Jonathan Foutz / U.S. Navy
Petty Officer 3rd Class Jorge Duarte-Figueroa from Guadalajara, Mexico, waits with fellow sailors for a citizenship ceremony to commence on the flight deck of the USS Kitty Hawk at sea on Saturday.
Posted on 08/25/2005 3:45:57 AM PDT by Former Military Chick
Twenty-nine sailors from the USS Kitty Hawk and Carrier Air Wing 5 made history while becoming Americans on Saturday, by being the first sailors to be naturalized at sea on a Navy warship, according to a Navy news release.
Jonathan Foutz / U.S. Navy
Petty Officer 3rd Class Jorge Duarte-Figueroa from Guadalajara, Mexico, waits with fellow sailors for a citizenship ceremony to commence on the flight deck of the USS Kitty Hawk at sea on Saturday.
The ceremony was scheduled to take place at a later date in port. But since immigration officials were available to test the sailors under way, the sailors were granted citizenship shortly before the ship’s return to Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, after a 90-day deployment.
Kitty Hawk commander Capt. Ed McNamee presided over the ceremony along with Robert Looney, from the Bangkok district of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
“Thousands of immigrants serving in the United States Armed Forces are making extraordinary sacrifices for their adopted nation,” Looney stated in a written release. “These brave men and women have pledged their lives to defend liberties they have yet to secure for themselves. There is no more fitting way for a grateful nation to show its appreciation for their service than through granting qualified military servicemembers U.S. citizenship as quickly as possible.”
The 29 are assigned to the ship and Naval Air Facility Atsugi-based squadrons Strike Fighter Squadron 102, VFA-192 and Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 14.
More than 500 sailors on the ship come from 50 foreign countries, the release said.
Immigration laws have been modified in the past several years to make it easier and quicker for many active-duty servicemembers to gain citizenship, according to the USCIS.
“It’s a great feeling to be done with the whole process and that I’m now a citizen,” stated Seaman Chanthorn Peou, from the ship’s educational service office, who was born in Cambodia. “I’m very excited.”
Taking the oath as Americans
Here are the names and prior nationalities of the sailors who became American citizens Saturday while at sea aboard the USS Kitty Hawk:
Bismark Amedzro, Ghana
Ryann Aquino, Philippines
Wendy Aquino, Dominican Republic
Francisco Avalos, El Salvador
Haeven Bautista, Philippines
Cherng Chu, Taiwan
Roy Cutkelvin, Belize
Enrico Dagsindal, Philippines
Jorge Duarte-Figueroa, Mexico
Raymond Farpale, Philippines
Ignace Fortunat, Haiti
Pedro Gonzalez, El Salvador
Juan Hernandez, Colombia
John Hope, Ghana
Jacky Jouthe, Haiti
Chris Ligsay, Philippines
Kethsanga Lounbandit, Laos
Frederick Manucat, Philippines
Jairo Martinez-Vasquez, El Salvador
Garfield McKenzie, Jamaica
Marionne Mendoza, Philippines
Reynaldo Ogoy Jr., Philippines
Carlos Orona Rincon, Mexico
Chanthron Peou, Cambodia
Harol Pineda-Chavez, Mexico
Mario Richards, Jamaica
Carlos Solera Castillo, Costa Rica
Michel Tolentino, Philippines
Byung Yoo, South Korea
That they do. I offer a huge and grateful welcome to some of our newest Americans.
Bump for citizenship.
Second bump for citizenship -- so others will see.
WELCOME! You men and women set the EXAMPLE for the SPOILED citizens of our nation who refuse to serve.
A big B-Z to all the new Americans. Always haze gray and underway!
WooHoo!
Congratulations and welcome....thank you for your service to this great nation....
Welcome, and thank you for your service to our country.
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