Mac Harper, W1FYM (right) keys the radio as Al Parley (left) and Master Chief Charley Williams look on.
Mac Harper, W1FYM (right) keys the radio as Al Parley (left) and Master Chief Charley Williams look on. |
NEWINGTON, CT, Feb 17, 2006--When World War II veteran Rear Adm Barry K. Atkins was interred in Arlington National Cemetery January 30, Amateur Radio enabled coordinated rifle salutes at the cemetery and in Hartford, Connecticut. Atkins was a longtime resident of Connecticut, and Alex Parley of Windsor--a member of Atkins' US Navy crew during World War II--requested the special honor.
"Their
destroyer, the USS Melvin, sank the Japanese battleship Fuso in
the battle of Surigao Strait--the only destroyer known to have sunk a
battleship," explains Mac Harper, W1FYM, of Glastonbury, Connecticut. Through a
series of communications that began when Parley requested help from ARRL
Headquarters, Harper volunteered to handle the Connecticut end of the ham-radio
coordinated salute.
 Marines and sailors from the Plainville, Connecticut, Reserve Center participated as an honor guard at Hartford, Connecticut's, Bushnell Park. The State Capitol is visible in the background. |
Parley contacted ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP, who, in turn got in touch with Connecticut Section Manager Betsey Doane, K1EIC. Doane passed the request along to Harper, and the Arlington Amateur Radio Club responded to his request for volunteers at the Virginia military cemetery.
APSC member Art Feller, W4ART, proposed using VHF from Arlington and communicating via IRLP to Connecticut. Jack Reed, WA4FXX, meanwhile, signed up club volunteers, while Adam Hahn, KG4VNC, agreed to be the operator at the Arlington ceremony.
On
the Connecticut end, W1FYM set up an HF-VHF station in Hartford's Bushnell Park. W1AW Station Manager Joe Carcia, NJ1Q, volunteered to get on the air during
his lunch hour to complete the HF link. On the appointed day and time, Harper,
Carcia and Hahn established voice contact via IRLP using the W1HDA repeater in Vernon, Connecticut.
 The Marine League renders the rifle salute in Hartford. |
At 12:14 PM EST, KG4VNC passed the voice message, "The cannons have fired. The honor guard is beginning their salute." At that point, W1FYM informed members of the Marine Corps League and Navy Reserve units from Plainville, who rendered the honors in Hartford, to begin the simultaneous rifle salute.
After the bugler played "Taps," Carcia at W1AW transmitted on 40 meter CW the message, "The rifle salute for Rear Admiral Barry K. Atkins was fired at Arlington National Cemetery at 12:15 Local Time on Monday, January 30, 2006."
"The
clarion tones of Morse Code were audible to all present, reminiscent of the
Morse messages used during World War II," Harper observed. Master Chief Charley
Williams of the State Department of Veterans Affairs, read a proclamation from
Connecticut Gov Jodi Rell and eulogized Atkins, who received the Navy Cross for
his actions in the Pacific. Lisa Perrona represented the office of US Rep John
Larson.--Mac Harper, W1FYM
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