Posted on 04/19/2009 8:16:59 AM PDT by alisasny
NORFOLK - Twenty years ago today, a routine exercise turned into disaster aboard the USS Iowa when an explosion in a gun turret killed 47 crewmen.
Today, around 250 people whose lives were touched by that day are expected to gather at Naval Station Norfolk to remember the men who perished and, hopefully, to heal some old wounds.
They will gather at Iowa Point, where a small memorial at the water's edge pays tribute to the fallen sailors.
Crew and family members will speak, and Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim will offer remarks.
The names of the dead will be read aloud, accompanied by the ringing of a bell.
John Schultz, of Virginia Beach, was not aboard the Iowa on the day of the explosion, which occurred about 330 miles northeast of Puerto Rico. He had left the ship eight months before.
But he recalls the day like it was yesterday.
Schultz spent time in a gymnasium with family members of the crew, trying his best to comfort them.
The explosion occurred in Gun Turret 2, and he knew the ship well enough to offer words of encouragement to some people.
For instance, he was a radioman, and he knew that crewmen who worked in his area of the ship were undoubtedly safe.
When it came to others, Schultz was not so sure.
"For everybody, it doesn't seem like 20 years," he said, "not for the families or for those who served on the ship that day."
Much was said and written about the accident, and much of it is painful for the families to recall.
Navy investigators first accused crewman Clayton M. Hartwig of causing the accident because he was depressed over a relationship with another crewman.
He was later cleared of wrongdoing, and the cause was pinned on a combination of inexperience and problems with the powder.
Hartwig's family went through untold grief and waged an extensive legal battle in an effort to clear his name.
Now that 20 years have passed, Schultz said he believes the ceremony can focus on healing, not re-examining what happened and why.
He said there are members of the Iowa crew who have post-traumatic stress disorder because of the tragedy. Much like soldiers returning home from battle, the symptoms did not become apparent until much later.
"Everyone was fine," he said. "After the counselors left and the media hype died down, that's when it started."
Peace to all the families of the U.S.S. Iowa.
U.S.S MISSISSIPPI (My Dads ship)
During gunnery practice on 12 June 1924 off San Pedro, 48 of her men were killed as a result of an explosion in her No. 2 main battery turret.
While bombarding Makin 20 November 1943, a turret explosion, almost identical to the earlier tragedy, killed 43 men.
HMS Bulwark- pre-Dreadnought Battleship
HMS Natal- Armoured Cruiser
HIRMS Imperatrista Mariya- Dreadnought Battleship
HIJMS Tsukuba- pre-Dreadnought Battleship
SMS Seeadler- Light Cruiser
HIJMS Kawachi- Dreadnought
HMS Glatton- Monitor
USS Turner- Destroyer
HIJMS Mutsu- Dreadnought Battleship
"Our Liberties We Prize - Our RIghts We Will Maintain"
Amen to that.
It’s a shame that BB-62 is not visible from the pirate city of Eyl right now.
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