Ship Victims Honored by President : Attack a Reminder of Key U.S. Role, Reagan Tells Kin

Halfway around the globe from the war-torn Persian Gulf where 37 American sailors died, President Reagan faced their grieving parents, children and widows Friday and told them that the attack on the frigate Stark was a grim reminder of the essential role the United States plays “in that troubled, dangerous part of the world.”

Reagan, in brief remarks delivered during a memorial ceremony in a sweltering helicopter hangar, expressed deep sympathy for the Navy families’ loss. But he stressed, “To retreat or withdraw would only repeat the improvident mistakes of the past and hand final victory to those who seek war, who make war.”

‘They Were Heroes’

Reagan called the 37 sailors, who died after two Iraqi missiles struck the ship Sunday night, “ordinary men who did extraordinary things.”

“Yes, they were heroes,” he said. (Text of the President’s remarks starts on Page 6.)

Reagan, dressed in black, flew to this Navy town on the Atlantic coast of Florida as the commander-in-chief who had dispatched the guided-missile frigate and its 200-man crew to the Persian Gulf as part of the Administration’s effort to protect commercial shipping in the Iran-Iraq war zone.

And for Reagan, his mission Friday was an all-too-familiar one.

Toll of the Past

In 1983, he presided at similar services in North Carolina for the 241 servicemen killed in the bombing of the Beirut Marine barracks; in Maryland in June, 1985, for the four Marines who died in an attack on two cafes in El Salvador; and in Kentucky in December, 1985, for the 248 soldiers killed in a plane crash as they returned home from peacekeeping duty in the Sinai Peninsula.

The half-hour ceremony at the Mayport Naval Station, the Stark’s home port, was an emotional one. At least three people were led away, overcome by anguish, the heat or both. As the last notes of taps were played by a military bugler, the sounds of crying and moaning swelled through the hangar.

After the ceremony, the President and his wife, Nancy, spent 45 minutes slowly moving up and down the rows of family members, embracing them, shaking hands and offering words of condolence.

Absence of Bitterness

There was no bitterness in the President’s remarks and no direct reference to the attack by an Iraqi Mirage F-1 jet, which Baghdad has called an accident and which caught most of the victims asleep in their quarters.

Rather, the President stressed his belief in the need to maintain an American military presence in strategic areas around the world.

“Why did this happen? Why to them? Could anything be worth such a sacrifice?” he asked as he looked out over the faces streaked with tears and sweat.

“There is a reason why, since 1949, American ships have patrolled the gulf. Every American President since World War II has understood the strategic importance of this region; it is a region that is a crossroads for three continents and the starting place for the oil that is the lifeblood of much of the world economy, especially those of our allies in Europe,” he said.

‘A Simple Truth’

Reagan said the United States’ naval forces are needed both to protect its national security interests and to prevent the Iran-Iraq conflict from escalating to involve neutral nations.

“It is a simple truth we reaffirm here today,” Reagan said. “Young Americans of the USS Stark gave up their lives so that the terrible moments of the past would not be repeated; so that wider war and greater conflict could be avoided, so that thousands, and perhaps millions, of others might be spared the final sacrifice these men so willingly made.”

About 1,500 people crowded into the hangar for the ceremony, including several crew members who were on home leave and other Navy personnel. The hangar was adorned with a floral anchor and an oval blue banner bearing the ship’s emblem.

Before Reagan left Washington, the White House received a letter of condolence from President Saddam Hussein of Iraq, asking the President to “ . . . convey my heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims as they bid their dear ones last farewell,” and adding, “Rest assured that the grief which you feel as a result of the loss of your sons is our grief too.” Reagan, however, made no reference to the letter in his remarks.

‘Peace at Stake’

He told the gathering that when peace returns to the gulf, the sailors will be in part responsible.

“Peace is at stake here; and so too is our own nation’s security, and our freedom,” he said.

“The men of the USS Stark have protected us; they have done their duty,” Reagan added. “The men of the USS Stark stood guard in the night.”