Scroll Down to Enter...
|
This web site is an effort to bring to the public an awareness of what so many did during the days of the cold war to protect the shores of the United States and the rest of the free world. Thousands of young officers and men stood watch to prevent a surprise attack from the USSR, in radar sites along a line on the artic circle called the DEW (Distant Early Warning) Line that crossed Canada and Alaska, and on picket ships in both the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans. On tracks that extended out over both of these great bodies of water; from the Aleutian Islands to Midway Island in the Pacific and from Argentia, New Foundland to the Azores in the Atlantic, the Navy flew WV-2s on a twenty- four hour, seven day a week schedule. The east and west coasts were watched by the Air force in EC-121s (though these Navy and Air Force designations were different, the aircraft were the same). We hope to bring to light the effort and sacrifice of the Navy crewmen of the WV-2s (known affectionately by the Navy crewmen as the "Willy Victor" ) who stood watch to let the free world rest easy. |
"There is sobbing of the strong,
And a pall upon the land;
But the People in their weeping
Bare the iron hand;
Beware the People weeping
When they bare the iron hand."
Herman Melville
In Memoriam:
What Did
You Do Today?
What
did you do today, my friend,
From
morn until dawn?
How
many times did you complain
The
rationing is too tight?
When
are you going to start to do
All
of the things you say?
A
soldier would like to know, my friend,
What
did you do today?
We
met the enemy today
And
took the town by storm.
Happy
reading it will make
For
you tomorrow morn.
You'll
read with satisfaction
The
brief communiqué.
We
fought, but are you fighting?
What
did you do today?
My
gunner died in my arms today;
I
feel his warm blood yet.
Your
neighbor's dying boy gave out
A
scream I can't forget.
On
my right a tank was hit,
A
flash and then a fire;
The
stench of burning flesh
Still
rises from the pyre.
What
did you do today, my friend,
To
help us with the task?
Did
you work harder and longer for less?
Or
is that too much to ask?
What
right have I to ask you this?
You
probably will say.
Maybe
now you'll understand;
You
see, I died today.
Site maintained by Jack Weber
