By Frank James
As a born and bred New Yorker who started his journalism career just blocks away from the World Trade Center towers, who enjoyed the view and the feeling of being inside an engineering marvel whenever I was in one of the towers, it was hard not to be stirred by images Monday of the USS New York sailing up the Hudson.
Steel from the 9/11 ruins of the trade center is incorporated into the bow of the newly built amphibious transport dock ship, making the New York a floating memorial to those who died on one of the worst days in American history.
As NPR's Margot Adler reported for the network's newscast:
Families of September 11th victims as well as first responders gathered at a viewing area where they could see the crew on the deck of the battleship. Shots were fired in three bursts in a 21-gun salute.
There are 361 sailors serving aboard the ship at present and about 13 percent are from New York State. There were many requests from Navy personal to serve on the ship. Rosaleen Tallon, who lost her brother, a firefighter, said she was proud the military was using the steel, transforming something twisted and ugly.
After the ceremony, the USS New York headed up the Hudson River toward the George Washington Bridge. An official commissioning ceremony will take place Saturday. It will remain in New York until after Veterans day and will then go to Norfolk, Va. for about a year of crew training and exercises.
categories: National News
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