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Cole Remembered
The 17 crew
members of the USS Cole who died in the 2000 terrorist attack
in the harbor of Aden, Yemen, are remembered in ceremonies across
the country.
This Month in History
■ The Paris Peace Accords were signed Jan. 27, 1973, by the
governments of North Vietnam, South Vietnam, and the United
States. The United States completely withdrew its troops from
Vietnam by March 29, 1973.
The sailors who died on board the USS Cole in a terrorist attack
in 2000 were remembered Oct. 12 in a ceremony at Arlington National
Cemetery marking the fifth anniversary of the attack. The White
House Commission on Remembrance hosted the ceremony at the site
where three of the guided-missile destroyer’s crew members are
buried.
As the Cole was refueling in the harbor of Aden, Yemen, a small
craft approached the port side of the ship and exploded, blasting a
40-by-40-foot hole in the ship’s side, killing 17 crew members and
injuring 39 others.
The Cole’s crew members held another memorial ceremony at Naval
Station Norfolk’s USS Cole Memorial. Friends and family members of
those who died that day attended the ceremony. Underwater Corsair Charted
Corsairs made history in World War II and later Korea. But on July 5,
1949, a Navy Corsair’s (F-4U)
engine sputtered and died during a
routine flight from Los Alamitos, Calif. The pilot ditched in the
ocean and was rescued, but the plane sank prop-first.
Diving teams from Indiana University’s underwater research
department along with California marine archaeologists mapped the
nearly intact plane to be viewed by divers in Crystal Cove State
Park, one of California’s largest
underwater state parks.
— Julia M. Foster Goodbye Rhein-Main
After 60 years of operation, the airlift hub at Rhein-Main Air Base,
Germany, closed during an Oct. 10 ceremony attended by U.S. and
German dignitaries. A C-17 Globemaster III bearing the name Spirit
of Rhein-Main was unveiled by Lt. Gen. Christopher
Kelly, Air Mobility Command vice commander; Col. Brad Denison, 469th
Air Base commander; and retired Col. Gail Halvorsen, the famed
“Candy Bomber”
of the Berlin Airlift.
More than 800 servicemembers, veterans, and civilian employees
turned out to say farewell to the former “gateway to Europe” and
watch a C-17 with the moniker Spirit of Berlin make a symbolic last
flight from Rhein-Main.
The base’s airlift support mission transitioned to Ramstein and
Spangdahlem air bases in Germany, and Frankfurt International
Airport will expand with a third passenger terminal on the site
where the base currently stands.
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