Boston:USS Bataan Navy sailors get a star-spangled salute

Navy sailors get a star-spangled salute
USO fetes Bataan crew in North End
By Tania deLuzuriaga
Globe Staff / July 5, 2008
The men and women stationed on the USS Bataan couldn't celebrate Independence Day with their own families yesterday, but the volunteers of the United Service Organizations New England wanted them to feel at home nonetheless.


The USO hosted the crew, along with local active and reserve military personnel from every branch, at its annual Fourth of July celebration at the US Coast Guard base in the North End.

In a flag ceremony during the event, Jean Eastman, the USO's executive director for New England, thanked the service members present for their service.

"We owe you more than thanks," she said. "You exemplify what it means to be Americans."

As "America the Beautiful" and "The Star Spangled Banner" were sung, an honor guard silently unfolded and refolded a soot-covered American flag that flew at the World Trade Center when it was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.

For Commander Brenda Bradley Davila, the chaplain on the USS Bataan, the opportunity to see the birthplace of the American Revolution "put the meat on the bones" of history.
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