operations and deployment to Atlantic Fleet
Yorktown arrived back in Long Beach on 5 July 1968 and entered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard that same day for almost three months of repairs. She completed repairs on 30 September and resumed normal operations. Late in November and early in December, she served as a platform for the filming of another movie, "Tora! Tora! Tora!," which recreated the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In December she served as one of the recovery ships for the Apollo 8 space shot. The two unique missions mentioned above were conducted out of Pearl Harbor."
[Jeff again: Yes, that's right -- along with distinguished service in World War II, the Yorktown was filmed in the first joint Japan/US movie ever filmed, and it was about Pearl Harbor: "Tora, Tora, Tora!" This movie will be shown at 8:00 pm on Friday night onboard, and is almost three hours long, taking us right up to "Lights Out." Both the US and Japanese aircraft carriers seen in the movie, including the night launches of Japan Air Force Zeros which are one of the most dramatic parts of an otherwise fairly tedious movie, are all shots of the Yorktown. Then she sailed to pick up the astronauts who were the first to circle the moon, Apollo 8: Borman, Lovell, and Anders.]
Yorktown arrived back in Long Beach on 5 July 1968 and entered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard that same day for almost three months of repairs. She completed repairs on 30 September and resumed normal operations. Late in November and early in December, she served as a platform for the filming of another movie, "Tora! Tora! Tora!," which recreated the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In December she served as one of the recovery ships for the Apollo 8 space shot. The two unique missions mentioned above were conducted out of Pearl Harbor."
[Jeff again: Yes, that's right -- along with distinguished service in World War II, the Yorktown was filmed in the first joint Japan/US movie ever filmed, and it was about Pearl Harbor: "Tora, Tora, Tora!" This movie will be shown at 8:00 pm on Friday night onboard, and is almost three hours long, taking us right up to "Lights Out." Both the US and Japanese aircraft carriers seen in the movie, including the night launches of Japan Air Force Zeros which are one of the most dramatic parts of an otherwise fairly tedious movie, are all shots of the Yorktown. Then she sailed to pick up the astronauts who were the first to circle the moon, Apollo 8: Borman, Lovell, and Anders.]
Coming soon . . .
. . . info on places to stay halfway down on Thursday night; i recommend a 2 pm departure on the 14th of February, and driving to Beckley, WV. It makes the trip on Friday much more pleasant and gives you the chance to add a side-trip on the way down; yep, i'll be posting ideas for Friday or Sunday/Monday return side-trips as we get closer! But hotel info will be next.
Friday, Feb. 15 -- 6:00 pm
Our mustering-in for boarding the ship and initial orientation is at 6:00 pm on Friday, Feb. 15, though dinner is on your own; there will be some time to go back ashore and forage for provisions before the evening orientation and movie.
Your $75 covers Saturday breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus Sunday breakfast; if you plan to leave Saturday afternoon/evening and not stay aboard that night, make sure to let Jeff know.
We will want all Scouts in uniform for Saturday after breakfast for a group picture on the hangar deck and to raise flags at Fort Sumter, embarking (as things currently stand) at 10 am at the foot of the dock. Casual wear all other times!
Family on-shore overnight will pay $15 for full access to the ship on Saturday, and $8 for the boat trip *as available* which we can't yet guarantee. There will be 470 people sleeping on the Yorktown Friday night, of which we're just 75; Saturday night will be a bit quieter at 200, but they'll need us cleared out by 9 am Sunday for 500 coming in that day.
Check back regularly for updates and fun information to get the most out of your trip!
Your $75 covers Saturday breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus Sunday breakfast; if you plan to leave Saturday afternoon/evening and not stay aboard that night, make sure to let Jeff know.
We will want all Scouts in uniform for Saturday after breakfast for a group picture on the hangar deck and to raise flags at Fort Sumter, embarking (as things currently stand) at 10 am at the foot of the dock. Casual wear all other times!
Family on-shore overnight will pay $15 for full access to the ship on Saturday, and $8 for the boat trip *as available* which we can't yet guarantee. There will be 470 people sleeping on the Yorktown Friday night, of which we're just 75; Saturday night will be a bit quieter at 200, but they'll need us cleared out by 9 am Sunday for 500 coming in that day.
Check back regularly for updates and fun information to get the most out of your trip!
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