Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Local sailors, veterans grieve, seek answers

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Saturday, October 14, 2000

Local sailors, veterans grieve, seek answers
Two sailors from South Texas are among those presumed dead in apparent terrorist act
By Deborah Martínez
Caller-Times
On the Navy's 225th birthday on Friday, its sailors and veterans mourned instead of celebrated.
   An apparent terrorist bombing of the USS Cole Thursday that took 17 lives - seven confirmed dead, the other 10 presumed dead- and injured dozens of other sailors brought pain, disbelief and in some cases anger to various area sailors and Navy veterans.
   "It always touches you a lot deeper when it's some of your own people," said retired Navy Capt. Billie Gunter, a former Kingsville mayor and naval aviator. "It's almost like relatives when you're in the Navy or in the Marine Corps. It's like losing your own."
   From sharing in the fallen sailors' families' grief to struggling to explain how the U.S. military's men and women can still be in danger during peacetime, veterans around the Coastal Bend were personally stricken by the attack on the USS Cole.
   Of the 17 sailors dead or presumed dead, two are from South Texas: 22-year-old Ronchester Santiago of Kingsville and 26-year-old Gary G. Swenchonis Jr. of Rockport. Esther Arriaga Hood, a 19-year-old Miller High School graduate survived the blast, apparently uninjured, and Brownsville resident, Elizabeth Sanchez LaFontaine, reportedly has a broken leg.
   Other Texans aboard the Cole during the blast were 21-year-old Tim Gauna of Rice and 19-year-old Keisha Stidham of Austin. Gauna is one of the 10 presumed dead. Stidhamis critically injured.
   "It's hard to believe somebody would do something like that," said retired Navy Lt. Cmdr. Tomme Lambertson, a 74-year-old Port Aransas resident and submarine veteran. "We as Americans do not understand how passionate these people are, to the extent that they will commit suicide and that in their eyes they then become martyrs.
   "I am so sorry for the families. I feel so bad and sad about the families and what they are going through. I know those young people were looking forward to a good experience and it's terrible to have this happen. It's touching that so many are from here."
   In a ship with 350 people, it isn't uncommon to find so many sailors from Texas, veterans say. In a Navy area such as South Texas it is even less uncommon.
   Still, the tragedy is hard to handle.
   "We're all very sad that an event like this happened," said Lt. Marc Boyd, who is assigned to Naval Station Ingleside's Mine Warfare Command. "We work as hard as we can to prevent incidents like this from happening. Our hearts go out to the families of those aboard the USS Cole."
   Retired Navy Lt. Cmdr. Frank L. Simmons' sense of patriotism went up a notch Friday. The price of freedom is as precious today as it was yesterday, he said.
   "I will be flying my flag at half mast until sundown Monday in honor of my shipmates," the Rockport man said. "As an American, and especially as a veteran, I will always remember what the cost of freedom has been."



The Associated Press contributed to this report. Staff writer Deborah Martínez can be reached at 886-3618 or by e-mail at martinezd@caller.com

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