The Navy and the town embrace each other like nowhere else

By REBEKAH DENN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Civilian and military alike praise the relationship between the town and the two-section base, a seaplane base on Oak Harbor's eastern shore and Ault Field to the west.

The Navy came to town when the nation was engulfed in the perils of World War II.

Perhaps for that reason, "the town embraced the Navy, the Navy embraced the town, and it's been that way ever since," says Dave Williams, harbormaster of the 420-boat Oak Harbor Marina and former commanding officer of the base.

"I never found (the relationship) anyplace else, and neither has anyone else," he says.

Many Navy crews who leave Oak Harbor later return -- Oak Harbor was named the Navy's most desirable post in a 1993 survey -- and many choose to retire in town.

Enlisted men and women volunteer in Oak Harbor schools, attend Oak Harbor churches and act in community theater at the Whidbey Playhouse. Military spouses form a sizable labor pool for Oak Harbor businesses. The high school's heavily enrolled junior ROTC keeps an A-6 plane on display shining clean.

Members of the 27-year-old Filipino-American association, many of whose members have military connections, participate in dozens of community events, from luaus for the Knights of Columbus to food drives to scholarships to a dance troupe that performs on invitation, says founder Bert Letrondo.

American flags proudly lace the downtown on Memorial Day and Veterans Day, and the Navy's birthday calls for an annual celebration.

When Oak Harbor's men and women returned from Vietnam, in a far cry from receptions in other towns, signs were posted throughout downtown and supportive crowds gathered to welcome them home.

"The whole town would turn out," recalls Williams. "It was pretty breathtaking, if you were one of the guys who was coming home."