- Target:
- Commandant of the United States Coast Guard
- Region:
- United States of America
- Website:
- monasmoe.wordpress.com
On November 29, 1960 Chief John F. Kennedy and his crew, En3 Kenneth Rouleau, SA1 Raymond Bill, and SA1 Ed Syvinski transported Tammy Burnham at Wood Island Lighthouse, Maine. The four Coast Guard men aboard a 30 foot life boat CG30414, out of Fletcher's Neck Lifesaving Station transported the girl from Wood Island to the mainland at Biddeford Pool, Maine.
A fabricated story of the transport has been marketed to the public for many years in connection with the restoration of Wood Island Lighthouse. The story has been published in newspapers, magazines, books, web sites, a DVD documentary, and it is exhibited as historic fact at the Maine Lighthouse Museum.
In 2004 it was discovered that a USCG report was made, and presented as an "investigation", in 1992 on behalf of the Burnham family, at the request of Holly Burnham, after she learned about the need for restoration plans of Wood Island Lighthouse in Tim Harrison’s Lighthouse Digest Magazine.
Chief John F. Kennedy, EN3 Kenneth Rouleau, and the family of SA1 Raymond Bill, were never contacted during the so called investigation that was granted at the behest of Holly Burnham who began her campaign after being made aware of the restoration plans for Wood Island Light and the need for funds for that project.
The Kennedy family is requesting that the USCG reinvestigate the matter and include the first hand, expert eyewitness, testimony of John F. Kennedy, Kenneth Rouleau, and the family of Raymond Bill, in the official record of the transport.
We ask that those responsible for marketing a story that they know to be false, stop marketing it and make the facts known to the public.
We feel that a public apology is due to these men and their families, from all of the organizations and individuals that have been involved in perpetuating the fabrication. The USCG Veterans understand that awards and citations were crafted to fit a false history, they are now demanding that the awards and citations be retracted.
It is important to save and restore America’s lighthouses, but certainly not at the cost of betraying USCG veterans who served their country, never asking for recognition for what they felt was their sworn duty.
We, the undersigned, call on the USCG to reinvestigate the transport of Tammy Burnham at Wood Island Lighthouse, Maine, November 29, 1960.
We demand that the first hand, expert eyewitness testimony of John F. Kennedy and Kenneth Rouleau be recorded for the official record and history of the transport. We ask that the testimony of the family of Raymond Bill, and the family of John F. Kennedy be recorded for the official record and history of the transport.
We seek a public apology from all of the individuals and organizations that have been involved in the marketing of a fabricated story of the transport. We seek a public apology from John McKernan, former Governor of Maine, and all of the US Congressional members who supported the incomplete, inaccurate, and inappropriate 1992 USCG investigation carried out by by LCDR Kristopher G. Furtney, and the medals and citations for bravery that were subsequently awarded as a result of that investigation.
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The Wood Island Lighthouse: Facts, Fiction, Fraud petition to Commandant of the United States Coast Guard was written by MonasMoe and is in the category Military at GoPetition.