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Sunday, October 15, 2000

39 US Sailors in German Hospital
Kesha Stidham says the crew was a tight-knit group
By Jan M. Olsen
Associated Press

Stidham

LANDSTUHL, Germany - The 39 U.S. sailors injured in the attack on a Navy ship in Yemen spent Saturday at a hospital in this idyllic corner of Germany - some weeping, some taking to their beds in exhaustion, all remembering their 17 shipmates who didn't make it out.
   The sailors arrived earlier Saturday at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the U.S. military hospital here, many for a one-day stay before heading back to the United States. They came to Germany in two planeloads - an initial 28 with mostly minor injuries, followed by another 11 who were more seriously hurt.
   ``They were definitely in shock,'' said Navy Lt. James Glaspie, one of 11 military chaplains at the medical center to counsel the survivors. Several sailors broke into tears when they called their families back home after arriving at the hospital, chaplains said. Many just wanted to sleep.

Associated Press

The commercial heavy-lift vessel Blue Marlin delivers U.S. Navy Coastal Minehunters USS Cardinal and USS Raven to the Norfolk Naval base in Norfolk, Va., during the summer of 2000. The ship has been contracted by the Navy Sealift Command to bring the USS Cole back to its homeport of Norfolk.

   Two days earlier, the sailors were witness to the explosion that claimed their colleagues: The 17 men and women died when a blast tore a hole in the side of their ship, the USS Cole, while it refueled in the Yemeni port of Aden. U.S. officials believe the attack was the work of suicide bombers who blew up a small boat next to the destroyer.
  ``Some of them are still going through some emotional trauma from the death of their fellow sailors,'' hospital director Col. Elder Granger said of the wounded.
   One young sailor with severe leg injuries told chaplains he fought to survive, clambering up a ladder as water poured into the ship. His wife was pregnant and ``he wanted to see the baby,'' Glaspie said.
   He said a young woman officer - the sole officer among the injured - was tormented by having to leave those under her command behind. ``She was more concerned about her people than about herself,'' Glaspie said.
   Granger said 34 of the injured were cleared to return home Sunday, while five others would stay longer to be treated for serious injuries - one with a punctured lung, another with burns to face and hands, and three with multiple broken bones. All were in stable condition, he said.
  Landstuhl is set amid rolling hills and fir forests near the French border. The hospital has often served as a way station for injured American military personnel on their way home. On Saturday, U.S. and German flags flew at half-staff at the entrance.
   Officials refused to identify the sailors and kept them isolated from the media, explaining that many had indicated they were still too distressed to talk in public.
   Before heading to the hospital, the wounded landed early Saturday at Rhein-Main Air Base outside Frankfurt. Many in the first group to arrive still wore shorts and T-shirts, wrapping themselves in blankets against the chilly fog as they descended from the C9 medical transport that had carried them on a 15-hour trip from Aden, Yemen.
   Some had bandages around their heads. Two had eye bandages, and four or five with bandaged limbs hopped on one foot without the aid of crutches.
   Not long after, another military transport left Ramstein to bring home the bodies of five of the sailors killed in the bombing. The caskets later arrived at the air force base in Dover, Del.

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