On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the city of New Orleans. As luck (bad) would have it, the USS Brooke was holding it's annual reunion at the DoubleTree Hotel the week prior. Of the almost 70 crewmembers, family members and guests that attended, all but 17 were able to escape New Orleans before Katrina hit. The 17 who weathered what was called the "Storm of our lifetime", all were able to evacuate New Orleans within several days following the "event". And while none of us would ever, ever, want to go through that again, we all have one hell of a sea story to tell everyone.
The 17 Brooke crewmembers, their families and friends who hunkered down in "Camp Doubletree"
As a group we decided that we wanted an memento of our "adventure" so we all signed the "Welcome" sign that was displayed outside of the hospitality room for the reunion (which also doubled as our "CIC" during the storm.
TRIBUTE TO THE DOUBLETREE HOTEL AND STAFF