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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