Posted on 04/25/2002 1:08:17 AM PDT by Snow Bunny
I am the American Sailor
Hear my voice, America! Though I speak through the mist of 200 years, my shout for freedom will echo through liberty's halls for many centuries to come. Hear me speak, for my words are of truth and justice, and the rights of man. For those ideals I have spilled my blood upon the world's troubled waters. Listen well, for my time is eternal - yours is but a moment.
I am the spirit of heroes past and future. I am the American Sailor. I was born upon the icy shores at Plymouth, rocked upon the waves of the Atlantic, and nursed in the wilderness of Virginia. I cut my teeth on New England codfish, and I was clothed in southern cotton. I built muscle at the halyards of New Bedford whalers, and I gained my sea legs high atop mizzen of Yankee clipper ships.
Yes, I am the American Sailor, one of the greatest seamen the world has ever known. The sea is my home and my words are tempered by the sound of paddle wheels on the Mississippi and the song of whales off Greenland's barren shore. My eyes have grown dim from the glare of sunshine on blue water, and my heart is full of star-strewn nights under the Southern Cross.
My hands are raw from winter storms while sailing down round the Horn, and they are blistered from the heat of cannon broadside while defending our nation. I am the American Sailor, and I have seen the sunset of a thousand distant, lonely lands. I am the American Sailor. It was I who stood tall beside John Paul Jones as he shouted, "I have not yet begun to fight!" I fought upon the Lake Erie with Perry, and I rode with Stephen Decatur into Tripoli harbor to burn Philadelphia.
I met Guerriere aboard Constitution, and I was lashed to the mast with Admiral Farragut at Mobile Bay. I have heard the clang of Confederate shot against the sides of Monitor. I have suffered the cold with Peary at the North Pole, and I responded when Dewey said, "You may fire when ready Gridley," at Manila Bay. It was I who transported supplies through submarine infested waters when our soldier's were called "over there." I was there as Admiral Byrd crossed the South Pole. It was I who went down with the Arizona at Pearl Harbor, who supported our troops at Inchon, and patrolled dark deadly waters of the Mekong Delta.
I am the American Sailor and I wear many faces. I am a pilot soaring across God's blue canopy and I am a Seabee atop a dusty bulldozer in the South Pacific. I am a corpsman nursing the wounded in the jungle, and I am a torpedoman in the Nautilus deep beneath the North Pole. I am hard and I am strong.
But it was my eyes that filled with tears when my brother went down with the Thresher, and it was my heart that rejoiced when Commander Shepherd rocketed into orbit above the earth. It was I who languished in a Viet Cong prison camp, and it was I who walked upon the moon. It was I who saved the Stark and the Samuel B. Roberts in the mine infested waters of the Persian Gulf. It was I who pulled my brothers from the smoke filled compartments of the Bonefish and wept when my shipmates died on the Iowa and White Plains. When called again, I was there, on the tip of the spear for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
I am the American Sailor. I am woman, I am man, I am white and black, yellow, red and brown. I am Jew, Muslim, Christian and Buddhist. I am Irish, Filipino, African, French, Chinese, and Indian. And my standard is the outstretched hand of Liberty. Today, I serve around the world, on land, in air, on and under the sea. I serve proudly, at peace once again, but with the fervent prayer that I need not be called again.
Tell your children of me. Tell them of my sacrifice, and how my spirit soars above their country. I have spread the mantle of my nation over the ocean and I will guard her forever. I am her heritage and yours.
Author unknown. In Loving Memory CDR. Clyde D. Killion, USN YO1 L. H. Nash, USN |
OFF TILLAMOOK HEAD
Station Established: 1881
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1881
Operational? NO
Automated? YES
Deactivated: 1957
Foundation Materials: CONCRETE
Construction Materials: BASALT MASONRY/BRICK/IRON
Tower Shape: ROUND LANTERN ON SQUARE TOWER
Markings/Pattern: WHITE
Relationship to Other Structure: INTEGRAL
Original Lens: FIRST ORDER, FRESNEL 1881
GENERAL INFORMATION:
Tillamook Rock, one of the most exposed stations on the Pacific coast, has received many batterings by violent storms. Although the lantern is 133 feet above the level of the sea, the protective glass has on more than one occasion been shattered by stones hurled by giant waves. During the building of the station a lighthouse engineer lost his life during an attempted landing on the rock. While extensive repairs were being made to the lighthouse following a disastrous storm, a keeper and a workman were taken seriously ill as the result of exposure. A lighthouse tender attempted to remove them from the rock, but after several efforts to send a boat to the rock it was necessary to remove the men by means of a breeches buoy. Other men were landed on the rock in the same manner to take the place of those who were ill. In 1957 the light was discontinued and the island sold.
This is the only privately owned Oregon Coast lighthouse on the National Register of Historic Places. There is no public access.
I think I can understand why the Tillamook Lighthouse was shut down and sold.
Just don't allow them to close the Tillamook Cheese Factory. :^) Another of the great products from Oregon. Glad they export, too.
Morning, Dave - 666, huh? I never knew. :)
I will hopefully be more active again at the canteen when I get a new notebook computer sometime soon!
Semper Fi,
Norb
I'll check with my son-in-law. He's more into them than me and he might be able to answer your question. May take a few days though.
Oregon (orygun) will be a better place when FallGuy and Snow Bunny move here...
There is soooo much variety here in Oregon that I'm positive they'll find a place that's perfect for them !!!
It sure has been a perfect place for Barb, our four cats and I !!
There is power in Prayer !!
Freedom Is Worth Fighting For !!
Molon Labe !!
Their Natural White Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese, is the very best !!
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