Sun
City Veterans Set Out to Save Sinking USS Laffey
Sun City Veterans Set Out To
Save Sinking USS Laffey
By MAUREEN SIMPSON
msimpson@islandpacket.com
843-706-8141
How to help
To make a contribution to the "Save the Laffey Fund," mail checks to:
Patriots Point Development Authority
40 Patriots Point Road
Mt. Pleasant, SC29464
Attn: CFO, Save the Laffey Fund
The checks should be made out to Patriots Point Development Authority with the special notation "For Save The Laffey Fund."
Two Sun City Hilton Head residents who served aboard "the ship that would not die" are now part of a group of former crew members fighting to keep it from sinking.
"We don't want to lose it, because then the country loses something," Bob Wampler said of the USS Laffey, the most decorated American destroyer in World War II that also went on to survive the Korean War and 25 years of Cold War sailing.
Now moored at the Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum in Mount Pleasant, the historic vessel faces ruin if more than $6 million is not raised to cover extensive and immediate repairs. Due to a decline in attendance at the museum and limited resources, the Patriots Point Development Authority said it does not have the money necessary to keep the Laffey afloat -- nor any fundraising solution.
Wampler, Jim White and more than 430 other members of the USS Laffey Association have contributed roughly $36,000 to the effort, but they're extending an S.O.S. to the public in hopes of saving what became a second home and enduring symbol of sacrifice for many in the U.S. Navy.
White served as a machinery repairman on the Laffey from August 1953 to November 1956, while Wampler worked as a radio watch supervisor in the ship's main communications compartment from June 1962 to July 1965.
"Those of us who followed our World War II compatriots have carried a sense of pride and allegiance to the ship that most would not understand," said Wampler, describing how generations of sailors have returned to the Laffey four times a year to repaint, repair and maintain the vessel "from stem to stern" through work parties organized by the USS Laffey Association.
"If you could see these older gentleman on that ship, it's like they're back in the '40s. It's as gray and white as it was when we were on it," Wampler said.
Patriots Point staff and members of the association did not notice the Laffey was in bad condition until last October, when former crew members had gathered on the port side of the ship for a reunion ceremony and the destroyer started to list and take on water.
Though the leaks were immediately repaired, Wampler said that water trapped between the Laffey and an outer shell welded onto it in 1994 had been corroding the ship. Experts have given the destroyer a year before the hundreds of holes in the hull sink it.
"What they will do if they can't get the money to repair it is tow it to sea and make an artificial reef out of it. They'll kill it," said Wampler, who is a board member of the USS Laffey Association and serves as editor of its newsletter.
He said the organization was planning to use the ship as a learning device for schoolchildren in Charleston and museum visitors by offering "living history" classes on board, much like the way it was used after it was attacked off Okinawa during World War II.
After surviving an onslaught from five kamikaze planes and three bomb hits in one hour of combat on April 16, 1945, the Laffey was towed to Washington state for repairs and became a cause of celebrity for the federal government, earning the nickname "the ship that would not die."
"People would tour the destroyed ship and donate money to the war effort," Wampler said.
He and White, who fondly remembers turning 21 on board a Laffey world tour in 1954, now fear the economic downturn will be the cause of its fate. Still, they hope the government will help the ship continue to live up to its legacy and name.
"There are some things you shouldn't forget, the country shouldn't forget, but it's happening," White said. "The money's not going to come from Patriots Point. It's got to come from Washington. It's about preserving history for generations to come."
The Charleston Post and Courier contributed to this story.
Back to Home Page