CV-62 USS Independence Liberty Bell Patch

Her crew called her Indy, and from 1991 to 1998 she was the only aircraft carrier the Navy kept permanently forward deployed, working out of Yokosuka, Japan. USS Independence was the fourth and last of the Forrestal class supercarriers, built in Drydock 6 at the New York Naval Shipyard in Brooklyn. Her keel went down on July 1, 1955, she was launched on June 6, 1958, and she was commissioned on January 10, 1959. She went to sea as CVA-62 and was reclassified CV-62 on February 28, 1973. Her motto was Freedom's Flagship, and she carried it through almost forty years in commission.

In 1962 she was on the blockade line during the Cuban Missile Crisis. She deployed on May 10, 1965, with Carrier Air Wing 7 (CVW-7) for Vietnam and earned the Navy Unit Commendation for operations from June 5 to November 21 that year. Her air wing supported the multinational peacekeeping force in Lebanon in 1982 and flew missions over Grenada on October 25, 1983. After Iraq invaded Kuwait she arrived in the Gulf of Oman on August 5, 1990, and became the first carrier to enter the Persian Gulf since 1974, staying on station for 112 days. On September 11, 1991, she shifted her home port to Yokosuka with Carrier Air Wing 5 (CVW-5), and in 1992 CVW-5 jets were the first coalition aircraft over Iraq for Operation Southern Watch.

The patch is round with a scroll across the bottom, 5 inches wide by 4.75 inches tall, finished with a cut edge that follows the outline of the scroll. A gold rope circles a royal blue ring set with thirteen white stars. Inside, the Liberty Bell hangs from its gold yoke on a red field, stitched in brown with a black mouth. A gold scroll with blue tails reads USS INDEPENDENCE in black block letters. The backing is iron-on, and it sews on just as well if you would rather use a needle.

Indy spent her last seven years as the carrier that never went home, with families living ashore around Yokosuka and the air wing ready to sail on short notice for Seventh Fleet. From 1995 until her final day she flew the First Navy Jack, the rattlesnake flag with the words Don't Tread on Me, from her bow. USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) relieved her in Japan and took the jack with her. Independence was decommissioned at Bremerton, Washington, on September 30, 1998. Her hull was towed to Brownsville, Texas, in 2017 and broken up there by 2019.

It fits a shadow box next to a cruise book and your CVW-7 or CVW-5 squadron patches, or the vest you wear to an Indy reunion. It also makes a good gift for a shipmate who rode her into the Persian Gulf in 1990 or stood watches through the Yokosuka years. One bell, thirteen stars, and her name on the scroll.