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Old 01-26-2004, 05:34 PM
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Unhappy War - Sea Dead

I, an unafraid airman, have been thinking this for a very long time....

We speak of the many acres on earth, here in America and elsewhere on this planet, which are dedicated graves... places of rest for the remains of our brothers and sisters, our warriors, our fighters and our kin.

What I have often thought about though is the countless and unmarked graves of all those buried at sea... on purpose and by the sinking of ships.... whose names may or may not be known... but over whose final resting places the ships, vessels, and boats pass silently every single day of our liveswhilst whilst we go about these lives unaware... where wreaths are thrown... where, where our kin lay so far beneath the water's face... from every combatant side in every war or skirmish since the beginning of time... be it BISMARK or ARIZONA or any other one, Pacific or Atlantic or Red or otherwise.. I weep. Submariner or Four-masted standard of the fleet, I weep.

I think about the sailors, very often... for there is no Wall beneath the water face, no cenotaph, no equestrian statue riding high afoot, no place to go for to mark a face and name where it lay... and I dream of the Hymn for those who do not return from the sea... and I weep... I weep for they whose place of rest cannot be known... I weep for those who lay in the cold soft sea, the shifting flowing sea, amidst the changing shoals and fauna salt or not... I weep and think of you whose names cannot be remembered, for whom there will be no monument above your bones where we might come to pray... and weep in our remembrance of your suffering, the manner of your death in service to a nation, in the cold and suffocating waters of our earth... I weep,

My Americans, my happy sailors, in your cap hats.... gone, gone, beneath the surface of the seas, so many seas, so many places.

I, remember you.

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Old 01-26-2004, 05:52 PM
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Thank you.

Bill
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Old 01-26-2004, 09:54 PM
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Very eloquent and so true. You are not forgotten.

Larry
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Old 01-27-2004, 01:15 PM
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My Shipmates who are on the final cruise will never be forgotten, they will keep the watch till my other shipmates and myself get there to relive them!
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A veteran - whether active duty, retired, national guard or reserve - is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America", for an amount of "up to and including my life." That is honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it. -- Author Unknown
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Old 03-28-2004, 08:39 AM
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Not a day goes by that I do not think about our fallen sailors....I married a sailor and he is by my side to this day (now civilians), however, there are many women who's sailors did not return...many parents, many children, many brothers, many sisters.....

May the hand of God touch their lives always......for they have served with honor and will always be what I can only hope to be.
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Old 02-03-2009, 05:40 PM
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01 May 2008
A Moment to Pause and Remember

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The ship paused on its trek a couple of days ago to take care of some solemn business. When we departed Pearl, we were entrusted with the cremated remains of thirteen brothers-in-arms to be committed to the deep. Small ships have no facilities to store casketed remains, but the larger ships frequently accept them for burial.

Most Americans - and even many veterans - don’t realize that any honorably discharged veteran of any of the armed forces is entitled to a burial at sea if they or their loved ones choose. Indeed, the majority of services I’ve been involved with haven’t been veterans of the Navy. Perhaps they had some connection with or love of the sea, or perhaps it was the best option for the serviceman’s survivors.
Just over a score of volunteers perform the ceremonies aboard RUSSELL, and they’re well practiced. It all starts with the ship lying to and passing the word, “All hands prepare to bury the dead.” The remains and the ceremonial flag are marched through an honor guard to the front and center. One of the ship’s lay leaders, or a chaplain when one’s available, reads a psalm, Scriptures and a prayer.

The remains are marched to the deck edge and presented to the officer who will scatter them as the honor guard fires three volleys and the Boatswain Mate of the Watch plays taps over the ship’s announcing system. The flag is then received by the Command Master Chief as the leader of the burial at sea detail, who then presents it to the Commanding Officer as the representative of the family.
All of this gets recorded on a DVD and returned to the family with the flag, 21 spent casings and a chartlet that marks the location of the service.

I recall performing burials at sea long ago when I was an Ensign, but it seems like there has been a dramatic increase in the numbers in the last few years. Perhaps that’s because the veterans of the Second World War are beginning to leave us. And with them go much of our history.

Posted by Chris van Avery, Lt. Cmdr., U.S. Navy




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Old 02-03-2009, 06:09 PM
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