The last of the remains of those killed in the explosion on USS Cole Oct. 12 in Aden, Yemen, arrived this afternoon at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. The remains were recovered Thursday by the Navy team of experts flown in from the U.S.
Among the casualties were two Fil-american, Information Systems Technician Seaman Timothy Lee Gauna, 21, of Rice, Texas
and Petty OfficerThird Class Ronchester Manangan Santiago, 22, Kingsville, Texas.
We might be living in Peace
but there are still dangers in this part of the world.
Information Systems
Technician Tim Gauna, 21, of Rice, Texas, was a 1997 graduate of Ennis High
School. Teachers said he was a quiet student who excelled in baseball and art.
In 1999, he joined the Navy as a radio man.
"He went there to
better himself, to make a better life for himself," said his mother, Sarah
Gauna. The family last heard from Gauna by phone a few days ago as the Cole
headed for a secret destination.
"He just kept saying,
We’re in dangerous waters, Mom, but we’re OK. I’ll be OK. I promise you,’"
Sarah Gauna said.
Petty Officer 3rd Class
Ronchester Santiago, 22, of Kingsville, Texas, had been in the Navy since
graduating in 1996 from H.M. King High School. He was scheduled to get out of
the service in December and planned to study electrical engineering at the
University of Texas at Austin.
"He was attracted to
the adventure in the Navy," said his father, Rogelio Santiago, a retired
Navy petty officer first class.
"He wanted to see the
world. He just wanted the experience."
"He went there to better himself, to make a better life for himself," said his mother, Sarah Gauna. The family last heard from Gauna by phone a few days ago as the Cole headed for a secret destination. "He just kept saying, We?re in dangerous waters, Mom, but we?re OK. I?ll be OK. I promise you,?" Sarah Gauna said.
Will we ever understand the loss of Rogelio Santiago, a Navy veteran himself, who was planning a trip with his son Ron to his native Philippines in December? (From the Congressional Record Online)
Have we ever experienced the bewilderment of Sarah Gauna, who said she would never hang up the phone with her boy until she had made him laugh, as she waited days to learn the awful truth about Timothy? We cannot feel the depth of sorrow of these families, but we are all diminished by their loss because U.S.S. Cole was a small patch of American soil and on that patch we lost our own. Today, as we come and go in our ordinary routine, life is anything but routine for those they left behind.
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Former USS Constitution cook among 17
killed in Cole attack
by Doug Hanchett
Saturday, October 14,
2000
Instead of having a gala
celebration to commemorate the Navy's 225th birthday yesterday, sailors aboard
the USS Constitution solemnly paid tribute to a former shipmate who was killed
in the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen.
Petty Officer 3rd Class
Ronchester Santiago, 22, of Kingsville, Texas, was a cook stationed at the
Charlestown Navy Yard before being transferred to the Cole in January. The
ship, carrying 352 crew members, was hit in an apparent terrorist attack
Thursday, leaving 17 dead.
``He was a cook - and a
pretty good one, too,'' said William F. Foster Jr., commanding officer of the
Constitution. ``He was a very popular crew member. Cooks get to know the crew -
he did a lot of serving - and he was a popular guy . . . my thoughts and
prayers are with him.''
Santiago joined the Navy
after graduating from H.M. King High School in 1996. He was scheduled to be
discharged in December and planned to study electrical engineering at the
University of Texas at Austin.
``He was attracted to the
adventure in the Navy,'' said his father, Rogelio Santiago, a retired Navy
petty officer 1st class. ``He wanted to see the world. He just wanted the
experience.''
Arnold Sanchez, the
former ROTC director at H.M. King High School, remembered Santiago as a
``respectful'' student who joined the program to learn some leadership skills.
``He was real respectful,
always wanting to do well,'' Sanchez said. ``It's just a shame it came to such
a short career.
``He was the type of guy
when he walked down the hall you knew he was coming. He was always smiling -
not a prankster type, but he was always in a good mood. It was a welcome
sight.''
Foster said Santiago
spent most of his tour of duty living in the barracks in Charlestown, but moved
off base toward the end of his three-year stay. He also denied reports that
another sailor from the Constitution was now serving aboard the Cole.
In the wake of the
attack, Foster decided to scrap a small Navy birthday party yesterday, instead
leading his charges in a moment of silence to honor the fallen sailors.
He said many of his small
crew - fewer than 70 sailors - were ``anxious, and justifiably so.''
Tours of ``Old
Ironsides'' - which was in full dress in preparation for the party - went on as
usual, however, with some visitors acknowledging the tragedy.
``I'm just wondering if
all the people walking around here realize the importance of being here
today,'' said Nancy Cornichuck of Peabody, whose son is in the Air Force.
``It's sad, looking around at the sailors who are here.''
SOURCE: By JESSICA ROEBER
Crew members of the USS Constitution will name one of their dockside dining facilities
for a former member of their crew who was killed aboard the USS Cole on Oct.
12.
Ronchester "Chester" Mananga Santiago, 22, of Kingsville, Texas, was one of 17 sailors who died when the Aegis-class destroyer USS Cole was rocked by a bomb in the Yemeni port of Aden.
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Nov 26, 1973….
Lamberto Aledia, Filipino sailor in the US Navy won one million dollar price in
the Massachusetts State Lottery.