Ahoy - Mac's Web Log

Sir,

I am so pleased to be able to e mail you to express my feelings about the Bell from my ship the USS Canberra CAG2,, as I understand what I have read your son was baptized using the bell from the Canberra, now it is at the Museum in Sydney at Darling Harbor.

When I first learn of this I must say I was not overjoyed that one of the few items that were saved from USS Canberra would be located so far from her crew. I discovered the bell being prepared for shipping it was being measured for the wooden crate.I did photograph the bell, this was onboard the USS Salaam CA139.

I share this with you because I made three deployments to Vietnam with Canberra, the one in 1967 was the most difficult, Seadragon operations were filled with excitement, but the crew knew if all went well we would be coming to your country.This kept us happy, as we all wanted very much to see Australia. I never met anyone who was on the ship, during our stay in Melbourne that did not love your country.

I guess what it is I am trying to tell you, is that having the bell in Australia, got my wife and I to come to Sydney, not only to see the bell but to visit your country again. This time I went back to Melbourne and Canberra as well.So now I am very pleased that the bell is in Australia, and Eva and I are planning another trip.

Vr  PH1 USN RET.  Ed Huntington

Hello Ed,

Thank you for your letter, and I am pleased you have come to accept that USS Canberra's bell  is OK to be in Sydney.

After your ship was named after my HMAS Canberra which I was serving in when sunk at the Battle of Savo Island, and then Raymond was christened in your ship in Melbourne using the bell and Captain Edwin Rosenberg USN became his God Father, I was anxious to try and get the bell donated to Australia.

It was presented to my Prime Minister by President George Bush at the Washington Navy Yard on the 10th. of September 2001, the day before 9/11, to mark the 50th. anniversary of signing the ANZUS treaty between the US and Australia, and Denise and I were there for that ceremony. The PM asked us to go with him the next day to Arlington Cemetery to vist the grave of the one Australian service man buried there.

Of course this was cancelled as 9/11 unfolded, we had been booked to fly home on American Airlines Flight 77, that crashed into the Pentagon, so only for the PM's invitation we would have been on that fatal flight.

I am pleased that you enjoyed Australia.

Best regards, 
Mackenzie Gregory.