Remembering Our American Heroes: The Bombing Of The USS Cole

 

This week marks the 21st anniversary of the attack on the guided-missile
destroyer USS Cole by suicide bombers while the ship was refueling in the
 Middle Eastern nation of Yemen on October 12, 2000.

The explosion which rocked the ship blasted a huge hole in the hull 
 killing 17 U.S. Navy sailors while injuring 37 others.

( Department of Defense Photograph courtesy of  Sgt. Don Maes U.S. Marine)

The  damaged USS Cole being towed away from the port city
of Aden, Yemen into the open sea by the Military Sealift Command
ocean-going tug USNS Catawba (T-AFT 168) on October 29, 2000.

The bombing of the USS Cole was the most deadliest terrorist attack 
 against a Navy destroyer since 1987. 
Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the attack on the USS Cole. 
 In less than a year later, America would once again

   be attacked by terrorists on September 11, 2001.

A memorial was raised to the victims of the USS Cole attack
at the Naval Station in Norfolk, Virginia on October 12, 2001.  
It stands along the shores of Willoughby Bay, overlooking 
 the channel used by Navy ships heading out to sea.

Seventeen low-level markers at the memorial represent
 the youthfulness of the sailors who lost their lives while three
  taller monoliths represent the red, white, and blue of the American flag.

A set of brown markers circling the memorial symbolize the
 tremendous sorrow and loss felt by family members, friends,
and fellow servicemen affected by this tragedy. Twenty eight black
 pine trees were planted there in memory of the 17 sailors killed and
for the eleven children of these service members left behind to mourn them.

USS Cole (DDG 67) sailors at the USS Cole Memorial at Naval Station Norfolk during
a commemoration of the October 12, 2000 terrorist attack in Yemen that killed 17 Sailors.

(Bodie Estep/U.S. Navy)

TO THE SEVENTEEN CREW MEMBERS LOST THAT DAY,

 YOU ARE GONE FROM THIS EARTH

BUT YOUR VALOR AND SELFLESSNESS IN THE DEFENSE

OF OUR NATION WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN.

THANK YOU FOR MY FREEDOM.

MAY YOU REST IN PEACE.

NON SIBI SED PATRIAE
("Not self but country")

TO THE SURVIVORS OF THE ATTACK ON THE USS COLE,

THANK YOU FOR YOUR STEADFAST COURAGE UNDER FIRE

 FOR YOUR SERVICE TO THIS NATION, AND FOR MY FREEDOM.

   MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALWAYS.

NON SIBI SED PATRIAE
("Not self but country")

"Blue of the Mighty Deep; Gold of God's Sun
Let these colors be till all the time be done, done, done.
On the seven seas we learn Navy's stern call:
Faith, Courage, Service true, with Honor Over Honor, Over all."

-Anchors Aweigh