So to mark her graduation, the team at the John Paul Jones Birthplace Museum in Dumfries and Galloway were delighted to get involved.
They were were contacted last year by Katie’s dad, Michael Bennett, from the USA asking if he could send a Stars and Stripes flag to be flown on May 28 2021, the day she was due to graduate from the United States Naval Academy.
And the museum staff were happy to help and raised the flag on the day in question, as well as making a video of a walk around the Birthplace Cottage and museum so that she could see it.
They posted it back to America and to a delighted Katie, now an ensign in the US Navy.
She said: “One of the very first places on the Yard of the United States Naval Academy that made me fall in love with the naval service was the crypt of John Paul Jones. Seeing his legacy and history laid out before me is what eventually lead me to focus my area of study on the history of the relationship between the United States and the British Isles, with Scotland playing a large role.
“This gift given to me by my family and the museum is quite literally the most thoughtful present I have ever received; something tangible that will connect me to the father of the United States Navy forever.”
