By Greg Corrales
"All I asked for was to be given a warrior's death"
Staff Sergeant Clay Treska, who after twelve years in the Marine Corps was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and given five months to live. He battled the disease and is now an Ironman triathlete.
A convoy of three ships and three escorting Coast Guard cutters passed through "torpedo alley" some 100 miles off the coast of Greenland at about 1 :00 a.m. on February 3, 1943. The submarine U-223 fired three torpedoes, one of which hit the midsection of the Dorchester, a U.S. Army troopship with more than 900 men on board. Ammonia and oil were everywhere in the fast-sinking vessel and upon the freezing sea. The four Chaplains on board, two Protestant pastors, a Catholic priest, and a Jewish rabbi, were among the first on deck, calming the men and handing out life jackets. When they ran out, they took off their own and placed them on waiting soldiers without regard to faith or race. Approximately 18 minutes from the explosion, the ship went down. They were the last to be seen by witnesses; they were standing arm-in-arm on the hull of the ship, each praying in his own way for the care of the men. Almost 700 died, making it the third largest loss at sea of its kind for the United States during World War II.
The four Chaplains were Father John Washington (Catholic), Reverend Clark Poling (Dutch Reformed), Rabbi Alexander Goode (Jewish), and Reverend George Fox (Methodist). In 1960 Congress created a special Congressional Medal of Valor, never to be repeated again, and gave it to the next of kin of the "Immortal Chaplains." Post Commander Peter Mellett and I represented Post 456 at the 46th Anniversary Observance of Four Chaplains' Day, which was held at Main Post Chapel at the Presidio on February 12,2011. It was a very moving service and I recommend that everyone interested attend next year's observance.
Attention District Attorney George Gascon! Judge Robert Russell established the nation's first specialized veterans treatment court in Buffalo, N.Y., in early 2008. The idea has quickly spread; at least 57 veterans' treatment courts operate nationwide, including Santa Clara County, with the Buffalo court serving as a model. The concept is rooted in the approach of the drug treatment courts that now dominate the country.
The best arguments for veterans courts, advocates say, is that they work: 70 percent of defendants finish the programs and 75 percent are not rearrested for at least two years after, according to the National Association of Drug Court Professionals.
When a sniper's bullet struck Pfc. Colton Rusk, the first to reach his body was his best friend Eli, a bomb-sniffing, black Labrador so loyal he snapped at other Marines who rushed to his fallen handler. After Rusk died his parents decided they wanted to adopt his dog. After securing permission from the Defense Department, they picked Eli up February 3 at Lackland Air Force Base to take him back to their home in rural south Texas. It was only the second time that a U.S. military dog has been adopted by the family of a handler killed in combat. Rusk served in Afghanistan with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, a unit that has suffered heavy losses in the volatile Sangin district in Helmand Province.
The Army Times reports that Ahmed Kousay al- Taie, a resident of Ann Arbor, Michigan, who was born in Iraq, is the only American service member still missing in Iraq. He has been missing for more than four years. There exists a unit dedicated to searching for al-Taie and 12 missing civilians, including seven Americans. AI-Taie, an Army interpreter, was kidnapped October 23, 2006. The missing soldier was last seen four months after his abduction, in a video posted on the Internet by a Shiite militant faction called Ahl al-Bayt Brigades.
The San Francisco Police-Fire Post 456 meets on the second Tuesday of every month at 6:00 p.m. Meetings are held at the Veterans' War Memorial Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue, Room 212. Refreshments will be provided at the conclusion of the meeting.
