The road trip to deliver the USS Franklin memorial plaques from San Diego to their new home in Corpus Christi culminated with our arrival at the USS Lexington (CV-16) Museum on October 10th and an enthusiastic welcome from the staff and Angel Barnes – the host of the reunion coming up in February – and her husband Ray and two daughters. It’s worth mentioning that if not for Angel Barnes and her attendance at this year’s Franklin reunion in Fredericksburg, Texas, neither the plaques nor the reunion would have a home at the USS Lexington. She made this all happen.
When we arrived on the street in front of the ship, Angel told us to drive right up the pier! That was not what I was expecting but it certainly made sense. We saw a FedEx truck drive up the pier without hesitation, so this was nothing out of the ordinary. So we drove up the pier and waiting at the top was Angel and her family and five employees of the USS Lexington Museum: One woman who prepared the documents for the donation of the plaques from the USS Franklin Museum Association, two gentlemen who were there to unload the plaques from the van and take them into the ship, and the Director of Operations & Exhibits and the Executive Director of the museum. To say that they were welcoming and enthusiastic about receiving the plaques would be an understatement.
Once the plaques were documented and I was given a receipt for their donation, they were unloaded from the van, placed on a cart, taken aboard the ship and then carried by hand down steep ship’s stairs and through narrow passageways to a temporary holding room for artifacts not yet assigned a museum accession number.
(You can see in some of the photos that the ship is decorated for Halloween.)
Once the plaques receive an accession number, they will be moved to the collections room (below on the left) where they will be available for incorporation into an exhibit. After depositing the plaques, we were shown the part of the ship called, “Carrier Row” which is dedicated to U.S. Navy aircraft carriers (below on the right). Up until this point, the museum had no artifacts from the USS Franklin and that’s why the staff was so excited to receive the plaques. They showed us where the plaques will likely be mounted. They weren’t sure whether the permanent display would be completed by the time of the reunion in February but said they were hoping to mount the plaques on a temporary display by then.
After that bit of excitement, we were given complete access to the ship and we visited the hangar deck and flight deck and filmed some “B-roll” (background scenes) for the documentary. When our visit at the USS Lexington was over, we headed back to our AirBnB on Padre Island and enjoyed a little R&R time on the beach.
Later that afternoon, we were grateful to be invited by Angel and her husband Ray to their home where they prepared excellent fish tacos and we had a wonderful evening visiting with them and their two daughters, capping off what had been an exciting and emotional day, at least for me. While we were still on the ship, I and Angel texted and called a number of people in the Franklin family about the delivery of the plaques, which were happy messages to send. It was a joyful occasion at the end of a memorable 1,800-mile road trip made up of beautiful scenery of the American Southwest and heartfelt interviews with interesting and generous people, culminating with the delivery of the “long lost” Franklin memorial plaques to the USS Lexington Museum.
I couldn’t help but think about Ray Bailey who had donated those plaques to the USS Midway Museum over 15 years ago with the hopes that the men who gave the ultimate sacrifice while serving on the Franklin would be memorialized there in San Diego. Although that was not meant to be, I like to think that Ray would have appreciated the enthusiasm with which the USS Franklin was welcomed to the USS Lexington, a sister WWII-era Essex-class carrier. I believe you will witness this enthusiasm and warm welcome from the folks at the Lexington when we meet at the reunion in February in Corpus Christi.
This is the final update for the road trip. In my next update, I will be letting you know about next steps for funding and distribution of the documentary.
Until then, take care,
Andy
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