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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:
February 02, 1911 at Dover, NH
Entered Service in the US
Navy from Durham, NH
Earned the Medal of Honor during World War II For heroism on
October 23 & 24, 1944 at Formosa Straits, Philippine
Islands
DIED: February
16, 1994 at the age of 83
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Commander
O'Kane was C.O. of the U.S.S. Tang, a submarine operating
against two enemy Japanese convoys during her fifth and last war
patrol. Boldly maneuvering on the surface into the midst of a
heavily escorted convoy, he stood in the fusillade of bullets
and shells from all directions to launch smashing hits on three
tankers, coolly swung his ship to fire at a freighter and shot
out of the path of an onrushing transport. Boxed in by several
destroyers, he blasted two of the targets with his remaining
torpedoes and cleared the area. Twenty-four hours later, he
again made contact with a heavily escorted convoy. In defiance
of the enemy's relentless fire, he closed the concentration of
ships and in quick succession sent torpedoes into the first and
second transports and an adjacent tanker, finding his mark with
each torpedo in a series of violent explosions at less than
l,000-yard range. With ships bearing down from all sides, he
charged the enemy at high speed, exploding the tanker in a burst
of flame, smashing the transport dead in the water, and blasting
the destroyer with a roar which rocked the Tang from stem to
stern. He expended his last two torpedoes into the remnants of a
once powerful convoy before his own ship went down.
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