Sailors from USS Vella Gulf Hold Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony

Sailors assigned to guided-missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf (CG 72) held a Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony during a port visit to Haifa, Israel, April 27.

Vella Gulf’s Commanding Officer, Capt. Robert Katz; Executive Officer, Capt. Francis Castellano, Command Master Chief Scott Nagle; the chaplain, and other Sailors took turns reading an account of the Holocaust over the ship’s 1MC announcement system.

“It was an eye opener, a transcending experience that was truly humbling to recount the history of the Holocaust,” said Logistics Specialist 3rd Class Alvis Sanchez.

Vella Gulf followed its 30 minute remembrance broadcast with a selection of films covering the Holocaust and the Second World War.

Israel solemnly commemorated Yom HaShoah, Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day from April 27 – 28, a national holiday remembering the over six million European Jews killed from 1933-1945 by Nazi Germany during the Second World War alongside the many disabled, mentally ill, and political prisoners also killed by the Nazis in concentration camps.

Vella Gulf, homeported in Norfolk, Va., is on a scheduled deployment supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations.

U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts a full range of maritime security operations and theater security cooperation missions in concert with coalition, joint, interagency, and other partners in order to advance security and stability in Europe and Africa.

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Press Release, May 5, 2014; Image: US Navy