George Gackle was in the USS West Virginia's pay office but his battle station was ammunition passer. He described aboard the "Wee Vee" as being "like living in a big city. I came from a North Dakota town of 750 and there were 2,000 people aboard the West Virginia. There was a barbershop in my hometown and four or five on the ship."
Joseph Variot said there were about 1,100 people on his mailing list when he took over as head of the West Virginia reunion organization 15 years ago. Now it is down to about 400 with only about a dozen on the average attending recent reunions.
The USS West Virginia artifacts on display at the W,V, Culture Center include a crewman's cap, a 16-inch gun cover, an incline meter, a bell from the ship's motor launch and a metal plate listing safety orders for the ship's 16-inch magazine.
The ship was decommissioned in 1947 and scrapped in 1961.
The 2011 reunion of the ship in Galveston had a very low turnout and they voted to have just one more.
--GreGen
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.
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