What I did on my summer vacation

Pete McMiller

Pete McMiller

Well-known member
What an incredible and emotional 6 days aboard the USS Kitty Hawk, CV-63.

As a former crew member and a member of the Kitty Hawk Veterans Association I and about 68 others were allowed to ride the Kitty Hawk on her last cruise before decommissioning in January of 09. We boarded in San Diego's North Island and spent 6 days aboard and took her to her resting place in Bremerton, WA.

On the way we had a Burial At Sea of one of the old crew, tours of places I had never been before including the engineering spaces, engine room and bilge area. In addition we got on the bridge, forecastle, etc. No place was off limits.

I was talking to one of the crew one afternoon and found out that, not only was she from Wisconsin but she was also from my town, went to high school with my son and her parents live a quarter mile from me!! Small world indeed.

The Kitty Hawk has been flying the Union Jack for the past 10 years as the oldest active ship in the Navy. Her keel was laid in 1956 and commissioned April 28, 1961. I was on the ship from 1970-1972.

Here are a few pics.

On the flight deck
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Coming into Bremerton, Washington
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03 deck passageway and infamous "kneeknockers"
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Burial at Sea. The Army CWO at the podium is the grandaughter of the crew being buried.
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Myself and SK2 Borchardt from my home town.
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We ate pretty good too. Same food was in the crew's mess as the wardroom.
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Description of the Union Jack
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Flying the Union Jack

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We had our own Bill Clinton, Lt. Bill Clinton was promoted to Lt. Cmdr. on the last day.

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21 gun salute during the burial at sea.

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Wow, what an honor for you indeed, Pete.
Thanks for sharing your pictures with us, (very cool!) and thanks for your commitment to the USA!!

Best,
Brian F.
 
Very cool! Its nice to see that Veterans are given the opportunity to be included in such historic events. That's a great policy!
 
Wow. What a great trip. Thanks for sharing those photos.

So, she was built in Manitowac?

BTW, if my name was Bill Clinton I wouldn't want a sign on my chest that said "public affairs."

Rick
 
No, she was built in the New York Shipyard. Actually there were a bunch of screw ups when she was built. The first was that her keel and the Constellation (sister ship) were switched along with some other components. Her chain tubes were also from another ship. Quite interesting to listen to the old timers tell stories. By the way her anchor chains are 1080 ft. on the port side and 990 ft. on the starboard side. EACH chain link weighs 360 lbs. and the anchors are 30 Tons apiece. The anchor chains are held to the ship by a break-away bolt - apparently, just in case.

Our Bill Clinton was a hell of a guy and joked around quite a bit about the name.
 
Very cool Pete. Sounds like it was a "priceless" trip for you. Much nicer than back when you were serving on board, right? How come we weren't treated to pictures of you in your old uniform?
 
Pete, Sounds like quite a trip. For sure more fun this time. You really did have a full summer didn't you. Yeah, what about those old uniform pics??? Sounds like a bit of a challenge doesn't it? I probably couldn't even find mine much less fit. I did try several years ago but I do need to be able to breath!;<). Thanks for sharing. BTW I took the Broadbill out for a run yesterday afternoon and since it hadn't run since BEFORE Lacross LAST year I was a bit aprehensive. Cranked a couple times and off we went. Booker behaved himself just fine. The season is coming fast now.
 
Dave & Tom,

Fortunately I 'lost' my old uniforms. When I got out of the Navy I was the skinniest I have been since I was a junior in high school so it is highly unlikely that I'd even be able to pull the pants over my butt now. It's nice to see that the dress uniforms haven't changed even though the work uniforms have.
 
We're your initials still in the same spot you scratched them 38 years ago? That had to bring back a flood of memories.....thanks for being there "twice".
 
Very cool Pete. Thanks for sharing your experience and a bit of history. More importantly, thanks for serving our great Country! I might of missed it if you mentioned it, but what was your responsibility the ship?
 
Boy that was nice, glad you could share the pictures.

Talking about uniforms, My neighbor who worked for a newspaper just got out of the Air Force had sold his uniforms. Never thinking he would ever need them. He had been working about two weeks when over the teletype came the message that war had broken out in Korea. He thought oh oh. He went home at noon there was a telegram he was to report to Milwaukee in six hours. Story short in forty eight hours he was on a air strip in Korea working on jet engines in a suit and tie.
 
Pete,

Amazing.....Thanks for sharing. My Grandpa was a long-time Navy Man and served during WWII so I kinda got a soft spot for a good Navy story.

Thanks again,

Donivan
 
Neat story Pete... thank you very much for sharing... we have a couple of the old Carriers rusting away near Newport and my sons and I boat by them when we can... tons and tons of history, bravery, triumph and tragedy.

A>
 
Pete ,

Great post ! it must have been an absolute honor to take that trip , i would like to personally thank you for doing your time in the military , i listen to all the stories my grandfather tells us about his days in the Navy and kind of wish i was there to see exactly what you guys went through . Thank you again for your service !!!!



Dave M
 
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