Still Tryin’ to Get Home
150 years ago…
When the turret of the Civil War ironclad Monitor was raised from the ocean bottom, two skeletons and the tattered remnants of their uniforms were discovered in the rusted hulk of the Union Civil War ironclad, mute and nameless witnesses to the cost of war. A rubber comb was found by one of the remains, a ring was on a finger of the other.
Now, thanks to forensic reconstruction, the two have faces.
In a longshot bid that combines science and educated guesswork, researchers hope those reconstructed faces will help someone identify the unknown Union sailors who went down with the Monitor 150 years ago.
The article is here.
“After 10 years in the lab, maybe it’s time for these guys to get out of archival boxes and into a final resting place,” he said. Fundraising has also begun to erect a monument in Arlington to the 16 men on aboard Monitor, which he called an “iconic warship that changed naval history.”
“Like all who served and all who do pay the price, that in and by itself makes them important and worthy of remembrance and recognition,”
Fair winds and following seas shipmates.
Category: Geezer Alert!, Navy
Well writ.
When the H.L. Hunley, the Confederate submarine, was raised, forensics was used to identify the crew, as well as some small items found around them. I hope the Monitor’s sailors will be as fortunate, to be identified and returned home.
Ahhhh, nuts.
The Monitor’s sailors are long past the ability to be “fortunate.”
What is it with this ooky-spooky superstitious crap that dead bodies — especially those of military members — must be returned “home” in order for them to somehow attain eternal rest?
Their spirits have departed their bodies. Until they are reunited to their bodies at the resurrection, their spirits are home — they reside where they will continue to reside for eternity: Either in, or apart from, God’s glorious presence.
By all means, see if we can identify the remains. Find out if these men have any living descendants. Contact them about this, if they do. Then find a nice cemetery plot to bury them in. Remember these men if you like, by all means.
But away with this foolish talk like “it’s time for these guys to get out of archival boxes and into a final resting place,” and “I hope the Monitor’s sailors will be as fortunate, to be identified and returned home.”
Wherever “these guys” are (now there’s a respectful form of address for the dead, huh?), it ain’t anywhere near the remaining matter that once comprised their bodies.
(That should go over like a fart in church … )
Eagle Keeper#4: Opinions are like assholes – everybody has one. [shrug]
However, I can’t say I particularly disagree with yours save it leaves out the living.
To leave none behind is a pledge that some of us take seriously.
Deliberate disrespect usually does.
#6 was a reply to #4, but you probably figured that out, EK.
PintoNag,
And sometimes idolatry is packaged as “respect.”
… well, idolatry and superstition.
Zero: By leaving none behind, I assume you mean having a proper burial ceremony.
The Monitor was lost as sea: Sailors died unburied.
Other sailors have died and were buried at sea (at least according to films and TV shows I’ve seen): Not the same thing, because of the ceremony that the living were able to give.
Is that a fair statement of your thoughts?
Did you guys cover this story here?
The Pompeii of WW I
http://tinyurl.com/76o7l65
I understand the living giving a “decent burial” to the dead — even the decomposed fragments of the remains of the dead.
The thing I’m talking about is the Bravo Sierra language that often accompanies it.
hm. I was going to say, ponsdorf, thanks for turning me on to this interesting story. But along the way, i was definitely surprised by comments. lol interesting opinions, of late.
Eagle Keeper: I’m curious. Those unrecovered KIAs in Korea and Vietnam are just dead bodies too. Should we simply forget about them and cease all recovery/ID efforts? By your logic, we should – after all, they’re dead and already at peace.