Platte City gets bell from USS Platte

PLATTE CITY, Mo. -- The bell that graced the bridge of the USS Platte for more than 30 years has been given to Platte County.

The Platte County Board of Commissioners received the bell from the Navy on Thursday. The bell was on the USS Platte from 1939 to 1970.

The USS Platte and Platte County actually are unrelated. The ship -- a 553-foot long, Cimarron-class fleet oiler -- was named for the Platte River in Nebraska. In May 2002, however, more than 100 members of the ship's various crews chose Platte City as the meeting place for their first reunion.

In August, U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., wrote a letter to the Navy Congressional Liaison on behalf of the bureau, asking for the ship's bell. The Navy complied.

Retired Rear Admiral Charles "Woody" Rixey, a Platte County native who was a supply officer aboard the USS Platte from 1952 to 1954, said the bell was critical when the ship was anchored in its homeport of Long Beach, Calif. During the frequent morning fogs, the bell would ring out the ship's number -- AO-24 -- to guide ships approaching it.

An estimated 3,000 men served on the USS Platte over the course of three wars. The ship was one of the major supply ships during World War II. It earned 22 battle stars before being decommissioned in 1970.

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