“I worked in tobacco fields to buy school clothes and took part of my money and gave it to save the battle ship. It felt good to save some of our history and to honor those who fought for our freedom.”
“I remember saving my dimes and storing them in a book (blue book, I think). I even asked my father to pay my allowance in dimes! I was very proud to help bring the USS North Carolina home.”
“As a 4th grader in the school year of 1960/1961, I was excited to finally have an ability to read and understand most of what I read, especially history. When our teacher, Mrs. O’Quinn, came into class one day, she passed out cardboard cards that would hold nickels or dimes. She told us a little of the history of the Battleship North Carolina and gave us pamphlets. My father was a WWII veteran of the US Navy, and his three brothers had served in either the Marines or the Army. I was proud of their service, and proud of our Country. Our little town had about 500 people who were mostly farmers and textile mill workers. To these folks $1.00 was enough to buy lunch for a family of 5 (a loaf of bread, a package of bologna and a carton of Pepsi!). These people had very few nickels or dimes to spare. Nevertheless, I was determined to fill my cards. I started with my own piggy bank. I worked every summer for neighboring farmers who paid me 50 cents per hour to help with their tobacco harvest. I used the money to buy school clothes and to pay for my school books each year. I had some coins left over and filled a couple of cards. It wasn’t enough! I asked my mother for permission to walk to the neighbors’ houses including my grandparents who lived about half of a mile away. I had read the pamphlet so many times that I had the story memorized. Every adult that I saw, I started telling them about the heroic service of the magnificent Battleship and how it was destined for the scrapyard if we didn’t do something to save it! When I got to my grandparents’ house, my grandfather said that he would fill up a whole card if I would sing him a song. I sang “Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley” and he laughed and said that it was worth the $2.00 to fill up the card. He took me around the community as he visited with his friends, and I was asked to sing for all of them. I was able to fill all the cards I was given, and felt very proud to help with the cause.”
“During the Time money was being Raised through our school I was 7 years old. I recall the excitement in my little class, as small as we were, could help do something so big and meaningful. It was like we were preserving history ourselves. As I recall our class had our own goals set as far as raising money but my sister and myself had our own as well. We asked for dimes from our Family and freinds, we would walk the neighborhood trying to raise money, my sister and me would pick up drink bottles along the ditches beside the road to return to the store for the 3 cent deposit. My Dad would leave us kids a dime each on the kitchen counter at times when he could (times were tough back then) to go to the store with after school. We would sacrifice those dimes to Save the Ship effort too. Now being a 7 or 8 year old kid and giving up a trip to the store for candy was a HUGE sacrifice Lol. I remember looking at that Money and thinking “WOW” that candy would be awful good right now. But we stuck to our plan and the Ship was saved. That Save the Ship effort taught us kids a very valuable lesson in life. That no matter how small we are as a person or group we can achieve huge outcomes if we all pull in the same direction and pull all together.”
“I was 6 years old and in the first grade at Rose Hill Elementary School in Rose Hill, Duplin County, in the 1960-1961 school year. My teacher, Ms. Tessie Fussell, told us about the chance to be a part of saving the USS North Carolina from scrap and bringing it to Wilmington to serve as a memorial. We all gladly gave 10 cents. I didn’t think much more about the ‘Battleship’, as we called it, until second or third grade in Ms. Susie Kate Teachey’s class. We were each given a ticket to visit the ‘Battleship’. Sadly, I remember watching the news on my grandma’s tv, when the plane crashed on the runway carrying the man in charge of the project. It was a few years later that I went with my Cub Scout Pack to see the Sound and Light show. Since then my family and I have enjoyed several visits to the ‘Battleship’. Whoever had the idea of involving all the school children of my generation did a service far greater than raising money. We, the children, were given the gift of a personal connection to the Battleship. I’m sure all the children have grown up and shared our pride as we told our children and grandchildren about our small but memorable part in saving the USS North Carolina, the ‘Battleship’.”