Whidbey Crosswind, April 29, 2022

Whidbey Crosswind FREE

Serving active duty personnel and their dependents and military veterans A publication of the Whidbey New Group

MAY 2022

Goats mean business Navy family runs a farm, makes soap ...page 2

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Friday, April 29, 2022

Whidbey Crosswind

Navy family turns to goats for business venture

BY KARINA ANDREW karina.andrew@whidbeynewsgroup.com

W

hen one San Diego native and her Navy husband moved their big city family to r ural Nor th Whidbey five years ago, they had no idea just how big a role goats were about to play in their life.

Sheena and Kris Bodenhafer, owners of Harbor Acres farm, have taken advantage of their lifestyle shift and newfound abundance of animals to create a unique hygiene product that Whidbey residents may have seen on local boutique shelves lately — goat milk soap.

“It’s pretty trendy,” Sheena said of the growing fad.

Sheena has ever ything she needs to make the soaps at home in her kitchen.

First, she gears up in gloves and goggles.

Then she begins the process by melting down lard, which she renders from pig fat, and olive and coconut oils and stirring them together.

Next, she mixes sodium hydroxide, or lye, with the goat milk.

This mixture is then combined with the oils and brought to a trace, meaning the separate components are blended so thoroughly that they won’t separate.

Then, Sheena pours the liquid soap into molds.

After 24 hours, she can cut it and allow it to cure for four to six weeks.

The goat milk in the soap functions as a moisturizer, Sheena said, which is par tly why the product has become so popular lately.

With 10 goats living at Harbor Acres, Sheena is not in danger of r un-

Photo by Karina Andrew/Whidbey News Group

Kris and Sheena Bodenhafer tend the goats on their farm, Harbor Acres. The couple uses the goats’ milk to make soaps. ning out of milk any time soon.

When the Bodenhafers first moved to Whidbey Island five years ago for Kris’s Navy career, they star ted out with just two goats. But when Sheena lear ned how lovable the farm animals are, she couldn’t help but let the little herd grow.

“They’re like potato chips,” she said fondly. “You can never just have two.”

Goats aren’t the only animals that call Harbor Acres home.

Growing up in San Diego, Sheena never had room for pets.

Now that she lives on a farm, she takes full advantage of the wide open space to keep ducks, chickens, two guinea pigs, a golden retriever and five piglets that her family shares with their neighbors.

Still, though she loves her new r ural lifestyle — especially enjoying Whidbey’s idyllic summers — r unning the farm takes a lot of hard work.

Ever yone — Sheena, Kris and their two daughters — has daily chores around the farm that must be completed, rain or shine. And the Pacific Nor thwest cer tainly sees more rainfall than the family’s former Souther n California home.

“You have to go out and work in the rain or nothing will ever get done,” Sheena said.

What makes it all wor th it, Sheena said, is kidding season.

Meeting new goats as they’re bor n reminds her why she mucks out the goat pens and takes care of a whole menagerie of farm animals.

“They have great personalities,” she said

Photo by Karina Andrew/Whidbey News Group

Kris and Sheena Bodenhafer feed the chickens that live alongside the goats on Harbor Acres.

of her goats. “They’re kind of like dogs to me.”

The workload will also become a little more manageable when Kris retires from the Navy in September.

After 20 years as an intelligence analyst, he said he is ready to spend more time with his family and enjoy working outdoors.

“I’m at the point in my life where money is not my motivation,” he said. “I want to star t doing something that is more fulfilling.”

Some of Kris’s main responsibilities on the farm are constr uction and repairs. Recent projects of his include building a hay storage area, constr ucting individual stalls for mother goats and their kids and conver ting a horse trailer into a goat trailer.

He also keeps up with regular chores around the farm — tasks which fell to Sheena and their daughters during his deployment. According to Sheena, this was an especially busy time on the farm; not only did she and her daughters have to manage a larger workload, winter weather also wreaked havoc on the farm, freezing hoses and causing a tree to fall onto a barn.

Kris said he is excited to be Sheena’s employee.

“She’s followed me around and been super suppor tive, her and the girls, for the last 20 years, and now it’s her turn to chase her dreams,” he said. “I’ll do whatever she needs over here.”

Harbor Acres goat milk soap is available at PNW Vibes Market in Oak Harbor and online at harbor-acres.com.

Navy Lt. Thomas Norris earned Medal of Honor in Vietnam When two American pilots were downed in enemy territor y toward the end of the Vietnam War, numerous attempts to rescue them by other aircraft failed. That’s when Navy Lt. Thomas Rolland Nor ris was called in to lead a ground team to find them. Both missions were a success, and they earned the young Navy SEAL the Medal of Honor.

Norris was born on Jan. 14, 1944, in Jacksonville, Florida. After college he enlisted in the Navy and was commissioned as an officer.

Norris said in an inter view later in life that he’d wanted to be a Navy pilot since he was a child. He joined the program to become one, but vision issues forced him to drop out. Instead, he volunteered for a newly created naval special warfare unit that became known as the SEALs. Nor ris ear ned the Medal of Honor while on his second tour of duty in Vietnam. It was the spring of 1972. There

were few American combat troops left in the countr y.

Nor th Vietnam saw this as an opportunity, so in late March 1972, its army sent ground troops, tanks and artiller y across the demilitarized zone to begin a fullblown invasion known as the Easter Offensive.

The U.S. responded by launching B-52 Stratofor tress bombers and EB-66 Destroyers, electronic war fare aircraft that could jam missiles aimed at the bombers.

On April 2, one EB-66 aircraft was shot down just below the DMZ. Air Force Lt. Col. Iceal “Gene” Hambleton, 53, was the only sur vivor, and he was trapped in the thick of the enemy offensive. Army helicopters tried to reach him, but one was shot down and the rest were unsuccessful.

The Air Force then began its largest rescue mission in histor y, and it didn’t go well. According to an Army War College

text, in six days of air rescue efforts, more than a dozen men were killed and six aircraft were either downed or damaged. Two Americans had been taken prisoner, and close-air support pilot Air Force 1st Lt. Mark Clark, who had also been shot down, was now stranded with Hambleton in enemy territor y.

U.S. militar y leaders decided that the only way to get to the two pilots was by ground troops, so they asked Norris to lead that rescue effort. Norris said he believed he was chosen because he was one of the few special operators remaining in the countr y who had worked with the Vietnamese teams involved.

On the night of April 10, Norris and a team of five Vietnamese SEALs began their mission through more than a mile of heavily controlled enemy territor y to find Clark, the more recently downed pilot. After maneuvering around

enemy units all night, Norris’ team picked up on Clark’s movements in a river that he’d been instructed by radio to float down.

It took until daybreak, but Norris finally found Clark in the water and convinced the pilot he would be safe if he followed his lead.

“I told him to stay in line, follow me and do whatever I do,” Norris said.

Reversing course, the small team moved quietly back through enemy territor y and made it to their for ward operating base, where they delivered Clark to the medical aid station.

Later that day, the base was hit with an enemy rocket and mor tar attack. Two of the team members who’d helped rescue Clark were killed, and several more people were injured. Many of them, including Clark, were evacuated by helicopter. Norris stayed behind to continue the rescue mission.

That evening, Norris

and the remaining threeman SEAL team tried to reach Hambleton twice, but both attempts were unsuccessful. For five days since the failed aircraft rescue attempts, Hambleton had been communicating on and off with Air Force forward air controllers via radio. They were helping him move from hiding spot to hiding spot in hopes of getting him to a nearby river so Norris could get to him.

On the after noon of April 12, a for ward air controller located Hambleton and notified Norris. Because Hambleton hadn’t gotten sur vival packages that had been airdropped for him, he was really struggling. By this point, only one of the Vietnamese SEALs, Nguyen Van Kiet, wanted to continue helping Norris with the rescue mission. So, dressed as fishermen, the pair floated all night in a sampan — a small canoe-like Vietnamese vessel — down the river, passing numerous enemy encampments along the way. At dawn, they found Hambleton where he was expected to be.

Norris and Kiet put the injured pilot in the

bottom of the sampan, covered him and began their return journey.

Along the way, they successfully sneaked past enemy rocket positions and even evaded a North Vietnamese patrol that tried to stop them.

As they approached their for ward operating base, the small craft was attacked by heavy machine gun fire from a bunker. The trio quickly beached the sampan and hid. After checking for enemy ground forces, Norris then called in an air strike, which fired at the enemy bunker and provided a smoke screen that gave the trio a chance to get back into the sampan and safety reach the base.

Hambleton was treated for his injuries and eventually recovered.

If it weren’t for Norris’ undaunted courage and dedication to the cause, he and Clark may have never made it home.

Six months later, during another combat mission, Norris was shot in the face and suffered severe head injuries. He was saved by Lt. Michael Thornton, a fellow Navy SEAL who earned the Medal of Honor for that rescue mission.

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Whidbey Crosswind

Friday, April 29, 2022

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Oak Harbor family to compete in world robotics championship

By KARINA ANDREW karina.andrew@whidbeynewsgroup.com

For the Serrantes kids, robots are a family matter.

Siblings Mikkel Josael Serrantes, Mikayla Jomika Ser rantes, Misaella Jomiya Serrantes and Mikoilo Jomiko Serrantes make up MJS Robotics, an independent VEX Robotics team based in Oak Harbor. Participating in robotics comes with myriad benefits, including STEM experience, the chance to compete all over the country and, for this team, family bonding time.

The siblings first formed a robotics team in 2016.

The original team comprised only the three oldest kids, Mikkel, Mikayla and Misaella, with their father, Joseph, acting as coach. Joseph, who recently retired from a 22year Navy career, prompted his kids to start a robotics team in the hopes of getting them interested in STEM fields.

Photo provided

Misaella Jomiya Serrantes, left, Mikayla Jomika Serrantes, back right, and Mikoilo Jomiko Serrantes compete at the VEX Robotics State Championship March 13.

MJS Robotics has now competed as a team for six years, participating

in tournaments across Washington. Joseph said the competitions are in-

tense, each one lasting around nine hours and featuring hundreds of matches.

In VEX Robotics matches, the teams’ robots go up against one another in games determined at the beginning of the season.

Competition days are so high-stress, Joseph said, that sometimes he and his kids can’t sleep the night before.

“Every time we’re on the competition, we feel like we’re going to have a heart attack,” he said.

Still, the intensity of the contests strengthens the team’s familial bond.

All four siblings are now on the team. Though Mikkel, the oldest of the four siblings, has graduated and studies computer engineering at the University of Washington, he still participates as the team’s coach. Joseph said Mikkel’s programming knowledge has been valuable in his coaching, because he can help his younger siblings identify

and fix problems when things go awry during tournaments.

Mikayla, a junior at Oak Harbor High School, is the team captain and primary builder, programmer and driver. Misaella, a fifth grader at Oak Harbor Intermediate, sets up materials needed in the games and serves as a backup driver.

Mikoilo, a kindergartener at Hillcrest Elementary School, counts down the time remaining during competitions.

Mikayla, who plans to study computer engineering after high school, said being a team of siblings as opposed to friends or classmates gives MJS Robotics an advantage in competitions.

“You can communicate really easily compared to a team from your school,” she said.

Just as being a family is an asset in their robotics tournaments, being a robotics team also makes them a stronger family,

she continued.

“Robotics helps us connect, not just as a team, but deeply, because you get along really easily,” she said. “Without robotics, I feel like we wouldn’t talk and strategize as much together.”

Last month, MSJ robotics competed in the Washington VEX Robotics High School State Championship, where they qualified to compete at the VEX Robotics World Championship May 4-7 in Dallas, Tex. Joseph said the world championship is “like a Super Bowl in robotics,” drawing competitors from all over the globe.

Misaella and Mikayla both said meeting new teams from different countries is one of their favorite parts of competing in robotics.

Joseph said he hopes that his kids’ team can inspire other Whidbey students, even those who have not participated in robotics before.

Navy participates in East Waterway fish survey Pilot program planned for PAWS

Naval Station Everett’s Environmental Department participated in a fish survey with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that found an abundance of salmonid fish in the East Waterway, near the Navy piers.

The Navy planned and funded this project to improve existing knowledge about nearshore fish in the East Waterway.

Results from the survey will help track salmon migration downstream as they come out of the Snohomish River.

The survey began in 2020, during the start of the pandemic. As the team gradually conducted sampling from February 2020 through November 2021, they captured and released more than ten thousand individual fish that represent 21 identified species. These included Chinook, chum, Coho, sockeye, and cutthroat trout salmonids that were captured and released during spring months. They also found species that are prey to foraging salmon and marbled murrelets such as the northern anchovy, Pacific herring, Pacific sand lance, surf smelt, among others.

The survey confirmed the presence of salmonid and forage fish species in the environment, especially near the Navy base shoreline along the side of the Snohomish River where the most fish were captured and released.

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Ethan Soto

Alicia Higgs, left, a Navy biologist, and Kinsey Frick, a biologist from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, record and measure fish in the waters surrounding Naval Air Station Everett.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is implementing the pilot program required by the Puppies Assisting Wounded Servicemembers for Veterans Therapy Act. The PAWS Act, signed into law Aug. 25, 2021, requires VA to conduct a five-year pilot program to provide canine training to eligible veterans diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder as an element of a complementary and integrative health program.

“Our pilot will help us explore the benefits of service dog training and give us the data we need to make recommendations to Congress on the way forward,” VA Secretary Denis McDonough said.

Veterans participating in the program will have the opportunity to train potential future service dogs with the goal of helping Veterans manage their PTSD symptoms.

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Whidbey Crosswind

Stolen ceremonial military rifles recovered Rifle theft from deceased veteran ‘a kick in the chest’ for his best friend Matthew N. Wells The Daily World When a Navy veteran died in Elma recently, someone stole seven ceremonial M1 Garand rifles that were to help his friends send him off with a proper military funeral.

Bo Brown, who served on several amphibious ships during the Vietnam War, was supposed to be honored with a ceremonial 21-gun salute when he died. But the thief, or thieves, broke into a locked cabinet, at Brown’s shop, which held the guns.

Fortunately, the rifles were returned because of quick-working Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office deputies, a gun shop owner in Tacoma who helped return the rifles, and residents who banded together through a Facebook page to let areas outside of Elma know about the theft.

On Wednesday, March 9, Air Force veteran Jim Mears, from the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ Bill Mann Post 1948 in Elma, spoke to The Daily World about how he was surprised that one, or several, people would steal rifles as soon as Brown died.

“That’s another level of disgusting past just stealing VFW rifles,” Mears said.

“But to immediately know, or to find out when the gentleman passed away, then break in and steal his stuff, is ridiculous.”

Brown’s best friend and fellow Vietnam Navy veteran, Bill Wickwire, spoke to The Daily World about the

sadness he felt when he discovered Brown’s shop had been broken into and that the rifles had been stolen.

“To discover (his shop) had been broken into and they took those (rifles,) it’s a kick in the chest,” Wickwire said Friday, March 4.

Those M1 Garand rifles, which are set to only fire blanks, aren’t just any rifles. They mean an awful lot to Wickwire and his fellow military brothers.

They have generational significance.

“I buried my father-inlaw and I buried my father with those rifles,” Wickwire said. “I still tear up thinking about that.”

Wickwire said he discovered the break-in because he was bringing his friend’s kids to Harrison Family Mortuary in order to help them set up their father’s final preparations.

“They didn’t want to do it on their own,” he said.

“Taking care of a loved one’s final (tribute) is not an easy task. Bo’s daughter has been an extra daughter to me for as long as I can remember.”

Wickwire was morose when speaking about the stolen rifles.

“To find out they took the rifles,” he said. “To me, that took the potential dignity of every veteran who (might have) passed away between when the rifles (were stolen) and when I was able to either obtain replacements for those rifles, or get them back.”

Wickwire, on behalf of his post, worked with

Photos by Matthew N. Wells | The Daily World

Elma VFW Bill Mann Post 1948 members (from left to right) Jim Mears, Tyler Marriott, Bill Wickwire, Cody Fries, Chuck McLane and Brad Dendy line up with an American flag and the seven ceremonial M1 Garand rifles that, once stolen, have since been recovered.

VFW Post 318 in Olympia, and VFW Post 5564 in McClear y, to borrow the ceremonial rifles for Brown’s funeral.

“It hurt that I had to borrow rifles to do Bo’s (funeral,) because he and I are the ones who fought to get them,” Wickwire said. “If anybody deserved (a proper funeral,) he deserved one.”

The stolen rifles, which were sold at a gun shop in Tacoma, were found by some hard-working deputies, Wickwire said, and a gun shop owner who, soon after his purchase of the stolen guns, tracked their serial numbers.

Wickwire explained some of the search process that occurred after he found out the guns were stolen.

“As soon as I discovered the rifles were missing, I

went in and got the serial numbers, so the deputies had them,” he said.

Wickwire said one of the members of the VFW post in Elma created a Facebook page about the stolen rifles.

“It went viral,” Wickwire said. “I had calls from Yakima and one from up by Silverdale. Then of course, one was in Tacoma at the gun store.”

While Wickwire said he hasn’t talked to the gun shop owner, he was told the owner bought six of the seven stolen rifles.

“The guy (who stole the rifles) showed up and he said he bought them at an estate sale,” Wickwire said.

“He had paperwork (for them.)”

Wickwire said when the shop owner found out there were seven rifles that had been stolen and that

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The seven ceremonial M1 Garand rifles, which were scratched up between the time they were stolen and when they were recovered, were all present and accounted for when members of the Elma VFW Bill Mann Post met March 9, 2022, at the Elma Grange. he only had six of them, he backtracked and found the seventh rifle. It’s unclear how the shop owner found the seventh rifle.

“When the deputies went up (there) he had all seven of them,” Wickwire said.

“He had taken them apart and cleaned them for us.”

To say the least, Wickwire was grateful.

“I think he went above and beyond,” he said.

“We’re gonna make a nice little card, a thank you, and probably send him a dinner certificate or something.”

Wickwire, and the other veterans at Elma’s VFW post, are grateful to the public’s concern, as well as the job the sheriff’s deputies did in order to help find the rifles.

“We’re going to make a card up for the deputies who were involved with this,” he said. “They have gone above and beyond as far as I’m concerned.”

Wickwire was excited to tell how he felt when he got the call from the deputies that the rifles had been recovered.

“I’ll tell you, when they called and said they had them in their possession,” Wickwire said. “It was like somebody lifted a 200pound anchor off of my chest.”

Wickwire thought there was a chance neither he, nor the veterans at the VFW post, would ever see the rifles again.

Navy veteran Tyler Marriott was another VFW member who was surprised the post in Elma got the rifles back.

“I’m absolutely amazed that they were recovered,” he said. “When I heard about the break-in, that was one of the first things I thought about. When Bill (Wickwire) said the police had a pretty good idea who

did it and what happened, to be able to get them back, as these are special rifles for the VFW that are pretty unique, is great.”

Marriott was also quick to thank the sheriff’s deputies and the gun shop owner for getting the guns back where they belong — at the VFW post in Elma.

When Wickwire found out the sheriff’s deputies recovered the stolen rifles, he couldn’t wait to pick them up.

Wickwire just had one question when the deputy called him to let him know the rifles were at the sheriff’s office in Montesano.

“He said, ‘When can you be here?’” Wickwire said.

“And I said ‘When’s a good time?’ He said ‘Now’s a good time,’ and zine, I was in Montesano!”

Wickwire said four of the deputies packed the rifles into his trunk. Now, he said, the rifles are locked up and they’re not coming out.

Mears is happy the residents spread the message about the rifles.

“I’m grateful the people stood up and acted quickly to get these back,” he said.

“The longer you wait, the harder it is to get the stuff back. It was (also) good to see that the gun shop owner did the right thing and returned them instead of profiting from them.”

While Wickwire couldn’t use his post’s ceremonial rifles at Brown’s funeral, he was thankful that his military brothers from Olympia and McCleary knew how important it was to make theirs available.

Wickwire considers them family.

“If nothing else, you’ll find service members are a band of brothers and sisters,” Wickwire said.

Whidbey Crosswind

Friday, April 29, 2022

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Friday, April 29, 2022

Whidbey Crosswind

Bremerton native is the first female NSW commanding officer Bremerton native Cmdr.

Blythe Blakistone is the first woman to serve as a commanding officer of a Naval Special Warfare (NSW) unit when she took command of Tactical Communications Command (TCC) 1.

NSW 1, which mans, trains and equips WestCoast-based SEAL teams, is comprised of SEAL teams 1, 3,5 and 7, as well as Logistics Support Unit 1 and TCC-1.

Blakistone has served in her role since 2020. Her command supports SEAL teams, other special operations forces, and conventional forces worldwide by providing tactical communications in all environments and levels of conflict, according to the U.S. Navy Office of Community Outreach.

“We are the voice of the nation’s most elite warfighters,” Blakistone said in a news release. “I am privileged to be in a position overseeing sailors operat-

Sailors practice drills at sea

U.S. Navy photo

Cmdr. Blythe Blakistone ing at the forefront of technology to maintain an edge over our adversaries.”

She also said: “I think I bring a different perspective,” the commander said during March’s Women’s History Month. “Not just as a woman, but also serving in the fleet aboard ships with my background, I believe, has made me hugely valuable to not only the Naval Special Warfare enterprise but also to my sailors and the team at TCC-1.”

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communications Specialist 3rd Class Samuel Osborn

Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz man a phone and distance line during a replenishment-at-sea with the fleet replenishment oiler USNS Pecos Feb. 24. Nimitz is conducting routine operations at sea, the U.S. Navy says.

USS McCampbell and over 300 sailors welcomed home in Everett The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer arrived Friday and was met by family members, a downpour of rain and The Beatles.

By Jake Goldstein-Street Herald Writer

It was an Everett welcome in early April for the sailors of the USS McCampbell, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.

As they arrived after a short trip from Portland, Oregon, a naval band roared with tunes like The Beatles’ “Come Together” and “Hard To Handle”

by The Black Crowes.

Meanwhile, wind at Naval Station Everett blew plastic Easter eggs all over the ground and canopies drifted.

As the 509-foot ship and its crew of over 300 came in, the rain started to pour.

This was the scene as families reunited, giving them a taste of what springtime in Everett has to offer.

As Celine Durham waited for her husband Emmanuel, she said the weather reminded her of her native Chicago.

Nick Fletcher and his wife Hannah moved here with their son a couple weeks ago. Nick had to go back to Portland to sail up with the ship.

His son held a sign saying, “Welcome home.”

The couple is expecting to add to their family soon. Hannah said she is 35 weeks pregnant. They plan to live here for a few years now that the ship’s home port is Everett.

Commissioned in 2002,

Photos by Ryan Berry / The Herald

Cody Wirth (right) greets her husband, Aaron, and 2-year-old son Waylon after disembarking from the USS McCampbell Friday at Naval Station Everett.

Navy personnel stand aboard the USS McCampbell before disembarking Friday, April 8, 2022, at Naval Station Everett in Everett, Washington.

Keenan Parsons runs to greet his wife, Roxanne, after disembarking from the USS McCampbell Friday at Naval Station Everett. the ship had been undergoing some modernization in Portland for the past 18 months. That included improvements to the hull and wireless communications as well as weapon upgrades.

Before going to Portland, the McCampbell was deployed in Yokosuka, Japan, for over a dozen years.

Now that it’s in Everett, modernization work is expected to continue here.

“We are looking forward to training alongside our new neighbors and

eager to work hard back out at sea,” the ship’s commanding officer, Steven Zielechowski, said in a press release.

Local leaders have made the push to get more ships home-ported in Everett.

U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Everett, authored a report in 2019 making the case for the base due to its modern shipyard and natural deepwater port.

In June, the Navy announced Everett as the future home port for the first ships of a new generation of guided missile

Sailors are greeted by loved ones as they disembark the USS McCampbell Friday, April 8, 2022, at Naval Station Everett in Everett, Washington. frigates.

And in November, Larsen’s office announced the McCampbell and its crew would be moving to Everett.

“Naval Station Everett, its crews and their families are part of the fabric of our community and their contributions to our city and nation are greatly valued,” Mayor Cassie

Franklin said in a statement at the time. “It will be an honor to welcome the USS McCampbell to our beautiful city.”

The McCampbell joins a growing manifest of Navy vessels based in Everett.

The USS John Paul Jones and its crew of over 330 arrived in August. The more than 370 sailors of the USS Kidd returned in

late September after four months at sea. The USS John S. McCain came last month. And there’s the Gridley, Momsen and Sampson.

Like the McCampbell, all those ships are Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.

The new ship is named after aviator David McCampbell, who received a Medal of Honor for his service in World War II. In 1944 in the Philippines, he shot down nine enemy planes, an American record for a single mission. The ship’s motto: “Relentless in Battle.”

In 2009, the McCampbell pursued a North Korean cargo ship. And in 2011, it assisted with relief efforts after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

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