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IN MEMORY OF THE MEN
LOST IN ACTION
FROM THE USS ST LO (CVE 63)
(ORIGINALLY USS MIDWAY) AND
COMPOSITE SQUADRON VC-65
From the U.S.S. St. Lo. CVE 63/VC65 Association, Inc.,
circa 1996
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Here is another befitting monument, dedicated to the officers and men of
USS ST LO (CVE 63) and Composite Squadron 65. It also is located at Fort Rosecrans
National Cemetery, Point Loma, San Diego, California. ST LO was sunk by a Japanese
kamikaze aircraft attack shortly after the surface action was finished during the Battle
Off Samar on October 25, 1944. It is located just inside the main entrance to the
cemetery. This monument was dedicated on Monday, October 24, 1994. |
Echoes From Off Samar
"Remember me" from the distant past the
faint, haunting voices
still echo from off Samar. "Remember me" they echo again and
again. But they say nothing
of the fear and agony and boredom and loneliness and anxiety and
nightmare. Or of the bomb blasts, the whining bullets and
screaming shells. But all is now calm with them as on the first
day of Eden.
Well why not? They earned their rest. On angry seas and in
hostile skies, they waited and watched and dodged and swerved and
attacked and retreated praying, "not me, not me" when the
Almighty reached out to touch them.
They knew it all, the terrifying noise and the equally terrifying
silence, the roaring flames, the fitful cries of the wounded, the
anguish at the first sight of death. Who would disturb them now
with memories of war?
And yet, if they could speak, surely each would say, "Do not let
my sacrifice be forgotten. If you cannot remember the loves that
never came, the children who never were, the dreams unfulfilled,
or the life unlived, at least remember my name."
"This one small thing, I ask of you!!"
Copyright © 1994
Evan Hollis Crawforth
All rights reserved
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USED BY PERMISSION
| Holly Crawforth's poem, 'Echoes From
Off Samar' was removed from the new bronze plate
overlay on the monument. |
The monument as it exists today, circa 2008
(click on photo for Hi Res)
Commissioned October 23, 1943
Sunk October 25, 1944
"WE DO REMEMBER"
Killed in Action - USS ST LO (CVE 63) & Composite Squadron VC-65
95 Men from Ships Company
31 Men from Composite Squadron VC-65
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Honor the Missing in Action and Killed in Action of Taffy III
We do remember. We won't forget.
Robert Jon Cox
webmaster@bosamar.com
last revised
February 25, 2010
Copyright © Robert Jon Cox 1996-2010 all rights reserved
Void where prohibited.
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