500 military personnel to arrive Monday
Saipan Mayor Juan B. Tudela will welcome to the Port of Saipan almost 500 men and women in uniform from the battle submarine USS Olympia and the destroyer USS Mustin this Monday on a rest and a recreation activities and other port duties on Saipan.
The homeport for the USS Olympia is Honolulu, Hawaii, while the USS Mustin’s is San Diego, California. This port visit to Saipan will be the third for the USS Olympia and the first for USS Mustin.
The commanding officers of the submarine and destroyer will be joining some of their crewmembers who will be participating in a two-day community relations activities at Sugar King Estate in Garapan on Tuesday and Wednesday, from 9am to 2pm.
The Office of the Mayor will also host an island-style barbecue cookout for the volunteers. They will be joined by Ruth Coleman from the Office of the CNMI Military and Veterans Affairs Office.
Commanding officers of the USS Olympia and USS Mustin are scheduled that day to personally receive on behalf of their respective COMREL volunteers the Municipality of Saipan Honorary Plague of Recognition and Appreciation and the Municipality’s Hospitality Pin from Tudela.
The community relations activity allows military personnel to engage in volunteer work to maintain the scenic, historical, recreational, cultural, natural, and archaeological characteristics of a selected area—in this case this Sugar King Estate—while providing the infrastructure to accommodate increased tourism and development of related amenities for residents and visitors on Saipan.
The two-day “happy labor” will see these men and women in uniform engaged in tree trimming, raking, water blasting around the slab pavements, planting of trees, flowers, shrubs, and other ornamental plants, and the re-opening of overgrown nature trails leading to the top of the Sugar King estate, which offers a panoramic ocean view and city view of downtown Garapan and upper China Town.
For more information, call Florence Stephen at 235-7444 or Coleman at the Military and Veteran Affairs Office at 664-2650/51.
