Attn. JFK vets: There's still time

TJ Scott of Atlanta is going to be glad to hear this: Yes, veterans and relatives of the USS John F. Kennedy can still get on the invite list to Friday's (March 23) historic decommissioning ceremony.

That's the word from Lt. Walter Matthews. As the ship's public affairs officer, it is he who does the inviting.

To get invited, e-mail Matthews at pao@kennedy.navy.mil. If your e-mail bounces back, he said, keep trying: their e-mail system is overloaded sometimes. Approximately 5,000 are expected to attend the event, which begins at 10 a.m. and is expected to last up to two hours.

I say that Scott will be glad because he e-mailed me today saying he was worried about getting into the ceremony. Scott served on the ship from January 1974 to July 1976 as an electronics technician. He told me by phone that his plan is to just arrive at Mayport Naval Station Friday and hope for the best.

"I figured I'd show up at the gate, show them my DD-214 and say 'I want to go to this thing.'" [The DD214, he said, is a discharge paper that shows dates of military service and the last ship you served on.]

Well, hopefully it won't come to that. Good luck to TJ and all the other Kennedy vets trying to get into the big show.

Jeff