Subject: 
        USS Bennington
   Date: 
        Thu, 27 Apr 2000 19:32:54 -0400
   From: 
        wkirk <wkirk@cfl.rr.com>
     To: 
        jkpires@capecod.net



Dear Mr. Pires,

I hope you received my retyped version of the letter originally written to 
my friend Paul, a few days after the explosion of May 26, 1954. I sent it 
to Lonnie Whittaker and he posted it on the web site. I hope to add some 
photos (including the Marilyn Monroe shot)when I return from a trip to 
Nantucket for a friends daughters wedding.

I hope that was the right way to do it.

My hat is off to you, Lonnie, Bill Copeland, Richard Pope and all the 
others for the effort you put into creating this wonderful USS Bennington 
web page. It means a great deal to me and is undoubtedly also very 
therapeutic. I buried the horror of that day in my distant memory many 
years ago. It feels good to dust off the cobwebs and be able to talk about 
it again with my shipmates far and wide.

Thanks again and please keep up the good work. Her memory lives on because 
of you.

Sincerely,

Bill Kirk