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Captain Joseph E. Murray, Jr., United States Navy (Retired) made the following keynote address:
Thank you, Joe (Dennison). Good evening, my friends and shipmates. Before I get started let me first recognize Joe Dennison for his untiring and superb effort in making Manley 2001 reunion a memorable experience. Thanks also to all those who worked closely with Joe -- Bravo Zulu and easy on Bravo X-ray!! Also it is quite fitting to recognize four
distinguished naval officers and former skippers of this "great man of war:"
Captain Warren Graham - 66/67; Captain John Wettroth - 67/69; Captain Mike
McGuire - 73/75; and lastly Captain Ray Komorowski 64/66, who I served under
as XO. He was my second skipper aboard Manley and also the finest
Destroyer shiphandler I have been privileged to observe - a little story
about In an effort to bring former shipmates together as he proceeded to the gunline, I sent a flashing light message saying "Req Per Du As" and "and hi ol' Captain. As skipper of 950, now prove I was 10 numbers better!" Ray's reply was classic: "Per Non Gra - take position smartly my starboard bow and provide ASW screen for a real Man O' War." My signalman was appalled - how could he? we are going on R&R - at that point I ordered the OOD to take station smartly as directed at max speed. Then came a new light from Boston -- "only kidding, go in peace and leave one for me, Ray." God bless you Captain K. My children had a difficult time saying Captain Komorowski; thus he was called by them Captain Kangaroo. As I conclude these opening thoughts, I would be remiss if I did not recognize and salute the real strength of all Destroyermen - I proudly pay tribute now to our real heroes - our most wonderful and loyal Destroyer Ladies, without whom our lives in separation would be meaningless, from the bottom of all our hearts - thank you, thank you. Tonight I would like to tell the story, little known in detail, of Manley in one of her finest hours - and she had many. This of course pales in comparison with the national tragedy of nine eleven and I am humbled in an effort to relate a moment of naval history, circa 1964. This event has the true symbolism of our great Navy as "Always There and Ready - Yesterday - Today - Tomorrow!!" Manley in January 1964 under command of Bob Ruxton was "THE" Navy presence in the Indian Ocean arena. Even the Sixth Fleet in the Med in those days was modestly manned. Operations is WestPac drew major attention. Manley had spent the holidays in the Persian Gulf - Christmas was in Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia - no liberty except as invited to the homes of the Aramco oil workers. Then New Years eve in Bahrain, with only limited liberty. On 2 January, we sailed single screw, one boiler for Mombassa, Kenya on the east coast of Africa. Steaming this way allowed us to arrive in port at 6% of fuel aboard as later verified. The Navy presence, hence the American presence, was to show the flag, providing a symbol of security and a deterrent to aggression - as usual, the Navy's role - "Project Peace and not calamity." Independent steaming was boring, drills were limited to conserve any excessive use of power or fuel. We arrived at Mombassa January tenth and the crew looked forward to their first liberty call since the first week in December. On Sunday, I with many of the crew were at one of our usual liberty stops - church - second only to the libraries and museums we normally frequented. In the middle of the service our CMA came in, grabbed me and smartly informed me that the CO wanted me on board - NOW! ASAP! Arriving back at the ship, I found the CO waiting on the quarterdeck, all lines were singled, and we headed for the bridge. He explained that a message had been received from CNO to COMIDEASTFOR directing Manley underway to the south to take position outside visual sighting from the Island of Zanzibar. A rep from the US Embassy came aboard to brief us on the extremely dangerous and tenuous situation on Zanzibar for the US people and families manning the NASA Mercury Tracking station on the island. A vicious and bloody revolt had broken out some 40 hours earlier and there had been no communications after the first messages that described the bloody horror of the initial hours when black majority citizens rose up against their Muslim government. The American families, wives and children that were with the NASA tracking group had been gathered in one group at the beach house near the harbor entrance. They were considered safe for now but armed guards roamed the perimeter of the compound randomly firing small arms. There were 93 Americans - men - woman - children. After the initial communiqué with the Embassy in Nairobi further attempts were futile - their final message demanded help now before it was too late. Following the briefing and with extremely limited information, we were underway leaving behind 60 or 70 of our officers and men on a safari at a National Wildlife sanctuary. Some adjustments to our steaming watch were made, doubling up where we had to, on and off watches were planned and accepted without a single grumble and so typical of Manley men. A comment by a senior petty officer: "Hey, XO, no big deal, we can handle this!" That was the attitude - true tincan mentality - loyalty and guts! At this point we were topped off and even had some fresh provisions that our "pork chop," LTJG Bergman hauled aboard - I think his SKs and cooks had personally hustled them aboard, maybe even paying! We steamed at twenty knots to the vicinity of Zanzibar, 180 miles south of the port of Mombassa. Upon arrival, we reported on station to the chain of command. Then, over the next four hours message traffic - from Washington - from CNO - from the State Department - numerous messages of contradiction, first close the harbor, then stay out of sight, then return to Mombassa, then close to ten mile range, and on and on. At this point, we decided to make circles in the ocean 12 to 15 miles from Zanzibar until the guys in charge got together on their directives. During all this varying messages, our radio gang, who had every RM on duty scanning all frequencies in a methodical manner, picked up a weak but readable signal from the charge d' affairs, Fred Picard on the island. He was operating from a battery operated HAM set and frequency - finding was a stroke of luck but mostly genius from our radio gang! Picard, after trading a few updates, directed us as the senior US Government official on scene to enter the harbor -- "unless you have contradictory direction from my superiors," he said, "the lives of these people are in my hands and as a US ship . of the line, I pass this to you - COME NOW" - a flash message to Radm Schade received an immediate response to Manley - "Proceed and to all Washington elements - they go under my direction and I take full responsibilty." Schade was an ole DD type and now COMEDEASTFOR Shortly after, we entered the harbor. Communications with Picard continued and piped directly to the bridge where the skipper and I were holding out. Finally, we dropped anchor at short stay and Picard requested an unarmed naval officer as senior as available to come ashore to help negotiate the release of our people and ferry them back to the ship. Captain Ruxton looked at me, I looked at him...and raised my hand. He acknowledged, "You or me and the captain should stay with the ship." Democracy in action! He added, "nice of you to volunteer." By this time the CO's gig and MWB were in the water but tethered astern. "Pick your crew," Ruxton ordered. "It could be bad. Picard says there is continuous small arm fire all over the beach area by a wild, crazy bunch of rebels." These guys apparently had no fear and were under no control. On the 1mc I asked for volunteers to report to the 01 level. By the time I got there almost every CPO, every BM, every boat engineer, plus most of the signal gang and others were there, almost sixty destroyer sailors. It was my call and I selected Chief Max Taylor, our senior medical guy and stalwart sailor - proven too! Fox coxswain, I picked QM2 Bob Eustler, a boat handling pro, flag and light proficient, a superb sailor, and EN2 Billy Keeling, a knowledgeable boat engine man with an impeccable record. Dressed in tropical whites, standing out like a sore thumb, I went down a Jacobs ladder with my crew. Underway, we proceeded to what the chart showed as a boat landing but upon approach we saw only the remains of a blown up landing. On the beach we saw a man later identified as Picard. He shouted for us to come in now and we approached but quickly ran out of water depth where I gracefully jumped into three feet of water - good for the whites! I directed Chief Taylor to standby while I went ashore. Picard greeted me. He was surrounded by armed men with rifles who happily butted me to his side. The scene was horrific. I had seen nothing like it before: bodies everywhere in all sorts of grotesque positions and mutilated and maimed. Picard and I were quickly and forcibly hustled to a pickup truck, pushed to the flat bed, forced to stand as we drove about a mile to a square filled with nearly 7,000 armed and crazed men, shouting, spitting, and tossing garbage at us. At the edge of the square was a stone three story building, later found to have been the previous government admin building. Pulled out of the truck, I was confronted by an angry black man, dressed head to toe in black, silky trousers and shirt, and pinned to his arm was an EM3 rating badge, to which he pointed proudly and said to me, "see this Navy man, this makes me a field marshall, I am John Okello, Field Marshall, you will respect me." He then came almost nose to nose, put a .38 gun in my nostril and said, "I should clear your sinus now." I replied, "Is that why I am here?" He backed off laughing crazily and told Picard and me to follow him. We did and went into a side door of the building, climbed two flights of stairs to a landing where they were holding a bound-up Muslim man, later identified as the Foreign Minister. "Our mission is serious," Okello announced. At that point they slit the man's throat. We were then shoved up to an entrance and placed in chairs in front of a large table. Opposite us was men of the revolutionary council. Okello joined them in the center and all placed their pistols on the table. Negotiations started, full of harangue, obscenities and demands that we view this new government with respect and understanding since we too were a nation founded by revolt. Bottom line after four hours at the table, where we were helpless to do anything, our citizens were to remain in custody for their protection. During all this time, I noticed a man standing silently against the wall behind the table, never moving. At one point, Okello remarked that it was their decision
that Picard and I also remain in custody. I uttered a quick "guide me
God" - thinking of my private prayer before leaving the ship asking for His
protection and guidance and courage, placing myself in His hands. I
spoke out, at least my tongue did, the words seemed not from me.
"Listen Field Marshall, my Captain expects me directly in the next half hour those big guns of ours are already pointing at your headquarters. One salvo will end the revolt. Have you ever seen the damage done just by one projectile from a five inch fifty-four gun? It could take out this building. And we have three guns!" There was a pause. The quiet man at the wall spoke forcibly to the rebels in muted phrases. Okello turned, "You may take the woman and children," he was undoubtedly passing the word from the man in the shadows. Picard said thanks. I whispered to him: "They must all go back." "Be careful," he cautioned, "you have already been terribly, terribly bold with them." We were ushered out of the building to the pick up truck and driven off to the beach where we again encountered armed guards. I suggested strongly to Picard to get the people down here quickly - now! I shouted out to Chief Taylor, "tell CO send MWB ASAP." We started to load the children first, then the women. The load was soon exceeding prescribed capacity and the gig lowered in the water. The MWB arrived and I began sending anyone who looked American out. The guard shouted, "only children and woman." I shouted back, "no, no, Okello says everyone. Now if you want to go against him and get him mad then stop me but I was there. I know what he ordered. I would not want him mad at me." I made a slicing motion across my throat. It worked. We made two runs with the gif and three with the MWB and in less than thirty minutes everyone was aboard Manley safe. The heart of the Manley and the heart of our destroyer Navy shone forth in all of it's glory. A living space had been cleared for the ladies before I got there by the senior petty officers and a watch set by them to ensure security and peace. Most of the woman had not slept in nearly four days. Plus some clean diapers for the babies. Showers were set for women and children and diapers gathered by our crew and brought to the laundry to be gently washed and folded by volunteers. Some mothers fell into bed even as children cried. But alert sailors snatched them up, rocked them to sleep on the mess decks. Some of the our more troublesome sailors held a baby for the first time, for hours, singing, cooing and playing in a most touching way. I was both shocked and thrilled by the display of such love and compassion. The chief master-at-arms said to me, "XO, get cleaned up; this crew is in charge now. We will handle our guests." And, by God they did! I went to my room and knelt in prayer to give thanks for God's hand in our rescue. I was proud that Manley was there. We sailed overnight to Dar es Salam and debarked our guests for a unscheduled airlift to the States. A few closing thoughts. Picard demanded to be put ashore in Zanzibar and was later discovered held for days in solitary confinement. Admiral McCain was known to remark: "Manley represented to the world what the Navy does routinely to bring peace and stability." This story has not been heard in naval circles. In a later intelligence debrief, the man in the shadows at the walls was Sheik Karume, the real leader of the revolt, trained and schooled in Havana and Moscow, and charged to lead the insurgence of communism into Africa. Okello was later deported back to central Africa where he had once led a notorious Mau Mau group. He was ultimately assassinated. Zanzibar was assimilated into Tanganika as Tanzania. Communism never made a strong inroad.
This page last updated 09 December 2007 |
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