Special Notices*

*I will, if requested by crew members, post special notices that have relevance for submarine veterans and Andrew Jackson crew members.  I do not endorse, agree or disagree with any of the information posted here. (Well, I guess if I strongly disagreed it wouldn't get posted)   I just post.  (I will reserve the right to edit material if required to fit the needs of the web site, or to refuse to post material that I feel is in serious conflict with my views.  After all, this is my web site.)  If you have a problem with anything that is posted, let me know.  I'm not here to create a problem, just pass on information that may be of interest to fellow crewmen.

The Duke at his best
Thanks to Carl Haley for this great site.

Received from Sam Eddy

FYI - ASBESTOS RELATED CANCER AND MESOTHELIOMA
  A law firm is looking for sailors who served on certain  ships where
veterans have died of asbestos related cancer and mesothelioma.  The submarines and tenders are:  BUSHNELL, CAIMAN, CAPITAINE, CORPORAL, GUARDFISH, HARDER, MINDORO, POLLACK, PUFFER, & TRIGGER.

If you served on one of these boats and may have  information on how shipmates were exposed to asbestos you can contact Emily Murray toll free at 1-888-647-6007 or email emily@bergmanpageler.com.  Bergman Senn Pageler & Frockt, PO Box 2010, Vashon WA 98070. (Source FRA Naval Affairs Dec 2002)

Here is one that I received from Richard Alfano

You should take the time to look at this and then pass it on to all who have forgotten that September 11, 2001 happened.   I am tired of hearing people say that we have no business being in Afghanistan or Iraq or that we have no right to sacrifice the lives of our young men and women to fight this terror that surrounds us all.  It's time for people to wake up and realize that the terrorists will not go away.  Our freedom was built on the lives of many.   It's sad that it must be this way, but it is.  This is not a war we started, but I hope by God, we are strong enough to finish it.   (These are my words not Richard's)

After playing the piece be sure to click on the tiny "info" at the bottom of the screen to read about the "Blood of Heroes".

 http://members.cox.net/classicweb/Heroes/heroes.htm

Sam Eddy passed this on.  "The Pledge of Allegiance"
(A lot of people have died to give us the right to continue to say this when and where we see fit.  Let's not let others take that right away from us.  Denny)

In light of the recent appeals court ruling in California, with respect to the Pledge of Allegiance, the following  recollection from Senator John McCain is very appropriate.

"The Pledge of Allegiance" - Senator John McCain
As you may know, I spent five and one half years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in solitary confinement or two or three to a cell. In 1971, the NVA moved us from these conditions of isolation into large rooms with as many as 30 to 40 men to a room.

This was, as you can imagine, a wonderful change and was a direct result of the efforts of millions of Americans on behalf of a few hundred POWs 10,000 miles from home.

One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named Mike Christian.
Mike came from a small town near Selma, Alabama. He didn't wear a pair of shoes until he was 13 years old. At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy. He later earned a commission by going to Officer Training School. Then he became a Naval Flight Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967.

Mike had a keen and deep appreciation of the opportunities this country and our military provide for people who want to work and want to succeed.

As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of clothing.

Mike got himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple of months, he created an American flag and sewed it on the inside of his shirt.

Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's shirt on the wall of the cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance.

I know the Pledge of Allegiance may not seem the most important part of our day now, but I can assure you that in that stark cell it was indeed the most important and meaningful event.

One day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically, and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it.

That evening they returned, opened the door of the cell, and for the benefit of all of us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours. Then, they opened the door of the cell and threw him in. We cleaned him up as well as we could..

The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on which we slept. Four naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room.

As I said, we tried to clean up Mike as well as we could. After the excitement died down, I looked in the corner of the room, and sitting there beneath that dim light bulb with a piece of red cloth, another shirt and his bamboo needle, was my friend, Mike Christian. He was sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had received, making another American flag. He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how important it was to us to be able to Pledge our allegiance to our flag and country.

So the next time you say the Pledge of Allegiance, you must never forget the sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have made to build our nation and promote freedom around the world.

You must remember our duty, our honor, and our country.

"I pledge allegiance to the flag 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."