MILITARY REUNION GROUP TO RECEIVE HONORS DURING MEETING

Contact: Jack McLaughlin
(614) 648-6446 (m)

MILITARY REUNION GROUP TO RECEIVE HONORS DURING MEETING

Fort Mitchell, KY/May 2, 2008—About a dozen members of the USS England military reunion group will be recognized at the Drawbridge Inn while in the region for their annual reunion May 18-21.

The group is being awarded the Combat Action Ribbon for excellence in battle on Wednesday, May 21 at 7 p.m. at the hotel for their efforts during World War II. Six Japanese subs were sunk by the ship in twelve days in May, 1944. One of the subs launched two midget subs during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

A year later in May, 1945, during the Okinawa Campaign, the England was hit by a kamikaze causing 37 deaths and wounding 40. England sailed alone, more than 13,000 miles to Philadelphia where it was decommissioned. It was the only destroyer escort to be individually awarded the Presidential Unit Citation earning ten battle stars during its short, brilliant career.

The mission of the Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Bureau is that of an aggressive sales, marketing, service and informational organization whose primary responsibility is to positively impact the Northern Kentucky economy through conventions, meetings and visitor expenditures. The direct economic impact of visitors' spending in Campbell, Kenton and Boone Counties in 2007 was $325 million.