Well, the U.S.S. JAMES E. WILLIAMS DDG95 is finally on its way to being a REALITY.

I, my daughters Debbie and Gail, and their husbands and granddaughter Danielle were on hand for the Keel Laying Monday, July 15, 2002 in Pascagoula, Miss. Also attending were Ron Ray, MOH and Bill Sims.

We were picked up at the motel by an employee of Northrop Grumman and taken to the shipyard where we were met by Bob Merchent and the Navy representatives that will be overseeing the building of the ship. Also many of the employees that will be working on the ship were present.
Gail wrote a message to her daddy on the keel of the ship. They are going to put a coating over it so that it will be preserved when the ship is sealed. It will no longer be seen but will always be there.

After introductions were made I signed the keel plaque with my initials, (after burning my hand on the hot metal). It must have been 105 degrees that morning with no wind.) Then there was a ceremonial weld of the plaque and Bob Merchant talked and then it was my time to talk. Instead of a speech I read an Email that I had received from Tom "Windy" Sherman on Saturday night. Windy was on the DOUGLAS H. FOX with Elliott and had expressed all of my feeling that I could not put into words.

Cherie Cole, who is in charge of ceremonies for Northrop, had a duplicate plaque, of the one going on the ship, for me and one of the keel laying announcement for me and all of the children. When I told her that Elliott spelled his name with two "t's" and not one, as it was spelled on the plaques, needless to say, we came home without any of them. She is going to have them all corrected and mailed to me. She told me that it came from the Sec. of the Navy spelled like that. Oh well, that's government work!!!

After the short ceremony we went to the Executive dining room for a wonderful lunch of steak and fried shrimp with all of the trimmings.
The christening is scheduled for June, 2003, and there is a POSSIBILITY that the commissioning will be on the East Coast somewhere like Charleston, S. C. or Mayport, Fla. Let's keep our fingers crossed!!!

It was a wonderful feeling and experience to finally see it coming to life. Hope to see you all at the christening next year.
Elaine