Ashley's funeral

I took these in 2005 at Joseph "Cooter" Ashley's funeral. He was the guy on the San Fran that died after they ran aground on their way to Austrailia. I had known him ever since he got to the boat and we were good friends. He was buried at the family plot in West Virginia. Of the 26 crew members that showed up the this funeral, only 4 were still stationed on the boat. The rest of us had been stationed on the boat with him and we travelled from CT, VA, GA, and a couple of other states I'm not sure of. We just started calling each other and met there the day before the funeral. I was supposed the be on the boat at that time, but thank God, I got off six months early!

This was what the San Fran looked like after it hit the mountain. Cooter flew about 30 feet forward and hit the propulsion lube oil tank. He didn't die directly from his injuries. It was actually when they tried to do the medevac through the bridge hate that he suffucated.