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Each time a name was read and the bell tolled, tears streamed down the faces of the many people in attendance as one of the most unforgettable events in modern lighthouse history took place - the unveiling of the new Lighthship Memorial in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
The ceremony was attended by many relatives and descendants of crew members who lost their lives in lightship duty, considered by most historians as the most dangerous of all duty in the U.S. Coast Guard and its predecessor, the U.S. Lighthouse Service.
As the names of the dead crewmen were read out loud by Harold Flagg, the last surviving crewman of the Vineyard Lightship, the bell was tolled by a member of the Coast Guard Honor Guard. Divers recovered the bell in 1963, but only now has it been mounted as part of a memorial.
Seamond Ponsart Roberts, who was in the audience, recalled the fateful night when the Vineyard Lightship went down, in fact, she is the only surviving witness to the loss of the vessel. She was a small child on that fateful night in 1944, when, with her father, the lighthouse keeper at Cuttyhawk Light, they watched in horror as the lights from the lightship disappeared in the storm.
Naida MacAloney, now 76, also remembered as her eyes swelled up with tears. Her fiance, crewman Lawrence Starratt, had died aboard the Vineyard Lightship. "Feelings that have been buried a good many years have surfaced," she said. Although she eventually married another man, to this day she still wears the engagement ring Starratt gave her.
For Harold Flagg, the only surviving member of the lightship, the ceremony was the conclusion of a life-long dream and promise he had made years ago, a memorial to his fallen comrades. Spared by fate, Flagg was on leave and due back on duty at noon on the day the lightship sank. As he read the names, he said, "I tried to individualize each one as I read their names, I tried to picture their face."
It is impossible to put into words what it was like to attend this ceremony, but I can assure you that it was the most touching and memorable experience I have ever witnessed of our nation's maritime history and heritage. The City of New Bedford, Massachusetts is to be commended for making this historic event and memorial into reality.
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