Photo By David Stoehr | Marilyn Richards (second from left), a contractor who supports NUWC Division Newport,...... read more read more
NEWPORT, R.I. — Marilyn Richards, a contractor for Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport who supports the Information Technology Division, never met her great-grandfather, but distinctly remembers the black dress her great-grandmother, Maria Moitoza, regularly wore.
“My great-grandmother never spoke English to me; it was all Portuguese,” Richards said. “She used to always sit in this chair with her black dress on – the old Portuguese way of mourning.”
Richards’ great-grandfather, Joseph Moitozo, a resident of 45 Fenner Ave. in Newport, had been employed as a general helper at the Naval Torpedo Station on Goat Island for only a few days in January 1918 when an explosion rocked the base. The blast in the No. 2 workroom killed 13 employees that day, including Moitozo.
After his death, his widow, Maria, changed her last name to Moitoza (with an ‘a’), but the family continues to honor Joseph’s legacy.
“My grandfather is Joseph A. Moitoza; my father is Joseph E. Moitoza,” said Richards, noting that her father still lives in Newport’s Fifth Ward. “They kept it rolling down the line.”
Richards and her family are not the only ones keeping her great-grandfather’s memory alive.
One hundred years and four months after the explosion that killed her great-grandfather, Richards was one of the more than 100 spectators who surrounded NUWC Newport’s command flagpole and memorial on May 25 to pay tribute to Moitozo and the 31 other employees who have died in the line of duty.
The day’s events featured a reading by Public Affairs Officer Jeff Prater, where he gave a brief history of the monument and the circumstances that led to the deaths of the 32 employees. After each section of the reading, a bell was rung in honor of the employees.
“It was very nice,” said Richards, who has worked at NUWC Newport for 20 years. “That they did it for this particular set of people, I find it great that my name is associated with it.”
The Memorial Day tribute also featured a wreath-laying ceremony at the base of the memorial by Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Capt. Michael Coughlin, commanding officer NUWC Division Newport. Afterwards, Richards had the opportunity to meet Reed. She said she thanked him for the help he provided to her father-in-law, who was shot in the head at the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II.
“My husband was dealing with all the veteran stuff. He went directly to Jack Reed’s office, and he got it all straightened out. That was neat,” Richards said. “I thanked him for that. It was a help, and it was neat to see this because I think veterans deserve more than they get these days – definitely.”
Before the wreath-laying ceremony, Reed spoke of honoring those who have served, both here and abroad.
“This is a moment where we come together as Americans to salute those Americans that have given their lives in the defense of our country, the defense of our rights and they’ve responded to the challenges of this world with their last ounce of courage,” Reed said. “As we toll the bell, we recall the individuals here at Newport that have served and sacrificed. They represent millions across this country and across the world that have also served and sacrificed, but it’s particularly important that we recall the sacrifice of those that have served at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center and their predecessors because today you continue to serve.
“Your service is essential, because it gives our men and women in uniform that margin of excellence which is necessary so as they serve, they will survive and they will triumph.”
Reed went on to speak about the importance of honoring not only the men and women in the service, but the families that also sacrifice in their support of them.
He closed by quoting President John F. Kennedy, noting that Kennedy was a former Naval officer who once trained in Melville, R.I.
“(Kennedy) said, ‘As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them,’” Reed said. “So let us leave here today, not just committed to words, but committed to actions to make their sacrifice even more important and even more meaningful in the days ahead.”
Reed was introduced by Coughlin, who thanked those in attendance, as well as Senator Reed, those who serve our country and those “that died in the service of our great nation.”
“To me, Memorial Day is our most important and solemn holiday,” Coughlin said, “as we pause and pay tribute to our American heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the defense of our nation and our ideals.”
Coughlin described how the way colors are done on Memorial Day is unique to that holiday. The U.S. flag is briskly raised to the top of the staff and then lowered to half-staff position, where it remains until noon. At that time, it is then raised to full staff.
“The half-staff position remembers the more than 1 million men and women who have given their lives in service to our country,” Coughlin said. “At noon their memory is raised by the living, as we resolve to not let their sacrifice be in vein, but to raise up in the stead and continue to champion liberty and justice for all.”
Prater opened the remembrance by talking about the history of the monument. It was erected in 1930 at Government Landing in downtown Newport under the auspices of the Newport Metal Trades Council, but was later relocated to its current location.
“On May 27, 1966, a ceremony, with Frank Smith, president of the Local 119, International Association of Machinists presiding, marked the relocation of the station’s memorial from Government Landing to this flagpole area on what is now the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport,” Prater said before foraying into NUWC Newport’s roots.
The Naval Torpedo Station was established on Newport's Goat Island in 1869 with the mission of testing and development of both torpedoes and the parts required for production. One of the components was an explosive called gun cotton.
Tests conducted in Newport found this substance to be a suitable replacement for gun powder in torpedo warheads, yet it was highly volatile and the substance cost Patrick H. Cremin his life in 1874.
Eight years later, the station was ordered to manufacture gun cotton for the Navy, and by 1884 a staff of five had produced 10,000 pounds of the material. The factory was wiped out on July 3, 1893, however, by an explosion caused by a fire that originated in the picked-cotton room.
Jeremiah Harrington, Franklin Loughlin and Michael O’Regan were killed by the explosion while attempting to fight the fire in the north end of the building. Ten other men were also injured in the blast.
When the U.S. entered World War I in 1917, Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare policy made development of antisubmarine warfare countermeasures the highest priority at the station. Torpedo research and development virtually ceased, while production of depth charges, aerial bombs and mines soared.
During this production process, though, the January 1918 explosion occurred, killing Moitozo and 12 others. Joe C. Andre, William G. Caswell, John H. Connolly, Timothy F. Fitzgerald, Joseph Frazier, George L. Giblin, James Mahoney, John F. Murphy, Horace A. Pelletier, George H. Spooner, David J. Sullivan and Frank E. Wyatt were killed in the blast and five more were injured.
Reginald S. King and Patrick F. Shea were killed in another explosion in May 1918, while James E. Babcock, Frank Mazzulla, Arthur M. Gardner, Ralph A. St. Denis, Alexander C. MacLellan and Fidele Arsenault all died while serving their country through the years.
On Tuesday, April 26, 1955, there was a “tremendous explosion” at the Naval Underwater Ordnance Station in Building 115. The blast occurred at about 11 a.m. in the Dynamometer Test Room and is believed to have been caused by a high-pressure airline rupture while testing a high-energy monopropellant fuel, called Normal Propyl Nitrate, in a modified Mark 16 Mod 3 torpedo.
Peter J. Lada, John R. Lavender, Howard E. Staats Jr., Daniel J. Sullivan, Anthony Zimon, and Randall J. Whitaker were killed in the explosion that also injured five others.
Also listed on the monument is EM1 L.W. Fletcher, who died in the line of duty but no date is listed.
For more information on those who have died in the line of duty, visit our In Memoriam page.
NUWC Division Newport, part of the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), is one of two divisions of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. NUWC Division Newport’s mission is to provide research, development, test and evaluation, engineering and fleet support for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, undersea offensive and defensive weapons systems, and countermeasures.
NUWC’s other division is located in Keyport, Wash. NUWC Newport is the oldest warfare center in the country, tracing its heritage to the Naval Torpedo Station that was established on Goat Island in Newport Harbor in 1869. NUWC Newport maintains major detachments in West Palm Beach, Fla., and Andros Island in the Bahamas, as well as test facilities at Seneca Lake and Fisher's Island, N.Y. and Dodge Pond, Conn.
| Date Taken: | 05.29.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 05.29.2018 09:17 |
| Story ID: | 278652 |
| Location: | NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 74 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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