Heroes of America's First Foreign War In Libyan Cemetery

Sec. Defense Panetta visits the Old Protestant Cemetery in Tripoli (Dec. 2011, where the remains of Intrepid heroes rest.

Heroes Of America’s First Foreign War In Libyan Cemetery

Posted on 23 January 2012
By Richard Sisk
http://www.thewarreportonline.com/2012/01/23/heroes-of-americas-first-foreign-war-in-libyan-cemetery-2/

The War Report

They were arguably the first SEALs.

More than two centuries ago, they rode a “floating volcano” fire ship in a valiant try at blowing up the pirate fleet to save the honor of the new nation, free POWs and stop the payoffs that the Founding Fathers were making to slavers and hostage takers.

The 13 sailors, including the uncle of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, were on a special ops night mission for the fledgling Navy of the young United States of America. All were killed when their sail-powered bomb named the Intrepid, crammed to the gunnels with powder kegs, exploded before reaching its targets in the harbor of Tripoli on Sept. 4, 1804.

Through countless changes of regime in Libya ever since, the remains of the sailors have rested in what has become known as the Old Protestant Cemetery of Tripoli. Now there’s a dustup between descendants of the sailors, who want the remains repatriated, and the Navy, which argues against disturbing the graves.

Last month, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, on the first visit to Libya by a Pentagon chief, backed up the Navy after a brief tour of the cemetery on a bluff overlooking the sea to “pay my respects to the heroes from the United States’ first overseas war.”

““These brave sailors from the Intrepid, who died in the service of their country, have our nation’s enduring respect and gratitude. Having sailed into harm’s way to secure our nation’s interests, they volunteered for a dangerous mission and paid the ultimate price.”

Panetta made the case for leaving the remains in Libya:.” It is a sign of the great friendship between the American and Libyan people that, in spite of the differences that have marked our governments’ relations over the years, the Libyan people have maintained this cemetery with the respect and honor that it deserves, designating it a protected historic property.“

The descendants had been pressing for a Congressional resolution calling for repatriation but their efforts were sidetracked last month by an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act directing the Navy and the Pentagon to study the issue and report back within 270 days.

The study commission move was seen as a traditional Washington way of sweeping the issue under the rug in Somers Point, N.J., which is named for a relative of the leader of the Intrepid raid, Richard Somers.

“It’s hard to think of any unbiased study coming from this,” said Sally Hastings, head of the Intrepid Project and chairwoman of the Somers Point Historical Society. “Yes, we were disappointed.”

Master Commandant Richard Somers, Lt. Henry Wadsworth, the uncle of Longfellow, and the 11 other sailors fell in the First Barbary War that was fought in the administration of President Thomas Jefferson to win freedom of the seas and respect for the U.S. as a nation. It was also very much about the money.

Since the 1780s, the corsairs sent out by the assorted pashas, deys, beys and bashaws of the Barbary States of Morocco, Tunis, Algiers and Tripoli had been preying on the merchant ships of the U.S. They captured the ships, enslaved the crews, held them for ransom and exacted tribute for future safe passage.

Jefferson, as ambassador to France and later secretary of State, had argued for ignoring the problem. His position was that the future of the U.S. lay to the West in continental America, and not in getting mired in the intrigues of the Old World, but he was overruled by Presidents George Washington and John Adams.

They made annual payoffs to the pirate states. One payment to Algiers was estimated at $1 million, a colossal sum at the time. Washington and Adams saw no other choice. There was no Navy. The Continental navy of the Revolution was disbanded after the war.

Congress increasingly bridled at the payments and took up the cry “Millions for defense, not one cent for tribute. In 1798, the Department of the Navy was formed and Congress authorized the building of six frigates to take on the Barbary States. In what was to become typical of Congress in such matters, the pork for the building of the six ships was parceled out to six states.

In 1804, Jefferson, now a hawk, sent the frigates under the command of Commodore Edward Preble to blockade and bombard the port of Tripoli.

It didn’t begin well. The USS Philadelphia ran aground in the harbor while in pursuit of an enemy ship and the crew was captured. The pirates set up the Philadelphia as a stationary gun battery.
Preble came up with a made-for-Hollywood plan that relied on the daring of the swashbuckling Lt. Stephen Decatur, and would ultimately give the infant Navy the esteem it craved. With 80 volunteers, Decatur took a captured Turkish ketch, re-named the Intrepid, and sailed into the harbor flying British colors with his crew dressed as Arab seamen. Their goal was to destroy the Philadelphia.

The surprise attack worked. The Interpid pulled alongside the Philadelphia, Decatur shouted “Board” and his crew went hand-over-hand to the main deck where they killed the defenders.
In one last bit of daring, Decatur sent his crew back aboard the Intrepid while he set fire to the Philadelphia. The guns of the frigate overheated and began discharging in the fires as Decatur waited for the Intrepid to sail slowly past again. He leapt into the rigging of the Intrepid to escape.

Word of Decatur’s exploits quickly spread and British Lord Horatio Nelson called it “the most bold and daring act of the age.” But the pirate fleet was still in the harbor and Preble came up with another plan of attack that again relied on the Intrepid.

Somers, Wadsworth and their crew packed the ketch with explosives and again sailed into the harbor intending to light fuses next to the enemy ships but the Interpid blew up before reaching the targets, either from fire from the enemy or a premature explosion.

The bodies of the Intrepid sailors were dragged through the streets of Tripoli and captured Americans were later forced to recover and bury them.

The conflict with the Barbary States would not be settled until 1805, when Marine Lt. Presley O’Bannon and William Eaton, the U.S. consul to Tunis, led about 500 Greek and Arab mercenaries on a 500-mile march across the desert to capture the Tripolitan city of Derna, leading to a treaty to end the war. Their feats have been immortalized in the Marine hymn “…to the shores of Tripoli.”

The oldest military monument in the U.S., the Tripoli Monument, was commissioned to honor the heroes of from the age of sail. The monument was at the Washington Navy Yard until 1831 when it was moved to the west lawn of the Capitol. In 1860, the monument was moved again to its current site at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

Its site is near Preble Hall, named for the commander of the men who gave their lives in America’s first foreign conflict.

(Photo: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Tripoli cemetery where Intrepid heroes rest. Defense Department photo.)

About The War Report:

I launched The War Report in June 2010 as a way to help bridge the American military-civilian divide and to provide independent, non-partisan coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – two things that are really lacking in the media, even after a decade of war.

If you’re looking for “an angle” or “a slant,” you won’t find it here, except in the form of other opinions and views. Our goal is to bring you a range of news about U.S. troops in combat and let it speak for itself so our readers can form their own informed opinions and views. Journalism has become more about noise, than news. The War Report supports the ever-changing landscape of media, but it also aims to stay true to the lasting tenets of good reporting.

If you support this kind of journalism – then please support The War Report. A small (or big) donation through PayPal will help us bring you news from the front lines and here at home. If you’re new to The War Report, take a look here to learn more about us. And if you’ve been around since our launch last year – thank you for your continued support.

Thank you,
Stephanie

Stephanie Gaskell is the founder and editor of The War Report. Gaskell is a New York City-based journalist who has spent the past 15 years working as a reporter for several major news outlets, including the Associated Press, the New York Postand the New York Daily News, where she also wrote and edited the War Zone blog. She has reported from the World Trade Center attacks in lower Manhattan, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. She’s also written extensively about veterans and military families. You can reach her at stephanie@thewarreportonline.com.

Richard Sisk is the Washington, D.C.-based reporter for The War Report. He comes to The War Report after 40 years of local, national, and international reporting and editing at the New York Daily News and United Press International. His foreign assignments have ranged from Vietnam and the Mideast to Bosnia and Kosovo, Northern Ireland, Central America and the Caribbean. He has covered five presidential campaigns. Sisk served in Vietnam as a 2nd Lieutenant with the 2nd Battalion, Fourth Marines, in 1967-68. You can reach him at rich@thewarreportonline.com.

The INTREPID Graves at Old Protestant Cemetery, Tripoli Libya

1949 Ceremony honoring the men of the INTREPID buried at Old Protestant Cemetery, Tripoli


The INTREPID Graves at Tripoli’s Old Protestant Cemetery

By William E. Kelly, Jr. (billkelly3@gmail.com)

How did the Navy discover the INTREPID graves? – A 100 year old Jewish fortune teller told them.

“...Signor Andrea told me of the many stories he had heard told by the elders among the Jewish Community still living in the Old City. These stories told of the bodies that were buried on the east shore of the harbor…One of these old men was Hawoto Hatuma, almost one hundred years old at the time. He remembered his father telling him of great explosions in Tripoli Harbor in the year 1804, and great fires that kept the city excited for days. Those were of ships that burned in the harbor and resulted in many,...Americans sailors being killed. Those sailors were buried where they were found on the eastern shore of Tripoli...The stated purpose of the visits was to have my fortune told. Over cups of tea and smokes my fortune was told time and time again. A great friendship developed between us, and stories were exchanged ‘till the Intrepid story came up, and here my interest was at its greatest. Most of the people had heard stories from their fathers and grandfathers of the bodies of the American sailors that were buried on the eastern shores of the harbor, exactly where the English cemetery is located.”
– Mustapha Burchis

One reason the Navy does not want to repatriate the remains of the INTREPID sailors from Tripoli is because they’re not sure the graves at the Old Protestant Cemetery are actually those of the men of the INTREPID, and they don’t really want to know the truth.

When it comes to repatriation of these men from Tripoli, U.S. Navy Cmdr. Renee Richardson of the Department of Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office said, “The remains uncovered during construction by the Italian road crew in the 1930’s were not readily or properly identified as being Americans or from INTREPID. There is no evidence (except the political expediency of post WWII Relations) to suggest that the remains were not merely those of other unfortunate wretches who died in Tripoli.” [1]

“The only anecdotally evidence we have,” Richardson wrote, “is from 1949, when it was in the best interest of the government of Tripoli to cement relations with the U.S., and suddenly those five unmarked graves are alleged to contain the remains of American sailors from INTREPID.” [2]

Although the definitive evidence could be easily ascertained by opening the crypts, identifying their contents, and repatriate them if they are determined to be the men of the INTREPID, Richardson espouses the military’s position that it is best not to know, just pretend they are, and leave them where they lie.

Instead of just opening the crypts and seeing what’s in them, which we will eventually get around doing, let’s look at the historical records and extant “anecdotal evidence,” that makes it appear that the marked graves at the Old Protestant Cemetery are those of the men of the INTREPID.

The idea that these five marked graves are those of men of the INTREPID stems from the research of a Libyan, Mustafa Burchis, a Tripoli Harbor master who took up the 1938 request of President Franklyn D. Roosevelt to see if the graves of the men of the INTREPID could be located. [3]

In the April 1950 edition of the U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, Lieutenant (J.G.) Arthur P. Miller, Jr. USNR wrote an article “TRIPOLI GRAVES DISCOVERED,” and again in September, 1956 the same journal published a second article “Lost But Not Forgotten - Resting Place of Heroes of the Barbary Wars,” by Arthur M. Johnson and Mustapha Burchis.

Johnson, an assistant professor at the U.S. Naval Academy, edited the translated account of Mustapha Burchis, who is described as coming “from an old Moslem family which fought Italian colonization in Libya and kept on fighting. At the age of 12, he was taken prisoner during one of the many battles with the Italians, and was sent from Derna to Tripoli and put to work. He grew up amongst sailors of all nationalities – without any formal education, although he learned to read and write Italian and Arabic. Since 1914 he has worked at the port of Triopli and was eventually promoted to the post of harbor master and ‘marshal’ or head of all the Libyans employed by the Tripoli Port Authorities of the Italian Armed Forces.”

In the first article Lt. Miller got some of his facts wrong (ie. referring to “William” rather than Richard Somers), so in the second article Johnson relied primarily on the first hand account of Burchis himself, as translated by Shafic Ibrahim, a Lebanese teacher of English. First the Miller account.

In his USNI Proceedings article [4] Miller had relates that:

“The investigation actually got its start in 1938 when, in response to an inquiry from the American embassy in Rome concerning the fate of the men of the Intrepid. Mr. Burchis undertook a meticulous examination of old Jewish records, private Arab collections of letters, papers, and diaries, and interviewed innumerable descendants of residents of Tripoli at the time of the disaster.”

“The harbor master set down in detail the results of his investigations and wrote a complete report of the matter which was then transmitted to the American embassy in Rome. Unfortunately, however, this report was among American state papers which were burned by embassy officials in 1941 upon the outbreak of war. The investigation was revived last year when Mr. Burchis retraced his findings from his original notes. Together with Mr. Taft, he was able once more to piece together the story of the five graves.”

“The Intrepid had exploded in a pass located about half way down the length of the present north breakwater and all the pertinent stories he [Mr. Burchis] has heard say that five bodies had drifted up on the beach in front of a cliff,” Consul Taft relates in a report to the State Department concerning his research. ‘From this beach they were unceremoniously dragged to the cliff and interred in rough pattern. I questioned Mr. Burchis at length as to his belief in the reliability of his information and could find no flaw in his pattern of investigation,’ Mr. Taft adds.”

“Mr. Taft and Mr. Burchis, together with the American vice consul, went to the cemetery, named the old Protestant Cemetery, on the outskirts of the town an directly above the cliff where Mr. Burchis said the bodies had been dragged. Mr. Burchis then without hesitation picked out five graves located in the northeast corner.”

“Subsequent to the burial of the bodies in 1804, Mr. Burchis explained, it became necessary to establish the old Protestant Cemetery for the burial of foreigners. Since five Americans were already known to be interred there, a wall was erected around the plot and the whole cemetery was dedicated in a ceremony which was attended by the then present diplomatic and consular officials, including those of the United States.”

“Upon this identification of the five bodies as being those of five men from the Intrepid, Mr. Taft sent a telegram to Vice Admiral Forest P. Sherman, USN, commanding the U.S. Mediterranean Fleet, stating that he had substantial evidence that the graves of five American sailors lost on the Intrepid in 1804 had been discovered, Admiral Sherman immediately arranged for a visit to Tripoli of Rear Admiral R. H. Cruzen, Commander, Cruiser Division Two, and the Spokane.”

“The five unknown sailors who had died so valiantly fighting for their country were given final honors in a colorful ceremony attended by many high diplomats, military, and government officials. A band of Scottish Camerons played martial music as the detachment from the Spokane as well as a unit of the British Army stationed at Tripoli marched the half a mile from the town to the grave site.”

“In short addresses, Rear Admiral Cruzen spoke on the early history of the Navy and of ts exploits during the Barbary Wars, Captain W. J. Marshall, USN, commanding officer of the Spokane, narrated the Intrepid mission, and Consul Taft told of the research done to identify the graves and unveiled the memorial plaque to the five heroes. Lieutenant E. J. Sheridan, USN, chaplain of the Spokane, read a short prayer, and an honor guard of Marines fired several volleys over the new graves and played taps.”

“Interestingly enough, Joseph Karamanli, the present mayor of Tripoli and direct descendant of the Joseph Karamanli, who was Bashaw of Tripoli at the time of the Barbary Wars, attended the ceremony with approximately 50 other guests.” [4]

A few years after Miller’s article the USNI Proceedings published the more detailed account by Arthur M. Johnson that includes the first hand report by Mustapha Burchis.

In that article Johnson wrote: “According to one report, the bodies of the three officers were buried in the same grave ‘about a cable’s length to the southward and eastward of the Castle.’ The ten seamen were said to have been laid to rest ‘on the beach,’ but the beach and the location of the graves were soon lost to memory. The question of their whereabouts did not arise as a subject for on-the-spot investigation until 1938. In March of 1938 President Franklin D. Roosevelt requested the Navy to take ‘any reasonable means available’ to locate (and) identify the graves of the Intrepid's crew.’”

“The assistance of the State Department was requested in this matter,” Johnson wrote, “and the Embassy in Rome in August, 1938, provided the Department with two reports on it. However, no further action seems to have been taken by the American government at that time. How the graves were discovered by a Tripolitan drawn into this search by accident, and how they finally came to be officially recognized by the United States Government, is the subject of the following narrative. Because of its simple eloquence, it is presented substantially as the author, Mustapha Burcis, wrote it.”

The account of MUSTAPHA BURCHIS [5]:

“I first heard in May, 1938, of the five graves of the American sailors who died in the explosion of the Intrepid. At the time, Italy ruled my country and I was a ‘marshal’ working with the Tripoli Port Authorities. The rank of ‘marshal’ was equivalent to Sergeant Majro and it was the highest rank a Libyan could get in the Italian Armed Forces. As head of all Libyans employed at the Port, I had a great deal of influence and the Italians often used my services in collecting and finding information.”

“One day Colonel Carlo Pumo, Port Commander, called me to his office. Port Captain Mario Battaglieri was also there. The Colonel showed me the message from the American Embassy in Rome, requesting any available information that might lead to the discovery of the whereabouts of the graves of the American sailors killed in the explosion of the Intrepid in 1804. Even if no information were available, the Embassy agreed to pay for any search made.”

“That day I went home with big dreams and great ideas. I thought of myself as the discoverer of a hidden secret, a secret of heroic death. I dreamed that the American Government would take me to America, and I would be a great man. America was a dream to me, a dream of wealth and freedom, and now I had my big chance of having it come true.”

“Besides the fact that those sailors were killed in 1804, I knew nothing on the subject. Thus my first logical step was to read about its history in order that my steps might be guided in finding the secret that had been hidden for almost one hundred and fifty years.”

“The Italian authorities in Tripoli had many libraries which I visited day after day after work, to read the history of the Barbary Pirates. Having saturated myself with the history, I turned my attention to the problem of getting information about the dead sailors. This took me to the following possible sources. The first was Suleiman Bey Karamanli, who gave me permission to use his private collection of books, publications and manuscripts. This collection yielded no information to me because a large number of the publications were in Turkish, which language I do not know. I was forced to get translators who could help me.”

“The Castle Library was of great interest but yielded no new information. However my constant trips to the Castle aroused the interest of an old guard who in his quiet manner daily inquired about my health and my studies, and in a longer conversation he accidentally mentioned municipality records and the Moslem Property Department records, saying that if I wanted any information of my missing relatives I could find something in those places, but not here.”

“Following the old man’s wisdom, I carried my search to those two places. At the municipality I met another Karamanli who was the head and mayor of the Moslem community in Libya. He gave me all the assistance I needed, but there were no records that went back as far as 1804. At the offices of the Moslem Property Department I met the Director, Ilmail Kamal, a Libyan historian well informed of Libyan history and events, but he knew nothing of the fate of the American sailors.”

“Next, I visited the ‘Judge of Judges,’ President of the Moslem Courts, Mohammed Burkhis, an old, learned man and one who gave the impression of never having lost his touch with the old customs and habits of the Bedouins. The stories he knew and had heard of about the naval battles between Americans and Tripoli Pirates were numerous, and he told me of the many ships that sank in Tripoli harbor and the many dead that were always found on the eastern shores of the city. The story about the eastern shore later turned out to be a fact, but at that point it had no significance to me. The Judge however, indicated in his conversation that the Christian churches in Tripoli might know something of the fate of the Christian sailors.” [5]

After failing to obtain any useful information from Monsignore Facchinetti, or the British Consulate, Burchis talked to the editor of the Arabic newspaper Sheik Mohammed Al-Misurati – who had read in an Egyptian publication that the American sailors killed during the Karamanli Wars “were buried on the eastern shore of Tripoli,” and noted that, “the Sheik then added this logical conclusion, ‘and maybe that is why the English cemetery started there.’”

The “English cemetery” is what became known as the “Old Protestant Cemetery,” where the INTREPID graves are located.

MUSTAPHA BURCHIS (continued):

“Back in Tripoli I got an afternoon off and [visited] Signor Andrea Farrugia at the Maritime Agent’s Office. Signor Andrea told me of the many stories he had heard told by the elders among the Jewish Community still living in the Old City. These stories told of the bodies that were buried on the east shore of the harbor.”

“These constant references to the eastern shore convinced me that I should follow this line of research. Life in the old city and the ancient traditions made approach to the people difficult. A direct approach would get me nowhere, so I started getting friendly with people, spending afternoons sipping tea and smoking and exchanging stories.”

“One of these old men was Hawoto Hatuma, almost one hundred years old at the time. He remembered his father telling him of great explosions in Tripoli Harbor in the year 1804, and great fires that kept the city excited for days. Those were of ships that burned in the harbor and resulted in many, many Americans sailors being killed. Those sailors were buried where they were found on the eastern shore of Tripoli. Hatuma then took me to the house of the aged…. Shaloum Akub,,…took me around and saw to it that I became a friend of the elder Jewish Community.”

“The stated purpose of the visits was to have my fortune told. Over cups of tea and smokes my fortune was told time and time again. A great friendship developed between us, and stories were exchanged till the Intrepid story came up, and here my interest was at its greatest. Most of the people had heard stories from their fathers and grandfathers of the bodies of the American sailors that were buried on the eastern shores of the harbor exactly where the English cemetery is located.”

A Maltese seaman of about eighty-five remembered his father and cousin telling the same stories, and said that there were five bodies buried where the Protestant cemetery is now. This was further confirmed by “akka,” which means in literal translation, ‘bedbug.’ Bakka was an astrologer and fortune teller. He was fairly sure that the British or Protestant cemetery was started because of the five unknown graves.”

“The next day after work, I decided to make another visit to the British Consulate. During the morning Mohammed Zenturi, Port Pilot, was asking me whether I had learned anything in my quest, and we talked about the Intrepid. During the conversation I learned that currents in the port area are directed often to the eastern shore. Since the present seawalls did not exist at the time of the Barbary Wars that could explain exactly how the bodies of the sailors could be washed to that location. In my mind, I became positive that the five unknown graves in the now Protestant cemetery were the graves I was looking for.”

“Thus I returned to the British Consulate. My first question was when and how did the British cemetery start. It turned out that, in 1830, the wife of the British Consul in Tripoli, Mrs. Warrington, died and that spot was chosen for burial. Why was that particular place chosen? After all, at the time it was a deserted, lonely place. The answer was, because there were already five graves there believed to be of Christians buried in the beginning of the century. I was extremely excited by then and said to the British Consul, ‘These five graves are the ones I am looking for. They are the five American sailors killed in the Intrepid explosion.’” [5]


Burchis then wrote a report that was forwarded to the American Embassy in Rome and lost in the turmoil of World War II. After the war Burchis approached the new American consul to Libya, Mr. Taft, who agreed with Burchis’ analysis and proclaimed the five graves at the Old Protestant Cemetery as being those of the men of the INTREPID.

Still not explained by Burchis and Taft, or Miller and Johnson, is how the men of the INTREPID, originally buried in the ground in two mass graves, one for the officers and one for the enlisted men, graves “one cable’s length” (200 yards) from the castle walls, ended up in five above ground crypts within the grounds of a walled cemetery over a mile away?

Although Burchis worked for the Italians, he fails to mention the fact that less than a decade before he began his quest, in 1930, an Italian army road work crew reportedly unearth the remains of five men who were identified as being Americans from the INTREPID and they were reburied in the cemetery.

We know this from three sources, including American historian Franklin Kemp, author of the book” Nest of Rebel Pirates,” who reportedly corresponded with an Italian army sergeant who told him of the excavation and relocation of these remains. [6]

That report coincides with the reference in Admiral Roughead’s determination that, “We do know these remains were buried by crewmember of the USS PHILADELPHIA; and the remains recovered during the 1930 road construction in the vicinity of the original burial were reburied in Tripoli’s Protestant Cemetery in four or five grave sites. No information on the quantity, condition, or identity of the remains was recorded during the reburial of these remains. Headstones erected over the grave sites however contain inscriptions referring to ‘American Sailor Intrepid.’ The fifth headstone was damaged and cannot be made out clearly but is believed to be part of the 1930 remains reburial.” [7.]

Besides the reports from Kemp and Roughead, we now have the confirmation from the Libyans, as Abdul Hakim Tawil conducted an extensive study of the cemetery graves and determined the cemetery walls were constructed by the British in 1830 around the already existing graves believed to be American sailors from the turn of the previous century. The wife and child of British consul Mr. Hanmer Warrington were the first buried there, and thus it was at first known as the English cemetery. [8]

Tawil’s authorative study “Secrets of the Old Protestant Cemetery” was published in Libya in 2008 and obtained by Chipp Reid, who had the relevant parts translated and reported [in the Final Burial Place of First USS INTREPID Crew – A Source Study, Intrepidproject.org] as saying, “The Old Protestant Cemetery remained a dusty, near-forgotten spot some two miles from the medina or old town of Tripoli until the 1920s when Italian road engineers came across the mass grave of the enlisted men of the Intrepid. According to Italian maps and accounts contained in ‘Secrets,’ the engineers found the bodies close to the water while they worked on constructing a landfill for the future Al-Fatah Highway. With help from the Libyans, who knew the general location of the Intrepid enlisted men's mass grave, the Italians exhumed the remains they found, identified them as American using bits of uniform and buttons, and interred the remains in a pair of empty Cemetery coffins.” [9]

So there are at least two separate grave sites of the men of the USS INTREPID, the original mass graves site south and east of the walls of the old castle fort, now under what is known as Martyrs Square, which the Italian road crew partially excavated, and those five or six crypts in the corner of the Old Protestant Cemetery, about a mile away.

And even though Mustapha Burchis’ local sources were hearsay, and didn’t mention the Italians relocating some of the remains, it appears that he was correct, and that the graves at Old Protestant Cemetery do indeed contain the remains of American sailors, most likely those of the crew of the INTREPID.

The cemetery crypts are clearly marked, and the original grave site should be located, and instead of conducting a nine month long academic study of the situation, the DOD and the Navy should just open the cemetery crypts, determine whether they were placed there in 1804 or 1930, see what’s in them, have a forensic study of the remains, take DNA samples to see if they can be positively identified.

If they are the remains of the American sailors from the INTREPID, as the research indicates and the historical markers claim, then they should be returned home and properly buried with full military honors.

1) Email from Renee Richardson to William E. Kelly, Jr. (September 7, 2008) http://remembertheintrepid.blogspot.com/2008/09/questions-on-repatriation-of-intrepid.html

2) Email from Renee Richardson to Somers Point Mayor Jack Glasser, SPHS President Sally Hastings and Walter Gregory (June 22, 2011) http://remembertheintrepid.blogspot.com/2011/12/response-to-navy-objections.html

3) Re: Roosevelt’s request. Chris Dickon, author of Foreign Burial of American War Dead (MacFarland, 2011, p. 135)

4) Miller, Lieutenant (J.G.) Arthur P., Jr., USNR U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, TRIPOLI GRAVES DISCOVERED Proceedings, April, 1950, pp. 373-377.

5) Burchis, Mustapha, and Johnson, Arthur M., Lost But Not Forgotten – Final Resting Place of Heroes of the Barbary Wars (Proceedings, U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, Sept. 1956, 969-973).Translation of Mr. Burchis’ narrative from the Arabic by Shafic Ibrahim.
http://remembertheintrepid.blogspot.com/2011/10/lost-but-not-forgotten-americans.html

6) 2004 Email from Dick Henkels to William E. Kelly, Jr. regarding Frank Kemp and Raymond Steelman. “During my last visit to Somers Point…I met Ray Steelman, who told me…there was a man named Frank Kemp who wrote an unpublished history of Somers Point. He claimed to have a letter from an Italian Sergeant who moved the body of Richard Somers in Libya.…”

7) Letter from Adml. Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations to William E. Kelly, Jr. (March 11, 2010) For complete letter see: http://remembertheintrepid.blogspot.com/2010/03/letter-from-chief-chief-of-naval.html

8) Re: Abdul Hakim Tawil’s request for information regarding Hanmer Warrington (March 31, 2001) http://genforum.genealogy.com/warrington/messages/188.html

9) Intrepidproject.org, Final Burial Place of First USS Intrepid Crew, A Source Stud, November 28, 2011, citing Abdu Hakim AlY Tawil, Secrets of the Old Protestant Cemetery (Tripoli, Libya: Libyan Center for Historical Studies, 2008), pp. 71-76. (pp. 122-136). (Translation by Prof. Hezi Brosh, United States Naval Academy).
http://www.intrepidproject.org/Final_Burial_Place_of_Crew_of_First_USS_Intrepid.html

Old Protestant Cemetery a Tourist Attraction

LTC Robert “Kyle” "Carnahan hopes that the cemetery will one day become a tourist location in Tripoli for Americans wishing to pay their respects, and a place where they can learn more about the United States’ first military conflict abroad."

UNCLASSIFIED
InterCOMM
News for the DIA Community
Issue 35-08
(U) USDAO Tripoli Honors Fallen Sailors
By COL David Jesmer Jr. (Ret.)
DI/MNA-1

(U) When LTC Robert “Kyle” Carnahan arrived in Tripoli, Libya, in March 2006, he had no way of knowing that he would be handed an opportunity to honor U.S. military heroes for their sacrifices on the shores of Tripoli two centuries earlier.

(U) The Department of State opened a liaison office in 2004 shortly after diplomatic relations were re-established with Libya. Newly hired Libyan guards told the regional security officer Dan Mehan about a run-down cemetery known locally as the “American Cemetery.” Curious, Mehan visited the site and found an overgrown cemetery in disrepair containing among the graves a tombstone claiming to hold the remains of “an American sailor who gave his life in the explosion of the United States Ship Intrepid in Tripoli Harbour, September 4, 1804.” Unable to do anything else at the time, Mehan locked the gate to the cemetery to keep out vandals.

(U) Shortly after Carnahan arrived as the new defense attaché, Mehan showed him the site. Carnahan promptly arranged to meet with the Libyan chairman of the Department of Archaeology Dr. Giuma Anag and hoped to obtain permission to clean the site and gain official control of the cemetery for the U.S. government. Anag confirmed that five graves contained the remains of five to nine American sailors who had washed ashore following the premature explosion of the USS Intrepid in theTripoli harbor during the First Barbary War in 1804.

(U) Anag explained that the remains were disinterred during the late 19th century by Italian workers who were building a coastal road. The Italians reburied the remains in a local Protestant cemetery instead of the Italian Catholic cemetery, presuming that the American sailors from that period were likely Protestant. Although there are five marked graves, there is confusion about the exact number of Americans who were buried there as early reports claim that the graves contain more than one set of remains.

(U) Carnahan and Operations Coordinator CWO Ernest Brown cleaned up the cemetery and arranged for a Memorial Day ceremony in 2006, and again in 2007, to honor the Americans. Carnahan continued to research the history of the graves and has requested support from the Marine Corps and Navy. The Marine Corps provided a report from 1955 that concluded the remains were not of Marines, though several Marines died during the First Barbary War. The report also indicated that U.S. service members stationed at nearby Wheelus Air Force Base, which closed following Muammar Gadaffi’s coup in 1969, used to care for the cemetery, and delegations from U.S. ships visits routinely paid their respects. This lead to the conclusion that the neglect had occurred only during the past four decades.

(U) A U.S. Naval Forces Europe delegation plans to conduct a survey of the cemetery and discuss with Anag how best to preserve the site. One wall is slowly crumbling from erosion despite the efforts of the U.S. Defense Attache Office. Carnahan hopes that the cemetery will one day become a tourist location in Tripoli for Americans wishing to pay their respects, and a place where they can learn more about the United States’ first military conflict abroad.

September, 2008

Independent Report or Whitewash?

Independent Report or Whitewash?

Rather than just conduct a normal POWMP expedition to Tripoli, identify the remains of the men of the Intrepid and repatriate them home, as they do with hundreds of American military personnel every year, the Senate-House Joint Armed Services Conference Committee instead ordered another study of the matter.

The part of the 2012 Defense Authorization Act that refers to the repatriation of Richard Somers and the men of the Intrepid is listed under Section 598 and refers to “the proposal to exhume, identify, and relocate the remains of the American sailors.”

Section 598. calls for the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Navy to conduct an “Evaluation of Issues Affecting Disposition of remains of American Sailors Killed in the Explosion of the Ketch USS INTREPID in Tripoli Harbor on September 4, 1804.”

Section (a) calls for the Sec. Defense and Navy to issue a report with their recommendations in 9 months, or next September - “(a) Evaluation required – Not later than 270 days after the date of the enactment of this act.”

Not only do they postpone the repatriation of these men for another nine months, they order the Secretary of Defense and the Navy to conduct the evaluation after they have already expressed their reluctance to do so, guaranteeing that this will not be an independent and honest report.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has already been to the Intrepid graves at the Old Protestant Cemetery and personally discussed the situation there with the Libyans, who say that they already have plans for the preservation of the cemetery graves and the conduct of regular formal ceremonies on future occasions, as well as develop it into a tourist destination.

That the military has no plans or intention to repatriate these men is clearly stated in a September, 2008 report which says, "A U.S. Naval Forces Europe delegation plans to conduct a survey of the cemetery and discuss with (then Libyan Dir. of Antiquities Dr.) Anag how best to preserve the site...(in)... hopes that the cemetery will one day become a tourist location in Tripoli for Americans wishing to pay their respects, and a place where they can learn more about the United States’ first military conflict abroad."

If this is the case, then the key person responsible for the evaluation and report - the Secretary of Defense, has already made up his mind and has developed plans for the preservation of the graves, using it as a tourist attraction, and is not considering the feasibility of the repatriation of the remains of these men. The end result, at least in regards to the cemetery remains, appears to have been already predetermined and their report will be an official whitewash.

The Secretary of Defense – Leon Panetta, and the Secretary of the Navy – Raymond Edwin “Ray” Malbus, Jr., the report says, “shall conduct an evaluation of the following issues with respect to the disposition of the remains of American sailors killed in the explosion of the Ketch USS INTREPID in Tripoli Harbor on September 4, 1804:”

That the military itself, after already determining the Tripoli cemetery "is the final resting place" for those men, is made responsible for the evaluation, research and writing of the report reflects on what can be expected to be the final recomendation, and that's the same as all of the other official military reports and recomendations, not to repatriate these remains.

The three issues that are to be included in the evaluation are “i.The feasibility of recovery of remains based on historical information, factual consideration, costs, and precedential effect.”

These issues are already well known, as the historical information has been well documented, as are the factual considerations, costs for repatriation ($100,000) and precedential effect (negligible, with few other case studies). The cost of this new study will probably be as much as it would take to just identify and repatriate these men.

The other issues are also known, before the evaluation even begins, including “ii, The ability to make identifications of the remains...and facts that would have to exist for positive scientific identification of the remains,” since the forensic sciences have evolved to create a high probably of identification of the remains of the American crew of the Intrepid from any other remains in the area, and a positive identification of the three officers through DNA analysis of the bones. This analysis of the remains in the cemetery crypts should be made a part of the evaluation and the results can be included in the final report.

As demonstrated by the positive identification of the remains of the men of the Civil War era submarine Hunley, modern forensic science techniques make it possible to identify such remains even though they are over a century old.

The third and final aspect of this report refers to, “iii. The diplomatic and inter-governmental issues that would have to be addressed in order to provide for exhuming and removing the remains consistent with the sovereignty of the Libyan Government.”

This is also not foreseen to be a problem since the previous government had already agreed to allow the excavation and repatriation. While the new government has yet to be installed, the current interim government caretakers have are apparently open to whatever the United States government wants, and have followed their requests in regards to the restoration of the cemetery.

The only problem it seems, is the reluctance of the Department of Defense and the US Navy to undertake the repatriation, and to make them responsible for the conduct of the new evaluation will only result in another determination that the final resting place for the men of the Intrepid is right where they are in Tripoli.

They should just conduct a normal forensic study of the remains in the marked crypts at Old Protestant Cemetery, locate the original grave site under Martyrs Square, excavate it and repatriate the remains home.

REPORT on US DOD Plans to use INTREPID graves at cemetery for memorial services and as a tourist attraction:

UNCLASSIFIED
InterCOMM
News for the DIA Community
Issue 35-08
(U) USDAO Tripoli Honors Fallen Sailors
By COL David Jesmer Jr. (Ret.)
DI/MNA-1

(U) When LTC Robert “Kyle” Carnahan arrived in Tripoli, Libya, in March 2006, he had no way of knowing that he would be handed an opportunity to honor U.S. military heroes for their sacrifices on the shores of Tripoli two centuries earlier.

(U) The Department of State opened a liaison office in 2004 shortly after diplomatic relations were re-established with Libya. Newly hired Libyan guards told the regional security officer Dan Mehan about a run-down cemetery known locally as the “American Cemetery.” Curious, Mehan visited the site and found an overgrown cemetery in disrepair containing among the graves a tombstone claiming to hold the remains of “an American sailor who gave his life in the explosion of the United States Ship Intrepid in Tripoli Harbour, September 4, 1804.” Unable to do anything else at the time, Mehan locked the gate to the cemetery to keep out vandals.

(U) Shortly after Carnahan arrived as the new defense attaché, Mehan showed him the site. Carnahan promptly arranged to meet with the Libyan chairman of the Department of Archaeology Dr. Giuma Anag and hoped to obtain permission to clean the site and gain official control of the cemetery for the U.S. government. Anag confirmed that five graves contained the remains of five to nine American sailors who had washed ashore following the premature explosion of the USS Intrepid in theTripoli harbor during the First Barbary War in 1804.

(U) Anag explained that the remains were disinterred during the late 19th century by Italian workers who were building a coastal road. The Italians reburied the remains in a local Protestant cemetery instead of the Italian Catholic cemetery, presuming that the American sailors from that period were likely Protestant. Although there are five marked graves, there is confusion about the exact number of Americans who were buried there as early reports claim that the graves contain more than one set of remains.

(U) Carnahan and Operations Coordinator CWO Ernest Brown cleaned up the cemetery and arranged for a Memorial Day ceremony in 2006, and again in 2007, to honor the Americans. Carnahan continued to research the history of the graves and has requested support from the Marine Corps and Navy. The Marine Corps provided a report from 1955 that concluded the remains were not of Marines, though several Marines died during the First Barbary War. The report also indicated that U.S. service members stationed at nearby Wheelus Air Force Base, which closed following Muammar Gadaffi’s coup in 1969, used to care for the cemetery, and delegations from U.S. ships visits routinely paid their respects. This lead to the conclusion that the neglect had occurred only during the past four decades.

(U) A U.S. Naval Forces Europe delegation plans to conduct a survey of the cemetery and discuss with Anag how best to preserve the site. One wall is slowly crumbling from erosion despite the efforts of the U.S. Defense Attache Office. Carnahan hopes that the cemetery will one day become a tourist location in Tripoli for Americans wishing to pay their respects, and a place where they can learn more about the United States’ first military conflict abroad.

September, 2008

The Unfinished Mission - 200 Years on Station

The Unfinished Mission - 200 Years on Station in Tripoli
By William Kelly





Pirates were marauding American merchant ships off Africa, holding the passengers and crews for ransom and demanding millions of dollars in tribute.

Sound familiar? Well that was the situation two centuries ago when some reluctant Congressman suggested the ransom and tribute be paid and others said that a navy should be formed to fight the pirates. As the American public took up the cry “Millions for defense but not a cent for tribute,” Congress approved the funds for a new Navy.

Richard Somers, Henry Wadsworth, Joseph Israel and other young men enlisted in the Navy to defend the honor of the new nation and fight the pirates. On a secret, special nighttime mission that could have altered the course of the war, the three young offices and ten men of the Intrepid died in an explosion in Tripoli Harbor on September 4, 1804. Their suicide mission failed and their bodies were recovered and buried in two mass graves “on the shores of Tripoli.”

Now, after two centuries of trying, the families of the Intrepid’s commander and first officer believe the recent revolution in Libya presents an opportunity to repatriate their remains home, but there’s fierce opposition from the U.S. Navy.

Deployed behind the lines, boots on the ground in Tripoli, the men of the USS Intrepid are near the epicenter of the Libyan revolution, and even though they’ve been dead for over two hundred years the Navy maintains they are still fulfilling a vital service.

The Navy says these men are still needed, that they are in a strategic position, and their mere presence gives the Untied States a foothold in the new Libya, a beach head that provides insight into the new Libya and a humanitarian, non-threatening excuse to deal with the new government.

It also gives us an opportunity to reflect on what’s occurred in the history of United States and Libyan relations over the course of the past two centuries and how we can forge a new path of peace and prosperity together.

When the rebel forces liberated Tripoli they gathered at what Gadhafi called Green Square which they renamed Martyrs Square in honor of those who died in the fighting, not just against Gadhafi but against the Italian occupation and other wars. Some see irony in that the only real martyrs buried near Martyrs Square are American naval heroes who have been there for over two centuries.

The POW/MP office responsible for the return of American military casualties from abroad say it is the oldest case on record, but since they aren’t actually missing, as their location is known, they’re not MIA - Missing in Action, and a Navy responsibility.

Larry Greer, a public relations officer with the POW/MP office in Washington DC said: “In regards to Lt. Somers and the burial of his remains and others in Libya...the issue of whether or not Lt. Somers’ remains will be moved, now or in the future, is a Navy issue and the Navy has told us they are not in any way interested in moving his remains.”

Richard Somers’ extended family, originally from Somers Point, New Jersey, have always requested and expected his remains to eventually be brought home, and they haven’t forgotten about him, although they sometimes think that US government and the Navy have. The early efforts of the family have been enjoined over the years by citizens and officials from Somers Point, the town’s historical society and veterans groups, as well as the extended family of Somers’ first officer Henry Wadsworth, the uncle of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

The New Jersey legislature and the United States House of Representatives have officially called for the repatriation of the remains of these men, and the US Senate considered the matter as an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act, but instead elected to have another study and report done on the feasibility of repatriation.

The only opposition to repatriation comes from the Navy’s top brass, the commanders who say that the mission of the men of the Intrepid is not yet over, and based on their studies and reports, they made the official determination that the final resting place for those men is right where they are.

In March, 2010, Admiral Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations, wrote, “Since these remains are associated with the loss of the INTREPID, Tripoli’s Protestant Cemetery has been officially recognized by the Department of the Navy as the final resting place for her crew. My staff is working with the Department of State and the American Embassy in Libya to ascertain the condition of the graves and what actions can be taken towards their long term care.” His replacement, Admiral Greenert has adopted that policy.

Old Protestant Cemetery before restoration

Old Protestant Cemetery was officially created in 1830 around some already existing graves, some believe to be those of American sailors. It also includes the graves of about a hundred others, mainly European diplomats and their families, many of whom have been repatriated to their home countries or elsewhere as the cemetery did not seem to be a secure place. Reports indicate that around 1930, during the Italian occupation of Libya, a road work crew uncovered the remains of five men of the Intrepid and reburied them at the cemetery.

These graves are clearly marked, and the cemetery is now secure, but the Admiral’s determination that it is the final resting place for these men only refers to the cemetery graves and does not include the original grave site outside the castle walls at Martyrs Square, where some historians believe the remains of other members of the Intrepid crew are still buried in an unmarked mass grave.

Marty’s Square is the Times Square of Libya, where people gather to celebrate and protest, and is from the ramparts of the old castle fort where great battles were fought, and from where Benito Mussolini and Mummar Gadaffi gave speeches.

James Fenimore Cooper wrote “...The ten seamen were buried on the beach outside the town near the walls; while the three officers were interred in the same grave, on the plain beyond, or cable’s length [200 yards] to the southward and eastward of the earth. Small stones were placed at the four corners of the last grave, to mark its site; but they were shortly after removed by the Turks, who refused to let what they conceived to be a Christian monument, disfigure their land.”

And there they remained, in the shadow of the walls of the old castle fort, until the Italian work crew uncovered five of them and reburied them at the Old Protestant Cemetery. Since they were buried in two distinct graves, one for the three officers and the other for the ten seamen, the five remains uncovered by the Italians must have been from the lot of 10 seamen, leaving five seamen in their original grave, and the three officers still buried in their original grave.

There have been many efforts to repatriate the remains of these men over the years, all unsuccessful because of some political reason or other, but today, the opposition comes only from the US Navy.

The Navy’s reasons not to repatriate these men are many, and include cost – estimated to be $100,000, a drop in the bucket of the $600 billion National Defense Act. They are also afraid that this repatriation will set a precedent for many other similar requests, but Chris Dickon, author of the book Foreign Burial of American War Dead (MacFarland, 2011) says there are only a few other cases and none of the families are requesting repatriation, as the Somers and Wadsworth families are.

Although it isn’t explained in the CNO’s official determination regarding the cemetery graves, the upkeep of the cemetery site provides for close cooperation between the Libyans and the US embassy personnel and the Navy, giving them a non-threatening issue to discuss and begin a cooperation that could lead to other joint projects.

While this worked with the Gadhafi government as well, it will become paramount to encourage the early and close cooperation between the US officials and the new government of Libya.

Joan Polaschik, an assistant to Mr. Gene Cretz, the American Ambassador to Libya, wrote, “regarding the Libyan government’s ongoing efforts to renovate and restore this historic property, the Libyan government undertook this effort as part of an overall plan to redevelop the seaside area immediately surrounding the cemetery. At our request, the Libyan government limited its work to the cemetery’s exterior walls, and commissioned a detailed study of the interior. Based on this study, the Libyan government has developed plans to restore the grave markers.”

Old Protestant Cemetery after restoration.

“Based on our review of the plans and discussion with the Libyan Department of Archeology and Antiquities,” Polaschik explained, “we are confident that the Libyan government will undertake this restoration in way that is historically and culturally appropriate, and in accordance with the respect due to U.S. service members. Any interior elements of the graves will not be touched. It appears that the Libyan government is prepared to pay for all of the restoration work. However, it’s unclear to what extent the Libyan government plans to pay for future maintenance, or whether it would be willing to create and/or pay for any signage or plaques explaining the significance of the site. We hope to meet with Libyan officials to clarify these issues.”

But the Tripoli cemetery, unlike the American military cemeteries at Flanders and Normandy, is not under the care of the American Battle Monuments Commission or the United States government.

As Polaschik noted, “It’s also unclear to what extent the U.S. government will be able to pay for or support any future maintenance. After the embassy confirmed that cemetery is indeed U.S. diplomatic property, we launched an intensive effort to find a U.S. government agency that will be responsible for the cemetery’s continued care. Unfortunately, no one has stepped up to the plate yet, and the embassy has been instructed to do the best it can. We plan to nominate the cemetery for inclusion in the Secretary of State’s Register of Culturally Significant Properties, and hopefully could provide a source of funding and oversight for this very special site....”

This new cooperation between the United State and Libya has been exhibited in the renovation of the cemetery by the Libyans and the recent visit to Tripoli by the Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, who stopped by the cemetery to pay his respects at the graves of the men of the Intrepid.

Eventually however, the relationship between the United States and the new government of Libya will be sealed, and the mission of the men of the Intrepid will be over. While the historic markers at the cemetery can serve as a tourist attraction, and a place for future Memorial Day ceremonies, the wishes of the families should be honored and the remains of the men of the Intrepid should eventually be returned home.

As James F. Cooper wrote over a century ago, “Here, then, lie the remains of Somers, and his two gallant friends; and it might be well to instruct the commander of some national cruiser to search for their bones, that they might be finally incorporated with the dust of their native land. Their identity would at once be established by the number of the skeletons, and the friends of the deceased might find a melancholy consolation in being permitted to drop a tear over the spot in which they would be finally entombed.”

Just as John Paul Jones was repatriated home from his Paris grave and the convicted Lockerbe bomber received a hero’s homecoming in Tripoli, the men of the Intrepid should eventually be repatriated to their native land, welcomed home by their families and friends and given a proper burial with full military honors.

Old Protestant Cemetery - Tripoli

New free Libyan Flags fly above Tripoli's Old Protestant Cemetery where the graves of American Naval Heroes are located.

The Old Protestant Cemetery before the recent restoration. It is located just across the road from Tripoli Harbor, about two miles east of the old castle fort and Martyrs Square. The walls were built by the British in 1830 around some preexisting graves believed to be American navy sailors killed in 1804.

Based on the research of a local Libyan, Triopli harbor master Mustapha Burchis, the United States ambassador and U.S. Navy officially recognized five crypts at the Old Protestant Cemetery as those of the men of the USS Intrepid. The captain of the USS Spokane and the mayor of Tripoli Yousef Karamanli participated in a ceremony that also included the British Army and a Scottish regiment of bagpipers. The mayor was a direct descendant and namesake of the Tripoli prince of the pirates who was the first to declare war against the United States by chopping down the flagpole outside the residence of the American counsel. He did so because the United States had ceased paying tribute to stop the piracy. At that ceremony they raised an American flag and a placed an historical marker before each grave that reads:

HERE LIES AN AMERICAN SAILOR
WHO GAVE HIS LIFE IN THE
EXPLOSION OF THE USS SHIP INTREPID
IN TRIPOLI HARBOR
SEPTEMBER 2, 1804
(Sic Actual date: Sept. 4)

United States Ambassador Mr. Gene Cretz and US Military Attache Brian Linvill place American flags at the graves of American naval heroes at Old Protestant Cemetery on recent Memorial Day.

From 1950 until 1969 the cemetery was maintained by the Officers Wives Club of nearby Wheelus Air Force base. Neglected under the Gadhafi regime, it fell into disrepair and was overgrown with weeds when discovered by two New Jersey tourists in 1977.


Their reports led to an earlier effort to repatriate the remains of the Intrepid crew.

Inside the cemetery shortly before or during the restoration.

The cemetery after restoration.

US Secretary of Defense visits the cemetery after it was restored.

Sec. Defense Penetta places Challenge Coin on the grave of Intrepid crewman.

AMVETS Commander Supports Repatriation

The Park at Martyrs Square Tripoli (Photo by Nuri Twebti)

AMVETS NATIONAL CMDR. GARY L. FRY DECRIES FAILURE OF CONGRESS, SEN. McCAIN, TO REPATRIATE FIRST NAVY COMBAT CASUALTIES

"Failure of leadership!"

http://www.amvets.org/

Soon after his election as commander of America’s most inclusive major veterans service organization, AMVETS National Commander Gary L. Fry met with town leaders in Somers Point, N.J., and learned of the ongoing efforts to repatriate the town’s namesake, Master Commandant Richard Somers, and his 12 fellow sailors lost in 1804 during the First Barbary War.

http://www.amvets.org/pressroom/PressReleases/2012/Navy-combat-casualties.html

AMVETS National Cmdr. Gary L. Fry decries failure of Congress, Sen. McCain, to repatriate first Navy combat casualties

Soon after his election as commander of America’s most inclusive major veterans service organization, AMVETS National Commander Gary L. Fry met with town leaders in Somers Point, N.J., and learned of the ongoing efforts to repatriate the town’s namesake, Master Commandant Richard Somers, and his 12 fellow sailors lost in 1804 during the First Barbary War.

The 13 men of the USS Intrepid, commandos and precursors to the modern Navy SEALs, were killed during a daring attempt to destroy the fleet in Tripoli Harbor. The following day, the remains of Somers and his crew were buried in four or five mass graves, which the Somers Point Historical Society has long maintained is an inappropriate final resting place for the Navy’s first combat casualties. U.S. Congressmen Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., and Mike Rogers, R-Michigan, agreed, and pushed for an inclusion in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA) of a provision requiring the Department of Defense to repatriate the Sailors’ remains with stipulations. However, at the eleventh hour, Sen. John McCain changed the final language of the legislation in favor of a continuing review of the issue.

Cmdr. Fry called the setback an unacceptable failure of leadership. “As Americans, we have a fundamental responsibility to all our men and women in uniform to ensure they are properly accounted for,” said Fry. “I salute the Somers Point Historical Society, the Intrepid Project, and Congressmen LoBiondo and Rogers for honoring our Armed Forces’ ethos to never leave a comrade behind. AMVETS will continue to support them in this important fight.”

Fry also echoed the belief of the Somers Point Historical Society and the Intrepid Project, which has spearheaded the repatriation effort, that the recent political upheaval in Libya has created a window of opportunity, albeit a rapidly closing one, to recover the remains of the USS Intrepid Sailors.

“After more than 200 years of remaining vigilant, never have the families of Master Commandant Somers and his crew been so close to reaching a positive resolution in this matter,” said Fry. “Together with other leading veterans' advocates in Washington, D.C., AMVETS will remain committed to ensuring we do not lose the opportunity to bring these valiant warriors home to our shores where they belong.”

About AMVETS:
A leader since 1944 in preserving the freedoms secured by America’s armed forces, AMVETS provides support for veterans and the active military in procuring their earned entitlements, as well as community service and legislative reform that enhances the quality of life for this nation’s citizens and veterans alike. AMVETS is one of the largest congressionally-chartered veteran’s service organizations in the United States, and includes members from each branch of the military including the National Guard and Reserves. For more information, visit www.amvets.org. Information about the Healing Heroes program can be found atwww.amvetsnsf.org/heroes.html.

National Commander - Gary Fry
http://www.amvets.org/about_us/bios.html

Gary L.Fry of Sugar Grove, Pa., was elected to serve as AMVETS National Commander for 2011-2012 during the 67th annual AMVETS National Convention in St. Louis, Missouri.

Fry reviously served as AMVETS First Vice Commander where his responsibilities included membership outreach and representing AMVETS National Headquarters at veterans’ events around the country.

Fry is a life member of AMVETS and served as commander of Sugar Grove, Pa. AMVETS Post No. 50 for nine years, Department of Pennsylvania Commander, served on the National Long Range planning committee and various other committees. Gary is also a former member of the Pennsylvania State Veterans Commission and is a former president of the Pennsylvania War Veterans Council. Fry still serves on the advisory board of the Pennsylvania Soldier’s and Sailor’s Home.

Fry served in the United States Army for three years including a tour in Vietnam where he served as a squad leader..

Now a retired electronic instrument technician, Gary has been married to his wife Judy for 41 years, has a son and daughter, and 3 grandsons.

Commander Fry's Pearl Harbor Message
http://americanveteranmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/12/commander-frys-pearl-harbor-message.html

COMMANDER GARY FRY'S REMARKS ON PEARL HARBOR

Commander Gary Fry will observe the 70th anniversary of the "day that will live in infamy" in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The following are his remarks.

It is a privilege to be here today to honor the men and women who fought and gave their lives during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Forever entrenched in our minds as “a day that will live in infamy,” the United States was attacked, and the strength of our nation was tested seventy years ago today.

The sky over Oahu was clear and blue that Sunday morning and America awoke in peace. But at 7:55 a.m., this tranquil scene was shattered as Japanese aircraft bombarded the Naval outpost of a dormant Pacific Fleet. Targeting the battleships moored in Pearl Harbor, the enemy planes struck hard and fast. They bombed the Navy air bases at Ford Island and Kaneohe Bay, the Marine airfield at Ewa and the Army Air Corps fields at Bellows, Wheeler and Hickam.

The attack was over in less than two hours, but the devastation was overwhelming. Twenty-one of more than ninety ships in the U.S. Pacific Fleet were damaged or sunk. More than three hundred aircraft were hit or destroyed. But most overwhelming of all was the loss of more than 2,400 lives and the injuries inflicted on 1,200 others.

The sinking of the battleship USS Arizona remains the most recognized symbol of that tragic day. Today, more than 1,100 men are still entombed within her rusting hulk. As an organization born of World War II, AMVETS has made it a point to honor those heroic individuals for their sacrifice. Our efforts to raise the necessary funds to complete the USS Arizona memorial and, later, the wall bearing the names of those aboard who died, testifies to this ongoing commitment.

And while much of the world has yet to fully realize the peace and freedom for which these men gave their lives, we remain determined that they shall not have died in vain. The Japanese struck a savage and treacherous blow at our peace-loving nation on December 7, 1941. The attack triggered a global war of unprecedented proportions and forever changed the course of world history. Our enemies were unaware at the time that their attempts to weaken us brought them only short-term success. Responding to the attack, Americans joined together in an all-out effort to win the war, which we thankfully have not had to repeat since. It was this unbreakable unity, sacrifice, and national resolve that ultimately became our most effective weapons.

On that fateful Sunday afternoon, an editorial appeared on the front page of the Honolulu Star Extra, which foretold the role of our national unity. It stated, “In this crisis, every difference of race, creed and color will be submerged in the one desire and determination to play the part that Americans always play in crisis.”

Today not only marks the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but also an unhappy yet inevitable milestone for the veterans’ community. Today, the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association will observe this day in history for the final time as an official organization. Congressionally chartered in 1958 with more than 18,000 members, the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association now numbers less than 3,000, and most members are in their 90’s. Because of dwindling numbers, the Association has announced it will be forced to forever close its doors at the end of the month. This serves to remind us all of the fleeting opportunity we have to, honor, celebrate, engage, and learn from this vanishing generation of heroes, our greatest generation. They are national treasures all, and we must make every effort to appreciate these heroes among us.

Finally, I ask you to keep our servicemen and women in your thoughts and prayers throughout this holiday season and beyond. With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan coming to a close, it is our duty – not as AMVETS, veterans, or veterans’ advocates – but as Americans, to ensure we provide for the needs of our newest generation of returning war fighters. We must give them every opportunity to pursue their goals and dreams: to further their education, to find meaningful and lasting civilian employment, to receive the care and treatment they need for service-connected injuries and disabilities, and to provide for their own families once they return home. This is our charge, and we will not fail them.

With our nation and her allies challenged by those who wish to do us harm and threaten our very way of life, it is our responsibility to uphold the principles upon which America was founded. We can do our part by supporting those who are being called upon to defend these principles, carrying forth the legacy of heroism demonstrated at Pearl Harbor. As Americans, we are able to choose freedom because of the bravery of those who made the ultimate sacrifice on this day 70 years ago.

We are proud to honor them. May we never forget their noble sacrifices for generations of Americans who followed. Thank you, and may God bless America.

[Thanks to Fred Vinyard and Mayor Jack Glasser for talking to Commander Fry and to Fred and Sally Hastings for the heads up on this story]

The recently restored Old Protestant Cemetery
The Free Libyan Flag flys over the graves of the American Naval Heroes in Tripoli
(Photo by Nuri Twebti)

The Old Protestant Cemetery Today photos by Nuri Twebti

Many thanks to Nuri Twebti for providing us with these photos.