One of the seven sailors killed aboard the us destroyer USS Fitzgerald, rescued more than two dozen of his teammates and killed, reports The Daily Beast.
Recall, the USS Fitzgerald last Saturday, faced with the trade of the Philippine vessel in 56 miles off the coast of Japan. Seven sailors were initially declared missing. Later, their bodies were found in the flooded compartments of the ship – he took heavy damage below the waterline.
Initially it was assumed that all seven were killed while sleeping, as the collision happened during the night, but as it turned out, the victims could be greater if not for the 37-year-old officer of fire protection of the ship Gary Leo REM Junior. He managed to save more than 20 sailors, but when he returned for another six sailors, the ship had taken on too much water, the compartment is flooding, and Gary died with the others.
«He called to the sailors ship their kids,» says uncle sailor, Stanley REM Jr. «He said: if my children die, I’ll die. When the ship was docked in Virginia, Gary invited all the sailors to his home.»
Interestingly, the ship is named in honor of another seaman, who also sacrificed himself. William Fitzgerald, Lieutenant of the Navy in August 1967 and trained troops near the river Delta, Tra-Chok in Vietnamwhen they came under heavy fire from Viet Cong.
Fitzgerald ordered troops and civilians to flee by river on small boats, and he opened fire, covering them, and died.
Gary Leo REM Jr. in the near future, thinking about retirement. He is survived by his wife Erin.
Gary Leo Rehm/Facebook
