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The items which shall forever link Saratoga the ship with Saratoga the community is the silver epergne and the U.S.S. Saratoga (CV-3) ship's bell. Soon after the fifth U.S.S. Saratoga was launched in 1925, the American Legion, Adirondack Post 70, discussed the possibility of raising funds to purchase a silver service as a gift from the County of Saratoga to the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier U.S.S. Saratoga. Service sets, usually nothing more than a silver serving tray and some tea cups, were traditionally presented to the officers of every ship launched into action by the municipality that bore the name of the ship. The citizens of Saratoga Springs, however, wanted much more than a "traditional service." They wanted something that would represent the pride and support the community was willing to extend to the cause of patriotism, here and around the world. The community took the challenge to heart and began raising the $2,500 that would purchase what was expected to be an engraved silver trophy. To put things in perspective, in 1925, a spacious country home could be purchased for $2,500. Charles L. Mosher, then Saratoga County Superintendent of Schools, distributed a letter to his principals to enlist the support of the area's school children, who responded by offering their silver coins and pennies to the fund. They were rewarded with a small button that acknowledged their efforts. Mayor W.D. Eddy, chairman of the committee that raised the cash, retained the services of Saratoga Springs jeweler William H. DeFrehn, who drew the original design for the service. The Gorham Company of Providence, Rhode Island was contracted to skillfully craft it. The final product was, as it is to this day, as unique as it was visually appealing; the center portion of the service consists of a large bowl supported by a pedestal with arms that extend to either side. The extensions carry four candlesticks with filigree shades and a crystal fringe. On each side of the bowl sits an American Indian chief. The one on the right represents war, the one on the left, peace. Atop the trophy stands Revolutionary War solder, armed for battle. Engraved in the silver trophy, in block lettering, the inscription reads:
"PRESENTED BY THE PATRIOTIC, CIVIL, FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS, SCHOOL CHILDREN AND CITIZENS OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK, AS A TOKEN OF THEIR APPRECIATION OF THE FACT THAT THE FAIR NAME, SARATOGA IS TO BE PROUDLY BORNE BEFORE THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH BY THIS GALLANT SHIP." After the U.S.S. Saratoga (CV-3) was taken out of service in 1946, Representative Dean P. Taylor, the Republican Congressman from Troy, New York, asked Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal that the silver service given to the commander of the Saratoga as a gift 21 years prior, be returned to the community in the event the boat was slated for destruction. It was also Taylor who, while boarding the Saratoga in San Francisco on a business trip, requested the ship's bell as well. Forrestal responded by earmarking the silver service and bell for presentation to the city as a memento of its "namesake flat top" and wired Taylor indicating the same: "It is expected the Navy within a few days will have a clear method of handling gifts to municipalities. As soon as this becomes a fact, we will let you know the necessary steps to secure their return." In April 1946, the Navy inventoried the silver service and safely stored it away, to be returned to Saratoga Springs when the fate of "the gallant old Sara" was finally decided. A few weeks later it was. The "Fighting Lady" would be sent to an atoll in the Pacific and destroyed in a series of atomic bomb tests in July. Plans were made for the return of the service and bell. A homecoming celebration was scheduled for mid-June. Speakers were lined up. Hotels were booked. Then came the news no one wanted to believe: The silver service and bell had disappeared! Telegrams to the ship's home base in San Pedro, California went unanswered and the U.S. Navy was scrambling for answers. Congressman Taylor was in an uproar. He was previously informed by the Navy that the items in question were removed, crated and stored in a West Coast warehouse. But, which one? He now asked that the Navy immediately contact every commander of the ship since the service was presented, asking for information as to the trophy's whereabouts. He also asked that the commanders be requested to respond by wire. Taylor was quoted as saying during the furor, "If it appears that the trophy is in the hands of any individual, I will, if necessary, introduce a private bill to return it to the Navy!" The U. S. Navy responded by saying that its regulations forbid any commander from accepting a gratuity or grant of any kind and the act of Congress would probably be unnecessary. Then came the ominous news that the service and bell may be never be returned, if and when they were ever found. An official U.S. Navy statement indicated that "if the recruiting office at Albany who received the gift from the people of Saratoga made the presentation to the commander of the ship as a personal gift to him and it was so presented, that commander owns the service as a matter of right, and cannot be compelled to relinquish it." Commander Marion V. Brewington of the Navy's Bureau of Operations, was put in charge of directing the search for the "great missing bowl" and sent dispatches to all Navy warehouses in the United States. The message contained a description of the service. "There is no doubt in mind we will find the silver bowl. It is just a question of how long it will take," Brewington said. Not even the Navy's Bureau of Ships could determine that the Saratoga indeed ever had a silver service! Then, in late July, after a six-week nationwide search, the service and bell were discovered in a San Diego Naval Depot. The key to its recovery was a photograph furnished by The Saratogian, Saratoga Springs' daily newspaper. Even Commander Brewington admitted that the service may not ever have been recovered if not for the picture since all hands were looking for a "traditional service" and not one of the "punchbowl" variety. The service was in excellent condition and the bell was in order as well! All paths were again cleared for its eventual return to Saratoga Springs and on November 11, 1946, Armistice Day; they were officially presented to the City during a regal ceremony at Saratoga Springs High School. It was at this royal affair that Vice Admiral Gerald F. Bogan, former commander of the Saratoga, delivered the ship's eulogy. "On this ship were made the thousands of landings that brought pilot and technical skill to a high level," Bogan said, "And it was the 'Sara' that took two torpedoes by submarines plus five hits by kamikazes and lived to fight the war again." On display were color photos of the "gallant lady" slowly disappearing, frame by frame, beneath the blue waters of the Bikini atoll in the Pacific in the ultimate sacrifice to her country, that of a testing ground for a new type of naval warfare that employed the nuclear energy that was to be a "decisive force in the crusade against intolerance and persecution." Ten years later, in a gesture of goodwill, Saratoga Springs Mayor Addison Mallery offered the silver service back to the U.S. Navy for the commissioning of the sixth U.S.S. Saratoga. He made the presentation personally to the ship's Commander, Robert J. Stroh at the ceremony on April 14, 1956, at the New York Naval Yard in Brooklyn, New York. It wasn't until 1989, however, that another inquiry was made of the service's whereabouts. Saratoga Springs Mayor A. C. Drake was the one asking questions now. Nearly 43 years later, another search was on. But after much less an affair, the service was quickly located. It was safely stored in a Navy vault in Virginia and later moved back to Saratoga after decommissioning on August 20, 1994, where it was put on display at the Saratoga Battlefield in Stillwater. The bell found a home in Saratoga Springs in front of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Memorial Home on Veteran's Day in 1949. When the American Legion purchased the North Broadway house from the VFW, they got the bell as part of the deal. After all, it was embedded in a slab of concrete weighing approximately 15 tons! But in 1976, the Legion's Adirondack Post 70 moved across town to West Avenue, where the bell had been a fixture until only recently, when efforts were taken to restore it for presentation at the Congressional Medal of Honor parade, which took place in Saratoga springs on June 6, 1998. But twenty years of ringing at sea, the battles of World War II and the nuclear explosion at Bikini had taken their toll; the 1,000-pound bell was cracked in several places and was incapable of being rung. After metallurgists at The Guyson Corporation, USA, examined the 3-foot tall bell, they devised a plan to put it back in ringing order. It was fitted with brass plates and a collar for stabilization and received a polishing that gave it a high gloss, like-new finish. The refurbished bell was proudly displayed before an excited audience and afterward, returned to storage, where it will have remained until Saturday, September 19, reunion weekend. It will be unveiled at a ceremony at the Saratoga National Cemetery, where it will be permanently mounted when the cemetery is completed in 1999. The silver service also experienced its share of scratches, bends and cracks over the years. It has been restored by its original manufacturer, Gorham Silver of Providence, Rhode Island, and it will too be on display reunion weekend. The epergne built for $2,500 in 1925 has appreciated considerably. It's now worth approximately $85,000! After reunion weekend it will be vaulted until a permanent location for it has been agreed upon. Representatives of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. have expressed interest in putting it on display with other service sets for an exhibit in the year 2000. One day, possibly several years or several decades hence, it will be retrieved and again presented to the commander of the seventh ship so named U.S.S. Saratoga. It has taken much work by many people at many levels of government over the years to keep the silver service, the bell, and the spirit of the U.S.S. Saratoga alive. But key individuals have been responsible for keeping the links between Saratoga the ships and Saratoga the community as strong as ever.
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