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TAPS
Fading light dims the sight,
And a star gems the sky,
Gleaming bright.
From afar drawing nigh,
Falls the night.
Day is done, gone the sun,
From the lake, From the hills,
From the sky.
All is well, safely rest,
God is nigh.
Then good night, Peaceful night,
Till the light of the dawn
Shineth bright,
God is near, do not fear,
Friend, good night. |
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BORN:
October 31, 1869 at Charleston, SC
Entered Service in the US
Navy from Charleston, SC
Earned
The Medal of Honor During the Mexican Campaign For heroism on
April 21 - 22, 1914 at Vera Cruz, Mexico
DIED: April
04, 1933 at the age of 63
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In an effort
to force out General Victoriano Huerta, who had seized the
presidency of Mexico in a bloody coup d' etat, President Woodrow
Wilson sent three Navy vessels to Vera Cruz under the command of
Rear Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher. On the morning of April 21
nearly 1,500 American combat troops were put ashore, and that
night another 1,500 reinforcements landed. By noon on April 22nd
the American forces had taken control of the city. In the two
day action Fletcher lost 17 men killed, 63 wounded. The Mexicans
had nearly 800 dead or wounded. Commander William Moffett
brought the ship under his command, the U.S.S. Chester, into the
inner harbor under the cover of darkness after the first day of
battle, navigating without assistance of a pilot or navigational
lights, in order to position his ship at a strategic location
for shelling the enemy when dawn broke on the second day of
battle.
Though the United States occupied Vera Cruz for seven months
following the initial landing, the men who landed at Vera Cruz
on April 21 - 22 accomplished their mission in two days, and
returned to their vessels within the same week.
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