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Lemoore
retired sailor: Misses Constellation's retirement ceremony
By
Jim Marvin
Newzcentral.com,
August 14, 2003
 THE CONNIE'S FIRST CRUISE -- John Grego, Lemoore, points to
the area where he first crossed the equator as the USS Constellation was
moved from the east coast to her home port in Sand Diego. In the top U.S.
Navy photo, crowds pay a last respect to the Connie, the ship that was
decommissioned last Thursday.
LEMOORE--The
date, Aug. 7, 2003 -- last Thursday -- was a special day for the Navy, for
the USS Constellation and for a Lemoore Navy veteran.
That was
the day the "Connie," the USS Constellation CVV 64, after 42
years of service to America, was decommissioned in Coronado.
Although,
according to the Associated Press, some of the estimated 60,000 sailors
who served aboard the Connie were present in San Diego when the
decommissioning ceremony took place, John Grego, 67, Lemoore, wasn't
there.
And
Grego knows he will probably regret not taking the time away from a
part-time job, part-time volunteer position, for the Lemoore Chamber of
Commerce. His attendance in San Diego would have marked a milestone few of
the thousands of sailors who walked her decks and readied and flew her
planes into war could claim -- he was there at the start of her 41 years
of service.
Grego
was a member of the commissioning detail when the carrier was being
outfitted for sea and commissioned at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in October
1961. Grego was aboard the ship's first cruise in July 1962 when he made
chief at sea. During that cruise Grego crossed the equator as the Connie
sailed around Cape Horn and up the coast of South America to her homeport
at North Island.
The
ship, almost 1,100 feet long, Grego remembers, will go into a ship's
graveyard in Bremerton, Wash. near where the USS Missouri was berthed.
Capt. John W. Miller, the last of the 30 commanding officers, signed the
final entry into the ship's log last week in Coronado.
Grego
said he left the Connie in 1964, but his years of Naval service continued
as he served three tours in Vietnam on different carriers and retired in
February 1977 at Corpus Christi, Texas, before returning to Lemoore to
live.
Grego
joined the Navy in 1955 and did his basic in Bainbridge, Md. From there he
went to Norman, Okla., to AMA school and then to Memphis, Tenn., before
joining VF-213 at Moffett Field in San Jose. His first cruise was on the
USS Bonhomme Richard in 1956.
Back to
Moffett, the sailor, specializing in aircraft maintenance -- that
experience found him working on every type of aircraft the Navy had during
times of war and peace -- was sent for more training to North Island and
then joined he pre-commission detail of the Connie in October 1961.
The
Lemoore man said he helped check the Connie as it was being built. And
during his stay in Brooklyn, he met and married Anna Maria -- the couple
has been married 41 years.
In 1971
Grego was stationed at Naval Air Station Lemoore, his first duty here, as
a senior chief with VA-215. Over his years in the Navy, the career sailor
served with VT-25, VT-26, VT-28 and VAQ-33. After the Navy, Grego returned
to Lemoore and worked as a supervisor for McCarthy Farms. He currently, as
president of the Chamber, took over as acting head after Laura Martin
resigned three months ago.
"I
loved the Connie," the retired senior chief said, "even with her
problems over the years. We called her 'Zippo' because of the fires and
other problems we faced. But the Connie was my first chance to be in the
chief's compartment -- we had better food, TV and laundry service."
Grego
agreed with the Navy in retiring the Constellation, but added, "It
seems like yesterday we commissioned her, still it's been over 40 years. I
helped build the ship and I'll always regret not going to the
decommissioning services; sort of a beginning and an end."
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