Today marks 239 years for the United States Navy, starting with the Continental Navy, when the Continental Congress authorized the procurement of 2 armed vessels, on October 13, 1775. By the end of our War of Independence we had almost 50 ships with 20 warships in our fleet.
I live in Pensacola, Florida and we are a Navy town. Our Naval Air Base Pensacola is a longtime site for maritime vessels. This is called the “Cradle of Naval Aviation.”
NAS Pensacola is the primary base for Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard Aviators. In 1825, President John Quincy Adams designated this area for the Pensacola Navy Yard. The Navy Appropriations Act of 1911 made the possibilities of Naval Aviation.
We are also home of the Untied States Navy Blue Angels. The Blue Angels were formed in 1946 for the morale of the Navy. We are real proud of “our” Blue Angels around here. We get two shows, one out on Pensacola Beach and then their Homecoming Show in November.
My Grandbaby Lilly was here in July and we went out to the beach for the show. As you may imagine, it was a perfect day. The show in November will be held out on the base and we will be going out for that too.
Our Navy is rich in history. Their motto is “Not Self, But Country,” or “Non sibi sed patriae”. With that in mind, Honey and I took our pup to take a run out to the beach just last night. As we were unloading the truck, a polite young man came up to us to “borrow” a smoke, I asked: “Do you have a lighter?” Oh, yes ma’am. About 5 minutes later he came out to the water for that light. My Honey asked, “what you boys doing?” He said they were stationed out to the base. My Honey, being the Marine Vet he is, reached around and gave that young man a twenty spot, “just to get through”.
I was standing in the water looking toward two different generations of Military men and thinking “Not Self, But Country”
**Jacquie
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