Gary Leo Rehm, Jr., Fire Controlman 1st Class, U.S. Navy
The most senior of the seven, Gary Rehm, had his own particular word for these brothers/shipmates.
“The sailors on the ship he called his kids,” his uncle Stanley Rehm Jr. told The Daily Beast. “He called them his kids.”
And, by various accounts, Gary Rehm had saved at least 20 of them after the collision. He then went down to save more.
“He said, ‘If my kids die, I’m going to die,’” the uncle said.
Gary Rehm perished with the six others.
“He could have walked away and been safe,” the uncle noted.
From top left to right, Personnel Specialist 1st Class Xavier Alec Martin, 24, from Halethorpe, Maryland, Yeoman 3rd Class Shingo Alexander Douglass, 25, from San Diego, California, Gunner’s Mate Seaman Dakota Kyle Rigsby, 19, from Palmyra, Virginia, and Fire Controlman 2nd Class Carlos Victor Ganzon Sibayan, 23, from Chula Vista, California. From bottom left to right, Sonar Technician 3rd Class Ngoc T Truong Huynh, 25, from Oakville, Connecticut, Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Noe Hernandez, 26, from Weslaco, Texas, and Fire Controlman 1st Class Gary Leo Rehm Jr., 37, from Elyria, Ohio. (U.S. Navy via AP)
and,
That dream ended as Gary Rehm sought to save the rest of his kids. The USS Fitzgerald (DDG62) is named after Navy Lt. William Fitzgerald, who received a posthumous Navy Cross during the Vietnam War for sacrificing himself so his comrades could escape an overwhelming enemy force. Gary Rehm was no less brave and selfless. He is no less deserving of having a destroyer named after him.