 Coping
with the 9.11.01 Aftermath
Accounts of Survivors
Letter to Home from Navy Sailor
[This is an e-mail from a young ensign aboard USS Winston
Churchill (DDG-81) 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 bridge.
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."
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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 hat 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.
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