THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 12, 1995 TAG: 9510110016
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 35 lines
Weatherwise, it's a gloomy day in Hampton Roads. The weather mirrors my mood. I'm mourning the death of a newspaper, the oldest continuously published military newspaper in the United States - The Navy News.
I've been part of The Navy News for four years, but this newspaper was published for 64 years before I came aboard. Those years saw the paper, and the world, go through many changes. It was once an international publication. Then a national publication. It was charged for; then is was free.
Through the years, it always chronicled the lives of the famous and not-so-famous military men and women who moved in and out of Hampton Roads in the service of their country. In the pages of The Navy News, these men and women read about homecomings, deployments, promotions, pay raises, new ships, downsizing and decommissionings.
And now that the doors are closing, I'm sure some will ask, How did it come to this? It was simply a matter of finances.
There are other local publications whose pages chronicle the same military lives as did The Navy News, but I hope that this little weekly won't be forgotten. While I'm sure not everyone will feel the loss as deeply as I do, I hope that they will view its closing as the end of a chapter in the history book of Hampton Roads.
DONNA LEA ABATE
Editor, Navy News
Norfolk, Oct. 6, 1995 by CNB