Please click on images at left to hear audio excerpts.
"I don't think I'd be here today as a member of the President's Cabinet were it not for the Naval Academy and my years in uniform. I think I learned a lot. I learned a lot about leadership. I learned a lot about dealing with people, interpersonal relationships and how to get things done. That's what it's all about. It's about results; its about performance, and I think the KENNEDY and being under situations of great stress whether it be a storm at sea or a ship crossing you at very, very close proximity - making command decisions. I think that all gave me the basis and the foundation upon which I could one day occupy this office. I attribute a lot of whatever success I've achieved to my military career and my time on the KENNEDY." Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi, former crewmember of USS JOSEPH P. KENNEDY, Vietnam Veteran, recipient of Bronze Star, Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry and Navy Combat Action Medal.
"So we got underway on the night of the 5th. And as we got underway, the Captain of the ship, if I recall his name was Commander Marshall, he was the captain of our ship, and he announced, he says, that's when he announced to the battlestations, you know. We were at our battlestations all night long. And he says, well our destination is Normandy. This is when we got the word. We didn't know, not any member of the crew knew, that this was going to be the invasion of Normandy. So we got underway; it was about 6 or 7 o'clock in the evening. Right? We were doing about 5 knots, just taking our time. And I must have dosed off at that battlestation, you know - you're up all day, and you're up all night at your battlestations. So as the sun was coming up at the morning sunrise, I didn't believe what I've seen. There must have been 4 or 5 thousand ships in the horizon. All coming, any type of craft that you could think of, from a battleship to cruisers, destroyers, landing crafts. So about 6, 6:30 in the
morning, Captain says full speed ahead. We ride behind the minesweepers because that whole coast was loaded with mines. Went in. One minesweeper hit a mine and blew it to bits. They don't know what happened to them. That whole crew must have went, see? So we went in and start bombarding the beach before the first landing went in. And believe me when I tell you, the biggest slaughter in history." Aneese "Ernest" Solomon, World War II Destroyer Sailor on USS Doyle, recounts his memories of the invasion of Normandy.
