Somers Point honors Barbary War hero
SOMERS POINT — About 40 members of the USS Richard Somers Crewmembers Association visited the birthplace of their ships’ namesake during the city’s annual recognition ceremony Sept. 15.
It was the association’s 10th anniversary and the 217th birthday of Master Commandant Richard Somers, who was born in 1778 in the city named for his family.
Somers, who was appointed a midshipman in the U.S. Navy in 1797, was killed while leading a fireship attack against Tripolitan-backed pirates during the Barbary Wars in 1804. He is recognized as among the first heroes of the fledgling U.S. Navy.
According to Donna Mohr of Patriots for the Somers Mansion, a nonprofit group working to preserve the county’s oldest home on the bluff overlooking Great Egg Harbor Bay, the ship Somers commanded, the Intrepid, was a floating bomb filled with 100 barrels of gunpowder and 150 fixed shells. Somers led 12 volunteers to sail the ship into Tripoli Harbor in an attempt to destroy the pirate fleet. However, the ship exploded prematurely, killing all aboard.
The bodies of all 13 crewmen washed ashore the next day and were buried in an unmarked communal grave. The Libyan government unearthed the remains in 1949 and moved them to the Old Protestant Cemetery in Tripoli, where they remain today.
“Efforts to repatriate the remains to the U.S. have been unsuccessful to date and we of course hope that they will become successful in the near future,” Mohr said.
Those in attendance for the event included a military color guard; multiple local, county and state elected officials; two sailors from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst representing the Secretary of the Navy; and history buffs eager to celebrate the city’s naval hero.
The event was sponsored by the Somers Point Historical Society and city. Councilman Sean McGuigan led the Pledge of Allegiance and Mayor Jack Glasser welcomed the crowd, vowing to continue fighting to get the bodies of Somers and his crewmates back on U.S. soil.
“As a veteran, we have always lived to say that we don’t leave anyone behind, and we have left Somers and the crew of the Intrepid behind,” he said. “They still lie — I won’t say ‘rest’ — in the Episcopal Cemetery in Tripoli. We will continue that fight, all of us together. It’s a fight that we need because we want them home, it’s time,” Glasser said.
Atlantic County Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Maureen Kern and Vice Chairman John Risley, who both served on Somers Point City Council for many years, presented a proclamation from the board.
“What’s important is that we convey this history of Somers Point to our children, our grandchildren and their children. That’s what is important about this day and the sacrifice that not only Richard made but the entire crew of the Intrepid, and all of the servicemen and women around the country that serve our country and protect what we have,” Risley said.
Kirk Gerety, president of the Atlantic County Historical Society and a former City Council member, said the marking of Richard Somers Day stemmed from a lot of effort over the years to preserve the city’s history.
“As a member of the Historical Society, a group that has been here for 35 years and fought to preserve the history of this town and its historic buildings, I’m proud to have you here,” he said.
Gerety said the memorial — which consists of a bust of Somers from the abdomen up atop a granite pillar bearing his name, life span and an etching of the Intrepid — was erected in an appropriate place that is midway between the home where he was born on Bethel Road and his grandfather’s house, Somers Mansion.
The monument and Richard Somers Park are also next to what Gerety called “one of our greatest victories as a historical society, saving this grand old building from demolition,” referring to preservation of the old City Hall, which now serves as a branch of the Atlantic County Library System.
He said there was a referendum in which 80 percent of voters wanted to have it torn down.
“We were able to reverse that. We were able to do things that made believing in your history cool. Out of that came this historic district in front of us, the preservation and a lot of activities toward remembering our heritage,” Gerety said.
Mohr followed Gerety with a discussion of the mural on the outside of the building depicting the life of Somers. It was commissioned by the city’s Arts Commission and Historical Commission and was designed and painted by artist Maryann Cannon.
“We’re hoping it remains a beautiful representation of Richard Somers’ life for at least the next 20 years,” Mohr said.
She also cited a detailed history of the Somers family and its role in the city.
Crewmembers group pleased to take part
Members of the Crewmembers Association came from near and far to visit Somers Point. Pendleton, N.Y., resident Bob Plante, who is president of the organization, served aboard USS Somers DD-947 from 1964-66. That was before it was converted into a guided missile destroyer and designated DD-34, and important distinction as Plante noted.
“You’ll hear that there are only six USS Somers,” he said, noting there are seven different photographs, a mystery he recently unraveled.
Plante said when DD-947 went into the naval yard in 1966, the superstructure was removed and it was turned into a guided missile destroyer and designated DD-34. He said that while the two appear different in photographs, the U.S. Navy considers it one ship because the keel is the same.
“I finally cleared that up, there are only six ships but seven pictures,” Plante said.
He said the Crewmembers Association was formed in a garage in Oklahoma in 2010 with 20 crewmembers of DD-974. The small group created the association’s bylaws and he returned home eager to find out more about the history of the ships and their namesake.
He said he hit the internet and started a Facebook page, later learning someone already had created a website on the topic.
“He said ‘come on board.’ All of a sudden, we started getting people. We started with 20 guys and now we have 361 association members but a total of 509 former Somers shipmates,” Plante said, adding that 85 to 90 people generally attend their annual reunions.
Plante said the group decided to hold the event in a different location each year to give as many former crewmembers as possible a chance to attend.
“We’ve had guys say they didn’t think they were going to have a good time but they will never miss one of these again,” Plante said.
He said the entire group was pleased to be invited to visit the birthplace of their ship’s namesake.
Plante said in 2018, retired commander Mike Newel, a life member of the group, suggested getting the four modern USS Somers destroyers included in the U.S. Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C. He said they raised the $3,000 necessary to purchase the plaques and they were added Sept. 4, 2018.
“After we did that, we said ‘We’ve gotta go to Somers Point. We’ve gotta go to Richard Somers’ home,’” he said.
Plante said he researched Somers Point and decided it was time to contact someone “to see if they would invite us in.”
He emailed Glasser and “that started the ball rolling and here we are,” Plante said.
In addition to the ceremony, the city treated the former sailors to a luncheon at Great Bay Country Club and they got a chance to tour Somers Mansion.
Damon Carlton of Oklahoma, who served two tours in Vietnam aboard DD-34, said, “It’s just an honor to be here. We served on a ship that was great, had a great crew and everything.”
Shipmate Leon Cackowski of Staten Island, N.Y., who served three tours in Vietnam, said he has been to Cape May and Wildwood and knew of Somers Point but never made the connection.
“I didn’t realize the connection until Bob said, ‘We’re going to Somers Point for the Richard Somers memorial,’” he said, noting he knew the story of Somers.
Asked about the bravery of men like Somers in a day and age when high-seas battles involved cannons, pistols and cutlasses, Cackowski said, “They were tougher than we were. Each generation can say ‘Now, that was a tough generation.’ My father’s generation was World War II. Those guys stepped up to the plate. We just hope 20 years down the road they are going to say, ‘These guys stepped up to the plate,’ and we’ve got hope they step up to the plate.”
The crew of the Intrepid included Master Commandant Richard Somers, Lt. Henry Wadsworth, Lt. Joseph Israel, Robert Clark, Isaac W. Downs, James Harris, William Harrison, William Keith, Hugh McCormick, Peter Penner, James Simms, Thomas Tompline and Jacob Williams.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff