| | |  News from Around Banderas Bay | April 2009 
USS Stockdale Visits PV
 Ann Lafferty - PVNN
| | The USS Stockdale in our Bay | |
| | Commander Kacher addressing the Navy Leaguers in the Ward Room | 
| | The USS Stockdale insignia designed by CDR Kacher | 
| | Ships officers guiding the Navy Leaguers tour |
The US Navy ship anchored in the bay last week was the USS Stockdale. She's a brand new ship on her way to the commissioning ceremony next month at the Naval Base Ventura County, California. The ship is commanded by CDR Fred Kacher and was built in Bath, Maine. The Stockdale is an Arleigh Burke-class of Guided Missile Destroyer, 509 feet long with a beam of 66 feet and a crew of 380.
To signal it's anchorage, the "Rattlesnake Jack" was flying from its bow. In 2002, Secretary of the Navy ordered all ships to fly the Rattlesnake Jack in place of the normal Union Jack to signify the Global War on Terrorism.
Puerto Vallarta Navy Leaguers were invited to ship tours last Friday. They were most impressed with the fine young men and women serving the ship. Captain Kacher graciously started the tour with a brief history of Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale, for whom the ship was named. His plane was shot down in 1965 in Vietnam and he was held as a Prisoner of War until 1973. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1976 and is one of the most decorated officers in the Navy receiving 26 personal commendations, four Silver Stars and the Congressional Medal of Honor. After his retirement from the Navy, the Admiral headed the Citadel and ran for Vice President with Ross Perot on the Reform Party ticket in 1992. He died in 2005.
Captain Kacher told the Navy Leaguers of his experience designing the ships insignia. This is an honor given to the first commander of a ship. Under guidance from the Navy experts, he proposed the insignia. Virtually everything on the insignia has a meaning. The eagle shield represents courage and vigilance and the crest above it with laurel wreath and stars has wings to commemorate the Admiral's Aviator Wings and Congressional Medal of Honor.
Admiral Stockdale and his wife, Sybil, wrote a best seller about their years during his imprisonment. They alternated chapters describing their experiences during the Vietnam War with her's chronicling her experience cutting through red tape in Washington, working with Congressmen, and forming a group to publicize the plight of Americans missing in South East Asia. The book is called "In Love and War: the Story of a Family's Ordeal and Sacrifice During the Vietnam War."
The commissioning ceremony is a formal and impressive affair. The ships' sponsor, Sybil Stockdale, will give the command to "Man our ship and bring her to life" at which the crew brings the ship to life by running up the brow and manning the rails. Bells ring and all systems are turned on. |
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