How Columbia’s Jackstaff ended up at the Monument in Columbia, SC

After the Columbia was decommissioned she was tied up at Phila. Navy Yard., where she remained for a number of years.  I often saw her when I visited the yard to attend meetings of the U. S. Navy League Assn.  I made an inquiry when I noticed her missing from her berth to learn that she had been sold to Sun Ship Co., Chester, PA, for scrap.  A number of years after that, while attending a Navy League dinner I began chatting with another and we started talking about our navy  days.  When I told him I served aboard the Columbia, he told me he had the jackstaff, using it as a flagpole on his front lawn.  He had worked at Sun Ship and he acquired it when it was scrapped.  He also happened to live in Springfield and invited me over to see it, which I did.  We became good friends and he told me that if he ever moved I could have it.  So a number of years pass.  Then one day I get a call from him telling me that he and his wife were moving to a retirement home and I could take the jackstaff.  I, along with another who had a truck retrieved it and it sat in my garage for several years, trying to get the city of Columbia to accept and erect it at the monument.  Finally they agreed and I had it shipped down.  I took about another year before they finally placed it.  It makes me feel good that I was able to save a part of the ship for all to see that visit the monument. 

Regards, Bill Bohne'