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11/24/2001
ALBANY, N.Y. — Divers have recovered the remains of one of two Navy
sailors presumed drowned after a rickety, oil-laden ship sank in Persian
Gulf, a Navy spokeswoman confirmed Saturday.
The remains of Petty Officer 3rd Class Benjamin Johnson were recovered
on Friday, said Lt. Melissa Schuermann, spokeswoman for the U.S. Naval
Forces Central Command in Bahrain. She said the 21-year-old sailor was
identified based on his personal effects.
Johnson's father, Kenneth Johnson, told The Associated Press on Friday
that he had received a phone call notifying him that his son's body had
been found.
"At first, I thought it was a mistake and that they could still find
him," Johnson said from his home in Rochester, N.Y. "Now there's no
doubt he's really dead."
Johnson said he had been told that his son's body would be taken to
Bahrain for an autopsy and that the family could claim it as early as
next week. Schuermann did not elaborate on whether an autopsy had been
performed or when the sailor's remains would be sent home.
Benjamin Johnson was one of two U.S. sailors from the USS Peterson who
were listed as missing after a rickety tanker they had boarded sank
about 80 miles southeast of Kuwait's Al-Ahmadi port. The tanker was
initially said to be United Arab Emirates-flagged, but officials later
determined it was not registered with any country, said Capt. Abdul
Munem al-Janahi of the Bahrain-based Marine Emergency Mutual Aid Center.
The tanker was thought to be smuggling Iraqi oil in violation of
international sanctions. It sank shortly after U.S. sailors boarded
early Sunday. The Navy was able to rescue six U.S. sailors and 10 Iraqi
crew members and recovered the bodies of two Iraqi sailors.
The family of Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Vincent Parker of Preston,
Miss., also missing after the tanker sank, is planning a memorial
service for him next week, his brother, Stephen Parker, said Thursday.
Parker said the Navy held a service for his brother aboard the USS
Peterson on Tuesday. His body has not been found.