KYW Flashback: A Long History With The U.S.S. Olympia
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Since KYW Newsradio was launched in Philadelphia, our reporters made an annual pilgrimage up a steel gangway to the deck of the U.S.S. Olympia, docked at Penn's Landing.
Sea service veterans among them would salute the flag flying from the historic ship's stern.
Admiral Dewey's flagship during the Spanish-American War was the focal point of Veteran's Day events in Philadelphia.
At first, more than a dozen veterans of that 1898 war attended. But the numbers dwindled and they're now gone. It appeared as though the same fate would befall the unique ship.
But just last year on this date, KYW's Mike DeNardo reported that the Olympia would not go to the scrap heap or a watery grave, but would remain in Philadelphia to be preserved as a vital part of the Seaport Museum's focus on our nautical heritage.