{"id":67334,"date":"2019-06-21T20:05:12","date_gmt":"2019-06-21T20:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/06\/21\/this-is-how-the-fitz-will-honor-fallen-crew-members\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:02:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:02:55","slug":"this-is-how-the-fitz-will-honor-fallen-crew-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/06\/21\/this-is-how-the-fitz-will-honor-fallen-crew-members\/","title":{"rendered":"This is how the Fitz will honor fallen crew members"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On June 17, the crew of the guided-missile destroyer Fitzgerald unfurled a special flag they designed to honor the seven sailors killed on that date two years earlier in a collision off the coast of Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bearing the famous Navy order \u201cDon\u2019t give up the ship,\u201d the banner included the names of the seven sailors under the phrase \u201cForever with the Fightin\u2019 Fitz.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFitzgerald\u2019s crew designed this flag from scratch as a way to embody those shipmates we lost,\u201d Fitzgerald\u2019s executive officer Cmdr. Scott Wilbur said in a Navy press release. \u201cIt will be flown every year on 17 June to honor them and to never forget their sacrifice. The current crew continues to live out that motto while bringing the ship back to the Fleet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the evening of June 17, 2017, the Philippine-flagged container vessel ACX Crystal speared the Fitzgerald<\/a> while the warship was sailing to the South China Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A gash in the hull flooded seawater into the destroyer\u2019s Berthing 2 living quarters. Sailors Xavier Martin, Dakota Rigsby, Shingo Douglass, Tan Huynh, Noe Hernandez, Carlos Sibayan and Gary Rehm drowned<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\t