I'm hitting the road with my kids in August 2008 headed toward Augusta Maine. I'm looking for a place to park the sail from the 10 boat. I'm also going to visit my good family friends Mr. and Mrs. Quigley up in Monson Maine... and do a couple dozen more things too.
The original Mayor when the USS Augusta was commissioned in 1985 was Peter Thompson and he told me last year he knew a nice place on the waterfront that would be good for parking the sail. It would be great in some ways to find a place where the sail could anchor in it's namesake city Augusta. But honestly it might do better on the beautiful Maine coastline facing the sea. Or possibly as part of a museum or a shipyard.
I talked with some of the guys on the DECOM crew about an idea I had which was to engrave the names of the 800 guys we know that served on the Augusta on the side of the sail. One of the Chiefs (and I forgot his name just now - I'll credit him later), anyway he suggested bolting bronze or stainless steel plaques on the side of the sail so we could make adds and changes easily. I think it would be cool for future generations to be able to walk up to the sail and touch the engraved name of their Grandpa or their Dad or whatever. Just the opposite of the USS Nautilus which is plexiglassed off so no one can touch anything, I'd like everyone to be able to grab hold of the 10 boat and really be able to reach out and touch history.
Anyway I have heard so many great things about traveling to Maine I am really looking forward to this working vacation. I will stop by Senator Snowe's office and Senator Collins' office... the Maine Museum... the historic Augusta waterfront. Bath Iron Works, Kittery Trading Post, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard... the Maine seacoast near Kennebunkport... I actually have about 20 stops I have to make. My 10 year old boy Johnny and 9 year old girl Kimi will probably remember this as more work than fun but I am going to try to make it something they can remember for the rest of their lives too. And if I get lucky and the USS Augusta Memorial Foundation gets underway, I'll get to go back to Maine about another 50 times
3 comments:
Nice photo Mal. Did you tweek that a little? Glad you are going up to Maine. Say hello to "the Master Chief" when you're up there. Don;t get hit too bad by the black flies... they're bad in August.
Hey, when are you going to be in Augusta? I actually live right down the road from Old Fort Western in Augusta. I served on the 710 from July '90 to July '94, and after I got out, through a strange twist of events, ended up moving to Augusta, Maine. I just can't get away from the 10 boat I guess. My name is Kevin McAllister and I was a Fire Controlman. If you want, look me up in the phone book when you arrive (I live on Cedar St).
Hey Kevin I appreciate the offer. I'll give you a call next week. I don;t have you on the crew database... I'm rewriting the main website for the 4th or 5th time soon anyway... maybe you could help me out and register first when I have the new site launched. Regards - Mal
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