The third annual USS Virginia Base submarine picnic was held at the beautiful home of Bill & Carol Wellner on Saturday, October 14, 2006. This makes three in a row that Bill & Carol have sponsored and this year's event was probably the best one yet - maybe because the weather was great and we probably had the best attendance of any so far.

The picnic again this year substituted for our regular monthly meeting - with Base Commander Rob McNamara leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance, reading the Submariner's Creed and tolling the boats lost in the month of October.

We also scheduled a special memorial service to recognize our founding Base Commander, Jack Winn, who received his final patrol orders on February 14, 2006. It's hard for those of us who loved Jack to accept the fact that he's gone - but he certainly lives on in our memories and in the life of the Base itself. As a special tribute, Commander Rob McNamara presented a Memorial Resolution Plaque to Jack's widow, Bonnilyn - and his son Richard. Scroll down to see a photo of the plaque, prepared by Vice Commander Kenn McDermott - and photos of the picnic taken by John Mosticone, Paul Benton and Della McDermott.

A hearty WELL DONE to Bill & Carol, the neighbors who assisted with the pig roast, and everyone who brought food and assisted in other ways. We all appreciate the time and effort that goes into something like this and look forward to the next one in October, 2007.

All photos from this event (about 160 of them) are posted on this single web page in a very, very, long, two-column string of many, many rows - so just keep scrolling down to view them all.

Thanks to Della McDermott for the photos that follow:
Rob presenting plaque to Bonnilyn	Photo-Op of plaque presentation
Thanks to John Mosticone for the photos that follow:
Thanks to Paul Benton for the photos that follow: