Battleship Iowa vets meet for reunion

Battleship Iowa vets meet for reunion

(EXCERPT) By RONNIE RATLIFF JR., The Virginian-Pilot © August 16, 2003

Mark Gustafson finished his duty aboard the battleship Iowa in March
1989, three weeks before 47 of his shipmates were killed when a gun
turret exploded during a firing exercise off Puerto Rico.

For the former machinist mate, a memorial service Friday for those
lost crew members was a chance to thank men he called heroes.

The service was the highlight of this weekend's Veteran's Association
of U.S.S. Iowa reunion.

More than 300 men who served aboard the Iowa since it was commissioned
in 1943, along with relatives and friends of those who were lost in
the explosion, came to ``Iowa Point'' at the Norfolk Naval Station to
reflect on that tragic day.

As a bell rang out and the names of the dead were read, Gustafson,
from Holbrook, Mass., fought his grief.

He winced at the first name, Tung Thanh Adams, gulped at the second,
Robert W. Backherms Jr..

``It isn't easy because they were my brothers, and I am still proud of
them,'' Gustafson said.

``The families lost crew members. We, the crew membe...

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