.Group of Twenty-Seven has Great Time in Milwaukee
The USS
Shelton Reunion for 2008 is over, but the group that attended had a wonderful
time. A few showed up on Wednesday, but the
majority of people arrived on Thursday.
Some of the attendees walked six blocks to a German restaurant for a
delicious meal. Friday morning everyone
boarded the bus for a tour of Miller Brewery.
After an interesting two hour tour of the facilities those who wanted
to, participated in tasting three cold glasses of different Miller beers.
After
walking around the Milwaukee lakefront
on Lake Michigan, the group
boarded the bus and went back and boarded a boat for a Milwaukee River cruise that
ended up at the Riptide Restaurant for a very enjoyable meal. Friday night we returned to the hospitality
room to tell tall stories, share photo albums, and discuss how to get more
people to attend reunions.
After
Saturday morning breakfast at the Ramada, it was back aboard a bus for a trip
to Manitowoc for a tour
of the submarine museum. This tour
turned out to be fascinating. Most of us
did not know that this city manufactured submarines during World War II. We toured the USS Cobia and learned to
appreciate the tight quarters that those sailors endured. We also tried to imagine the long period of
time that crew members from the USS Cobia spent on the bottom of the ocean with
depth charges exploding around them. It
had to be devastating.
The
Saturday night banquet was terrific.
Sherri Winkelmann had to cancel because her house was flooded during the
hurricane Ike after effects that came over northern Illinois. She was going to impersonate Marilyn Monroe. Since the numbers were small we were able to
have all sailors talk. They told about
families, their work, their ship experiences, and some told humorous stories or
jokes.
There was a
memorial service for several sailors that had passed away and taps was
played. Letters were read from sailors
who wrote but could not attend.
Discussion was held on attendance, and we now have adopted friends of
the Shelton. This is for people who have no reunion to go
to or are close to the sailors that do come.
So, if you want to come to the reunion and have close friends who have a
naval history, bring them along.
The group voted to have the 2010 reunion in Maryland. We will probably look for a US Naval Academy tour and a
Pentagon tour.
For those
who stayed Sunday, there was more to see.
A group toured the Harley-Davidson Museum. Some toured that earlier. We saw motorcycles from 1903 to the
present. It was a very interesting
tour. That afternoon, those still with
us saw the Pabst Mansion. We had a great tour. If you would have been here at the reunion,
you could have gone to Miller Stadium Sunday evening and seen Carlos Zambrano
pitch a no-hitter against Houston. Thanks to Dan Gibson for making all of the
reunion arrangements.
.