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Heroes from the USS Hornet are Vanishing

From the following link with permission from the author:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070918/COL05/709180316/1009/col05 with permission from the author

The deep navy blue TBM-3 Avenger torpedo bomber from World War II looks like something that jumps out of the water at Sea World. It's big enough to be Shamu with a propeller.

"I can't even imagine how I got up there to the cockpit," said Ken Glass of Oxford, who flew an Avenger from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet. "It's 16 feet up there."

He was a lot younger when he was Lt. j.g. Ken Glass, a pilot in Torpedo Squadron Two. He flew 35 combat missions between March and October of 1944. On one of those missions, he was forced to ditch in the Pacific off the Marianas Islands, and was picked up by a destroyer.

And last Friday morning, as a choir sang the Navy Hymn during a memorial service for all the Hornet crew members who did not come home, those days came back to him.

As each name was read, a ship's bell rang twice. Airplanes taking off on a nearby runway provided the sound effects. And the Tristate Warbird Museum at the Clermont County Airport provided the perfect backdrop: WWII airplanes parked in the sunshine - a P-51 Mustang, a B-24 Mitchell - and back in the shadows at the rear of the hanger, a restored Avenger sat with its wings folded in prayer, carrier style.

About 200 Hornet veterans and their families attended the service. They came from all over the country for their annual reunion, to honor men long dead and a remarkable ship that lives on in their memories, and as a floating museum in Alameda, Calif.

One of the first Hornets was a sloop that sank a British brig in the War of 1812. Its name was passed on to a carrier that launched the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in 1942 and fought at the Battle of Midway. And when that ship was sunk by torpedo attacks near Guadalcanal, the name was passed on again to another Hornet carrier that set combat records all over the Pacific. It sailed on to serve in Korea and Vietnam, then picked up the astronauts from Apollo 11 and 12, the first landings on the moon.

As the names were read, the Hornet crew members took off hats decorated with their ship's famous name. About two dozen were WWII veterans, and another two or three dozen were from Korea and Vietnam. "If you love your freedom, thank a veteran," said one T-shirt.

The Marine Corps color guard was the Leatherneck Detachment of Clermont County. Their bodies were bent by the years, but their backs were straight and their salutes were still boot-camp crisp.

"Oh hear us when we lift our prayer, for those in peril in the air," the choir sang.

As I watched them I was reminded how these men can still teach us a lot. Little things, like removing your hat as you stand for the flag. And big things. They pray easily, without self-consciousness. They prayed in battle for courage to do their duty, and for loyalty to their country and to their brothers in arms.

Today, they are still courageous and loyal. They travel hundreds of miles and stand on aching, worn-out knees to pray for the men who died to give us freedom, and for all their shipmates who have slipped beneath the waves of life.

They represent another time. For all the hell of blood and bullets and flames and fear, it's a place that still sparkles in the sunlight of their memories.

Glass told me he couldn't imagine how he climbed into that big Avenger, but he didn't mention that he earned four battle stars, a Presidential Unit Citation, seven air medals and a Distinguished Flying Cross.

He talked instead about the men he served with.

"We were only together for 2½ years, but these guys have been my lifelong friends," he said. "You never forget somebody you had to depend on out there on your wing. And we're losing a lot of them every day."

The Navy Hymn offers tribute to them all:

"O trinity of love and power, Our brethren shield in danger's hour. From rock and tempest, fire and foe, Protect them wheresoe'er they go."

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