Fleet Week Attracts Veterans

From May 26 to June 1, Pier 88 is the heart of Fleet Week in New York City, and the atmosphere of a festival takes over for the weekend of Memorial Day.

Permanently docked at Pier 88 in Manhattan, the U.S.S. Intrepid became the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in 1982. On Memorial Day, a tour of the Intrepid means brushing shoulders with veterans of Vietnam or World War II. It is also a chance for various branches of the military—particularly the Navy, Marines and U.S. Coast Guard—to interact.

The U.S.S. Iwo Jima docked by the Intrepid for Fleet Week this year. Pier 88 became a convergence of living history, with the Intrepid—commissioned in 1943 and decommissioned in 1974—and the Iwo  Jima—originally commissioned in 1961 and still active—moored side-by-side.

"These things are just gigantic," said Tony Emmolo, who served on the U.S.S. Gilbert Islands, a small aircraft carrier, during the Korean War. "It's like I was in kindergarten and this is college," he said of the Iwo Jima.

Pete Barnoski, a retired Navy sailor from New Jersey who served on the original Iwo Jima, said he hoped to show his son his old berth deep inside the aircraft carrier. Although the ship docked at Pier 88 is actually the second vessel to bear the name, Barnoski knew his history. "What they did was they took the old Iwo Jima and they took the bow off and they took the stern off, and they extended it. So the middle is actually the original," he said.

Starting in 1935 in San Diego, Fleet Week was designed to improve public relations between the military and the public. In New York in 2010, it is an opportunity for the Navy, Red Cross and U.S. Coast Guard to set up tents and represent themselves to the public.

This year, the Coast Guard tent was manned by recruitment officers and auxiliary boat crew. The auxiliary Coast Guard are men and women who donate their time and skill to the service. They undergo training but are not allowed to make arrests. Lisa Iarrobino, part of the auxiliary boat crew, spent her weekend telling people about the Coast Guard. She volunteered to stand in the hot sun aboard the Coast Guard craft resting on the pier beside the Intrepid Museum.

On Memorial Day, veterans stand shoulder-to-shoulder with active-duty military to unfurl the 100-foot-long American flag on the Flight Deck of the Intrepid. Iarrobino said she volunteered to man the Coast Guard tent on Memorial Day specifically to see the flag ceremony. "By the end, there's not a dry eye on that deck," she said.

Fleet Week attracts a large number of veterans, which range from those who attend every year to those who are visiting for the first time. The events are chance for veterans, tourists and active-duty military to brush shoulders and share stories. Historically, Fleet Week has meant a chance for civilians to thank the members of the military and hear the stories of a veteran who served during World War 2, the Korean War, or Vietnam. It has also become an opportunity for veterans to thank the current members of the military who carry on the traditions.

Many veterans touring the Intrepid approached the uniformed Iarrobino to thank her for her service. Most had stories to share in return.

Ninety-year-old Evelyn Lewis, a nurse stationed in San Diego during World War 2, serenaded Iarrobino with an old Navy song. She carried yellowed discharge papers in her purse. "I did the whole tour [of the Intrepid] and it's so wonderful," she said.

Up on the flight deck, Norm Dictan tucked a Veteran Identification Card in his shirt pocket. Dictan accompanied the invasion of Omaha Beach in Normandy on June 5, 1945. "We were hitting the beach," he remembered. "Twenty-five yards away … they got a direct hit. Only two of my buddies survived."

The festival atmosphere of Fleet Week celebrates even as it honors the requirements of military life. The museum also pays homage to the service members who sacrificed their lives aboard the Intrepid between 1943 and 1974 during her tours of duty.

Many veterans visiting Fleet Week spoke of their losses. But most who come to Fleet Week are also proud of the military: whether they served, or someone they know did.

Fleet Week attracts tourists from all over the world—a random sample of people walking toward the pier came from Germany and the UK—along with loyal military families. They all come for different reasons, but the fact that they come is the reason the military continues to host Fleet Week.