CARTER HALL ARRIVES IN NYC FOR VETERANS DAY CELEBRATION
U.S. Navy story by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kody A. Phillips
NEW YORK -- USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) arrived at the USS The Sullivans Homeport Pier in Staten Island Nov. 8, 2019, to participate in Veterans Day activities in and around New York City.
While in port, Sailors and Marines assigned to Carter Hall will host ship tours for the public, pay tribute to veterans of all generations, attend sporting events and march in New York City’s Veterans Day Parade.
“The crew is excited and ready to honor our veterans by taking part in the wonderful events in New York City,” said Cmdr. Matthew Shellock, commanding officer of Carter Hall. “This is a great opportunity to show them that the military they left has not forgotten them.”
Shellock, a tri-state area native from Little Silver, New Jersey, also said that he was excited to be able to participate in a celebration like this so close to home.
This year, the Veterans Day celebration will commemorate the centennial of the holiday, established in 1919 as Armistice Day. It commemorated the anniversary of the end of World War I and was officially renamed to Veterans Day in 1954.
Carter Hall, homeported at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is a Harpers Ferry class amphibious dock landing ship and recently participated in UNITAS LX (60) in Rio de Janeiro.
UNITAS is an annual exercise designed to train the Navy and Marine Corps to conduct joint naval operations by exercising a multitude of warfare areas. This year’s exercise focused on demonstrating regional maritime cooperation in a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) response scenario, as a means to develop a multinational maritime task force.
Carter Hall is the second amphibious ship to bear this name. Carter Hall was launched October 2, 1993, commissioned September 30, 1995, and made its first deployment to the Mediterranean in April 1997.