for Chipsie

[Guest guest]

I am glad your daughter made it out!!! We are at war. When will people learn that!

Cheryl in CA

-------Original Message-------After a while...my kid was finally home...i was not there when she gothome as i live nineteen hours from her and we did not know exactly whatwas going onIt took her many, many months to begin to tell the story of whathappened...I did not ask ...I figured she would do so when she wantedto...to this day she has not said everything...She was going to the messhall for lunch. They were having Tacos thatday. She was in line in the hall by the messhall...the same messhall Iate Christmas dinner in...She was at the messhall door when her Chiefcalled her over...he was about ten feet in back of her and wanted torelay a message...she stepped back two feet and it blew...she was thrownback twenty five feet and hit a wall....the people she was origniallystanding up with at the door were gone...she said there wassmoke...blackness and fire...and the sounds of sailors that were hurtand trapped...She along with other shipmates...crawled thru the wreckageof the messhall...to reach their injured shipmates...what she said wasvery graphic and I will not get into this with yall...just remember theworse horror movie you every saw and multiply that by 1000....shereached a 200 pound male sailor that had a head injury...she carried himout on her back and brought him to triage...others did thesame...risking their own lives to save others...then there was amuster...and a call to general quarters....she could not reach hergeneral quarters as there was too much damage...they could not do acomputerized muster as the computer system and electrical system wasdown...so they did a paper muster...she was listed as missing for twohours as she could not get back to her division...when the paper mustergot back and they tried to account for people...they saw her name andsent armed gunners to get her...she went topside and manned a machinegun...they stayed there until the marines arrived...they guarded thatship...the same ship that had a forty by sixty foot hole in itsside...the water was gushing in...and they bailed her out withbuckets...for many hours...they searched for survivors...they treatedthe injured and they collected their dead...there was no food...nowater...no electricity....I sent an email out of her asking if she wasokay...I got it back about two months later saying they could not findthis addy...wonder why? They spent the first nite in their racks...inthe hot, hot dark...then the next nites they slept on the deck...therewas dysentary and malaria there...she was being treated for dysentaryand was taking malaria pills...there was one working toilet on the peerthat she used...the flag was scorched but still flew...Finally someoneput a tarp over the hole...as the zoom lens of the cameras peered insideof the hole...there were sailors trapped in there that did not make itout...I was very glad they put that tarp. When the other destroyers got there, the crew was very thankful. Themarines took over the duty of protecting the ship and helping thecrew...one marine was interview by a news station and said he had neverseen so much carnage...but that crew kept their ship afloat...it did notsink into the Bay of Arden...our US sailors made sure of that...theyalso took care of themselves and their fellow shipmates...Seventeenperished ...When the Cole was pulled out of the Bay of Arden, they played twosongs.....One was the National Anthem....and then the other one wasAmerican Bad Azz by Kid Rock...as the Cole sailed out...people on thebanks cheered He gave a benefit concert for the Cole sailors and for thechildren that were left behind by the deaths of those 17....Thesurviving Cole sailors gave Kid Rock a Cole Jacket and a hat...Othermusicians also gave benefit concerts for the cole victims...Tim McGrawand Faith Hill...etc...Those 17 will not every be forgotten...those 17 gave their lives so thatwe could remain free...those other sailors gave of their heart and soulsto keep their ship afloat and help their brethen...that is why freedomis so important to me...We can never let the freedoms we have, be takenfrom us...and I am not talking about freedom of speech here....I amtalking about all of them...we cannot let "creatures" bring us down...the first thing on the path was a memorialplaque that said this was the Cole memorial...it told the Cole story onOctober 12, 2000...It told how 17 gave their lives...it told how theother kept her afloat...and helped their brethen...I kept walking andfound pine trees on each side...one for each child that was left behindI was told...(I do not know if that is correct of not)...then there wasa single magnolia tree with another plaque...it was dedicated to thecrew of the cole that perished...the path continued and then I sawit....it was a three piece monolith coming out of the cement...it wasmade of red granite..it was engraved with the names of those seventeensailors...their rank and their home town...I read every one of them...itwas a cold, blustery day too...as I was shivering with the cold...i alsorealized I was shivering for those 17 mamas that lost their kid...thatplaque could have easily had my daughter's name on it...but thank God itdid not. God must have other plans for her...I said a prayer of thanksto him right then and there....I went back silently to the car....therewas another set of parents at the first plaque...another of the colesailors had come with his family to pay their respects...I just huggedmy kid when I got inside of the car...just a matter of two feet and anAngel from God saved her...and I am forever thankful for thatStress...yes this is stress at its worse for me...my daughter is goingback to sea soon...on another ship...I will again be worried but proudof the sacrifices my kids make and all the navy and militarypersonal...so that we can remain free...

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