Welcome the Intrepid Museum Home

I was excited to see the U.S.S. Intrepid pull into its familiar home, at New York’s Pier 86, after a two-year refurbishment program, a spectacular upgrade for the legendary aircraft carrier. We at Veterans Advantage have traced much of our eight-year history through the Intrepid Museum, with one of our board members once serving as the museum’s CEO. And we have held several major Veterans events on the ship, including one right after 9/11.

Among five retired World War II aircraft carriers serving today as museums, none has a record to match Intrepid’s. Launched in 1943, it fought in six major Pacific campaigns, losing 270 crew members — mostly to Japanese kamikazes. It also served in the Korean and Vietnam wars and was twice a recovery ship for NASA astronauts before being decommissioned in 1974. Alongside it will also be a British Airways Concorde supersonic jet, a tribute to high speed air travel.

We send best wishes to the Intrepid Museum’s CEO Bill White, a friend of Veterans Advantage, as he relaunches this fabled carrier and leads the Intrepid Museum with purpose and enthusiasm.
White also heads the Fisher-created Intrepid Foundation, whose projects range from education to the Fallen Heroes Fund, supporting families of war dead and wounded. Its latest project is a new state-of-the-art treatment center for traumatic brain injuries at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Washington, D.C.

And, finally of course, rest in peace WWII Navy Veteran Paul Newman.