Veterans Day Pt. 3- The USS STARK, FFG-31

When I was 18, my church youth group was making the rounds on Saturday visitation. That week, we went to the door of a very nice home, and were met by a melancholy widow named Barbara Kiser. And that is the first time I heard her story about the USS Stark.

 On May 17, 1987,  a year before I met Ms. Kiser, The Stark was on deployment in the Persian Gulf, that morning it had been in port in Bahrain, unlike other family members, Ms. Kiser was living in Bahrain and was able to see her husband Senior Chief Stephen Kiser frequently during the 6 month deployment.

 At approximately 8pm on the 17^th, a Iraqi Mirage aircraft  took off from Shabiah airbase and flew south across the Persian gulf, The pilot fired the first Exocet missile from a range of 22.5 nautical miles (41.7 km), and the second from 15.5 nautical miles (28.7 km), just about the time Stark issued a standard warning by radio. The frigate did not detect the missiles with radar; warning was given by the lookout only moments before the missiles struck. The first penetrated the port-side hull and failed to detonate, but left flaming rocket fuel in its path. The second entered at almost the same point, and, leaving a 3-by-4-meter gash, exploded in crew quarters. 37 sailors were killed and 21 were injured.

On fire and listing, during the night the crew was able to bring the fire under control. The ship made its way to Bahrain where, after temporary repairs were made before it could make the transit back to its home base of Mayport, Florida.

Once the ship was in Bahrain, civilians were able to go on board and inspect the damage, one of those was Barbara Kiser, she was able to see everything first hand, before anything had been cleaned up or repaired, the heat from the missiles reached an amazing 12 million BTUs and 600 pounds of fuel ignited. To date it is the hottest fire ever recorded on board a U.S. Naval Ship. Through the debris of the ships Chiefs berthing She was able to locate her husbands bunk, while sifting through the ashes, she was able to find a small bible that she had given him in 1980-nothing else survived.

She has kept the scorched Bible, and has shown it to people across the Middle East during mission trips, she said when people hear the story about it, they will kiss it and bless God.

 I now see Ms. Kiser once a year, on local TV when they show the USS Stark Memorial Service, she is there telling the story of her husband and his Bible, and the ultimate sacrifice he and 36 of his comrades made for their country.

The Stark was Decommissioned on May 7th, 1999 and reportedly scrapped on June 21, 2006.

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Hubby, a retired Senior Chief spent much of his Naval Career onboard Frigates, In the Summer of 2005 he felt it appropriate that he do his last re-enlistment ceremony at the Stark Memorial Park.