PATRIOTS POINT - HONORING OUR HEROES

We spent a wonderful day in Charleston/Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina! The Medal of Honor museum is a very worthwhile visit. The meaningful exhibits exemplify the values of the Medal of Honor recipients: courage, sacrifice, patriotism, integrity, and commitment.

Jennifer and Pat Waters greeted us like royalty. I feel so fortunate that I was able to be a part of the development of the Medal of Honor national curriculum-I have gained so much from meeting these two delightful people, as well as several Medal of Honor recipients, including Jack Jacobs, Leo Thorsness, Alfred Rascon, Pat Brady, and Gary Wetzel.

I especially liked the touch screen information panels with video that told the story of featured recipients. There was a wall of recipient names from the Civil War to the most recent. Abraham Lincoln, who first signed into law the provision for the Medal , said "Any nation that does not honor its heroes will not long endure."

Pat Waters took Jennifer, Tim, Dick Trammel (Executive Director of Patriots Point), and I to a fabulous lunch at Langdon's (778 S. Shellmore Blvd). The arugula lettuce salad was the best salad I ever had in my life-beef strips, arugula, goat cheese, poached pears with mild balsamic dressing. Tim really liked his shrimp and grits. Over lunch our conversation was about museums, education, curriculum, history, and family.

We returned to Patriots Point and toured the Yorktown with Mike Sudzina, a Marine veteran of Viet Nam. He gave us a special tour of several decks on this retired WW II/Viet Nam era aircraft carrier. I wanted to see the captain's quarters (sparse), the captain's dining area (when I lived in France in 1967-1968 my friend Judy Porter and I were invited to dine at the captain's table aboard the U.S.S. Roosevelt and I wanted to remember that time), the galley (not unlike that of a cruise ship--huge huge pots), the medical center area, offices, the crew quarters, the admiral's quarters. I was amazed at the planes aboard, including a Tom Cat, a Huey, and so many more. We saw the elevators that lifted the planes up to the flight deck from the deck below, the tail hooks, and so much more. We actually spent another three hours at the museum. My favorite Navy veteran, TK, enjoyed the visit to Patriots Point.

Dear Readers, this blog is longer than I anticipated, but we visited this area specifically to visit the Medal of Honor museum and I don't want to forget the impact it had on me.

TK's Takes: Shrimp and Grits! Dick Trammel is going to share a recipe with him!

We decided to head to Savannah (about 105 miles). We got a room at Hilton Garden Inn/Savannah Airport without a problem.