vested: having an unquestionable right to the possession of property or a privilege, says my Encarta Dictionary. Since acquiring an Andrea Doria life jacket from fellow survivor Joe Griffith, I feel only an honor and a privilege, rather than a right. I’ve been yearning for one ever since attending the 50th survivors’ reunion; Robert McDonald brought his along and I donned it for picture taking.
Now I have my own; I’m thrilled! The life vest is like my emblem—I feel like life’s ultimate survivor in so many ways: surviving a childhood without parents, tuberculosis, a catastrophe at sea, a dysfunctional family, poverty during college, the death of a spouse at 33, and a divorce at 51, among other trials. I’m not lamenting, but rather flaunting my resilience…I think.
But more importantly, I wanted the vest because it symbolizes an important part of my past, of which I had nothing except yellowed newspaper articles. People just didn’t think about keeping the memory alive while in a state of trauma: my mother immediately threw away the outfit I was wearing that fateful night of July 25-26. “It was covered with oil stains,” she explained to me recently.
And to think that this beautiful piece of memorabilia was almost lost a few times. Joe explained that as a 17-year-old, he had the forethought to keep his vest on, while other survivors removed theirs and threw them onto a pile at a New York pier. More recently, he had gifted it to a historical museum that had the gall to lose it. In an email, Joe explained:
“As related to you earlier, these items, including the life-jacket, were lost in a
plutocratic mess-up. It was only by contacting a local TV station, KFOR thatthe items were found and returned to me.”
When Joe’s life jacket arrived from Oklahoma, I opened the box hesitantly, not knowing how I would feel. It was eerie seeing the faded, oil-stained ‘treasure’ with its identification still visible:
“ITALIA”
SOCIETA’ DE NAVIGAZIONE
——–
CINTURA DI SALVATAGGIO
“Salvator”
(Brevetta)
Canepa e Campi
GENOVA
Observing me, my companion, Richard, remarked, “I’m surprised you’re not in a hurry to pull it out of the box!” I found myself stalling, almost as if the vest had some kind of curse! My hands were clammy and my heart raced; but then I knew I had to move beyond this. I asked Richard, a photographer, to take some photos of me donning the lifejacket. How weird! In all of the pictures, I looked forlorn! It seems that I couldn’t shake the state of mind from 52 years ago. Maybe it does hold the memories within.
Even the ‘ultimate survivor’ sometimes relives the past.
Joe has asked me if I want his scrapbook from that era. Of course I do! I’m curious about anything that will help me put the pieces together that I ignored for almost 50 years. Surviving the Andrea Doria calamity was a defining part of my life.
Thank you, Joe, for preserving and sharing the memories with me.
Filed under: Andrea Doria, Serving Our Seas, Survivor Stories | Joseph Griffith, Lifejackets, Lifevest, Museo dell'Emigrazione, Museum of Immigration, Frossasco, Torino, Piemontesi Protagonisti, Societa De Navigazione|No Comments
As I watched Larry King Live on February 11, US Airways flight 1549 survivors repeated these three words: strength, training, teamwork. Both the crew and the passengers used them to describe what made the landing and the rescue miraculous successes.
Captain Sullenberger and copilot Jeffrey Skiles used every bit of their inner strength and training to use the Hudson River as runway of survival. Their efforts have been called “the most successful water landing in aviation history.” Moreover, they were part of the team that aided in the rescue; Captain ‘Sully’ was the last to evacuate his plane, but not until he had made two surveillance walks down the aisle, checking for passengers. All the while, the plane was sinking.
Copilot Skiles also aided in the rescue, giving the shirt off his back to a trembling passenger who had jumped into the frigid waters and then boarded a raft. Both he and Captain Sully retrieved life vests that the passengers had left behind and offered them to passengers without one as they hurriedly exited.
The three flight attendants efficiently, professionally, and bravely aided every passenger by helping them exit and board the life rafts. One of them was severely wounded and in pain. The first responders of New York City also displayed remarkable efficiency, strength training and teamwork.
The U. S. Airways rescue is a vivid reminder of teamwork carried out on the Andrea Doria. The Captain, the crew, and passengers of every class became both rescues and survivors. The crewmembers I interviewed refused to be called heroes; they claimed that they simply get their duty. The rescue vessels that rushed to our inclined liner also responded with a sense of duty.
I echo President Obama’s comment about the US Airways rescue: “wouldn’t it be great if everybody just did their duty?”—and did it with good conscience, I might add.
Filed under: Andrea Doria, Serving Our Seas, Survivor Stories, Uncategorized | Captain Sullenberger, miracle on the Hudson, survival, US Airways flight 1549|No Comments
Watching 4 survivors of the US Airways flight 1549 on Larry King Live (Feb. 5) heightened my awareness of survival–a topic I know very well. Although I didn’t survive an air calamity, I survived a shipwreck on the Atlantic Ocean. What do US Airways flight 1549 and voyage 101 of the Andrea Doria have in common? Survival on water.
We don’t think much about needing life rafts when we hear the flight attendant explain how to use the flotation device under our seat; there are very few air crashes on water in the history of aviation. But flight 1549 gives us something serious to ponder: besides our seat cushion, are there enough water rafts on board?
While listening to NPR recently, it was reported that American Airlines did not have sufficient water rafts on board one model of their planes. This sent a chill up my spine. Didn’t the engineers remember the Titanic’s dilemma? And what about the Andrea Doria? Although we had enough lifeboats, only half of them were functional. This posed a threat to our survival.
Thank God the cruise industry has got this issue under control. From the Andrea Doria catastrophe it was learned that there should be more than the minimum requirement of lifeboats available.
It’s time to question the airline industries position on this very serious safety concern.
I hope this topic is addressed on Larry King Live, on February 10 when King interviews the crew of flight 1549.
Filed under: Andrea Doria, Serving Our Seas, Survivor Stories | Larry King Live Show, Museo dell'Emigrazione, Museum of Immigration, Frossasco, Torino, Piemontesi Protagonisti, rafts on airplanes, USAirways flight 1549|No Comments