Thursday, Sep. 04, 2008
Bellingham craftsman creates awards to honor Pearl Harbor survivors, Navy unit
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closeThe link between the local Pearl Harbor Survivors Association branch and a group of Navy personnel who perform one of the military's most dangerous jobs touched the heart of a Bellingham craftsman.
Randy Cross created awards to honor members of PHSA Cascade Chapter 5 and of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 11, based at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.
Pearl Harbor veterans presented 74 of his plaques to ordnance disposal personnel at the survivors' annual picnic Aug. 19 in La Conner. They also presented a large plaque honoring six EOD members who died last year in Iraq.
For his contribution, Cross was named an "honorary Pearl Harbor survivor." Cross, 52, owns and operates LaserPoint, a promotional products and awards company, along with his wife, Kathy.
Three years ago, he met Bellingham resident Jim Stansell, 85, the president of Cascade Chapter 5.
EOD personnel from many units are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and other places they're needed to deal with enemy explosives, such as roadside bombs.
Question: Randy, why honor these service members?
Cross: How can I not? They are the reason we have such good lives in America. I've done 170 plaques in honor of our service people and fallen heroes.
We closed a circle of friendship and mutual admiration between two groups of warriors. Three years, ago, EODMU-11 honored the 20 veterans of PHSA Cascade Chapter 5.
Q: How did you meet Jim?
Cross: My wife told me about him and I decided to introduce myself to him one day at the mall. I shook his hand, thanked him for his service, and his eyes lit up.
When I met Jim, and I met other survivors, I realized how fascinating they are. They're from another era and they don't brag. Our culture has become so coarse, so abrasive, yet these men are so respectful.
Q: What's the best way to honor a service member?
Cross: Give them a heartfelt handshake and thank them for their service. Reading at the awards ceremony Aug. 19 was the greatest honor of my life.
Q: How long have the survivors and the EOD been linked?
Stansell: Since 1998, the year before I became chapter president.
Q: Randy, what gave you the idea to create those plaques?
Cross: At the survivors' July meeting in Mount Vernon, I learned the EOD unit would be sending 80 members to the picnic. That's when I thought of creating special plaques for each one. I finished the night before the picnic.
Q: Jim, where were you that fateful Dec. 7, 1941?
Stansell: I was aboard my ship, the destroyer USS Hull. The first thing I saw was a Japanese plane pulling out of a dive, maybe 50 feet away. But we were undergoing an overhaul, in our fire rooms, so we couldn't fire our guns, except for our .50-caliber machine guns.
I had a ringside seat for everything. The Arizona was berthed nearby and I saw it get it and later sink. We got strafed, but we had no casualties on our ship.
Michelle Nolan is a freelance writer.
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