I had a gentlemen email me over the weekend inquiring about exceptions for lines for a WWII Vet. His family was worried about the long wait he might have to endure.  This is part of the email he wrote in response to their visit.

......Secondly, my wife and I had a wonderful time aboard the 325 Saturday in Nashville.  I had intended at some time to visit it in Evansville  to see the kind of ship my beloved uncle Morris Phelps served on, the 210, in World War II.  The 210 hull number is visible in one of the photos on display on the tank deck showing a line-up of LST’s on St. Tropez beach.  I had also encouraged all of my co-workers in the Nashville Post Office to pay the 325 a visit during its Nashville stay.  One of them wanted to take her father, a Navy veteran of World War II,  and it was on her behalf I e-mailed an inquiry on whether there were special accommodations for older veterans in poor health.  What follows is what happened, as the lady reported to me in an e-mail:

Ben and my brother-in-law took my father to see the ship Sunday. They said he had the best time. He toured the whole ship. When they got there, there was a long line. My father is on oxygen so he sat down and Ben got in line while George parked the car. A man at the front of the line told Ben to get his father and come up front with them. Ben got my father and went to the front of the line. Ben carried a chair and when daddy got tired he sat down. When going down the steps Ben got in front and George got behind and carried his oxygen tank. Ben said daddy talked to everyone on the ship and told them all kinds of stories because he was on a ship just like that one. The only problem was when they were ready to go back up the steps to leave my father said he didn't think he could make it. He did, he was just tired when he got home but had such a good time. I am so glad they got to go. I would have enjoyed going but I was helping my brother and I knew daddy would have a good time with the boys. He could talk Navy with Ben and he is hard of hearing but can hear George pretty well so he enjoys talking to him.

You guys are doing a great thing in preserving this piece of history, connecting future generations to the past and to our heritage of freedom, and re-connecting some fine persons with a chapter in their lives marked with courage, duty, and sacrifice for which they can always be proud.  Keep up the great work!

BOB