On Tuesday, Sept 25th there will be a USS Indianapolis tribute open to the general public.  It will be held at Avanti High School in Olympia.  There are two showings: one at 11:45 a.m. and another that evening at 7 p.m.  There is no charge for admission and anyone is welcome. 

If you are in the greater Seattle/Tacoma/Olympia area, I urge you to attend.  Eugene Morgan, an Indy survivor, will be the guest of honor.  As a special guest, we will also have Ken Bragg there... he was aboard the USS Register, one of the rescue ships.  It will be a wonderful presentation.

How did it go?

Oh my gosh, it was wonderful. But, they are always wonderful! Gene and Ken gave so much insight to the audience (and myself - I love hearing new things when they answer the audience questions). There was one sweet teenage girl who stood to ask a question and was very overcome with emotion. She was able to take the mic and ask if she could just come up to the stage and shake their hands. Gene embraced her and she just sobbed on his shoulder. Of course, THAT GOT THE REST OF US SOBBING TOO! The younger generations can appreciate history and feel its importance, if we'll just make the effort to teach it to them. And, for them to be able to actually meet the actual men of whom they are learning, makes it real. That way it's not just an unimportant event that happened long ago and is irrelevant to them. Time after time I see young people crying as they thank the Indy survivors for what they did. They finally have the realization that these horrible sacrifices were made back then for them today. We are doing it again - this time in Auburn, WA on November 10th at 2:30. Link - http://www.ci.auburn.wa.us/recreation/events/veterans.asp The Indy program is about 2/3 of the way down, titled "World War II Presentation." Click on it and it'll open up a flyer with date/time/location info.