From the December 12, 2011, Rome (NY) Observer.
Syl Puccio, 90, was honored at the 21st Annual Remembrance Luncheon. His actions that day helped keep the USS West Virginia from capsizing like the Oklahoma and saved countless lives.
He served in the Navy from 1939 to 1947. Puccio and another man had to open a damage control locker to get at valves to counterflood, but neither had a key. So they smashed the hinges with a steel crank. The other man opened the valves and the West Virginia settled on an even keel.
Leo Cross, 88, served in the Navy from 1940-1945 and the Air Force from 1948 to 1963. He was on the USS New Orleans that day and had just finished eating and manned a anti-aircraft gun.
The Greatest Generation. --GreGen
My Cooter's History Blog has become about 80% World War II anyway, so I figured to start a blog specific to it, especially since we're commemorating its 70th anniversary and we are quickly losing this "Greatest Generation." The quote is taken from Pearl Harbor survivor Frank Curre, who was on the USS Tennessee that day. He died Dec. 7, 2011, seventy years to the day. His photo is below at right.
No comments:
Post a Comment