2010 USS WESTCHESTER COUNTY (LST-1167) REUNION
A Memorial Weekend
“Lest We Forget”
SCHEDULE
The dates are Thursday to Sunday, September 2-5. The hotel is the Holiday Inn National Airport. The address is 2650 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, Virginia.
The reception is Thursday, September 2, evening 6 p.m.
The bus will take us from the hotel to the Viet Nam Wall Memorial at about noon, Friday, September 3. The unveiling of the ship’s plaque is 2-4 p.m. at the Navy Memorial. There will be a reception after that with light hors d’oeuvres. The bus will return you to the hotel.
Saturday, September 4, morning is the Shipmates business meeting at 9 a.m.
Saturday, September 4, cocktail hour (cash bar) and dinner at 6 p.m. Please bring a gift for each person from your area to be eligible for drawing.
Sunday, September 5, is the memorial breakfast at 9 a.m.
Hotel Reservations must be made by August 2nd to get the reunion rate. Reunion Registration must be mailed by August 2nd.to get the early rate.
HOTEL RESERVATIONS
The Reunion is from Thursday, Sept 2 to Sunday, Sept 5.
You can make reservations online or by telephone and get the special rate of $99 per night if you make your reservations by August 2nd.
Most Shipmates will arrive at the Holiday Inn National Airport on Thursday, Sept 2 and leave Sunday, September 5. If you want to spend a few more days in the DC area sightseeing, you can get the reunion rate of $99 a night through Monday night, September 6. (Remember that Monday, Sept 6 is Labor Day.) There are seven rooms available for reservations for Wednesday, Sept 1st, but the hotel staff is expecting the hotel to be filled with the normal business travel so when our Sept 1st allocation is filled it is unlikely that we would be able to get the reunion rate for any more rooms on that night.
If making reservations online please use this web address:
http://www.ihg.com/h/d/HI/1/en/rates/WASDC?groupBookingCode=USW&_IATAno=99801505
Note: the character after “USW&” is “_”, and not a space.)
A generic reservations page will show up, but it will be coded with some preset information for our group.
Enter the arrival date and number
of nights you will be staying (use calendar with arrows)
Scroll
down and click “check availability”
A page will pop up requesting individual information. You will also see your group identification which is "USW"
Follow the instructions for making/completing the reservation.
When I made my
reservations online, the receipt indicated that parking was $16
dollars per day. Our contract specifies that the parking is
complementary. I checked with our point of contact and their
web page was not set up to handle this, but they will straighten it
out at check in. There is a box in the reservation for special
needs, I added "complementary parking" on ours. If
you
need a handicap room, that should also be in that box.
Also if you are on insulin for diabetes and need a refrigerator, also
ask for that in that box.
If calling, please call 1-888-294-5059 (This is different from the first e-mail that you may have received.) Be sure to give the group name, “USS Westchester County.” If you experience any difficulty making reservations, please let me, (703) 378-7581 (or my wife, Sue) know so that we can request assistance.
WESCO MEMBERSHIP
If your membership is not up to date you may want to update your membership to get a lower overall rate. This will be less expensive than doing the WESCO Registration without an up-to-date membership. A form for the Registration is enclosed.
WESCO REUNION REGISTRATION
There is a reunion registration and guest form in this package. Please fill out and mail no later than August 2nd as that will be less expensive and will enable us to make closer estimates for various activities and meals and avoid penalties.
TRANSPORTATION
Parking is complementary instead of the normal rate of $16 per night.
The hotel is 0.5 miles from Reagan National Airport (DCA) provides complimentary bus service between airport and hotel. The bus runs from 5 a.m. to midnight every thirty minutes. From the airport call the hotel at (703) 684-7200 after you pick up your luggage.
The two other airports in the area are Washington Dulles Airport (IAD) in Virginia 28 miles northwest from the hotel, and Baltimore Washington International (BWI) Airport 37 miles north of the hotel. If the flights are much less expensive to these locations, it may be better to use these airports, but take into account that ground transportation to and from the hotel in the total cost. The lowest cost is the Blue Shuttle (http://rideflyreservations.com). If you can travel with others and/or reserve round trip you can decrease your costs. Round trip is about 10% discount and additional passengers are much less expensive than the first passenger as shown in the table below.
One-Way Fares
|
Airport |
First Passenger |
Additional Passengers |
|
Washington Dulles (IAD) |
$29 |
$10 each |
|
Baltimore Washington (BWI) |
$48 |
$12 each |
If you have any questions, please e-mail FrenchChas@aol.com or call (703) 378-7581(home) or (703) 863-9805 (cell).