Veteran celebrates 95th birthday aboard USS Yorktown where he was stationed in WW2

It’s not often that Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum gets to celebrate the birthday of a pilot who actually served aboard the aircraft carrier, but today, they did just that.

Former Air Force pilot and stalwart current volunteer Bill Watkinson turned 95 on the very ship that he called home during World War II.

Watkinson, a part-time resident of Mount Pleasant, is originally from New Jersey, but he’s been a volunteer tour guide aboard the Yorktown at Patriots Point for as long as spokesman Chris Hauff can recall. “He loves the Yorktown,” Hauff said.

Read it all from the local paper.


Posted in * Culture-Watch, * South Carolina, Aging / the Elderly, Health & Medicine, History, Military / Armed Forces

2 comments on “Veteran celebrates 95th birthday aboard USS Yorktown where he was stationed in WW2

  1. David Keller says:

    Elves–You need to fix/edit the article. Watkinson was a NAVY pilot NOT an Air Force pilot.

  2. Katherine says:

    Yes, considering as well that there was no Air Force in WWII. My father served in the Army Air Corps.