Boys Town’s JROTC was presented a photograph on Aug. 30 with crew members of the USS Nebraska submarine stationed in Bangor, Washington, wearing Boys Town caps and holding Boys Town flags. The presentation represented the tremendous honor of naming one of the rooms on the submarine after the Village of Boys Town.
The story of how the naming of the various rooms and living quarters on the submarine came about is one that deserves being told.
The commanding officer of the USS Nebraska, Commander Vance Scott, was visiting Lincoln, Nebraska, in August of last year ahead of Navy Week when he noticed all the rooms at the Scarlet Hotel, which he was staying at, were named after communities in Nebraska. From that inspiration, Commander Scott set out to honor his submarine’s namesake by naming all the rooms aboard his ship after Nebraska communities.
According to a University of Nebraska School of Journalism story, there were several contributing parties to the project
“They talked about the rooms (at the hotel) being named after a city or town in Nebraska,” Commander Scott said. “And I thought, ‘I wonder if I can do that on my boat?’”
Shari Veil, dean of the College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, helped Scott answer that question.
When Veil learned about the naming project, she reached out to Nebraska alumni at Archrival, a Lincoln-based marketing company that worked with developer Goldenrod Companies on the brand and naming for the Scarlet Hotel.
“This project is a perfect example of what makes Nebraska so special,” Veil said. “We set up a meeting with folks from the Navy, College of Journalism, Archrival and Goldenrod, and a few weeks later the Navy had hundreds of community histories and thousands of photos of Nebraska towns and landmarks to pick from.”
Zach Wiegert, managing principal of Goldenrod Companies, said his team embraced the opportunity to collaborate with the military.
“We were excited to hear our Scarlet Hotel project inspired the U.S. Navy to name their staterooms in a similar manner,” Wiegert said. “We are proud supporters of our nation’s military.”
The most challenging part of the project was helping crew members identify with the various locations within Nebraska, especially for crew members who have not been to Nebraska.
“Goldenrod engaged the team at Archrival to write unique stories of nearly 150 Nebraska cities and towns. We shared these stories with the U.S. Navy, along with more than 2,000 photographs depicting each locale, which were captured by students from the University of Nebraska,” Wiegert said.
This gave the U.S. Navy team the opportunity to review and select the towns they wanted to represent onboard the submarine.
After combing over thousands of pictures and researching background stories for 150 Nebraska communities, the USS Nebraska crew members identified a few dozen worthy towns. Boys Town was selected as one of the honorees.
Aboard the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS Nebraska (SSBN 739), a placard on the door of the commanding officer’s cabin now honors the city of Lincoln, Nebraska. The executive officer’s stateroom was named after Bancroft, which is also the name of a dormitory at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.
Additional spaces such as officer staterooms, bunkrooms, chiefs’ quarters, the wardroom, study areas and the crew’s lounge will be named after the cities of Wahoo, Waterloo, Pawnee City, Broken Bow, Atlanta, West Point, Valentine, Offutt AFB, Schuyler, Eagle, Red Cloud, Tecumseh, Hastings, Central City, Tekamah, Weeping Water, Boys Town, Wood River, Waverly, Omaha, Cedar Rapids, Grand Island, Oakland, Imperial and Rushville.
Boys Town’s Jake Albanez was instrumental in helping to organize the communication between the crew of the USS Nebraska and Boys Town. He set up sending a dozen hats and two Boys Town flags to the crew. The crew then took a picture with the items and sent it to Albanez, who arranged for two Navy crew members to present the picture to the Boys Town JROTC.
“It’s what this picture represents that is so important,” Albanez said. “Fourteen active-duty U.S. military members, including the Commanding Officer of a nuclear powered, ballistic missile submarine, took time from their missions to pose with the flags and 12 hats at Deterrent Point in Bangor, Washington. It lets our Boys Town youth and the Boys Town community know they are supported. That is something to think about – the USS Nebraska cruising below sea level, doing what it does with its torpedoes and Trident missiles, all while having a room named after Boys Town on board.”
Albanez said it makes him proud for everyone at Boys Town.
“This is really a testament to the legacy of Boys Town, Father Flanagan and most importantly, all the kids that have been impacted by Boys Town and that continue to bring honor to the entire square mile of our little village,” he said. “I believed it was incredibly important for this story to be more broadly shared with our village, our youth and our supporters. It’s important for all of us to know that while the USS Nebraska is based on the Pacific Coast, and often deployed halfway around the globe, Boys Town is being supported and honored in so many ways.”
USS Nebraska is one of eight ballistic-missile submarines stationed at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, providing the most survivable leg of the strategic deterrence triad for the United States.
