By Gary Cooper
In honor of the 24th anniversary of the decommissioning of the Battleship New Jersey (BB-62), the New Jersey State Library will present a free lunch-time program, Oral Histories of the Battleship N.J. with Ron Gottardi, executive director of the oral histories project, on Tuesday, February 3, from noon to 1 p.m. in the 2nd floor Reading Room. Gottardi will discuss how the project got started 14 years ago and how the history of the Battleship New Jersey has been enhanced through the personal memories of U.S. Navy crewmembers, U.S. Marine corps personnel, other military veterans and civilians who helped construct or maintain the battleship. The NJ State Library is located at 185 West State St., Trenton.
In a cooperative effort, the New Jersey State Library acquired copies of the oral histories and digitized them, making them available to historians, teachers, researchers, students and the general public. A large portion of the 320 interview collection consists of video interviews of veterans who served aboard BB62 during her four commissionings: World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Middle East conflict up through 1991. During these periods, the battleship earned 19 battle stars to become the most decorated battleship in U.S. history. The ship is now a museum and memorial permanently berthed on the Camden Waterfront. For more about the Battleship New Jersey visit http://www.battleshipnj.org.
All are welcome to attend. RSVP to Cindy Warrick at [email protected] or 609-278-2640 ext. 172.
