THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 13, 1995 TAG: 9510120116
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 15 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
A real Norwegian lady, Queen Sonja, visits the Oceanfront today to participate in a noon ceremony at Virginia Beach's Norwegian Lady statue.
The queen's visit coincides with the annual wreath-laying ceremony at the 25th Street monument dedicated to those who lost their lives when the Norwegian ship Dictator sank off the Virginia Beach coast during a storm in 1891.
Every year on the anniversary of the wreck, the Ladies Auxiliary of the Virginia Beach Volunteer Fire Department places a wreath at the base of the statue, which faces out toward the Atlantic Ocean. The wreath is then cast upon the sea.
Queen Sonja and her husband King Harald are visiting Hampton Roads this week and participating in activities at NATO's Supreme Allied Command Atlantic headquarters in Norfolk. Norway is one of the 13 original NATO nations.
Today's ceremony in Virginia Beach and Norfolk are part of the monarchy's monthlong visit to the United States. They arrived Monday in New York and will continue through October with visits to U.S. cities with close Norwegian-American relations.
In addition to the queen's appearance, the Virginia Beach memorial ceremony will include members of the local Norwegian community dressed in native costume.
The Cox High School Wind Ensemble will welcome the queen with its renditions of the American and Norwegian national anthems. Although Cox musicians have been performing at ceremonies at the Norwegian Lady statue since 1990, this is the first public appearance of the school's newly formed wind ensemble. In addition to the anthems, the group will perform ``The Cowboys'' by John Williams, ``Washington Post March'' by John Philip Sousa, ``Oh a Shaker Melody'' by Aaron Copeland, ``National Emblem,'' by Bagley, ``Flourish for the Wind Band'' by Vaughan Williams, ``American the Beautiful'' and the folk song ``Shenandoah'' arranged by Claude T. Smith. The band is under the direction of Timothy Gauldin.
The Virginia Beach Norwegian Lady statue was given to the city in 1962 by the Norwegian Shipping Association. An identical statue stands facing seaward in Moss, Norway, one of Virginia Beach's sister cities and the homeport of the Dictator.
The bronze statue replaced the ship's original wooden figurehead, which had washed ashore nearby and had stood at the oceanfront as a memorial to the dead until it deteriorated and was removed. ILLUSTRATION: Queen Sonja and her husband King Harald of Norway are visiting
Hampton Roads this week and participating in NATO activities.
by CNB