USS OK Mast

[Rick]

To help answer all of the questions about the USS OK Mast.

Yes it is comming,  I just witnessed it being offloaded from a C17 at Tinker AFB. This was an awsome day.  I got to meed Mr Ed Vesey Who was on the decks of the OK when she went down.  He had just celebrated his 90th birthdand and does not look a day over 60.  The mast will be transported to Muskogee and arrive at the museum on Wed June 23.   Offical welcoming will be on July 10.  Please come out if you can to show your support for the mast and the War Memorial.   

http://www.newson6.com/Global/story.asp?S=12685934

[BrokenArrowtiger]

The Oklahomas mast is a very important part of our history it tells about the life and death struggle of world war 2 maney oklahomans died in the war some on the subs others in the army.*Men you served your country and your states with honor integrity and digity you faught the germens and jappanse to the death and you sacrificed your life to help make your country safe may god bless you and your souls for eternity*

matt

[BrokenArrowtiger]

That was a very nice cermemony to the USS OKLAHOMA tons of people there im glad i could be there ...dan boren past right by me it was soo cool

[Ctwilley]

It was a great service. Listening to Mr. Cole was the best part. Hearing a first hand description of the attack on Pearl and the part he played was awesome. Listening to him get choked up was enough to get me a little choked up.

On a side note, this afternoon the Bat's bow planes were rigged out for the first time since her second decomissioning. A great day all around.

[BrokenArrowtiger]

It was a great service. Listening to Mr. Cole was the best part. Hearing a first hand description of the attack on Pearl and the part he played was awesome. Listening to him get choked up was enough to get me a little choked up.

On a side note, this afternoon the Bat's bow planes were rigged out for the first time since her second decomissioning. A great day all around.

Darn i wish i coulda seen that i had to get home right after the ceremoney but ya hearing him get choked up about it in your mind you could just picture what those guys went through during the battle i think all of the representives were great speakers too but for me seeing the mast being unvailed was the best its a peace of oklahoma history and navel history and its home.

[MWALLEN]

On a side note, this afternoon the Bat's bow planes were rigged out for the first time since her second decomissioning. A great day all around.

Here is a link to the photos:

http://www.submarinemuseums.org/forum/index.php?topic=917.0

[Jim]

Did anyone think to record Mr. Cole?  That would be awesome to have recordings of veterans' experiences be run at the museum.

[Mark Sarsfield]

There were plenty of video cameras that day.  Someone has to have the footage readily available.

[Darrin]

Mark,

I for one will tell you that I am pissed off about the treatment of the OK mast, it is a disgrace and should have been left in Hawaii.. HOWEVER it was left outside by the Navy for decades and I doubt that they will come in and try to take it back.

Honestly until you posted the recent pictures of it I had ASS/U/ME(D) that the mast was being taken care of and possibly being restored, and with the loss of the volunteer group working on Batfish, I doubt that unless the new director there cleans house and starts fresh with new people it will change anytime soon.

With that being said I don't know IF the director can fire the dead weight employees if they are truly paid employee's unless they show reason or cause and no not making a plan to restore historical macro artifacts and following through with it or giving tours of your park let alone the inside of the building is not a firing offense. We had a curator at one of the museums that I have worked with that the only thing that he was trusted to do was answer the phone even though he was supposed to be setting up tours and helping with getting the new displays placards designed and then purchased, he was and still is employed there and is a true waste of space.

[Mike]

MWALLEN,
As a relatively new member, I am still playing catch-up with all of the great (and not-so-great) things I am learning here, so there are times when my support/commentary might not be immediate.

I've read the posts about the mast of the Oklahoma, and just recently come across the band-aid "fix" for it. It isdeplorable, and should be addressed until it is rectified... however... given the state of affairs across the board when it comes to items such as this, I think that the cacophony of scraping from 152 soap boxes isn't happening due to a couple of possible reasons:
1)  Status quo. If my chippings from this iceberg of frustration are reliable, it would appear...and I say "appear" as an outsider looking in... that this is pretty much that which is expected nowadays. I share and understand your frustration, as - I imagine - do many others. After reading about the Ling and Clamagore, though... this surprises me not.
2) Quiet and resigned frustration. There are a metric butt-ton of contributors with insanely awesome ideas shared here. Folks I would love to share a Scapa with and swap tales of lamentations concerning management. Seriously? Who would think of "reinstating" qualification ratings for Volunteers/Staff?? That is devious ingenuity right there, and I would be right up at the front of the line to be told "Ya don't have it right, Mac... try again." There is, unfortunately, a very solid wall that people gifted with vision (or at least corrected to self-adjusting 20/20 hindsight) hit when faced with the "Cliffs of Insanity" that is what appears to be the state of affairs with management of the various museum ships... Try and try again, and the cliffs keep producing an even more slippery slope of inane and misguided goals, and the boulders of misaligned "priorities" keep a' fallin'... Until... It gets too much and people just say "to hell with it" and reorient themselves in a direction that makes much more sense.
3) Busy. As I type this, I am getting questions of "Pizza?", "Who is James Garner?", ect... and much like the #2, I am tempted to close this page and focus on the folks who are STILL awake and in need of attention. To do so would be, essentially, setting aside that which is important for that which is a priority. Or vice-versa. I don't know which, as they are easily interchangeable, but that is pretty much my point.

Should something be done about this? Absolutely.
Do I know what exactly? Not a clue.
But I hear you...

[Jim]

At least in Hawaii, it was "climate controlled".  Warm and humid.    In Oklahoma it has 90 degree swings in temperature change. Winter snow with extreme ice and 10 degrees to 100 degree heat in the summer.  All of this for 3 years directly on the mast to include UV damage that it did not get in the warehouse.  Sad......The ice alone is responsible for a lot of the surface damage.

[Mark Sarsfield]

In HI you have salt air to contend with.  At the end of the day, it's all bad. 

[Mike]

...Thanks for your support bucketrider...I think you have more of a clue than you think you do.

Mark

Thanks, Mark.
I really hope the ideas and clues I have from consolidating what you folks have to say will eventually be useful...

No... let me restate: This will be useful...

 

[Darrin]

Mark,

Thank you for the correction because I remember parts of the USS Oklahoma on Ford Island back in the early '90s and sadly I had assumed that her mast was one of those parts.

Mike chime in as to whom you are on the new members page please.

Darrin

[Darrin]

Thanks Mark,

I thought he was familiar just didn't recognize his new screen name especially knowing a few Mike's.

As always keep your chin up my friend, it does look like there is a bright light at the end of your tunnel and I don't think that it is a train this time

Darrin