Carson City, Senator Bryan plan ceremony for bell

A bell that once decorated the bridge of a World War II frigate will now hold a place of honor at Carson City Hall.

The 259-pound brass bell of the USS Carson City, the only military ship named for Nevada's state capital, was filed away on a shelf at the Carson City Library for eight years before those responsible for finding the piece of World War II memorabilia insisted on a more prominent location.

In 1992, David Henley, a military historian and publisher of the Lahontan Valley News/Fallon Eagle-Standard, was in Washington D.C. researching ships with Nevada names and discovered that the bell to the USS Carson City had survived the ship's decommission in 1971. It was on permanent loan from the Navy to Yellow Pine, Idaho, a town of 68 people 120 miles north of Boise.

"The bell is always one of the most important artifacts of a ship," Henley said. "The bell was taken off before the Carson City was scrapped, and this small town in Idaho requested the bell serve as the community fire bell and bell to the one room school house."

Henley decided the bell was an important part of Nevada history and rightly belong in the capital, not in Idaho. He enlisted Sen. Richard Bryan to help in the bell's return to Carson City.

"We agreed this bell should be brought back to Nevada," Henley said. "It was the only memento, the only piece left. In the state museum we had silver and things from the battleship Nevada. We had nothing but photos of the Carson City. Dick Bryan and I agreed it was unfinished business. It was important to get it back."

Tom Baker, Bryan's rural representative, said Yellow Pine had no phone service in 1992, and calls had to be made to a sheriff in a nearby town to even inquire if the town would give up its bell. Town members agreed as long as another bell could be found to replace theirs.

Bryan arranged for a substitute bell from the Navy to be shipped to Yellow Pine and the bell of the Carson City made its way to Carson City. With nowhere else to put it, the bell was placed at the library in a place where it was barely noticed.

Henley and Bryan asked Carson Mayor Ray Masayko if the bell couldn't be put in a more prominent location, and it now rests in the main lobby of City Hall.

"We wanted to make sure the bell got the proper exposure," Masayko said. "It wasn't getting much exposure at the library. I bet if you asked, 95 percent of the people in Carson City wouldn't know there was a USS Carson City."

Baker asked the local Vietnam Veterans of America to pay for a plaque noting the bell's importance. They agreed, as long as Baker would serve as chapter president. Friday, the Vietnam Veterans will be joined by Bryan, Masayko and Navy officials from Fallon Naval Air Station in a second homecoming for the bell.

"It's an important part of Nevada's history and past," Henley said. "We need to know more about our history."

The USS Carson City, a 303-foot patrol frigate, was launched in Los Angeles in 1943. The ship was present at the American landings at Leyte Gulf and at the capture of the Japanse-held island of Moratai. It received two battle stars for actions under fire. Ironically, the ship was loaned to both the Russian and Japanese navies after the war. It was returned to the United States, decommissioned and scrapped in 1971.

If you go:

What: USS Carson City bell homecoming ceremony

When: Friday, noon

Where: City Hall, 201 N. Carson St.

For information, call 841-7163 or 887-2100.