Photo By Garrett Dipuma | PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Attendees at the National Naval Aviation Museum (NNAM) onboard...... read more read more
Subscribe
PENSACOLA, Fla. – As part of the Pensacola Navy Days celebration, the National Naval Aviation Museum (NNAM) hosted the inaugural ‘Night at the Museum’ Gala May. 17.
The black-tie event, held as part of the Pensacola Navy Days weekend-long celebration of the ongoing U.S. military presence in northwest Florida, featured cocktails, dinner, dancing and guest speaker, Adm. (ret) Harry Harris, a Pensacola, Florida, native.
“I grew up not too far from here and went to flight training here after I got commissioned,” said Harris. “It’s great to be back and to be a part of this inaugural Navy Days event.”
Pensacola Navy Days was conceived by Florida State Senator Doug Broxson as a means of celebrating the rich military heritage of the greater Pensacola area and showcasing the pride and appreciation Escambia and Santa Rosa County have for the air station, Corry Station, NAS Whiting Field and the numerous tenant commands encompassing all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces at the installations as well as additional area military footprints.
Broxson called together community leaders – including Capt. (ret.) Tim ‘Lucky’ Kinsella, a former commanding officer of (NAS) Pensacola – to spearhead the efforts, creating Pensacola Navy Days, a weekend-long series of events.
“This community has had a Navy presence for almost 200 years now,” Kinsella said. “The Navy has one of the longest presences here in Pensacola compared to anywhere else in the country, and it’s about time we had a Navy Days to formalize that relationship between the military and our community. This base was the privilege of my life to command. To be able to formalize and commemorate the relationship between this community which I love so much and this base is one of the greatest things that I’ve been involved with.”
The formal portion of the Pensacola Navy Days celebration, the ‘Night at the Museum’ Gala served to open the May 17-19 festivities. Although weather impacted other planned activities, Pensacola Navy Days Board of Directors member and radio personality Brent Lane – who served as the black-tie event’s emcee – said the concept of celebrating the military and community relationship is something he feel will continue to grow.
“Of course Pensacola has such a great opinion of the Navy; we love our Navy, we love our Blue Angels,” he said. “I think this is the beginning of something big, and I hope that we can continue to strengthen the bond that is the connection between our local community and our military.”
Pensacola Navy Days is a non-profit organization. The Board of Directors includes representatives from NAS Pensacola (non-voting); the Pensacola Navy League; the City of Pensacola; Visit Pensacola; the Greater Pensacola Chamber of Commerce; Cat Country Radio; Pensacola Mardi Gras; the University of West Florida; the Escambia County School District; and Navy Federal Credit Union.
NAS Pensacola, referred to as the "Cradle of Naval Aviation," is designed to support operational and training missions of tenant commands, including the Naval Aviation Technical Training Center (NATTC); Naval Aviation Schools Command (NASC); the Center for Information Warfare Training (CWIT); Marine Aviation Training Support Groups (MATSG) 21 and 23; and serves as the headquarters for Naval Education and Training Command (NETC).
| Date Taken: | 05.17.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 05.22.2024 14:55 |
| Story ID: | 472021 |
| Location: | PENSACOLA, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 151 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Naval Aviation Museum Hosts Pensacola Navy Days Gala, by Garrett Dipuma, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
