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Page 16 text:
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COMMISSICNING 31 DECEMBER 1942 CAPTAIN DONALD B. DUNCAN RECEIVED THE SHIP FROM THE YARD. HIS COMMENTS LASTED BARELY A MINUTE, YET, THOUGH HE NEVER REITERATED THE PAST, THEY COULD NOT BUT HAVE BEEN SPOKEN BY PREBLE AND BAINBRIDGE, BY PORTER AND FARRAGUTQ ECHOING 143 YEARS OF THE ESSEX LEGEND: IT IS MY INTENTION AND EXPECTATION THAT BETWEEN US WE SHALL MAKE THE NAME ESSEX CARRY FEAR AND DESTRUCTION TO OUR ENEMIES, WITH PRAISE TO OUR FRIENDS, AND BE AN EVERLASTING CREDIT TO OUR COUNTRY AND FLAG. ABOVE: CAPTAIN DUNCAN RECEIVES THE ESSEX. CENTER: RADM FELIX X. GYGAX ADDRESSES THE MEN OF THE ESSEX. BELOW: RADM FELIX X. GYGAX, COMMANDANT, NOR- FOLK NAVY YARD. RADM A. H. VAN KEU- REN, CHIEF OF BUREAU OF SHIPS. MR. HO- MER L. FERGUSON, PRESIDENT, NEWPORT NEWS SHIPBUILDING AND DRYDOCK CO. CAPT DONALD B. DUNCAN, COMMANDING OFFICER, USS ESSEX.
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Page 15 text:
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ITV WAS ONE OF THE HOTTEST DAYS OF THE SUMMER WHEN, AT EXACTLY 2:46 P.M. ON FRIDAY, 31 JULY 1942, THE USS ESSEX SLID DOWN THE WAYS INTO THE JAMES RIVER. THE WARTIME ATMOSPHERE OF THE LAUNCHING WAS EMPHASIZED BY A LINE OF SOLDIERS ARMED WITH SUB-MACHINE GUNS STANDING GUARD AROUND THE CEREMONIAL AREA. MRSJARTEMUS L. GATES, WIFE OF THE ASSISTANT SEC- RETARY OF THE NAVY FOR AIR, WAS SPONSOR FOR THE ESSEX - MAIDS OF HONOR WERE MISS DIANE GATES, DAUGHTER OF THE SPONSOR, AND MISSES ALESSANDRA AND ANNE CHENEY, NIECES OF MRS. GATES. THERE WERE NO GALA CELEBRATIONS, NO GUEST SPEAKER, NO YARDWORK INTERRUPTIONSQ ESSEX HAD A JOB TO DO AND THERE WAS NOT TIME FOR A CELEBRATION. FROM THE NEW CITIZENS OF AN OLD NEW ENGLAND TOWN CAME THE FOLLOWING WIRE: IN BEHALF OF CITIZENS OF ESSEX, MASSACHUSETTS, WE WISH TO EX- PRESS OUR DEEPEST APPRECIATION OF THE HONOR EX- TENDED THIS HISTORIC TOWN BY THE NAMING OF THE LASTEST AIRCRAFT CARRIER ESSEX. MAY GOD PROTECT AND GUIDE HER THROUGH THESE PERILOUS TIMES AHEAD THAT SHE MAY DO HER FULL SHARE TOWARD EVENTUAL PEACE.
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Page 17 text:
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,gi If ABOVE: USS ESSEX - UNDERWAY ON HER MAIDEN VOYAGE BELOW: WITH HER SHAKE-DOWN COMPLETE, ESSEX DEPARTS FOR THE SOUTH PACIFIC VIA PANAMA CANAL AND PEARL HARBOR 10 MAY 1943. 154
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