top of page

Did You Know, December 11, 2023

Writer's picture: Dahlgren Heritage MuseumDahlgren Heritage Museum


In our last “Did You Know,” we talked about the USS Arizona memorial, which honored those who died on what Franklin D. Roosevelt called a “date which will live in infamy” (see https://www.dahlgrenmuseum.org/post/did-you-know-december-7-2023).  The man who dedicated that memorial was himself linked to a date that those who were alive for would remember well.  The December 21, 1961, issue of the Dahlgren base’s The Laboratory Log included President John F. Kennedy’s Christmas greetings to our armed forces.  After his assassination on November 22, 1963, the country entered into an official thirty-day mourning period.  That Christmas, in the December 23rd edition of The Laboratory Log, Naval Weapons Laboratory Commander Capt. Robert F. Sellars and Naval Space Surveillance System Commanding Officer Capt. Edward F. van Lier Ribbink referred to “this present holiday season whose beginning was marred by an unbelievable tragedy” but offered “To All Hands and to their loved ones…warm personal wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.”  Here, sixty years later, we would like to wish our community a happy holiday season and strive to carry out Sellars’ and Ribbink’s belief that, “In troubled, dangerous times America stands as a bulwark of faith and benevolence.”

 

Caption: 35th President of the United States John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) and his message from the December 21, 1961, edition of The Laboratory Log of the U.S. Naval Weapons Laboratory, Dahlgren, VA.

12 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


VISIT US
Map

Museum: 3540 James Madison Pkwy,
King George, VA 22485

Time

Wednesday through Sunday

10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Copyright© 2024 The Dahlgren Heritage Foundation.  All Rights Reserved.

Dahlgren Heritage Museum

The Dahlgren Heritage Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Your tax deductible donation will help us tell the extraordinary story of the Navy at Dahlgren and its contributions to our community and our freedom!

CONTACT US
Call
Email

FOLLOW AND LIKE US

  • facebook
  • iconmonstr-instagram-8-240
  • youtube

Site Design Petite Taway

bottom of page