Kingsville, Texas, VFW Post 2375 and Naval Air Station Kingsville honor Kingsville native Mess Management Specialist 3rd Class Ronchester Santiago and his fellow shipmates killed in the October 12, 2000, terrorist attack on the USS Cole (DDG 67).
Transcript
Kingsville Command Chaplain, Lieutenant Commander Nicholas Alander. ‚ô™ Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light ‚ô™ ‚ô™ What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming ‚ô™ ‚ô™ Whose broad stripes and bright stars ‚ô™ ‚ô™ Through the perilous fight ‚ô™ ‚ô™ O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming ‚ô™ ‚ô™ And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air ‚ô™ ‚ô™ Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there ‚ô™ ‚ô™ Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave ‚ô™ ‚ô™ O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave ‚ô™
I pledge allegiance to the Flag
[All] of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Let’s bow our heads in prayer. Our gracious God, today serves as the 20th remembrance of the sailors that were lost on the mighty USS Cole. Today, we pay homage to the 17 shipmates that lost their lives on that fateful day, their sacrifice and their enduring sacrifices of their families are not forgotten. These are the sailors who gave their lives in service to our nation and are indisputably heroes. When their country called, they answered. Help us today to honor the fallen and support their families in the days, the weeks, the months, and the years ahead. We ask now all for you also for your special blessing on the Santiago family and for your continued grace and comfort to be with them. And now as we continue in our remembrance, help us to continue our lasting commitment to honoring the fallen through each of our actions and deeds. Amen.
Thank you, Shay. And chaplain, ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. I’d like to say thank you to our dignitaries who are here. Mike Dickler, American Legion Post 185 Commander, JJ Dellaseldhan Weisses County, Veterans Service Officer. Lazaro Camarillo, Senior Vice Commander for the Military Order of the Purple Heart. Henry Escobedo, Texas VFW District 6 Commander. Todd Richardson, Texas VFW District 6 Commander Senior Vice. And I’m not sure there’s anybody else out there. Good morning. I am Ann Marie Torres, Commander of VFW Post 2375. And I will be your master of ceremonies. This morning as we pay tribute to all those who perished when terrorists attacked the USS Cole while the ship was marooned in Aden Yemen. The attack on the Cole holds personal meaning for the Kingsville community, because among the 17 sailors killed, was native son Mess Management Specialist 3rd class Rochester Santiago. Not long after the October 13th, 2000 attack, the men and women at VFW Post 2375 were charged to conduct an annual remembrance to preserve the memory of the USS Cole and the sailors who were lost that fateful day. Our charge was to conduct the ceremony for 20 years, and it has been our honor to embrace the solemn duty and to support the Santiago family. This past year, we were saddened by the loss of Ron’s father, Rohelio, but we can take heart that father and son are now reunited with the Lord. Ron’s mother, Simona, traveled to Norfolk, Virginia to participate in the 20th Anniversary ceremony for the USS Cole, but she sends her thanks and appreciation to all those gathered here today. I am very grateful to the naval air station for its support of this year’s tribute. And it is my pleasure to welcome our guest speaker this morning, Captain Thomas Korsmo. Captain Korsmo assumed command of NAS Kingsville in July, but because of the COVID pandemic, the change of command ceremony was limited to immediate family, and a few senior base leaders. So, this morning ceremony is his first opportunity to interact in person with the Kingsville community. Captain Korsmo is the son of Commander Thomas B. Korsmo, US Navy retired, and Joanne Korsmo. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington and was commissioned in Pensacola, Florida on July 5th, 1996. He winged as a Naval Flight Officer on September 27th, 1997. And during his career, he has flown the EA-6B Prowler in support of operations, Southern watch, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, including command of Electronic Attack Squadron 140, The Patriots. Captain Korsmo has accumulated 2,400 flight hours, including at 1,000 hours of combat time and 307 arrested landings. He has earned numerous awards that include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, three Meritorious Service Medals and 11 Air Medals. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome NAS Kingsville Commanding Officer, Captain Thomas Korsmo. (crowd clapping)
And also appreciate it. Good morning. Commander Torres, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen, as the Commanding Officer of Naval Air Station Kingsville, I’m humbled to be with you this morning. As we remember and honor the men and women of USS Cole who were called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice in honor of our great nation. While this ceremony commemorates the loss of life resulting in such an attack, it should also be considered a celebration that honors our fallen comrades for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the United States of America. We should embrace this opportunity to think about men and women who valiantly and selflessly devoted their lives to something greater than themselves, to honor their service and their sacrifice, and to remember that America’s finest people are still unwilling and defending us today. Fewer than 10% of Americans today can claim the title of veterans, although we have many in this crowd today, and less than 1% of our population currently defends us against the rising tide of global terrorism. That’s coupled with ever-changing and unconventionally decreasing gap in geography and technology. Stephen Ambrose once wrote, “America’s wars have been rungs on a ladder by which it rose to greatness and no other country has triumph for so long so consistently or on such a vast scale through force of arms.” The accounts of the brave actions and quiet courage of our military men and women fill the pages of our history books and are the underlying theme of honor, courage and commitment. And it’s why you owe such a debt of gratitude to our veterans of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Their heroism demonstrated time and again by veterans from the beginnings of the American revolution to the current war on terrorism is often unnoticed or taken for granted by those that enjoy the security that their sacrifice has provided. Our nation was important enough to these veterans, that they chose long separations from their families to miss the burrs of their children, freezing subzero temperatures, sweat, and wild jungles, temperatures, sweat, and wild jungles, or bake in unforgiving deserts, In return, these warriors have given us freedom, security, and continue to build brick by brick and year by year, the greatest nation on earth. year, the greatest nation on earth. but by the simple gratitude of those being served. Over the course of my military career, I’ve been often reminded that what affects one of us will affect all of us, soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, affect all of us, soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, As military members, we have made conscious choices to serve, and we’ve asked our families to accept their own sacrifice as part of this greater service. as part of this greater service. sons, and daughters, mothers, and fathers will ultimately bear the burden of going on without us, but coupled with the pride of a life well lived with honor. We must never forget the sacrifice of our gold star families. I am odd inspired by their resilience and can never truly express in words, the feelings for those that gave their last full measure of devotion in service to our country. I did not know Petty Officer Santiago, nor any of his crew members who perished that fateful day 20 years ago, but I have lost squadron mates in the line of duty, and I know the pain of standing shoulder to shoulder with a friend, and then suddenly they’re gone from your life. But I find comfort in knowing they will be remembered as heroes. For the past two decades, your friends and neighbors, the men and women of VFW Post 2375 have embraced their sacred to ensure that the names of our fallen and their memory are not lost in history. For 20 years, they have reminded us that the sailors of the USS Cole and all others that they represent who are among the finest our country has ever produced, who died defending our freedom for all was not sacrificed in vain. On behalf of the Santiago family, and the families who served aboard the USS Cole, please accept our everlasting gratitude for all you have done to keep their memory alive. Thank you, and God bless America. (crowd clapping)
Thank you Captain Korsmo. At this time, I’d like to welcome Ms. Rose Damron to share some of her recollections of Ron.
After 20 years, it doesn’t get any easier. I had the task of trying to write something in honor of Ron and the USS Cole. And it was really hard. I sat there and I thought, “What could I possibly say?” But today we honor Rochester Ron Santiago, fallen sailor who rose to freedom’s challenge. We mourn his loss, celebrate his life, and offer the love and prayers of a grateful city to his family. We will never know him as you guys did, and as well as you guys did. (sniffles) From the first time you guys saw him in uniform, or the last time you said goodbye, you each have your own stories and your own memories and your own dreams of him. your own dreams of him. out of the blue and just want to talk about random stuff and always picking on me, driving to wherever I lived, Austin, Beaumont in the middle of the night with my brothers and just hanging out ’cause they just wanted to visit. Those are the stories, those are the memories I will forever cherish, (sniffles) but his tragic loss reminds us that even when America is not at war, the men and women of our military still lose their lives for peace. I am quite sure history will record in great detail, (sniffles) our triumphs in battle. But I regret that no one will ever be able to write a full account of the wars we never fought, the losses we never suffered, the losses we suffered, sorry, (sniffles) the tears we never shed because men and women like those who were on the USS Cole were standing guard for peace. We should never ever forget that. Today, I ask everyone to just take a moment to thank the men and women of our armed forces for a debt no one can ever repay, whose character encouraged more than ever modern war weapons makes our military the strongest in the world. And in particular, I ask us to thank God today for the life, the character, and courage Ron had to serve a great nation. Also, to the other sailors who lost their lives on the USS Cole. Some way someday people must learn the lessons of their lives, of those we mourn today, of how they work together of how they live together or how they reached across all the lines that divided them and embraced their common humanity and the common values of freedom and service. President Bill Clinton said, “The young no longer speak, but they have a silence that speaks for them at night. They say, we are young, remember us. They say we have done what we could, but until it is finished, it is not done. They say our deaths are not ours, they are yours. They will mean what you make them. They say whether our lives and our deaths were for peace and a new hope we cannot say, it is who must say this. They say, we leave you, our deaths, give them their meaning. The lives of the men and women we lost on the USS Cole, and especially Ron’s meant so much to those who loved them. To all Americans, to the cause of freedom, they have given us their deaths. Let us give them their meaning, their meaning of peace and freedom and reconciliation and love of service, endurance, and hope after all they’ve given us, we must give them their meaning. I ask that you never forget the USS Cole and always keep their families in prayer. Never forget the USS Cole and always remember one of our city’s greatest heroes, Rochester, Ron Santiago. Thank you. And may God bless you all. (crowd clapping)
Thank you, Rose. And thank you Renata Diva Santiago, Manny’s wife, one of the Santiago family members who’s here with us today. Would you please stand for just a moment? (crowd clapping) Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, please rise and continue standing for the remainder of our ceremony. In the United States Navy, the ringing of the ship’s bell serves a number of purposes, not the least of which is to honor the fallen. The names called today have given their lives for our great nation. After each name, you will hear a single strike of the bell. At the end of the final name, red and final bell, a succession of four bells will ring for all other fallen service men and women who have selflessly served this nation. Please bow your head as we remember the members of the USS Cole who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation. Ensign Andrew Triplett. (bell rings) Chief electronics technician Richard Costelow. (bell rings) Electronics Warfare Technician 2nd Class Kevin Rux. (bell rings) Engineman 2nd Class Mark Nieto. (bell rings) Operations Specialist 2nd Class Timothy Saunders. (bell rings) Electronics Warfare Technician 3rd Class Ronald Owens. (bell rings) Hull maintenance Technician 3rd Class Kenneth Clodfelter. (bell rings) Seaman James McDaniels, (bell rings) Mess Management Specialist Seaman Lakeina Francis. (bell rings) Information Systems Technician Seaman Timothy Gauna. (bell rings) Engineman Fireman Joshua Parlett. (bell rings) Fireman Gary Graham. (bell rings) Seaman Apprentice Craig Wibberley. (bell rings) Fireman Apprentice, Patrick Roy. (bell rings) Signalman Seaman Recruit Cherone Gunn (bell rings) Seaman Recruit Lakiba Palmer (bell rings) Mess Management Specialist 3rd Class Ronchester Santiago. (bell rings) (bell rings) Chaplain Alander will now deliver the benediction.
[Alander] We thank you for all who are in attendance today, we ask for your blessing on us all, and most importantly, we ask for your blessing on the greatest of all nations, the United States of America. This we pray amen.
[Ann] ABH2 Alvarado and ABH3 Vera will now place a wreath at Petty Officer’s Santiago’s grave. If you look behind you. (gun shots) (gun shots) (gun shots)
[Ann] Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our ceremony. On behalf of the men and women of VFW Post 2375 and the Santiago family, thank you for attending.