SSN 680 Plan of the Day
- Brad Williamson
Forty-eight years ago today, the USS WILLIAM H. BATES (SSN 680) hit the water for the first time.
At a ceremony in Pascagoula, Mississippi, both the wife and daughter of Congressman Bates were present to applaud the result of two years of work by Ingalls Nuclear Shipbuilding afloat the way she was meant to be. While it would be another year and a half before she was ready for commissioning and sea trials, the Bates would go on to a noble career that would span almost 28 years.
- Brad Williamson
As previously reported here, Chris Pipkin, ET2(SS), Nav ET - Operations Electronics, 79-83, passed away on 22 SEP 2019 from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident.
Linda Pipkin and her son Christopher Radke invite you to honor Chris and join with his family in a Celebration of Life on this coming Saturday, 16 NOV 2019, from 1330 to 1530 in Alpine, CA.
The Celebration will be held at the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Bert Fuller Post 9578, 844 Tavern Road, Alpine, CA 91901, located in the East San Diego County area. Street parking is available.
- Brad Williamson
We are conducting a short survey to assist us in making hotel arrangements for REGROUPEX 20, the next major reunion scheduled for crew-members of the USS WILLIAM H. BATES (SSN 680).
Scheduled for June 22-25, 2020, we need your input to negotiate the best rate with our target hotel, the Best Western Silverdale Beach, in Silverdale, Washington.
- Brad Williamson
REGROUPEX 20 - June 22-25, 2020 in Silverdale, Washington, is a go. You can put it on your schedule, and as soon as we sign a contract with the hotel, start making your travel arrangements.
At this point, it looks like we will be contracting with the Best Western Silverdale Beach to host REGROUPEX 20. As soon as we have a contract signed, we will know the final room cost and be able to start making reservations. That should happen the first week of October, but it does depend on you!
You need to complete the survey on the www.ssn-680.org website so we have an idea about how many rooms we need to block out at the Best Western. There will be details about the survey in the Familygram that will be mailed to everyone on the 23rd or 24th of September.
- Brad Williamson
Some of you may have noticed I haven’t been around much the last two months, and if you have, I’m grateful.
If you missed the updates on Facebook (about all I’ve had the time or strength to do), the second of August brought horrific news. At the time, Margaret and I were headed into Canada to celebrate our 35th anniversary, when a phone call turned our world upside down.
At lunchtime that day, my sister Melissa, her husband Bob, their 22 year-old daughter Landyn, and my youngest brother Kent were killed instantly in a collision with a drunk driver here in Michigan. In that moment, five children lost their parents, my sister-in-law Karen lost her husband, her six children lost their father, and I lost two of my three siblings.