November 10. 2010: Long Beach, California: Alpert & Alpert, Iron and Metal Inc.:
Supervisor David Simmons does a walk through inspection of a newly arrived shipment of scrap metal from Hawaii. David is a former Navy Corpsman and Vietnam Veteran and is always on the lookout for possible historical items that might be coming through the yards. Today he spots a bronze plaque with writing on it. He takes a closer look and he immediately recognizes it as a ship’s plaque, The Kirk’s plaque. With some assistance he pulls the plaque aside and later that day does a search for the USS Kirk and quickly finds our website , contacts us and includes photos taken on his cell phone.
Talk about serendipity. We quickly responded with enthusiasm and disbelief that the plaque still exists. David then met with the management and owners of Alpert & Alpert and they did not hesitate, in true patriotic form, to not only donate the plaque to the Kirk Association but to also have it sent for restoration at their cost.
I am thrilled to present the above photo, professionally taken, just prior to it’s being delivered to the restorer. Please extend our gratitude to David Simmons and the owners of Alpert & Alpert for saving this piece of our/Kirk history.
Jim “Bon” Bongaard
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Great find, it is funny how this association has come about. I hope to see this plaque soon.
Todd Thedell
OS2 1974-1977
Where is this beauty now? What a magnificent find!
Wow!! That is cool!! I wonder how many times I have passed that plaque between 83 and 87…