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The Saratogian Newsroom blog, complete with thoughts and commentary from our newsroom staff and regular posts on happenings around town.

Tuesday, November 11

Veteran's honors

On today, Veteran's Day, many speeches are made honoring the men and women who bravely served this country in times of conflict. Nearly every municipality in the area planned some kind of veteran's day observances, but the one I was most interested in reading about was the re-dedication of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. For anyone who doesn't know, the Intrepid is an aircraft carrier that's been floating in the Hudson River since the 80s, serving as a museum to depict life aboard an aircraft carrier, and to exhibit some really neat artifacts of military aviation and spaceflight.

As a kid growing up in Brooklyn, the Intrepid was a choice destination, much more entertaining than any one of the city's many art museums. Although I haven't been to the Intrepid in many years, it is stationed along the West Side Drive in Manhattan, which is the route I take when I make my occasional trips down to the city, and it's absence was notable every time I drove that stretch of road for the past two years. I was happy to see it return in early October.

But, the Intrepid also holds a special personal significance fore me. In a family that is proud of its strong tradition of not serving in the military, I am proud that both of my grandfathers served in shipyards during World War II. Grandpa Bernstein was a welder in the naval shipyard in Philadelphia, and while there he worked on parts of the Intrepid. (The Intrepid was constructed at a shipyard in Newport, VA, but some of its components were built elsewhere, including the Philadelphia yard).

Grandpa's war stories were somewhat less typical than other war stories, but of no lesser importance. While bullets did not typically fly at the yards, the pressure to work fast sometimes led to dangerous situations that could imperil life and limb. And without the work of him and thousands of other welders like him, the war effort would have been without necessary support.

In addition, my maternal grandfather, Grandpa Blechman, worked as a pipe fitter in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He died when i was young, and I didn't get the chance to hear as many of his stories, but his work in the yard was also historical significant, as he was fond of telling me about how he fit pipes on the USS Missouri, one of the most storied battleships of World War II.

So, while today we honor the veterans of conflicts, I would humbly suggest that we also remember the men and women who stood behind our soldiers in every conflict. War is hell, and not just for those on the battlefield.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Andrew-

Congrats to the team on the new website! And I look forward to reading the kind of writing like today's City Desk post that launches the new look.

All your words are well-chosen and from-the-heart. But I have ONE small nit which BUGS me to no end. With a postscript to your column today, you have the chance to educate a literary world adrift in a sea of misunderstanding.

I was there for the initial dedication of The Intrepid Museum. No "Air & Space"...just a ship and a huge flight deck that was Spot #1 for fund-raising parties of young professionals, a vast steel deck of drinking and dancing. But as a museum, she was pretty beat.

Things improved when they loaded up the deck with aircraft, yet her below decks were still...pretty beat.

I can't wait to see her in all her glory. But here's the Global News alert shouted from my floating Saratoga Soapbox--

The MUSEUM, in any and ALL names past and present, it is ALWAYS referred to as "The Intrepid (abc) Museum." Note the appropriate initial word of "THE."

The SHIP however, at ANY time and when EVER referenced, the SHIP is to be called "Intrepid." Far too many reporters and editors...EVEN AT THE NEW YORK TIMES... they get it wrong and unknowingly slight the ship and her poetic place in history.

INTREPID was towed from her berth, refitted, and was greeted by those who served on INTREPID. I look forward to yet another chance to walk the decks of INTREPID as I visit "The Intrepid Air & Space Museum."

May we never refer to "Old Ironsides" as "THE USS Constitution." She's USS CONSTITUTION, centerpiece of "The USS Constitution Museum."

My Dad is a WW2 Navy veteran. His love and fond memories for all his vessels run in my blood. We owe it to future generations to "get it right." Tiny stuff matters, no less than the poppies in Flanders Fields.

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/flanders.htm

Your new look...
you have all gotten it right.

-Kyle York
Saratoga Springs

November 12, 2008 at 12:21 AM 

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