I was enjoying Dick Kelbaugh's photos on his website and remembered fondly that 1971 Med Cruise when we sailed to the Italian Riviera city of Finale Ligure. The story I remember was that our Captain went to college with the then mayor of Finale Ligure and the CVR was treated to a visit to this beautiful place. We anchored out and took the liberty launch to the beach, where we were greeted with a huge glass of some fruity coctail. There was a red carpet laid out for us to walk on, up the sandy beach to the street. Being the pack-rat that I am, I still have that glass as a remembrance. The glass is filled with other memorabelia such as; my dog tags, a stellite throttle valve disc from 2A1 Forced Draft Blower, my CVR Zippo cigatette lighter, my Ship's Patch, a newspaper clipping from when the CVR shelled Beruit and some other stuff I just can't seem to part with.
