Courtesy Photo | From the Oct. 5, 1944 edition of Speed Victory, the Supply Department put together...... read more read more
The many great achievements of Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) are often highlighted when looking back at the history of the shipyard, but none of those events would have been possible without the people who made those things happen. This time on Heritage Hour, as we prepare for the season of friends and family gathering, we look back at some of the people who set the groundwork for the community of shipyard personnel that we still see today.
It is easy to go about the days walking in and out of buildings without a second thought to how long they have been standing. Looking at the map of NNSY from 1900, there are buildings near Dry Dock 1 that are not only still standing, but still worked in every day. For more than 100 years, people who came to work here, who had friends and families both inside and outside the gates, walked down the same roads and worked in the same spaces and would marvel at how much the technology has changed. While the machinery and processes have improved and modified, the caliber of the people is still very much the same: supporting each other in times of need and helping each other succeed.
The blood drives we have today to support local blood banks did not exist for civilians until 1948. In 1943, one NNSY worker came to work worried about his mother in desperate need of a rare blood type transfusion. Within an hour, word had spread throughout the shops and more than 40 personnel across the codes stepped forward to offer their help.
Members of the same family all working at NNSY also goes back decades. In 1943, Francisco Vicens came to work in Shop 11 after moving from Puerto Rico with his wife and children. The next year, his brother Guillermos and sister Rosalia joined him, both entering Shop 61 as helper trainee and mechanic learner. All three came to NNSY to pursue progressive opportunities and to support their father.
The people who have chosen to work at NNSY share more than just resume notes with those that came before. They continue to exhibit the traits of a community not only connected to a trade, but to help each other. The technology evolves, how things are accomplished change, but the heart of the shipyard is people who devote themselves not only to the mission, but to greater community as a whole.
| Date Taken: | 11.01.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 11.14.2024 08:34 |
| Story ID: | 485252 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 41 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, The Heritage Hour: The Heart of NNSY, by Victoria Pendleton, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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