But even as the battleship exists today as a celebration of U.S history, it is now a part of Wilmington's history itself, and it is positioning itself to be a part of the city's future for decades to come.
The story of how the USS North Carolina came to Wilmington in the first place is an epic onto itself.
It involves then-governor Terry Sanford, the North Carolina legend, the first president of the renowned Wilmington Azalea Festival Hugh Morton, nickel-and-dime donations of hundreds of thousands of school children including me and my brother) from across the state.
Then, there was Wilmington's own James S. "Jimmy" Craig, who got the idea to bring the USS North Carolina back to its name-sake state after getting the idea after Texas bought its name-sake USS Texas to Houston in the 1940s.
--GreGen
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