Vote! Design Naval Memorial Project!

[DennisOBrien]

At the 2007 reunion RADM Hugh Webster USN (Ret) brought forward a project for a plaque at the Naval Memorial in Washington, DC for our ship. A unanimous vote at the Business Meeting ensured this project would move forward. Steve Joyce volunteered to lead the project and as been working with the graphic designer that the Naval Memorial provided to create a design.

The proposed design is shown above and we are asking shipmates for input on the design over the next thirty days (ending September 13). In this thread you may voice if this acceptable design. If there is anything that needs to be changed, enter a message. You may also vote there and simple majority rules, "yes," it is acceptable, "no," we need to fix the design. Please do not vote "no" without commenting on what is wrong. Voting closes on September 13 and if the result is that this is an acceptable design and no major issues have been reported, Steve will more forward, otherwise we'll work on the issues and try again.

If you'd like to see a larger version or see more information go here:

http://cg22.ussengland.org/ProjectNaval ... /index.htm

[Jim.Mathias]

ENGLAND did not serve in Desert Storm, only Desert Shield. ENGLAND was inport San Diego during launch of Desert Storm.

[DennisOBrien]

ENGLAND did not serve in Desert Storm, only Desert Shield. ENGLAND was inport San Diego during launch of Desert Storm.

Good catch. Not usre how the Artist got that . . . we'll get that fixed.

Can others please verify this, and discuss what text belongs on that line.

[EOCSCELLI]

ENGLAND did not serve in Desert Storm, only Desert Shield. ENGLAND was inport San Diego during launch of Desert Storm.

Can others please verify this, and discuss what text belongs on that line.

ENGLAND was in the Strait of Hormuz entering Persian Gulf at 0400 02 AUG 90 when GQ sounded telling us that Iraq had invaded Kuwait. Desert Shield came about several days later. We had returned to port and were at Pier 6 when Desert Storm happened. The other significant time in the Persian Gulf was Ernest Will operations in 88'-89' escorting tankers.
Persian Gulf would be simple enough, because all LEAHY class spent time in the Gulf upto , during and right before their decomm.

[DennisOBrien]

ENGLAND did not serve in Desert Storm, only Desert Shield. ENGLAND was inport San Diego during launch of Desert Storm.

Can others please verify this, and discuss what text belongs on that line.

ENGLAND was in the Strait of Hormuz entering Persian Gulf at 0400 02 AUG 90 when GQ sounded telling us that Iraq had invaded Kuwait. Desert Shield came about several days later. We had returned to port and were at Pier 6 when Desert Storm happened. The other significant time in the Persian Gulf was Ernest Will operations in 88'-89' escorting tankers.

Thanks! Then I vote NO on this as it stands. I got off in 83 so I do not know and Steve got off a little after that. So we missed it. Sorry folks.

OK, then do we want that line to list Desert Shield or have other text?

[Sammy]

At first glance I was ready to vote yes; but on further examination I changed my mind.

Not to be nit-picking, the wording should be mighty ship, not great.

My reasoning is this: when she came out of LBNSY in the 80's she was listed and praised by Jane's book of Ships as the most powerful ship afloat!

Sammy

[David Ruble]

Even though it happened after I left Her the plaque should read correctly. There was a difference between Desert Storm and Sheild. Other then that it looks GREAT,

[DennisOBrien]

Even though it happened after I left Her the plaque should read correctly. There was a difference between Desert Storm and Sheild. Other then that it looks GREAT,

Yes, we're going to take care of that but I fear she was in many operations, too many to list. Is there somehting else that can go on that line?

[DennisOBrien]

I shut down the poll until we have the text we want settled and the graphic fixed.

Please look it over and post your thoughts here. Steve can then have the Graphic Artist fix them.

[NNN0CNE]

My thoughts:

Plaque should read "mighty" versus "great" as has been previously discussed.

Line listing should read Vietnam - Cold War - Gulf War.

For the historically unwashed, Operation Desert Shield is considered part of the Gulf War. I served aboard USS Leftwich (DD 984) during Desert Shield/Storm. We arrived in the gulf early Nov 90, 8 launch in Jan 91 and departed for Pearl May 91.

"Dedicated by her Crew" somehow seems more appropos than reiterating the type/hull number of the ship a second time. If the folks who view it in BIG letters at the top don't remember what they read by the time they get to the bottom of the plaque . . . they have less than the attention span of a gnat, and probably do not appreciate the contributions made by those who served aboard her.

[DennisOBrien]

I agree, mighty sounds better than great. Nice suggestion Sammy!

I think the text on the bottom is fine, it makes the sentence long enough to stretch across the image well. A shorter line would look odd, in my opinion, and it cannot really be made in a larger font to make up for it without getting into the ship’s portion of the image.

In regard to Gulf War, “historically unwashed” or not, I understand that is what some people call it, or Gulf War I, or other names, but is that what the Navy called it? Maybe more importantly, is that what those who were on board then, during Desert Shield, want to call their time?

And, if we list the ‘war line’, do we miss anything? And if we did, have we run out of room to list it?

My own personal feeling is to remove the dates from under the insignia at left, and replace the ‘war’ line with the full dates, December 7, 1963 to January 21, 1994. This would then pay homage to Ens. John C. England. People seeing the plaque would see the December 7th date and know there was a meaning to that.

[Earl Copeland]

After the comments about Desert Storm/Desert Shield; what is the latest version of the plaque? Also do you need contributions??
Bubba Copeland

[DennisOBrien]

Hi!!!

A new version will be along soon. Steve and I have some vacation time that is going to get in the way and it takes a bit of time. The corrections here are being sent on.

Once we get the art squared away, then contributions will be taken and news of how that will be done will be sent out.

Take care,

Dennis

[James brush]

This looks good. Now can't wait to see it in DC. James Brush '65-'69