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October 16th, 2009
Family returns instrument to USS New York | By KAREN NELSON
A Coast family made sure a bugle was placed aboard the soon-to-be USS New York before she sailed from a shipyard in Louisiana this week.
Even though Navy ships don’t use buglers anymore, this one was a piece of history. It had been blown to rally crews aboard the battleship USS New York during World Wars I and II and wound up in the care of a mariner from Mississippi, H.R. “Shorty” Reynolds, who died in 2003.
His children — Raymond Jr., Carol and Mickey Reynolds — took the bugle that had hung in their father’s office for more than a decade and delivered it to the captain of the Navy’s newest amphibious assault ship in a ceremony aboard the ship at Northrop Grumman’s Avondale shipyard near New Orleans last week.
The transfer happened in the nick of time, because the ship set sail Tuesday for Virginia and then New York, where it will be commissioned the USS New York on Nov. 7.
The bugle had been removed in 1945 from the old dreadnought before it was sent on its final mission, to be used for atomic bomb testing and then target practice.
The bugle wound up in H.R. Reynolds’ care because he had become the ship’s historian. He had served on the battleship and had come to love the USS New York and his short years of service in the Navy.
When the battleship’s former crew members held their annual reunions, the bugle was there. On its plaque is the story of how a marine “rescued” it from the battleship and passed it on to a man who had been the ship’s bugler, then how that man had passed it in later years to H.R. Reynolds as the ship’s historian.
When Reynolds died in North Mississippi, the bugle went to his son who lives on the Coast, Raymond Reynolds Jr. of Latimer. Raymond began the process of delivering it to a new home. He said his father’s shipmates supported the move.
“Those guys are all in their 80s now and every year there are fewer of them, and they agreed it should go to the newer ship,” Raymond Reynolds said. “It would be displayed on the ship and probably more people would see it there than in a museum.”
Getting it there wasn’t as easy as it might have seemed. It took two years of making phone calls and contacts, even after the Navy had expressed a clear interest in the artifact, Raymond Reynolds’ wife, Joyce, explained. Finally, weeks before the new battle cruiser left the shipyard, the Reynolds family got word that the captain would accept the bugle in a ceremony on Oct. 7.
“Dad let everyone know where the bugle was supposed to go,” said Carol Reynolds of Gulfport.
H.R. Reynolds had lived long enough to see the bombing of the World Trade Center.
“He knew they were building a new ship and wanted to make sure the bugle got to its rightful owner, the new New York,” she said.
The ship also received a plaque made of wood from a shrimp boat destroyed by Katrina and a piece of steel from the World Trade Center.
The gifts represented the hard work and resilience of the people of two terrible disasters, Navy officials said. She also has 7.5 tons of World Trade Center steel built into her bow.
Construction of the battleship USS New York began with a keel laying on Sept. 11, 1911, exactly 90 years before the World Trade Center attack, which gave birth to the new ship.
Men who served on the old battleship with H.R. Reynolds are expected to be at the commissioning of the new ship.
But for the Reynolds family, the big ceremony was last week when Commander Curt Jones and his crew accepted their father’s gift.
“The commander seemed to be really excited to get it, the bugle,” said Raymond Reynolds. “He said it’s almost like having a living piece of history, because we know it was part of that crew and ship, and to bring it on board was an honor.”
Tags: Avondale, grumman, louisiana, Navy, New Orleans, News, newyork, northrop, Press, process, Sept, shipyard, Steel, USS New York, World Trade Center
October 12th, 2009
October 12, 2009, 5:14PM
Under the threat of rain and a veil of security, the USS New York will leave the New Orleans area Tuesday morning after more than three years of construction at Avondale, feted by what organizers hope will be thousands of people gathered along the Mississippi River to see the ship off.
 The USS New York will leave Avondale on Tuesday atbout 7 a.m., and officials are asking people to line the banks of the Mississippi River to give the ship a New Orleans-style sendoff.The ship — whose bow stem contains about 7 1/2 tons of steel from the World Trade Center, felled during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — also will receive two 21-gun salutes during its trek from Northrop Grumman’s Avondale shipyard to the Gulf of Mexico.
The USS New York will head to its namesake city, where it will be commissioned Nov. 7. Then it will move to its homeport of Norfolk, Va.
The ship departs Avondale at 7 a.m. with a Coast Guard escort.
When it passes the city of Gretna, around 7:45 a.m., it will be greeted by a police honor guard and emergency vehicles, which will flash their lights in honor of the 343 firefighters and police officers who died in the World Trade Center. That event will take place at the Riverfront Amphitheater.
The ship is expected to pass by Woldenburg Park around 8:15 a.m., where organizers hope it will be greeted by thousands. About 3,000 flags will be distributed, organizers said.
Sailors will gather on the Admiral’s Pier at the Naval Support Activity, where Navy Band New Orleans will perform “Anchors Aweigh” as the ship passes to a 21-gun salute. The base is not open to the public.
In Belle Chasse, crowds are asked to gather at the levee, about a quarter-mile south of the Naval Air Station-Joint Reserve Base’s main entrance on Louisiana 23, across from the Naval Federal Credit Union. The air station’s sailors will gather there, where about 10 a.m., another 21-gun salute will commence and a military color guard will honor the passing ship, said Capt. Bill Snyder, the air station’s commanding officer.
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October 12th, 2009
Contact: Carrie DeVriesFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
504.558.1840
devries@theehrhardtgroup.com
CITIZENS ENCOURAGED TO LINE THE LEVEES IN SPECIAL SEND-OFF FOR
USS NEW YORK – LPD 21
Ship Incorporates Nearly Eight Tons of Steel Salvaged from World Trade Center Towers in Honor of Victims of 9/11
NEW ORLEANS – The Greater New Orleans Executives Association (GNOEA) is encouraging citizens to “Line the Levees,” Tuesday, Oct. 13 to salute the USS New York – LPD 21 as it sails from Avondale, through Jefferson and Orleans Parish and past downtown New Orleans between 7:30 a.m. – 8:15 a.m. Residents of metro New Orleans are encouraged to line the East and West Banks of the Mississippi River.
The ship will travel to New York City for a week-long commissioning ceremony scheduled for Nov. 7.
The USS New York – LPD 21, constructed at Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding in Avondale was named in honor of the victims of 9/11. It incorporates in its construction nearly 8 tons of steel salvaged from the fallen World Trade Center towers. The ship’s motto is “Strength forged through sacrifice. Never Forget.”
Lola Lass, President of GNOEA, said her group suggested the send-off celebration to allow the community one final opportunity to salute the ship, its crew and the men and women who spent more than five years building it.
Video here about this project from New Orleans Local Station WDSU
http://www.wdsu.com/video/17360129/index.html
Tags: aligncenter, alt, Association, Avondale, Building, Carrie DeVries, celebration, center, center towers, ceremony, City, class, com, commission, COMMISSIONING, community, construction, Contact, courage, crew, day, devries, div, downtown, East, ENCOURAGED, end, EST, Executive, Executives, executives association, Fall, Forged, FORGET, GNOEA, Great, Greater, grumman, height, honor, href, img, IMMEDIATE, Incorporates, Jefferson, levees, LINE, Local, local station, lola, Lola Lass, LPD, lpd 21, mailto, Media, metro, Mississippi, Mississippi River, Motto, name, NCO, NEVER, New Orleans, New York, new york city, News, northrop, northrop grumman, Nov, NY, Oct, opportunity, org, orleans parish, Parish, pcu, Port, PR, Pre, President, Press, project, RELEASE, Sacrifice, sail, sails, salute, Salvaged, Scheduled, SEND-OFF, ship, shipbuilding, side, SPECIAL, src, Station, Steel, Strength, Thee, theehrhardtgroup, title, tons of steel, Tower, Towers, town, trade, Tuesday, Unit, US, USS, USS New York, USS New York LPD-21, ussnewyork, victim, Victims, video, WDSU, week, west banks, width, Will, World, World Trade Center, www, year
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The future USS New York LPD-21 under construction at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems’ shipyard in Avondale, LA, will be the fifth amphibious transport dock of the San Antonio class. The ship was named New York after the state and incorporates in its construction steel salvaged from the World Trade Centers. Her ship motto is "Never Forget." "We're very proud that the twisted steel from the WTC towers will soon be used to forge an even stronger national defense," New York Gov. George Pataki spoke in 2002. "The USS New York will soon be defending freedom and combating terrorism around the globe, while also ensuring that the world never forgets the evil attacks of Sept. 11 and the courage and strength New Yorkers showed.” This will be the seventh U.S. ship named New York.
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