1939 25th Anniversary
We found several images marked “1939 25th Anniversary.” Please help us learn more about this anniversary.
What did this anniversary mark? The Panama Canal’s opening? What did this event include? What role did the S.S. Ancon play in this historic anniversary? Do you know any stories about this anniversary?
If you have any information or interesting stories related to this anniversary, please share with us in the comments section
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Carl N Berg of Cocoli
The S.S. Ancon made the first official transit of the canal on August 15, 1914. Add twenty-five years and we are in 1939. Maybe the ship was transiting again on the same day of the month?
Fred Sill
The 25th anniversary was a big event, and included the “Ancon” repeating it’s inaugural transit of 1914. Our family was amongst those invited to take part, and it’s one of my earliest memories — I was five years old at the time. I’m not sure if it was a complete transit, but I know that a lot of us got off at Gamboa, which was roughly the half way point, to get the train back to Balboa. There was a brief ceremony in Gamboa, and my dad (one of the old timers) said a few words to mark the occasion. (I don’t remember what he said, but I do remember that we were given a free lunch on board, and when he got up to speak in Gamboa he had forgotten to remove the napkin he had tucked into his trousers.)