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The February 10th commissioning
of the next GRIDLEY at the Port of Miami is fast approaching. The
sections below provide important and TIME SENSITIVE information upon
which you will need to act promptly to ensure participation at the level
you may desire.
Please carefully read all of the
text below, and take action NOW. Putting these important
details off until later may preclude you from full participation in the
reunion activities many of us have worked so hard to produce. Action
NOW is important to ensure your VIP access to all commissioning related
activities and your choice of hotel accommodations.
PLEASE RESPOND NOW.
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The first important thing is
that we must have your full postal address in our database so that the Navy can send you an official invitation to the
commissioning. Once you get that, you fill out the clearance form and
return it to get your tickets. This is the point at which you tell them
how many guests you will have. Without these special tickets you will
not get VIP seating, no special tours of the ship nor invitations to
some crew events. Check the roster. If your name and address
are there, your name has been sent to the Navy. If not, get the
info to pwcarter@ix.netcom.com
as soon as possible and we will send names in as long as they will
accept them. Anything sent after December 29 will be a problem so
get your info in.
IMPORTANT – Make sure we have
all your info
So, in order to make sure you
are on the list and up to date on events:
1. Go to
http://home.nycap.rr.com/pwcarter/working%20roster.html This is
the working roster with all updates and changes that have been made
recently. Make sure your postal address and the rest of the info is
present and correct. If not send the info to
pwcarter@ix.netcom.com .
We need name, complete postal
address, e-mail, rate and rank and years on GRIDLEY. You can give your
phone number if you wish.
2. If you are not already
registered, go to
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ussgridley/ this site requires
approval so you must request access and choose a password. These are
approved on a daily basis. This is where you will get all of the latest
info and be able to reconnect with long lost shipmates.
Proposed Agenda
Wednesday, 07FEB07
0900 – 1700 Registration and Badges (Location
TBD)
1500-1600 Ship Tour
for former Gridley sailors
1400-1800
Crew, Family Reception - Bayside Marina - We are invited.
Thursday, 08FEB07
0900 – 1700 Registration and Badges (Location
TBD)
1500-1600 Ship Tour
for former Gridley sailors
1800 Reunion Reception and dinner – South
Beach Details TBD
Friday, 09FEB07
TBD Golf Tournament - Cost not determined
yet
TBD Business Meeting, Web Site etc.
1800 Host Reception at
Viscaya – Former CO’s and senior officers
Saturday, 10FEB07
1100 Commissioning Ceremony
1200 Post Commissioning Reception (location
TBD)
Sunday, 11FEB07 (Underway in AM)
TBD Underway before or at dawn.
As
you can see, there is plenty of time for smoozing, dinner with pals, era
get togethers, rate get togethers business meeting, web site meeting.
We need some of you to volunteer to do event planning. Just make sure
you leave time for pool and beach time. Remember much of South Beach is
topless!
Hotels
The
special rates at the South Beach Group have expired but if you go to
Hotels.com you will find some of the same hotels at just about the same
price. Actually, its a better deal if you intend to come in
Thursday and leave Saturday after the ceremony. There are quite a
few places available for under $200 a night.
Our
events and registration areas will probably not be in the hotels anyway.
http://www.southbeachgroup.com/index.shtml
Parking and Cars
Parking is at a premium on South Beach although there are municipal
lots. You can get almost everywhere on foot or by taxi and that might
be an option. These hotels provide transportation to and from Miami
International and we hope to be able to afford busses to take you to and
from the commissioning events. Consider going in with shipmates on a
minivan if you must have a car. There will be special
parking for the Commissioning Ceremony.
Where can I sign up?
In
order to register, you will need to send a check in the amount of $100
per person attending. This money will be used to defray the costs of
the banquet, transportation to the commissioning, receptions etc. We
will also ask those who can to sponsor a current crew member for the
reunion dinner for $75. The contact address for registering to attend
the reunion portion of the event will be
gridleyreunion@sbcglobal.net
That address is monitored by Bob Hallead and Marv Flanders, both
retired CPO’s who were on GRIDLEY in the late 60’s. Checks should be
made out to Philip W. Carter, with Gridley Reunion in the memo space.
Mail the checks to Robert Hallead, 2400 Filer City Road, Manistee, MI
49660-2524. If you need to cancel for any reason before December 1, we
will refund the entire amount.
Lastly,
Make sure you are on the database.
Sign up for the Yahoo site.
Make a hotel reservation.
Send your commitment money.
As
a teaser, we have located all of the former Commanding Officers still
living and they are being personally invited by the CO of DDG 101.
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