AMHERST — As Americans celebrated the Declaration of Independence on July 4, an Amherst native sailed on board a ship, typically docked in Boston, that honors another of the United States’ founding documents.
Joseph Woynar, who graduated in 2016 from Amherst Regional High School, is a seaman serving as part of a hand-picked Navy crew on the USS Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides, the world’s oldest commissioned warship remaining afloat.
On Independence Day, he assisted with the USS Constitution’s turnaround cruise in the Boston Harbor, where it fired a 21-gun salute near Fort Independence at Castle Island as part of its monthly venture from the Charleston Navy Yard.
Speaking by phone July 3, he said he sees his role as carrying on a family legacy.
“I always knew I wanted to be in the military,” Woynar said. “A lot of my family was in the Navy. It runs in the blood.”
His grandfather Brook Aldrich served in the Navy.
The son of Julie and Mark Woynar, he graduated from an eight-week naval boot camp at the Great Lakes Training Center in fall 2016. While he went in to be a nuclear technician, he was forced to change course due to being colorblind, and instead interviewed to be on Old Ironsides, where he was given a two-year stint.
“Am I proud of him?” Julie Woynar said. “I’m extremely proud of him.”
“I know how proud his dad is, too,” she added.
“Serving aboard the ship is incredibly powerful,” Joseph Woynar said. “I am a history buff and it is a lot of fun to teach and know this is how the Navy started and what we are now as a Navy.”
The wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate, named by President George Washington, successfully held off the British Navy in the War of 1812. Similar to how Navy ships and submarines protect the United States today, the USS Constitution actively defended sea lanes from 1797 to 1855.
The ship is a featured destination on the Freedom Trail, where Woynar and other sailors talk to visitors about the ship’s history and the importance of maintaining a strong Navy, as well as about their jobs, their previous duty stations, Navy rules and regulations and life aboard a Navy vessel. He has earned accolades for giving these tours.
“I enjoy giving tours to the public and telling the story of the United States Navy,” Woynar said.
He also runs the barber shop, and one of his duties for July Fourth will be getting all the sailors’ uniforms cleaned and ready.
Next January, he anticipates being reassigned, possibly overseas, or perhaps heading to naval sites in Norfolk or San Diego.
“Wherever the Navy needs me, is where I’m going,” Woynar said.
He encourages people from the area to drop by between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily, and observes that he appreciated growing up in Amherst where he lived in a community with people from all backgrounds.
“I am thankful my hometown was full of diversity, as it is incredible,” Woynar said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.