USS Nimitz Welcoming

LaLa, Flossy, Suze Sally Somarsall, Tiezee, Scooter and Sparkles had the honor of welcoming the USS Nimitz home to the Bremerton Naval Shipyard. What an experience!!! The clowns got teary watching the 1092-foot supercarrier turn into the bay with the crew standing at ease on the perimeter of the flight deck. There were thousands of families waiting on the dock for daddies and mommies to return home. The USS Nimitz left from Bremerton on June 1 for a six-month deployment and was part of a strike group that sailed more than 78,000 miles. All the little kids were so excited to have their parent home for Christmas. With a crew of 3,100 you can only imagine how many people were there to greet the crew and how many balloons animals were made!

One of our clowns, Sparkles is an Army brat. She said, “The flag is a major part of my life and what it means, freedom. Such an honor to watch the flag be raised as the ship was tied to the pier. Almost six hours of standing on our feet was well worth it seeing the Nimitz and seeing the families waiting for their loved ones is indescribable. This experience was definitely one of the top of my life.”

The USS Nimitz’s aircraft flew more than 1300 combat sorties into Iraq and Syria. She also participated in the Navy’s first tri-carrier exercise in the Western Pacific in a decade and in other joint exercises with allied nations.