Chuck Roots
7 August 2017
www.chuckroots.com
Naval Farewell
One of the great blessings of having
served in the military for so many years is the association you garner with
some of the most outstanding individuals this nation has ever produced. This
weekend exemplifies my point.
Late last month Rear Admiral Russell
W. Gorman crossed the bar, to use a metaphor written by Alfred Tennyson. He was
a month shy of his 90th birthday. To read his biography, or “Bio” as
it is referred to in navy parlance, is to take a walk through naval history
from the 1950s through the 1980s. He graduated from the Merchant Marine Academy
at Kings Point, New York in 1949. One of his first assignments was to Yokohama,
Japan where he met Mieko (a.k.a., Eriko), who would become his wife of sixty
years.
Though I never got to know the
admiral personally, I had heard of him over the years since we lived in the
same region of California. Just after he passed away I was contacted by my
friend Al Cruz who was put in charge of organizing a Celebration of Life service,
and the committal service at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery where the
ashes of both Admiral Gorman and his wife Eriko will be interred.
Al and I go back a lot of years. We
both served in Vietnam as sergeants in the Marine Corps, though it would be
many years later that we actually met. He had gone on to receive a commission
as a Marine officer, retiring as a colonel. Our first contact was when we were
both with 1st Battalion 14th Marines Artillery out of
Alameda, California in the early 1990s. Al wanted to make this a special
military ceremony with all the trimmings, so among others, he contacted me to
perform the chaplain duties of offering the Invocation and Benediction.
Since this was to be a formal event,
I pulled out my Dress Whites, which are more frequently referred to by Navy
personnel as “Choker Whites.” And for good reason! The stiff collar must be
fastened with metal interlocking connectors right where a man’s Adam’s Apple is
located. Since it had been a few years since I had last worn this particular
uniform, I had some consternation about a proper fit. I decided to wait until I
arrived at the Sunday afternoon Celebration of Life held at the Veterans
Memorial Building in Danville.
I was pleased to find a parking
place directly across the street and in front of a small restaurant with an
outside patio for dining. As I stood by my car, slipping into the choker white
jacket, a couple having Sunday brunch smiled and offered a few complimentary
words about the uniform. So, instead of wrestling with trying to hook the
collar together without benefit of a mirror, I asked the lady if she would
kindly do the honors. She agreed, while her husband smiled. Well, it was a
tight fit, and the lady was very concerned about hurting me, but after a few
minutes she managed to connect all three loops. I thanked them and proceeded to
enter the Veterans Memorial Building.
There was quite an assembly of
retired military present, both officer and enlisted, along with local
government officials as well as friends and neighbors of the admiral. One of
the invited speakers was Rear Admiral Tom Brown III. After the program was over
I had a chance to chat with him and discovered he had at one point in his
career been the commanding officer of the USS Midway aircraft carrier. The
Midway is currently a museum, permanently anchored at the pier in San Diego.
The service for the admiral was very
nice, and concluded with the playing of the Navy Hymn followed by the
Benediction. We all stood while the Navy Hymn was played, but it was strictly
instrumental. The words kept running through my mind, and I thought, “There are
people here who are not part of the sea services who don’t know the song.” So, on
the spur of the moment as I moved forward to offer the Benediction, I decided
to sing the first verse acapella. “Eternal
Father, strong to save, whose arm hath bound the restless wave, Who bidd’st the
mighty ocean deep, its own appointed limits keep; Oh, hear us when we cry to
Thee, for those in peril on the sea!”
Farewell, Admiral Gorman! Fair
winds, and following seas.
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