|
2008 REUNION
As
host to the 2008 reunion, I want to quickly introduce myself and
encourage you, your family and/or friends to plan ahead and
attend the 2008 Semmes reunion. If you haven’t attended
one in the past, I can assure you that it will be one of the
best memories of your life.
My name is Byron Personett
and I served all 4 years of my Navy career seasick aboard the
big gray #18. I lost 36 pounds on my first cruise to the
Med. I was throwing up in the Cooper River, 9 miles from
the Atlantic. I prayed to die at times, but somehow I
survived. I served from January ‘65 to August ‘69. I
was on the deck crew for my first cruise, then became a sonar
man and left as an E5. I married my high school
sweetheart, Jackie, on leave in 1966 and we just celebrated our
40th anniversary last year with a trip to Alaska. Jackie
and I heard about the 2004 reunion in New Orleans and along with
an old shipmate, we attended and had a ball. We went back
to Niagara Falls for the 2006 reunion and again made memories
and had a blast. We were so excited about the reunions
that we have volunteered to host the 2008 Reunion in our
hometown of Nashville, TN. It will be held on Wednesday,
June 18th, 2008 thru
Sunday, June 22nd, 2008. The location will be at the
Radisson Opryland Hotel, which is by the Grand Ole’ Opry, 15
minutes from Nashville International Airport and 15 minutes from
historical downtown Nashville. The crew members that got
the ball rolling with the 2002 reunion were mainly plank owners
and each year we gain more of the crew from later years.
It is the goal of our association and myself this year to get
crew members from all the years that the Semmes sailed.
Our past reunions have started on a Thursday night with a
closing banquet on a Monday evening. This year we will be
starting on a Wednesday night, with our closing ceremonies on
Saturday night. I encourage you to attend all 4 nights,
but if you still have job commitments that will not allow you to
make it in on Wednesday, then please try to come for Friday and
Saturday festivities.
Let me go over some of the
highlights that will make this reunion “Great in ‘08”.
First of all, we had over 100 crew and guest sign up at the end
of the ‘06 reunion for the ‘08 reunion. Our goal is for
over 200 crew and guests to make it to Nashville. We are
hoping for over 50 - 75 new crew members to attend.
We will be including a lot of extra things in your registration
fee, like a free tour, continental breakfast each morning, free
transportation to local attractions, more free welcome gifts and
many surprises.
Some of our special events
will be a dinner cruise on the General Jackson River Boat.
A country Hoe Down featuring line dancing, crew member karaoke
contest and a western costume contest followed by a trip to the
world famous Grand Ole Opry. We will be having a silent
auction with one of a kind collectables, along with a variety of
military and Navy items. We will be lining up a group of
tours that fit into everyone’s budget. We will have the
largest hospitality room that we have ever had and it will be
available for more time to tell sea stories. The final
night will be a special finale, with laughs, good food and lots
of surprises.
The world famous and
second largest hotel in the world, Opryland Hotel, is within
walking distance, along with Opry Mills mall. Both have
free transportation. There are many shops and restaurants
in the mall and in the local area, including an Applebee’s in
our hotel. Those of you that will be camping, Two Rivers
Campground is one mile from our hotel. The hotel rate for
us is $87 plus tax per night and the rate is good up to 3 days
before and 3 days after our reunion, for those of you wanting to
extend your trip. Room rate is based on 2 people with
children under 17 free. Extra adults are $10 each.
The tour and events are
available to look at by going to the 2008 Reunion Itinerary page
and you can sign up for the tours and events by hitting the
Register button on the same page. Please reserve
your hotel room ASAP to make sure you have a place to stay. If
you have not signed up for the reunion, please do so now. The
registration fee for the crew member will be $60, spouse/or
other guest $40. We encourage you to join the USS Semmes
Association to remain in touch with everyone and to keep the
Semmes legacy alive.
Registration
information for the hotel and Reunion. Any questions
you might have please contact me at:
personett@aol.com or call
me.
Home 615-851-9776 or cell 615-594-1153.
Contact all Semmes crew
members that you know and don’t be late - “It will be great in
‘08”.
Reunion 2008 Update
It’s hard to believe, but our reunion is just a few weeks away. The response has been great and we now have 140 people registered, including over 50 who will be attending for the very first time. There are still many new shipmates who are planning on registering in the next few weeks. It looks like we will end up with over 150 coming to Nashville. 110 of you have signed up for your Events and Tours and 120 of you have registered for your room. We have a block of 75 rooms and there are only 15 rooms left. The rest of you who have registered for the reunion need to call the hotel and book a room before they are gone. Some of our tours are filling up so please register for your Tours and Events now.
If there are any shipmates that you have not contacted about the Reunion, please do so know.
If you have not sent me the 2 pictures that I requested, please do so as soon as possible. If you do not have a baby picture, then send me any picture that you have as a child. Also, do not forget to let me know your dinner selections for the banquet, Jack Daniels steak or pecan chicken.
Please let me know if you will not be staying in the hotel so I can adjust my room totals.
Please contact us if you have any
questions.
Byron and Jackie
2008 Reunion Hosts
|
