Harry Yarnell (CG 17) - Naval Cruise Book

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onboard VARN ' ELL as the Admiral and Commanding Officers answered questions for about an hour. Naval Honor Guards saluted two of Poland ' s most sacred memorials, lay- ing a wreath at Westerplatte near Gdansk, commemorating the valiant resistance of Pol- ish troops against the German invaders who fired the first shots of World War II there. Another wreath was placed at the Solidarity .Memorial, in Gdansk, in memory of the 28 dockworkcrs killed during the 1970 Gdansk Shipyard Strike. Special visits to the American ships were reciprocated by the Polish navy. US ofncers and sailors were able to tour several Polish na- val vessels including a Kilo class submarine. Interaction between the Polish and .American sailors was not limited to an official level. Both ship ' s sports teams participated in bas- ketball, volleyball, and soccer matches against their Polish counterparts. Area uni- versity students even hosted a dance club nights for two bus loads of American sailors. As the crossed flags on the pins handed out by K.VIFFM.AN suggested, ties between the two countries, both political and person- nel, grew stronger as a result of the visit. Ove r 40 volunteers from the two ships lent a hand, and a paintbrush, to St. Bridget ' s Catholic Church, parish of Solidarity figure Father Jankowski. Others from V.ARNELL con- structed and installed a set of stairs for a local orphanage. HT2 Timothy Perriard. designer and builder of the steps, described the task as Fun. I know it ' s something I ' ll never forget. When one visit was over, an even larger crowd gathered to see the two ships off. The band and honor guard exchanged salutes with the admiral. Though the crews of both ships were tired from the work involved, they were sad to see the visit come to an end so quickly. .As brief as it was. bonds had been formed with the Polish people and quite a few pen pals would be receiving letters in the following months. When the ships pulled away a flurry of white hats flew toward the pier, small tok- ens of remembrance attached to memories for years to come. Leaving the channel that had given the new world so many Polish immi- grants a few generations before, a question from an unidentified Pole seemed, at once, to embody both his people ' s appreciation for the visit and their hope for more US ship visits in the near future: What took you so long to come ' 95

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Taking Off . . . icu s iikc ihcsc were common from ' R N l-.l. lies for HEY sailors. 1. u hen operating ilh a carrier. pro iding man phoio opporluni- and Blowing Up. V The Federal German Navy gave Baltops participants a show w hen it dem- onstrated the destructive power ofa mine under the keel of this target ship, raising it ten feet in the air before it sank to the bottom in minutes. 97