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Letters: War heroes worthy of tributes

ISSUE | WAR HEROES Worthy of tributes The Navy is naming a ship in honor of Sgt. John Basilone, who grew up in Raritan, N.J., and was killed at Iwo Jima ("Destroyer to bear name of Medal of Honor recipient," Aug. 17). I am glad our government is not forgetting our heroes.

ISSUE | WAR HEROES

Worthy of tributes

The Navy is naming a ship in honor of Sgt. John Basilone, who grew up in Raritan, N.J., and was killed at Iwo Jima ("Destroyer to bear name of Medal of Honor recipient," Aug. 17). I am glad our government is not forgetting our heroes.

The article described Basilone as the only enlisted Marine from World War II to receive the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross.

Marine Sgt. Robert A. Owens, of Spartanburg, S.C., also received those honors. He was killed charging a Japanese gun bunker in the Solomon Islands in 1943.

I served on the USS Robert A. Owens (DD/DDE 827), which was decommissioned in 1982 and given to the Turkish navy.

I am chairing a reunion of our shipmates association, Sept. 6-9, 2017, in Valley Forge. We hope the Navy will again honor Owens some day with a new destroyer.

|John Wanko, Ivyland, johnwanko71@msn.com