From Annapolis HOmetown: Naval Academy gate gets new name
With its bright Navy blue and its golden letters glinting in the sunlight, visitors to the Naval Academy might not realize a new archway over one of the most highly traversed entrances to the academy hasn't always been there.
Tina Reed — The Capital Workers attach a new archway over the Naval Academy pedestrian gate nearest the academy’s visitor center yesterday. The archway is part of a memorial that is being created near the gate to honor Commodore John Barry, the first commissioned officer of the Navy.
Displaying the name "BARRY," visitors certainly wouldn't realize the work that went into getting it there.
Put in place near downtown Annapolis yesterday, that archway is the start of a permanent memorial at the academy to the first commissioned officer of the Navy, Commodore John Barry.
"We had numerous people told us this was never going to happen," said Jack O'Brien, who spearheaded the project with John E. McInerney and other members of the Ancient Order of the Hibernians.
It was the fruit of several years work trying to recognize Barry for the impact he had on the Navy. Barry's original commission from George Washington, Commission No. 1, is displayed in the Naval Academy Museum. But he otherwise had little memorializing him there, O'Brien said.
The group began a massive letter-writing campaign pushing to allow the Hibernians, a Catholic Irish American fraternal organization, to create the memorial. "We started a conversation in the Navy: 'Isn't it time to honor Barry?' " he said.
Within the year, the Revolutionary War hero - and, according to some, the "Father of the U.S. Navy" - should have a permanent monument created inside the "Barry" gate on what will be called the "Barry Plaza." The gate faces Craig Street, around the corner from Gate 1.
The Naval Academy's Memorial Oversight Committee approved the Barry Memorial last spring. Academy officials originally rejected the plan for a Barry monument because of the original location it was being proposed in, officials said.
As the arch was put into place yesterday morning, a small group of people stayed to watch.
"I can't believe it's finally happening. Someone pinch me," one woman said.
The arch even attracted out-of-town visitors who came to see it yesterday, including Russell Wylie, a past president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick. The Philadelphia chapter helped to raise funds and to lobby for the project.
As midshipman are just beginning the first few years of training, heroes of the past like Barry serve as an important reminder, Wylie said.
"Barry became captain of a ship at 19 years old and that was what he was doing when the Revolution broke out," Wylie said. "What we hope they will pick up from this is the courage, the fortitude, the things you need inside of you to deal with adversity."
Barry was born in Ireland in 1745, and died in Philadelphia in 1803. He commanded three ships during the American Revolution - Lexington, Raleigh and Alliance. In April 1776, Lexington captured the British ship Edward, plus some privateers.
The British once offered Barry a fortune in British pounds, and command of any frigate in the British Navy, if he would defect. Barry refused.
In 1783, Barry commanded Alliance during the last naval battle of the Revolutionary War.
He was commissioned a captain in 1797, the highest rank that existed in the new United States Navy. Because he was the first commissioned officer in the Navy, he was generally referred to as "commodore," or commander, and he is recognized as the Navy's first flag officer.
The memorial also is a reminder of the contributions Irish Americans have had on the history of the nation despite a time in history when Irish Catholics were largely discriminated against, said Annapolis resident and Hibernian resident Dave Aland.
"This is also a celebration of overcoming prejudice," Aland said. "We've got to do more of that in this country."
