April 2009

 

Dear Shipmates:

The 18th annual Reunion of the USS WITEK will be held this year at the Crown Plaza Dulles Airpoirt, 2200 Centreville Road, Herndon VA 20170 from October 7-11, 2009. The daily room rate is $84.00 plus tax and will include a hot breakfast buffet served in our hospitality room each day. I also have 5 rooms available at the same rate (without breakfast) for pre and post reunion. If you plan to extend your stay call in as soon as possible. I cannot get more rooms for extended stay, when the five are gone there is no more. The toll free number to call for reservations is 1-800-227-6963. If anyone is in need of a Handicap Accessible Room, I recommend you call in your reservations as soon as possible. Be sure to mention the "USS Witek Reunion" to get the special rate.

The cut-off date is September 21, 2009. Reservations received after this date will be charged regular rate ($$$$). The hotel's web address is www.cpdulles.com . If you visit this site you can view the many amenities the hotel offers, including refrigerator and complimentary wireless internet service in every room. The hotels restaurant/lounge is called Houlihan's and is open for all three meals. There are also many restaurants of all types within walking distance of the hotel.

The hotel provides complimentary 24 hour shuttle service to and from Dulles Airport. Check hotel for details.

I am also happy to report that we have raised the necessary funds to have our Witek Plaque Dedication Ceremony. A special thanks to all who helped make this possible. The ceremony will last 30-45 minutes. I am expecting to have an Admiral for the guest speaker. For more details see Friday October 9th itinerary. Remember everyone is invited for this ceremony. It would be real nice to see the theater filled with shipmates, spouses, family and friends of the USS Witek. Please call me if you have questions.

USS WITEK REUNION ITINERARY

Wednesday October 7, 2009

Check in time is 3:00 pm. The hotel will check luggage for early guest arrival, or if the hospitality room is open, you may put it in there. Please check in with John in the hospitality room to confirm arrival and get any changes to the itinerary and other pertinent information. I expect to have the room open by 11:59 am

Thursday October 8, 2009

8:00 am.....Depart Crown Plaza Hotel for Gettysburg, Pa.
9:45 am ....Arrive Gettysburg Battlefield Visitors Center for restroom break.
10:00 am ..Pick up tour guides for motor tour of Gettysburg Battlefield.
11:59 am ..Conclude battlefield tour, drop off tour guides. Lunch on your own.
                    Coach will drop off at either McDonalds, Pickettes Buffet or the
                    Cafeteria in the Visitors Center. Menu's will be available in the
                    Hospitality Room.
12:45 pm ..Arrive back at the Visitors Center.
1:00 pm ....Group attends Battlefield movie and Cyclorama viewing. This is really
                    spectacular. I'm sure that everyone will enjoy it.
3:15 pm ....Depart Gettysburg for Herndon, VA
4:45 pm ....Arrive Crown Plaza Hotel, Hospitality Room opens.

Cost for this tour is $45.00 per person.

For this trip only, we will have a "Trivia Contest" on each bus, with small prizes
for each correct answer. This will help break up the long ride (1 1/2 hours). So brush
up on your Witek and Washington DC trivia facts.


7:00 pm ....Business Meeting and Raffle. As per suggestion from last year, we are
allowing 2 hours for everyone to eat dinner before the meeting. All attendees are
asked to bring a wrapped gift not to exceed $20.00. Please keep the gift in your
hotel room until raffle time. As you know our raffle fund raiser helps to keep our
Witek account solvent. The cost of this newsletter and the mailings, plus the Witek
web site eats up a large part zof this fund raiser. The association also pays for all
the refreshments (beer, wine, soft drinks, dry snacks etc.) in the Hospitality Room.
Plus the tour companies and the hotel usually require a sizeable deposit, well in
advance, so please bring a gift and help the Association.

Friday October 9, 2009

8:00 am.....Depart Crown Plaza Hotel for Washington, DC
8:30 am ....Arrive National Mall, Washington DC. Drop off at various spots to
                    view various monuments (Vietnam, WW II, Lincoln etc).
10:15 am ..Depart National Mall.
10:30 am ..Arrive US Navy Memorial.
11:00 am ..Commence USS Witek Plaque Dedication Ceremony.
11:59 am ..End Ceremony and start of movie "At Sea" life aboard a Carrier.
12:30 pm ..Depart US Navy Memorial.
12:45 pm ..Arrive at Old Post Office for lunch on your own at food court and then
                    tour of the Old Clock Tower and the 12th floor observation deck, which
                    offers great panoramic views of the city
1:45 pm ....Depart Old Post Office.
2:00 pm ....Arrive Washington Navy Yard. Group to tour USS Barry and the Navy
                    Museum.
4:00 pm ....Depart Washington Navy Yard.
5:00 pm ....Arrive Crown Plaza Hotel, Hospitality Room opens.

Cost for this tour is $36.00 per person.

Saturday October 10, 2009

8:00 am.....Depart Crown Plaza Hotel for Arlington National Cemetery.
8:30 am ....Arrive Arlington National Cemetery
9:00 am ....Board Tram for tour of Cemetery. We will stop and step off at the
                    Kennedy's grave site and the Tomb of Unknown Soldiers, for Changing
                    of the Guard Ceremony. We will have a step on guide for this tour
10:30 am ...Complete tour, board coach bus and depart cemetery.
10:45 am ...Arrive at Penagon 9/11 Memorial.
11:30 am ...Depart Penagon 9/11 Memorial.
11:59 am ...Arrive Crown Plaza Hotel, Hospitality Room opens.

Cost for this tour is $28.00 per person.

Noon - 5:00 pm ....free time

5:00 - 11:00 pm Banquet

Our Saturday evening Banquet will start with a cash bar from 5:00 - 6:00 pm.
Remarks and a short program at 6:00 pm, followed by dinner. After dinner from
approximately 8:00 - 11:00 pm we will have dancing to the music of the "DC 3".
They play everything from the oldies, country, blues and rock favorites. Shirley and I
have heard this group on two occaision and they are very good.

Banquet Buffet Menu

Tossed Garden Salad
Caesar Salad
Chicken Picatta
London Broil
Pasta Primavera
Roasted Seasoned Red Potatoes
Fresh Vegetables in season
Chef choice dessert
Hot dinner rolls/butter
Coffee, Hot tea, Sweet tea

The cost of the banquet is $35.00 per person.

Sunrday October 11, 2009

11:59 am.....Check out .... Farewell and see you next year in Rapid City, South Dakota


In closing there are many things to see and do in the Washington DC area. If I did
not include something you really wanted to see, there probably was a reason it
wasn't included. Some sites limit tours (White House, Pentagon, Capital Bld. etc.)
and do not guarantee a time to large groups until 30 days before requested date.
Shirley and I have visited everything in this years tours and I'm sure you will enjoy
what we have scheduled. Remember the great group rate I negotiated and take
advantage of the 5 rooms available for an extended visit to our Nations Capital to
see anything not included in the tours. Anybody that arrives early, and would like
to tour the White House or Capital Building, let me know as soon as possible and I
can make arrangements for you either Tuesday or Wednesday morning.


For the information of new members, the Witek Association By-Laws call for a
CO, XO, Chief Yeoman/ Treasurer an dHistorian. Election of Officers will take
place each year at the reunion. Our CO is Ray Sylte, the XO is John Noonan, the
Chief Yeoman/ Treasurer is Desi Desarmeaux and the Historian is Ron Blais.

Our shipmate Tony Camerota makes Witek Badges with a photo of the ship and
historical data. Just let Tony know your years aboard and he will make your ID
badge. He has graciously agreed to donate the $2.00 fee to the Association. What a
great shipmate. Tony can be reached at tel. # 508-477-4251 or e-mail at
tcamerota@verizon.net Badges are also available for spouses and friends.

It is imperative that you send the monies for the Banquet and Tours to Desi as
soon as possible, but definitely by September 1st to satisfy the Tour Company and
the Hotel. Shipmates can send their dues ($10.00) at this time also. Because of site
restrictions, NO RESERVATIONS for tours will be accepted after Sept 15, 2009.

Please send your Banquet, Tour Money and Shipmate Dues with the enclosed
form, as soon as possible to,

Leon Desarmeaux (Secretary/ Treasurer)
222 Yorktown Blvd
Lake of the Woods, VA 22508-5113
tel # 540-972-7639
email hld@att.net

Finally we worked very hard to keep this reunion costs as low as possible. Shirley
and I visied the Washington DC Area three times for face to face negotiating with
over 15 different Hotel Sales and Catering Staff. I also contacted nine Coach
Companies to get their best rates and prices. I truly believe this reunion will be a
most memorable one, especially with our "Dedication Ceremony of the USS Witek Plaque"
and the placing of the plaque on the memorial wall with lots of other great ships
of our great US Navy. If you have any problems with your hotel reservations or
have questions about any of the tours please contact me.


John Noonan
925 North Street
Weatherly, PA 18255
570-427-4625
countryy@verizon.net