By Michael Hill
Correspondent
A festival of ferries floating up the Delaware, carrying tourists to the Tall Ships Philadelphia Camden 2015. On the sidelines aboard the USS New Jersey, spectators, veterans and veterans’ families gazing at some of the tallest ships in the world.
“They’re beautiful. A little too far apart for me but very nice” said Mary Ellen Mekosh.
“I think it’s really cool and I like how they look. They look real old fashioned and I think that’s really cool to look at,” said granddaughter Michaela Pope. When asked which was her favorite one she said, “I like the big brown one that looked like a pirate ship. It was so cool.”
This ceremony is being staged on the USS New Jersey battleship to honor veterans of war.
When asked what he thinks about a day like this Vietnam Veteran David Grasso said, “Beautiful. One of the best things I’ve ever seen them do.”
“It just brings tears to my eyes to see him happy and see all these guys getting the respect they really deserve. It just makes me happy,” Georgette Grosso said.
New Jersey native David Grasso went to war at just 19 and was wounded after seven months. Another soldier’s belt buckle slowed down the speed of the bullet that entered his stomach.
Grosso says he feels forgotten. When asked why he said, “because they don’t believe in us. they treated us bad when we came home and it still hurts.”
Retired Lt. Pat Pepper served on the USS New Jersey.
“The battleships had a lot of respect from our allied nations. A lot of respect from other members of the Navy so everyone wanted to come see the battleship and wanted to get a tour and if you mentioned you were serving on one of the battleships you had immediate friends no matter where you were,” Pepper said.
Cooper University is one of the major sponsors of Tall Ships. The chairman of the board reminded veterans that Cooper began seeing and treating them the day they called for care after last year’s national scandal over 30-day visit waits.
“Unfortunately, many of those in Washington think that ample health care is getting treatment within 30 days. A simple answer to all that is we have to give members of congress the same access of health care as we’re trying to give to veterans,” said Cooper University Medical Center Board Chairman George Norcross.
On this day, the Grassos watch the Tall Ships as the festival pays tribute and David Grasso says after surviving a war wound, “I’m a lucky guy.”