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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:
January 19, 1909 at Monroe Bridge, MA
Entered Service in the US
Navy from Vermont
Earned the Medal of Honor during World War II For heroism on July
31, 1944 at Taiwan, South China Sea
DIED: April
15, 1990 at the age of 81
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Commander
Ramage was C.O. of the submarine U.S.S. Parche in a predawn
attack on a Japanese convoy. Boldly penetrating the screen of
the heavily escorted convoy, he launched a perilous surface
attack by delivering a crippling stern shot into a freighter and
followed up with a series of bow and stern torpedoes to sink the
leading tanker and damage the second one. Exposed by the light
of bursting flares and defiant of terrific shellfire passing
close overhead, he struck again, sinking a transport by two
forward reloads. In the mounting fury of fire from the damaged
and sinking tanker, he calmly ordered his men below, remaining
on the bridge to fight it out with an enemy now disorganized and
confused. Swift to act as a fast transport closed in to ram,
Commander Ramage daringly swung the stern of the speeding Parche
as she crossed the bow of the onrushing ship, clearing by less
than 50 feet but placing his submarine in a deadly crossfire
from escorts on all sides and with the transport dead ahead.
Undaunted, he sent three smashing "down the throat"
bow shots to stop the target, then scored a killing hit as a
climax to 46 minutes of violent action with the Parche and her
valiant fighting company retiring victorious and unscathed.
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