NAVAL STATION MAYPORT, Fla. – Hundreds attended the annual memorial event Friday at Naval Station Mayport remembering the 37 sailors who gave their lives exactly 37 years ago aboard the USS Stark.
Two Iraqi missiles struck the Stark in the Persian Gulf, killing the 37 and injuring nearly two dozen others.
Those 37 sailors were honored, one by one, on Friday as a bell tolled and their names were read aloud by survivors of the attack.
Michael Nelson survived the attack and still remembers vividly how it felt when the unthinkable happened.
“When the ship shook. That’s all I could say. I was in a room and we just all started running, that’s when I knew something was wrong,” Nelson said.
Despite the severe damage to the ship, the Stark’s crew were able to save the ship that day due to their heroic actions.
According to the National Museum of the U.S. Navy, the frigate sailed to Bahrain and was repaired at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
Fleet Command Master Chief Robert Florentino was among the first crew to be stationed with the Stark after she was repaired.
“I wasn’t ready to go into war. I was not ready for what the Navy had to offer me. And to be honest with you, the USS Stark set the stage for me. Set the stage not only for me but for that entire crew,” Florentino said.
Following tours in the Atlantic and Middle East, the Stark was decommissioned in 1999. She was then scrapped in 2006.
The memorial program concluded with a rifle salute and a promise to always remember.
“It will never be forgotten. I’m very hopeful, very convinced that they will continue to support the Stark,” Nelson said. “Every year it gets bigger and bigger, and better and better. And that’s why we had the shipmates read the names this year.”
