PORT TOWNSEND — Hundreds of former veterans and employees are returning to Fort Worden for the opening of the Reunion Center this weekend to share their stories, meet old friends and catch up on lives they once shared.
Among the people who have “come home to Fort Worden,” the theme of the centennial celebration, are members of the 369th Engineer Assault Shore Regiment stationed at Fort Worden in the early 1950s.
“I was here first, then out on the rock,” said John Singhose of Joyce for Friday’s opening. “There wasn’t room for all of us here.”
Singhose said about 50 members of his regiment came to Fort Worden in the winter of 1950-1951, almost half from Fort Wayne, Ind.
More members of the regiment are expected to come for the commemorative ceremony today.
Activities today kick off at 9:45 a.m. with a flag-raising ceremony.
At 10 a.m., the Guardhouse Visitor Center and Gift Shop, Reunion Center, Commanding Officers Quarters Museum, Puget Sound Coast Artillery Museum, and Marine Science Center open. Park tours also begin.
From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. the Friends of Willie and Joe will present their living history east of building 225.
A natural history program begins at 11 a.m. and the Commemorative Ceremony will start at 1 p.m. at the parade grounds.
Today’s activities wind down with a 1902 John Philip Sousa Band concert at McCurdy Pavilion beginning at 3:15 p.m.
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The rest of this story appears in the Sunday Peninsula Daily News Jefferson County edition. Click on “Subscribe” to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.