The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.

Monday, October 13, 2014

Wilmington's USS North Carolina in 1962

From the May 1, 2012, Wilmington-Star News.

APRIL 16, 1962:  A recent Sunday set a daily record for the new USS North Carolina battleship museum as it had opened recently.  That Sunday, 6,583 boarded, up 192 from the previous Sunday.

During the first six months 107,279 had visited the ship.

A 2012 Star article reported a drop in attendance for the previous year to 193,150 visitors between October 1, 2010, and September 30, 2011.

APRIL 30, 1962:  Thousands of people were on hand as high-ranking U.S. Navy officials and Governor Terry Sanford helped dedicate the USS North Carolina.

A tribute was presented to Battleship Commission Chairman Hugh Morton and te late Jimmy Craig (who had died in 1 1961 plane crash) and never got to see the ship they worked so hard to acquire actually get to Wilmington.

Governor Sanford noted that 700,000 North Carolina school children had donated to help bring the ship home.

I Was One of Them.  --GreGen

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