USS Juneau Presentation Silver: Legacy Project

Many many years ago, the children of Juneau, Alaska, and other locals, saved their lunch money in order to purchase a silver punch bowl to present to the USS Juneau.

Engraved Silver Punch Bowl

The Presentation Silver was put into storage before the USS Juneau was sent to war in 1942 and was only recently located with the help of Senator Lisa Murkowski, the U.S. Navy, and Lion Donna Hurley of the Juneau Mendenhall Flying Lions Club.

The Presentation Silver

It is now on loan from the U.S. Navy and has come home to rest where it will be on display at the City Museum for the next ten years.   The Juneau Mendenhall Flying Lions Club and the City Museum had an "Unveiling Reception" recently for Alaska Legislators and local dignitaries and a second reception open to the public.

How it all began:  

When Lion Donna Hurley started this journey many years ago.... this journey being her interest in the USS Juneau.... I suspect she didn't have any idea where it was going to take her.... All it took was for one person to ask, "whatever happened to the Silver Punch Bowl?" and this project was born.  It was like a starfish with many different legs.  It just kept growing.

First there was the USS Juneau Remembrance Ceremony in November on the docks of Juneau.  It was a blustery day when we honored and gave respect to the 697 sailors and crew that perished at the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942 when a Japanese torpedo hit the USS Juneau CL-52 and sunk it.  LCDR Richard Halbig told the story of the day the USS Juneau was torpedoed and sunk HERE.

The Empire wrote the first article, USS Juneau Returns Home.  From there, the story has gone global. Google USS Juneau and see what you find.

We started advertising the Unveiling Ceremony on February 8.

Captain Eugene Bailey and his wife, Juanita, arrived in town on February 11 to join in the festivities. Captain Bailey was the Captain in 1996 on the third ship named USS Juneau.  He was in Juneau in 1987 when the USS Juneau Memorial was dedicated.

Captain Bailey and his wife, Juanita

Then there was the social at the Buoy Deck for active military and veterans.  We were honored to have International Director Lewis Quinn in attendance where he addressed the military.  It was a great evening of remembering and making new friends.

International Director Lewis Quinn

Then the Unveiling of the Presentation Silver.  First was a private reception for legislators, city assembly, and other dignitaries.  Parents brought their children as this was a piece of history.  Representative Gruenberg talked about his involvement in 1987 when we had the first USS Juneau Memorial service.  More remembering that awful day on November 13, 1942 when the Japanese torpedoed the USS Juneau and sunk it.  After eight days of being in shark-infested water, only ten survived before being rescued.

 

And, last, was the reception we held for the public on Valentines Day, February 14.

The Story has been told.  The Presentation Silver has been shown.  Juneau has a big piece of its history back home.  #Lions100 Legacy Project

Lion Nancy Norton
Juneau Mendenhall Flying Lions