A "Stark" Reminder....

I remember this day well. I was 17 and a Junior in high school. The naval community in which I grew up in was rocked, the entire city was rocked, our Nation as a whole..was rocked.
 For days and days on our local news stations it was all they showed. The faces of those lost, the families, and the tears.. How could this have happened? Was the question every one asked. I remember then President Ronald Reagan coming to town, he spoke to the families, and offered his love and support. Then he spoke at the televised memorial.
I did a post on the Stark about a year and a half ago. Today on the anniversary, I felt it was time for another one. Its so easy to forget, and most school age kids now don't even know it occured.

A year after the incident I met one of the wives, she was the most visible through out it all, and for quite a number of years afterwards. Her name is Barabara Kiser, her husband was EMCS Stephen Kiser.
She had been fortunate to follow the ship through the mideast, she and their five year old son were awaiting its arrival in Bahrain.
She was one of the first family members allowed on board to tour the damage. She found the Chiefs berthing area, and her husbands rack. While sifting through the ashes, she found a small bible she had given him in 1980.
The heat and intensity from the two missiles plus 600 pounds of fuel, the fire reached a temperature of 12 million BTUs.  To date, that is the hottest fire ever recorded on board a US Naval Ship. Everything in that section was instantly incinerated...
But amazingly, EMCS Kisers, small bible survived. His bible has traveled throughout the Mideast on Mrs. Kisers mission trips, she has retold its story many times...  it serves as a reminder of her husband, and of the 36 other sailors lost that day, 26 years ago.

The day I met her, I was on church visitation and we happend upon her home. She instantly brought the bible out..and I feel fortuante that I was one of those people to get to see it. The story of her husbands bible is one that I have never forgot..and most likely never will.

In 2011, after the fall of Saddam Hussien the Goverments of Iraq and the United States, reached an agreement to compensate families of the first gulf war and of the USS STARK. a 400 million dollar fund was set up. However, OUR goverment is still 2 years later after the compensation still trying to set up a mechanism in which applicants should get paid.

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Remember This Day... May 17th 1987

 Many people out there do not know the significance of this day in our countries naval history for it was on this day in 1987 when USS Stark (FFG-31) was struck by two Iraqi Exocet Missiles in the Persian Gulf, killing 37 Sailors and wounding 21. Brought under control, she sailed to Bahrain and was later repaired at Ingalls Shipbuilding, Mississippi. Following subsequent tours in the Middle East area, Stark was decommissioned in 1999 and later scrapped in 2006.

The USS Stark's story is something I posted about back in November: Veterans Day-Pt. 3: The USS Stark
Senior and I are both from the home town where she was home ported, and I remember well the constant news coverage. I remember seeing the families and feeling their pain of knowing their special sailor wouldnt be returning home to them.

Senior and I were fortunate throughout most of his career to be stationed at the same home port. I can remember seeing the USS Stark pier side, and thinking about how that day must have been, and how agonizing it was for the surviving crew to work tirelessly to keep her afloat.

The Navy commissioned a memorial park in her honor and in the honor of those who were lost. We passed it many times a day while on base, and later Senior would hold a re-enlistment ceremony there.

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.