USS GAMBIER BAY (CVE 73) & VC-10 Memorial Monument

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IN MEMORY OF THE MEN
LOST IN ACTION FROM THE
U.S.S. GAMBIER BAY CVE 73
AND
COMPOSITE SQUADRON VC - 10

At 2:15 PM on January 10, 1996, USS GAMBIER BAY (CVE 73) & Composite Squadron 10's Memorial Monument was set on its concrete pad in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, Point Loma, San Diego, California. It is located just to the left of the DD/DE monument.

The monument as it exists today, circa 2008
(click on the photo for Hi Res)

ETERNAL GOD

WHO ALONE SPREADS OUT THE HEAVENS AND RULES THE RAGING SEAS, MAY
THIS MEMORIAL BRING CONTINUED REMEMBRANCE OF THE ONE HUNDRED
AND THIRTY SEVEN MEN WHO DIED DEFENDING THEIR COUNTRY IN TIME OF
DANGER, AND WHOSE BODIES FOUND THEIR LAST RESTING PLACE IN THE WATERS
OF THE PACIFIC. MAY IT CALL TO MIND THAT THEY WERE CALLED
BY THEIR NATION TO DEFEND LIBERTIES AND PRESERVE UNITY.
WE DO NOT WANT THOSE WHO DIED IN AIR AND SEA BATTLES, OFTEN
AGAINST HOPELESS ODDS, TO HAVE DIED IN VAIN. THEY DIED THAT WAR
WOULD END, AN AGGRESSION WOULD BE STOPPED, THAT PEACE WOULD COME,
TO MAKE THE WORLD SAFE FOR THEIR FAMILIES AND GENERATIONS TO COME.
IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. AMEN.

Commissioned December 28, 1943

Sunk by cruisers October 25, 1944

Memorial Service and Monument Dedication

A formal dedication ceremony was held at 10:00 AM on October 24, 1996 to honor the 137 men who gave their lives for freedom. The program included:

VIDEO (.wmv) DOWNLOADS
files will play in Windows Media Player

CLIPS (about 66 minutes total) SIZE LENGTH

Part 1 - Welcome Address: Master of Ceremonies, Fred Mallgrave
- Association President Welcome: Robert Boggs
- Invocation: Rev. Verner Carlsen 5 MB 5:40

Part 2 - Pledge of Allegiance: George Legath
- National Anthem: Jessica Kloor
- Introduction of Guests: Fred Mallgrave
- National Cemetery System: Mr. Batus G. Douma 7.4 MB 9:58

Part 3 - Fort Rosecrans Cemetery: Helen Szumylo
- Keynote Speaker: RADM Bruce Boland, USN (Ret.) 10 MB 12:21

Part 4
- Introduction of families: Edward Hagerty 3 MB 3:36

Part 5 - Monument to Remembrance: CAPT Burt Bassett, USN (Ret.) 3 MB 3:54

Part 6 - Monument to Remembrance: Lawrence Epping 5 MB 5:38

Part 7 - Monument to Remembrance: Richard Dudley 3 MB 3:21

Part 8 - Monument to Remembrance: John Crawford 5 MB 5:54

Part 9 - Tolling of the Bell: Robert Barr 10 MB 12:07

Part 10 - Unveiling the monument by Next of Kin:
- Nellie McDowell
- Joyce Skaggs Dick
- Lois Goede
- Byron Worland 3 MB 3:28

from the collection of Tony Potochniak
Historian of USS GAMBIER BAY (CVE 73)

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We do remember. We won't forget.