The Old Girl is Ready for Retirement

 Recently, the Hellenic Navy announced the decommissioning of the HS Nearchos D-219 (former USS Waddell DDG-24).  The ceremony will occur on July 18^th 2003 in Souda Bay, Crete.  From there the ship will be placed in a permanent anchorage and could be used during a live firing exercise.

Since this could be the last time anyone of the former crew have an opportunity to see and photograph the ship, the Association voted during the St. Louis reunion to send a representative to Crete as a guest of the Hellenic Navy & one of the former Greek Commanding Officers.

We also decided that our representative to be our President, Rick Bennett.

In order to send our representative to Greece, we have to raise money for his transportation and accommodations.   We are now taking donations for this project.

Our representative will have the following mission:

1.       Attend the decommissioning ceremony as a representative of the American sailors who served onboard the USS Waddell during her 28 years of service.

2.       Photograph, Videotape, and record the ship and ceremony (as permitted by the Greeks) to as large extent as possible and submit these documents to our Historian for inclusion into the Waddell Archives.

3.       Remove items of significance from the ship (as permitted by the Greeks) and ship these items to the Historian for inclusion into the Waddell Archives

4.       The items of significance include but are not limited to:

A.  Ship’s Bell(s)

B.  Wheel

C.  Brass Quarterdeck plaque

D.  Lifesavers with the Ship’s Name

E.   Wardroom Dishes/Glassware

Due to the very short time before our representative must leave for Greece, please submit your donations as soon as possible to:

Tom Jones - Treasurer

808 Los Arboles
Walled Lake, MI  48390
248-624-9376

To Pay By Credit Card, Click Below:

E-mail to Rick J. Bennett with questions or comments about this web site.

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