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Return of 2,300 Tainted By Bizarre Loss of 2 Sailors in 3 Days
Aired May 26, 2003 - 14:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, now we want to talk about a joyous homecoming for some 2300 Marines from the Persian Gulf, but tainted by the bizarre loss of two sailors in three days.
CNN's Frank Buckley onboard the USS Nassau off Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, brings us more now -- Frank.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra, we are on the USS Nassau, and as we're talking, I just want you to know it looks like at the aft end of ship here with all of the water coming in, it may look alarming to some people. You can actually see one of the landing crafts coming in, but this, in fact, how these Marines will be going to shore throughout today and tomorrow.
You mentioned two sailors aboard the USS Nassau and the tragedy there. Two sailors within 48 hours and just a few days before arriving home, are disappearing. First, Dwayne Williams who disappeared on Friday. He actually was seen going overboard. He was playing football, or attempting to catch a football, when he went over to catch it on the edge. He tripped, fell overboard, and despite the fact that the crew actually saw him go overboard, he went underwater quickly, they say, and they were not able to recover him.
Yesterday, at 10:00 a.m. in the morning, another sailor, a Shaun Dale, a first class petty officer, a hospital coreman, went missing in a normal 10:00 a.m. muster. He did not appear. A shipwide search began, then helicopters were launched. The Coast Guard sent the C-130 aircraft. They looked in the water for, again eight-and-a-half to nine hours, and once again, in that instance, Shaun Dale was not located, but Navy officials are saying that it's possible that he's still on the ship. They continue to look at all of the spaces of this very large amphibious assault ship.
Now, despite this tragedy, the captain of the ship has said that a homecoming is the most significant moment in a sailor's life and a marine's life. He wanted them to enjoy this moment, and he's making sure that the homecoming festivities take place.
So, along those lines, we can see that this LCU and others -- and I'll step out of the way here so you can see this landing craft coming in to USS Nassau. This LCU and four others are going to be spending today and tomorrow faring Marines, some 1,100 Marines just from Nassau alone, and equipment to Oslo (ph) Beach into Camp Lejeune for reunions after a nine-month deployment for these Marines and, yes, they did go in to Iraq for a month during that deployment. These LCUs are amazing, Kyra. They will carry some four tanks, six 115 Howitzers, not all (AUDIO GAP), of course, but these are some of the things are board Nassau. They'll be carrying 50 Humvees that are aboard this U.S. Navy warship, and all of them during the next couple of days will be getting on to this craft, along with the 1,100 Marines on this ship along with the USS Tortuga and the USS Austin. They are all going ashore.
And you can see the ramp coming down right now That is where the compartment where the Marines and/or the equipment go off. We can see it coming right now towards our position. We are on what is (AUDIO GAP) of USS Nassau.
The way it works is the stern gate -- that's the very back, the advent of the ship -- actually lowers down, ballast tanks making sure that the ship doesn't simply sink, but water pumps into the ship itself and allows this LCU to ride the water right up in, actually floats in to the ship, and there's some three to four feet of water that the LCU rides up onto.
You can see they're still bringing it up, and soon some of the Marines and some of the equipment will be heading out on this LCU and others as they head home for homecoming at Camp Lejeune for the next couple of days -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Frank, while we still you and still have a signal, I want to ask you one questions about these Marines and the mission of these Marines. They were all over the map, not only Iraq, but also Kenya, Djibouti. Talk about the Marines' mission while they were deployed for so many months.
BUCKLEY: These Marines were in every climate during their nine- monthly deployment. They're asking us to move to the side here. Every possible climate. They were in the snow capped mountains of Kosovo, they were in Djibouti, the were in the jungle in Kenya, ultimately ending up just a day before they were supposed to drop out of the Persian Gulf, they were told to prepare to go into Iraq. So, they had to assemble the amphibious readiness group, and they, in fact, went into Iraq. They spent a month in the country and remarkably, fortunately, had no loss of life among any of the Marines or any of the U.S. Navy sailors until, tragically, just a few days before they came home.
PHILLIPS: Our Frank Buckley aboard the USS Nassau, thank you so much. We'll check in with you again, Frank.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Days>
Aired May 26, 2003 - 14:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, now we want to talk about a joyous homecoming for some 2300 Marines from the Persian Gulf, but tainted by the bizarre loss of two sailors in three days.
CNN's Frank Buckley onboard the USS Nassau off Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, brings us more now -- Frank.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra, we are on the USS Nassau, and as we're talking, I just want you to know it looks like at the aft end of ship here with all of the water coming in, it may look alarming to some people. You can actually see one of the landing crafts coming in, but this, in fact, how these Marines will be going to shore throughout today and tomorrow.
You mentioned two sailors aboard the USS Nassau and the tragedy there. Two sailors within 48 hours and just a few days before arriving home, are disappearing. First, Dwayne Williams who disappeared on Friday. He actually was seen going overboard. He was playing football, or attempting to catch a football, when he went over to catch it on the edge. He tripped, fell overboard, and despite the fact that the crew actually saw him go overboard, he went underwater quickly, they say, and they were not able to recover him.
Yesterday, at 10:00 a.m. in the morning, another sailor, a Shaun Dale, a first class petty officer, a hospital coreman, went missing in a normal 10:00 a.m. muster. He did not appear. A shipwide search began, then helicopters were launched. The Coast Guard sent the C-130 aircraft. They looked in the water for, again eight-and-a-half to nine hours, and once again, in that instance, Shaun Dale was not located, but Navy officials are saying that it's possible that he's still on the ship. They continue to look at all of the spaces of this very large amphibious assault ship.
Now, despite this tragedy, the captain of the ship has said that a homecoming is the most significant moment in a sailor's life and a marine's life. He wanted them to enjoy this moment, and he's making sure that the homecoming festivities take place.
So, along those lines, we can see that this LCU and others -- and I'll step out of the way here so you can see this landing craft coming in to USS Nassau. This LCU and four others are going to be spending today and tomorrow faring Marines, some 1,100 Marines just from Nassau alone, and equipment to Oslo (ph) Beach into Camp Lejeune for reunions after a nine-month deployment for these Marines and, yes, they did go in to Iraq for a month during that deployment. These LCUs are amazing, Kyra. They will carry some four tanks, six 115 Howitzers, not all (AUDIO GAP), of course, but these are some of the things are board Nassau. They'll be carrying 50 Humvees that are aboard this U.S. Navy warship, and all of them during the next couple of days will be getting on to this craft, along with the 1,100 Marines on this ship along with the USS Tortuga and the USS Austin. They are all going ashore.
And you can see the ramp coming down right now That is where the compartment where the Marines and/or the equipment go off. We can see it coming right now towards our position. We are on what is (AUDIO GAP) of USS Nassau.
The way it works is the stern gate -- that's the very back, the advent of the ship -- actually lowers down, ballast tanks making sure that the ship doesn't simply sink, but water pumps into the ship itself and allows this LCU to ride the water right up in, actually floats in to the ship, and there's some three to four feet of water that the LCU rides up onto.
You can see they're still bringing it up, and soon some of the Marines and some of the equipment will be heading out on this LCU and others as they head home for homecoming at Camp Lejeune for the next couple of days -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Frank, while we still you and still have a signal, I want to ask you one questions about these Marines and the mission of these Marines. They were all over the map, not only Iraq, but also Kenya, Djibouti. Talk about the Marines' mission while they were deployed for so many months.
BUCKLEY: These Marines were in every climate during their nine- monthly deployment. They're asking us to move to the side here. Every possible climate. They were in the snow capped mountains of Kosovo, they were in Djibouti, the were in the jungle in Kenya, ultimately ending up just a day before they were supposed to drop out of the Persian Gulf, they were told to prepare to go into Iraq. So, they had to assemble the amphibious readiness group, and they, in fact, went into Iraq. They spent a month in the country and remarkably, fortunately, had no loss of life among any of the Marines or any of the U.S. Navy sailors until, tragically, just a few days before they came home.
PHILLIPS: Our Frank Buckley aboard the USS Nassau, thank you so much. We'll check in with you again, Frank.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Days>
