Longdogger_Pete 0 Report post Posted August 10, 2003 I realize I haven't had much presence on the boards in the last few days. OK, so I haven't had any presence at all. I only just found out the boards had crashed. I've had a lot on my mind this week and I decided I want to share something with all of you. Earlier this week, I lost an uncle to cancer. At first, this didn't faze me too much. My Uncle Richard was never someone I was close with. He's always lived in another state, and I haven't seen him in years, possibly a decade. Now that he is gone, I have been researching his life online, and have been surprised with the information I have been able to find. It seems my uncle was a very important man. In the last few days, I've been disappointed that I never really got the chance to know him better. I am including the news article that ran in the New York Times this week announcing my uncle's passing, and remembering his career. I'm not trying to brag or boast about the accomplishments of a family member. But I'm discovering that there were a lot of things about my uncle that I never knew, and now that I know, I really felt I should share them with someone. ------------------------------------------- From the NEW YORK TIMES Adm. Richard E. Bennis, A Hero of 9/11, Dies at 52 By WOLFGANG SAXON Rear Adm. Richard E. Bennis, the Coast Guard commander who marshaled the waterborne escape of half a million people from Lower Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001, died last Sunday in Fredericksburg, Va. He was 52 and lived in Stafford, Va. The cause was melanoma, the Coast Guard said. As the Captain of the Port of New York and New Jersey, he had already overseen a bolstering of harbor security that was well under way when the attack on the World Trade Center took place. That preparedness had been put into place for OpSail 2000, which assembled tall ships and thousands of lesser vessels and was watched by thousands of people on shore. On Sept. 11, 2001, Admiral Bennis, then a captain, was headed for Florida to complete his recovery from surgery when he heard the news and turned back. Finding normal access to the city blocked, he managed to board a boat in Sandy Hook, N.J., took charge of his command and organized an operation reminiscent of the cross-Channel evacuation of 300,000 Allied troops from Dunkirk in 1940. Captain Bennis organized a flotilla comprising more than 100 boats, many of them crewed by volunteers. Running day and night, they evacuated nearly 500,000 people from Lower Manhattan, ferrying in emergency supplies and crews on their way back. For weeks after that, Captain Bennis led the Coast Guard in strengthening its harbor presence and changing its mission from response to prevention. Security-enforcement patrols were brought back for the first time since World War II. By then a rear admiral, he retired from the Coast Guard in March 2002. At the invitation of Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta, Admiral Bennis then became associate andersecretary for maritime and land security in the new Transportation Security Administration. Richard Ellis Bennis was born in Syracuse and grew up in Rhode Island. He received his Coast Guard commission in 1972, after earning a bachelor's degree in natural resource development from the University of Rhode Island. He later earned a master's degree in energy and environmental studies from Harvard. In the course of his career, he served the Coast Guard as captain of the three largest East Coast ports, at Charleston, S.C., Hampton Roads, Va., and New York. He won special recognition for his expertise in handling spills of oil and other hazardaous materials. In 1992, he was credited with saving crew, ship and the adjoining port area in the Port of Charleston by averting the explosion of highly unstable materials spilled in a storm. From 1995 to 1997, Admiral Bennis led the Coast Guard's Office of Response as it updated the way it dealt with everything from spills to search-and-rescue missions. Measures he took are being adapted for the national response system under development in the Department of Homeland Security. The Coast Guard said that as Captain of the Port and Commander of Coast Guard Activities for New York, Admiral Bennis had a command covering all of metropolitan New York and New Jersey and the Hudson River from Sandy Hook, N.J., to the Canadian border. He is survived by his wife, the former Gloria Smith; two sons, Keith, of Mount Pleasant, S.C., and Timothy, of New York City; a daughter, Wendy Westberry of Columbia. S.C.; his mother, Winifred Bennis of Wyoming, R.I; and a grandson. On 9/11, when terrified people leapt onto the decks of his tugs, patrol boats and assorted pleasure craft, Admiral Bennis had to improvise and keep Washington abreast as best as he could. "I only had one working cellphone I could use," he said later. "I could only assure them that we're doing the right thing. `Horrific' is a word I used more than once." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Suicide King Report post Posted August 11, 2003 He sounds like a great man Pete. I am very sorry for your loss. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0 Report post Posted August 11, 2003 Wow, Pete, that must be an honor to have been related to him... I'm sorry for your loss, and sorrier for the fact that you didn't get to know a great man a little better. At least it's consolation that he lived a wonderful life and he helped many people continue their own. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Crowe 0 Report post Posted August 11, 2003 Bugger. You have my sympathy, Pete. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HarleyQuinn 0 Report post Posted August 11, 2003 Sorry for the loss Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
