02-01-10 Regular Meeting of the La Porte Development Corporation Board of Directors minutes

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The Texas fired over 150 14" shells onto the grid coordinates specified by the British pilot. The Texas ceased firing when the pilot radioed "You can stop now; those Germans won't be attacking anyone." The Texas suffered her only on-board combat death while supporting the Allied advance on Cherbourg, France in July 1944. A German shell from a coastal battery exploded on the top of the armored conning station, behind the number 2 14" gun turret. While the shell did not penetrate the heavily-armored station, its fragments shattered the pilot house, killing the helmsman and wounding thirteen other men. In spite of this death, the Texas was regarded by her crew as a "lucky ship." Once the fighting in the European Theater moved outside the range ofthe Texas' guns, she was transferred to the Pacific, where she provided gunfire support for the invasions oflwo Jima and Okinawa. After the Japanese surrender, the Texas made four "magic carpet" runs, bringing former prisoners of war, Army soldiers and U. S. Marines back home to the United States. With the support of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz (a native of Fredericksburg, Texas), the Texas was accepted by the State of Texas as the first Battleship Memorial in the United States in 1948. Admiral Nimitz had a warm spot in his heart for the Texas because she had been a stalwart fighting ship under his command during the later stages of the war in the Pacific. As part ofthe legislation that accepted the Battleship Texas from the U. S. Navy, the Battleship Texas Commission was formed. The Commission raised money from thousands of generous Texans for the transportation costs and initial berthing costs of the Texas. School children contributed their pennies, nickels and dimes into a fund that helped bring the Texas "home." Leaders across Texas fully supported bringing the Battleship Texas to San Jacinto, including descendants of General Sam Houston, the Daughters ofthe Republic of Texas, the Sons of the Republic of Texas and many others. She arrived at San Jacinto with great ceremony on April 21, 1948, the llih anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto. She has been berthed there ever since. Hundreds ofthousands of Texas school children have visited the Texas to walk her decks, learn her history and become inspired by the heroic deeds she performed. In partnership with the San Jacinto Museum of History, the Battleship provides a double history lesson for the many thousands of students who come to the San Jacinto State Historical Park each year. BTF works in conjunction with TPWD for the restoration, maintenance, interpretation and public presentation of the world's last dreadnought. We conduct a very active overnight education program; this year over 4,000 people spent a night aboard the ship and learned of her history. Recently, our overnight education program celebrated its 24,000th guest. We work directly with the First Texas Volunteers as they bring their knowledge of ship repair and maintenance to the goal of restoring spaces on the ship to their "original" condition so those spaces can be seen by our visitors. 10