Location Rank Name Job Dates
Tower #4
Captain Gordon T. Phalen Commander 60-61*
Captain S.J. Shaffran OIC (never got on) 61
Captain Bob Cutler Commander 57-59
Captain Tony Girillo Commander/Radar 57-59
1st Lt. Buster E Horton 59
*Last captain…lost at sea
By DUNSTAN PRIAL, Standard-Times staff writer
JACK IDDON/The Standard-Times
Eulalia Mangual, 92, widow of Capt. Sixto Mangual, clutches the flag that was part of his military burial yesterday. Capt. Mangual's ashes were interred at Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne.
BOURNE -- In life, Capt. Sixto Mangual had two homes. One was on Westview Street in New Bedford. The other was on the high seas.
Now, nine years after his death, Capt. Mangual has found a single, permanent resting place.
During a ceremony yesterday accompanied by full military honors, Capt. Mangual's ashes were buried at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne.
"Goodbye, my love," said Eulalia Mangual, his 92-year-old widow and wife of 57 years.
Capt. Mangual's career with the Military Sea Transport Service spanned more than three decades and generated countless memories.
But none was as searing as the night of Jan. 15, 1961, when, as skipper of the 174-foot supply ship AKL-17, he and his crew stood on guard as Texas Tower 4, one of three giant radar towers positioned off the Atlantic Coast, vanished in a storm 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey.
Twenty-eight men lost their lives when the tower, which rose high out of the Atlantic Ocean and was used as part of America's early warning system against enemy attack, collapsed and disappeared into the sea.
"We'd delivered supplies and one passenger Saturday," Capt. Mangual recalled in a 1981 interview with The Standard-Times. "The weather wasn't too bad. Once we'd finished, I got a phone call from Capt. Gordon Phelan, the tower commander. In view of oncoming bad weather, he asked us to stand by."
That night, the tower was a strong blip on Capt. Mangual's radar within the bridge of the AKL-17 situated about 10 miles away.
Then, around 7:25 p.m., there was no more blip.
After radioing an SOS, the AKL-17 headed through a horrific storm to confirm that the tower had collapsed. The ship returned to its home port of New Bedford the following day.
Capt. Mangual remained at the helm of the AKL-17, later rechristened the USNS New Bedford, until the ship was transferred to Brooklyn in 1963.
Another decade at sea included trips beyond the Arctic Circle and searches for sunken U.S. Navy submarines. He retired in 1973.
Following Capt. Mangual's death in 1995, his widow, Eulalia, was unable to part with his ashes, said John Souza, a grandson who is now a sergeant with the UMass Dartmouth Police. The family, he said, decided to find a permanent resting place after Eulalia Mangual fell sick recently.
At that point, Sgt. Souza contacted representatives of the National Cemetery in Bourne, and yesterday's ceremony quickly became a reality.
Amid a driving rainstorm, about a dozen friends and family gathered at the cemetery to bid a final farewell.
Fairhaven resident John M. Goodhue Jr., who served six years with Capt. Mangual, some of them aboard the New Bedford, said Capt. Mangual was taking his rightful place among New England's veterans.
Abbe Souza, a daughter, hugged Mr. Goodhue and said, "This was my father's very best friend aboard ship. My father couldn't do without his first mate."
A son, Sixto Mangual Jr., and a great-grandchild, 5-year-old Dylan J. Souza, also attended.
Thrusting a handful of roses toward the wooden urn that held the ashes of her husband, Eulalia Mangual requested of those present, "pray for my love."
"I loved him so much," she said.
Sgt. Souza offered a eulogy: "Grandpa, we are all so proud of you for your hard work and dedication to your loved profession 'the sea.' More importantly, my grandfather was a loved and respected family man and provider. A grandfather who inspired us with his stories to have strong character and confidence in ourselves," he said.
"May God bless your soul, Grandpa. We all hope you are pleased with this most deserving ceremony. We will never forget you," he concluded.
After a prayer service, three members of a U.S. Navy color guard stood at attention as a recording of Taps was played. The sailors then methodically and meticulously folded an American flag before presenting it to the widow.
This story appeared on Page A1 of The Standard-Times on December 2, 2004