NORTH CAROLINA Spirit

"Wherever we went, we were NORTH CAROLINA sailors. We always carried that with us. And I can tell you, this ship was one which had a tremendous impact on the Navy, then and still today. It had a spirit, an infectious spirit."

- Rear Admiral Julian T. Burke, Jr., USN (Ret)

"Made a man out of a lot of boys. They were hard, they were tough, but they were friends. They were somebody who in the toughest times you could count on. We might fight amongst ourselves, but if anybody else put their nose in it, we banded together like one."

"I walked a lighter step, I had a smile on my face. I think my shoulders were squared back more. My head was held high and my hat was cocked. I was cocky. I was a battleship sailor...We were the first. I think that is what it is. Being the first of the new line of battle lions. I have news for you. When I walk up that gang plank, and I salute the colors and believe it or not, I am 67 years old, when I walk up that gang plank, turn to those colors, salute it and look at that ship, I am seventeen years old again. I swear to you, I am a kid again. If I keep going, I will bring up tears. You can go home. They say that you can’t go home, you can go home. I am home. I don’t know that I will ever have another opportunity to come here, but I am home now. I will be home for the next few days."

- Jackson Belford

"I loved the USS NORTH CAROLINA, she was a great ship and had a great crew. We always had a great Captain and Executive Officer. We were a finely tuned crew and took care of one another regardless of what division you were in on board or ashore. She was the greatest ship that ever sailed in my estimation."

- James C. Masie

"We had a grand crew. We had the best crew that any ship has ever had. They had the finest young men in the high schools and the colleges. The college graduates were coming in and being recruited, and they were smart boys, and just brilliant guys. I was proud to be part of them. We in the NORTH CAROLINA had the greatest numbers of people who were brilliant, who were loyal Americans. I have never seen the spirit that has exceeded this period in our life as a nation, that happened during those dark days when it was evident that the Japanese were going to come out and fight us. It was also evident, in my opinion, that with the great traditions of our country and with the abilities of our people, that there was only one solution that would be acceptable and that was to get victory against the Japanese."

- Admiral Alfred G. "Corky" Ward, USN (Ret)

"I wasn’t married until I was thirty-five, so I had a lot of girl friends around the world at one place or another; and I’ve gone back to some of these ports, and they are still there. They don’t look quite the same; they are a little older. But when I went back aboard the NORTH CAROLINA, she was just as young and beautiful as she ever was."

- Rear Admiral Kemp Tolley, USN (Ret)

"I think the relationship that you had with your shipmates was terribly important. You felt at the time that these folks were much closer to you than family. I think the friendships that were formed were terribly important. It was good. It was a big world that I didn’t know existed. I know that what I was doing before I went in the Navy, I wanted to go home and I wanted to do some things that were a challenge. I wanted something more than the farm and a cotton mill. I knew it would require getting somewhat of an education. It was good and I would recommend it for any young man."

- Everette R. Beaver

"There are a lot of friends of mine here in California who I have met who were in the Navy and have had their ships destroyed, some in an atomic bomb test or others scrapped. Every time I see them or talk to them they say I’m the luckiest man in the world to still have my ship. So knowing that these people are thinking that, I think it more or less answers what I’m, trying to say. No one really understands how truly lucky we are."

- Robert L. Palomaris

"To the young people who may read this, the Navy made a man out of me, I never regretted serving. Take pride in this country, we still have a great future no matter what the PESSIMISTS say."

- William R. Taylor