37 Heeded History’s Call, Tearful Reagan Tells Kin : Defends U.S. Role in Gulf at Memorial

Tears and “Taps” mingled in the somber air of a stifling helicopter hangar where President Reagan, his eyes welling with tears, opened the Memorial Day weekend today with a tribute to the 37 dead sailors of the U.S. frigate Stark who heeded “the call of history.”

Clad in black, Reagan told the sailors’ 300 grieving relatives and 1,700 other members of the “Navy family” that in preserving freedom, “these men made themselves immortal by dying for something immortal.”

At the echoes of a lone bugler’s “Taps” that ended the memorial service in Hangar HSL40 at the Stark’s home port, mournful wails shattered the military stoicism.

At least two women collapsed as Reagan and his wife, Nancy, circulated for about 45 minutes through the rows of weeping family members, bestowing embraces and comforting words. Reagan’s eyes welled with tears as he talked to family members, and at one point a naval officer grasped his arm, as if to steady him.

Several Got Medical Attention

Several people, apparently overwhelmed by the heat or emotion, were given medical attention.

Seated in the back of the hangar were about a dozen sailors wearing the shoulder patch of the Stark--men who because they were on leave or other assignment were not aboard the ill-fated guided missile frigate mistakenly attacked last Sunday by an Iraqi fighter jet while on patrol in the Persian Gulf.

Thirty-seven Stark sailors were killed and 21 injured. The ship, blasted through its midsection by two missiles fired by the Iraqi jet, is anchored in the oil kingdom of Bahrain, the subject of a Navy inquiry.

The Reagans entered the hangar without the customary fanfare and listened to “The Star Spangled Banner” played by the Navy Band at funereal cadence.

‘They Have Done Their Duty’

“The men of the Stark have protected us; they have done their duty. Now let us do ours,” Reagan said, standing before a blue curtain bearing the Stark’s emblem and motto, “Strength for Freedom.” To Reagan’s right was an anchor fashioned of white carnations.

“We must keep faith with their sacrifice. . . . We must answer, as did they, the call of history . . . a call to wage war against war; to stand for freedom until freedom can stand alone.”

Flying out of foggy Washington, where a bitter debate erupted over U.S. policy in the dangerous waters of the Persian Gulf, Reagan participated in his sixth memorial service for Americans killed in the line of duty during his Administration.

By contrast, six servicemen died in combat action in the Carter Administration, all during an abortive raid to rescue hostages in Iran.

Reagan previously acted as chief mourner just before Veterans Day, 1983, for the 241 Marines killed that year in the Oct. 23 Beirut barracks bombing and the 18 killed in the Oct. 25 invasion of Grenada.

Ceremonies for Stethem

He also participated in ceremonies for five Marines killed in El Salvador, for Navy diver Robert Stethem, killed in the June, 1985, TWA hijacking, and for 248 soldiers killed in the December, 1985, crash of a charter airplane in Gander, Newfoundland.

Reagan also led the mourners at the February, 1986, service for the Challenger shuttle crew in Houston.