IP: From the USS WINSTON CHURCHILL at sea.

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Wed, 07 Nov 2001 11:46:23 -0600
> From: gep2 () terabites com
> Subject: From the USS WINSTON CHURCHILL at sea.
>
>
> This message was posted to a shipping mailing list I'm on, and it seems
> appropriate to also repost it here.
>
> [quote]
>
> This is an e-mail from a young ensign aboard USS Winston Churchill to
> his parents. Churchill is an Arleigh Burke class AEGIS guided missile
> destroyer, commissioned March 10, 2001, and is the only active US Navy
> warship named after a foreign national.
>
> Dear Dad,
>
> We are still at sea. The remainder of our port visits have all
> been cancelled. We have spent every day since the attacks going back
> and forth within imaginary boxes drawn in the ocean, standing
> high-security watches, and trying to make the best of it. We have seen the
> articles and the photographs, and they are sickening. Being isolated, I don't
> think we appreciate the  full scope of what is happening back home, but
> we are definitely feeling the effects.
>
> About two hours ago, we were hailed by a German Navy destroyer,
> Lutjens, requesting permission to pass close by our port side.
> Strange, since we're in the middle of an empty ocean, but the captain
> acquiesced and we prepared to render them honors from our bridgewing. As
> they were making their approach, our conning officer used binoculars and
> announced that Lutjens was flying not the German, but the American flag. 
> As she
> came alongside us, we saw the American flag flying half-mast and her entire
> crew topside standing at silent, rigid attention in their dress uniforms.
>
> They had made a sign that was displayed on her side that read  "We Stand
> By You."
>
> There was not a dry eye on the bridge as they stayed alongside us for a
> few minutes and saluted. It was the most powerful thing I have seen in my
> life.
>
> The German Navy did an incredible thing for this crew,  and it has truly been
> the highest point in the days since the attacks.  It's amazing to think that
> only half-century ago things were quite  different. After Lutjens pulled 
> away,
> the Officer of the Deck, who had  been planning to get out later this year,
> turned to me and said, "I'm staying Navy."
>
> I'll write you when I know more about when I'll be home,  but this is it for
> now.
>
> Love you guys.
>
> [end quote]
>
>
> Gordon Peterson                  http://personal.terabites.com/
> Support the Anti-SPAM Amendment!  Join at http://www.cauce.org/
> 12/19/98: Partisan Republicans scornfully ignore the voters they "represent".
> 12/09/00: the date the Republican Party took down democracy in America.


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