USS Intrepid thrills vets with NYC arrival
Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, June 6, 2007
NEW YORK – The USS Intrepid aircraft carrier, glistening from a full-body makeover, arrived in style at Staten Island on Wednesday to the cheers, hoots and hollers of former crew members and World War II veterans.
“It’s like running into an old girlfriend who had a facelift,” said 82-year-old Ray Stone, a former Navy radar man who served on board the Intrepid from 1943 to 1945.
“I nearly broke down in tears when I saw her,” said Stone. “Her bottom has been scraped of barnacles and she looks just like she did way back when.”
Stone was among about 400 people who attended the arrival and a wreath-laying ceremony on the 63rd anniversary of D-Day, one of the most momentous events of World War II. About 10,000 servicemen lost their lives that day.
“I feel so humbled to be in the presence of World War II veterans and all our veterans,” said Bill White, president of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. “We will never forget their sacrifices.”
As the allies stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944, the Intrepid was at Alameda Naval Base in California, preparing to leave for Pearl Harbor, and Stone was “kicking butt, helping to win the war.”
About five months later, Stone, a highly decorated veteran from Salem, N.Y., was the only survivor among 40 men in the Intrepid’s radio room to survive a Japanese kamikaze attack.
“This ship is a part of me and I’m a part of her,” he said.
The 912-foot-long aircraft carrier-turned-museum was towed stern-first into the Staten Island Homeport to begin the last leg of its two-year renovation, an 18-month interior refurbishment, including high-tech exhibits, state-of-the-art visuals and interactive displays. It is scheduled to return to Pier 86 in the Hudson River on Manhattan’s West Side on Veterans Day 2008.
