Posted on 05/28/2005 1:49:33 AM PDT by Robert Drobot
AN ENCOURAGING WORD
Below is an e-mail from a young ensign aboard the 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 U.S. 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."
God bless the German crew aboard the German Destroyer "Lutjens", and our own seamen aboard the "USS Winston Churchill" !!!
Too bad their Crap Weasle government didn't feel the same way.
They stood by us for what 2-3 weeks?
Seems to me the German military have the same problem our own politicians here - being made to 'fight' ( if you can call it that ) with one hand tied behind our back.
Are they any different from the 'Crap Weasle' Congress we have?
Don't get too excited everyone. This is from the week after 911 when the whole world said it stood behind us. Silly us, we attacked our attackers and the whole world went away.
Unfortunately, the ship is named for that rabid Nazi Admiral that was in command on the Bismarck.
Remember the Billery White House, and their eight year demeaning insult of military personnel? The same attitude exist in every Western nation today.
They stood by us for what 2-3 weeks?
Yes, but we cannot tar the German Military with this blackness not German honour. They had nothing at all to do with it.
Thank you.
A great post, and fitting for Memorial Day.
Ping
Now for a little perspective: In the year 1942, at the height of the U-Boat war, which saw millions of tons of Allied shipping sent to the bottom by U-boats, American maritime attack/patrol aircraft attacked and sunk two German U-Boats that were involved in a post-sinking search for survivors who might be of intellingence value.
These two subs could not take on more than a handful of men. If left to operate, these subs would have sunk tens of thousands of more tons of ships, each. As tragic as events such as this are, it was regrettably necessary, regardless of what Nazi apologists say. If this qualifies as a killing frenzy then I am Mahatma Frickin' Ghandi.
Yo got that right.
We are all Americans now was the sentiment then. As long as we stayed victims we had the world's sympathy. Once we fought back and there was a prospect that those other countries might be asked to pay more than lip service they dropped us like a hot potato. - Tom
Your point is exactly right. Anyone who has ever been on a WW II era submarine could tell that there was no possibility of a survivor rescue, as you say, of more than a couple people, maybe an officer with intel value, but that would be it.
Zundel & friends not wanted here, thanks.
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