Photo courtesy of Joan Crecca

 

 

On the morning the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Shoup were arriving home after bringing so much relief to the victims of the December 26 Tsunami, Joan Crecca and I had the very distinct pleasure of being out in the private boat, STORI VAGEN, captained by Dale Duffield!

 

Captain Dale Duffield U.S. Navy (Ret.)

Sheryl (Gulit) Sheaffer     Photos Courtesy of Joan Crecca

 

Dale is retired from the U.S. Navy and was a Swift Boat Veteran during the Vietnam War.  Thank you very much Dale for your service to our country and Welcome Home!  This could not have been a more perfect day for me – to be out on the water to welcome home the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Shoup – to have the captain of the boat a Navy man who could answer the thousand questions I had – and to witness the USS Abraham Lincoln being docked.

 

It didn’t start out perfect though!  Joan Crecca, Nadine Gulit (Mom) and I stayed in a hotel in Everett the night before the homecoming.  We had to be up and out early the next morning in order to board the STORI VAGEN.  We had asked for a wake up call for 6:00 a.m. – it didn’t happen!  Norma Anderson called my cell phone a little after 7:00 a.m. to find out where we were!  We needed to be down at the dock by 7:45 a.m. to board the boat – so no showers, no coffee, no breakfast, throw the clothes on and race to the dock!  We arrived just as Dale had decided we weren’t going to make it and was starting to get under “sail.”  If we had been one minute later, we would have missed our once in a lifetime opportunity!  Thank God, Dale had coffee and donuts!  He saved the day in so many ways. 

 

We were going out as the USS Shoup was close to docking and it is a spectacular looking ship!  Little did I know – that was just the beginning of  my excitement.   I sat in awe as the USS Abraham Lincoln first came into view.  My first thought was “Boy, she’s big!”  This was when I began peppering Dale with my thousand questions and Dale could answer them all.   We continued to watch as the ship came closer and could see all of the Sailors “manning the rail.”  What a sight!  I kept thinking, “Yep, she’s big.”  I’ve never seen an aircraft carrier under “sail” on the water before and all I had for perspective was the water and an island in the background.  As she came closer to docking, two tug boats turned her completely around and backed her into the dock – and then I had the perspective of the City of Everett behind her!  She is huge!!

 

We arrived back at the dock in time to run the two blocks to join the rest of OSOT at the gates of the Everett Naval Station to welcome our Sailors home.  It was such a wonderful day and I can’t thank Dale Duffield enough for including Joan and me on his boat to witness this spectacular event!