NEW LONDON, Conn. — It wasn't until Alene Whittemore, in her 20s, happened upon a newspaper article in her mother's bedside table that she found out what really happened to her father.

Whittemore was only 1½-years-old when in February 1953 her father, Amos Whittemore of New London, a chief engineman, and his crewmate Guy Blucker of Jacksonville, Arkansas, a boatswain's mate 2nd class, both assigned to Coast Guard Station New London, died after going out to repair a broken launch engine.

Russell Waddell of West Creek, New Jersey, who was with the men, survived.

"We didn't talk about it," Whittemore said, explaining that her mother couldn't discuss his death without crying.

The Feb. 17, 1953, article in The Day that Whittemore stumbled upon explained that her father, Blucker and Waddell were part of a seven-person repair crew who had been sent out to fix a failed engine on a launch that was taking crew members to a lightship off Old Saybrook.

The article describes how the crew worked until midnight on Sunday, Feb. 15, making repairs when it was decided that Waddell, Whittemore and Blucker would pilot the launch to Old Saybrook Harbor, about three and a half miles away.

But as they were heading back to the harbor, the engine failed again. The three men scrambled onto the stone breakwater off the harbor, which was close but not connected to land.

By the time they were spotted, only Waddell was still conscious. Whittemore and Blucker died of exposure to the raging elements at the ages of 32 and 22, respectively.

"I don't know why I came out and they didn't. I don't know why," the survivor, Waddell, told The Day in an article that also appeared in the Feb. 17 edition.

The tragic event "changed our whole life" and defined "who I am as a person," Whittemore said. Her mother, who never remarried, was left to raise her and her brother alone.

On Friday, Whittemore went on a tour of Coast Guard Station New London led by Boatswain's Mate 3rd Class Maxwell Rozier, who told her of plans to create a memorial for her father and Blucker on a section of the station called "The Point," a memorial but also a place where the crew grills and has bonfires.

Rozier also envisions installing a memorial bell on the section of The Point that looks out onto New London.

Rozier helped to bring to light the men's story, which seemingly had been lost for more than 60 years. Thanks to him, the men's names also will now appear on the Boat Forces Memorial — a list posted on the walls and bulkheads of every Coast Guard ship and station, remembering those who lost their lives "manning lifesaving service and Coast Guard station boats."

As part of the tour of the station, Rozier and several other crewmembers took Whittemore and her husband on a boat ride to Ledge Light and back.

In mid-June, Rozier was part of a Coast Guard crew that rescued a stranded swimmer, who was found early in the morning clinging to a rock at the base of New London Ledge Light.

As the boat was making its way back to the station Friday, Whittemore turned to Rozier and said, "You didn't pull me off of the edge of a lighthouse, but I will never forget this."

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