Hello to all my shipmates on the Cecil, that sailed with her before
and after the Cuban crisis of October of 1962.We were having a leisure
weekend on that Saturday evening aboard ship when we were given orders
to get the Cecil sea worthy, and this with only a third of the crew.
They tried to call back as many men as we could and within 3 hours we
were underway to Cuba. Our job was to seal off the island of Cuba to
keep the Russian ships out of the area.
I was the duty signalman and
luckily my shipmate and buddy Jim O'NEIL also was on board as he could
help take in messages as he was a former signalman. Then we detected
movement beneath the beautiful Caribbean sea and our Sonarmen were skilled
and on the job including Sonarman Nelson. Our Captain Rozier moved quickly
to follow the sub and we chased them for 34 hours until they had to come
up to the surface.When they surfaced we didn't know what to expect so we
had to be ready to retaliate if necessary. We politely escorted them
along ther way and it wasn't toward Cuba. The Cecil also stopped a freighter
and we had a search party to go aboard if necessary including myself as the
communicator and an officer, yeoman and gunnersmate This was not necessary
as they were able to talk with us. Those days that were numbered were from
October 22 until December 4, 1962.
Moving forward 40 years there was a
reunion of the officers that were on the ship during that time.It was
held in Chevy Chase, Maryland in 2002, 40 years later I gave Captain
Rozier a call and asked if I could attend that reunion and he said yes
he would be delighted. So I flew from Minnesota to attend their reunion
and it was a great time. When all of the men walked into the room the
women all stood and gave us a hand and said "these are the men that saved
the world" what a thrill that was.
I have asked my good buddy and shipmate, Ed Crowley,
to post some pictures of that reunion. For those of
you that dont know me or didn't serve with me there
is a picture of myself on the Cecil taken off the
coast of Athens, Greece and a more recent one in civilian
clothes. See if you can recognize any in the pictures.
God Bless and God Bless America The Cecil still lives
in our hearts
Mick Dwyer SM2 1960 to 1963
Photos
"Click on one of the following captions to display each photo."
© Copyright 2002 All Rights Reserved
Crowley Associates
68 Glen Drive
Hudson, NH 03051
--- Telephone: (603) 595-9359 --- Email: Ed Crowley ---
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