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Page 5 text:
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GARY(FFG-51) FREEDOM ' S FOREMOST GUARDIAN .-. deployed August 19, 1997 as part of a three ship Middle East Force Surface Action Group. Gary was augmented with a dual helicopter detachment from Helicopter Anti-Submarine Warfare Squadron Light (HSL) 43, the world famous Battle Cats. This six month deployment took Gary and her crew half way around the world and to seven different countries. The transit to the gulf included stops in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Singapore; Phuket, Thailand; and Muscat, Oman. Upon assuming duties in the Persian Gulf, Gary ' s primary mission was conducting Maritime Interception Operations in support of United Nations sanctions against Iraq. Gary conducted over twenty boardings while in the gulf combined with 500 hours of flight operations by the Gary ' s Battle Cats. In typical Small Boy fashion, Gary operated right off the Iraqi coastline for many days at a time during a period of heightened tensions. After three months of intensive gulf operations, the Gary crew was ready for some well-deserved liberty in Fremantle, Western Australia and Hobart, Tasmania. The transit back to San Diego included refueling stops in Suva, Fiji and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii as Gary made her way home where family and friends awaited their Sailor ' s return.
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Page 6 text:
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COMMANDER DONALD A. GARY UNITED STATES NAVY SHIPS NAMESAKE USS GARY(FFG-Sl) Donald Arthur Gary was born on July 23. 19(13. in Findlay, Ohio. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy on December 1 2. 1919. and served as an enlisted man until Nov ember 1 943. when he was commissioned a Lieutenant (junior grade). He progressed to the rank of Lieutenant Commander in March 1 946 and. when he retired on June 1 . 1 950, he was advanced to the rank of Commander on the basis of combat awards. Commander Gary died on April 9. 1977. His on-shore duties during his naval career included assignments in the Third Naval District. New York City; the officer of Assistant InspectorofMachinery, B andWCompany, Ohio; the staff of Commander Submarine Group One. New York: and the Naval Disciplinary Barracks, Terminal Island California. His sea duty tours included ELCANO (PG-3S) HANNIBAL (AG-1). SWAN (AM-34), IDAHO (BB-42) INDIANAPOLIS ( C A-35 ( two tours ). ENTERPRISE ( CV-6 1 which ( then ) Lieutenant Gary joined as an Engineering Officer in December 1944. On March 19, 1945. the FRANKLIN was operating with a fast carrier task force against remnants of the Japanese fleet when she w as se erely damaged by fires started when she was hit by two bombs from an enemy dive bomber. Only outstanding efforts on the part of her crew saved her from destruction and saved the lives of many of her men. Lieutenant Gary was awarded the Medal of Honor, with a citation which stated: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his own life above and beyond the call of duty as the Engineering Officer attached to the USS Franklin when the vessel was fiercely attacked by enemy aircraft during operations against the Japanese home islands near Kobe. Japan. March 19, 1945. Stationed on the third deck when the ship was rocked by a series of violent explosions set off in her own ready bombs, rockets . and ammunition bv the hostile attack. Lieutenant Gary unhesitatingly risked his life to assist several hundred men trapped in a messing compartment filled with smoke and with no apparent egress. As the imperiled men below decks became increasingly panic-stricken under the raging fury of incessant explosions, he confidently assured them he would find a means of effecting their release and, groping through the dark, debris-filled corridors, ultimately discovered an escapeway. Staunchly, he struggled back to the messing compartment three times despite menacing flames, flooding water and the ominous threat of sudden additional explosions, on each occasion calmly leading his men through the blanketing pall of smoke until the last one had been saved. Sel Hess in his concern for his ship and his fellows, he constantly rallied others about him. repeatedly organized and led fire fighting parties into the blazing inferno on the flight deck and, when firerooms 1 and 2 were found to be inoperable, entered the number 3 fireroom and directed the raising of steam in one boiler in the face of extreme difficulty and hazard. A n inspiring ami courageous leader, he rendered self-sacrificing service the most perilous conditions and, h his heroic initiative, fortitude and valor, was responsible for the saving of several hundred lives... The damaged ship returned to New York harbor, and Commander Gary remained aboard her until she joined the Mothball Fleet in 1947. OnJanuary23. 1946, he was presented the Medal of Honor at the White House by President Harry S.Truman.
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