I was released from the Navy with an honorable discharge in 1970. The Taylor was sent into mouth balls in San Diego and decommissioned in June of 1969. She was bought by the Italian Navy and served as the Lanciere (DD 560) in the Italian Navy until January of 1971 when she was again decommissioned and stripped of her parts, which were used on her sister ships. The Goldsborough was decommissioned a short time later. And the season of war did fade away, only to be remembered by a few old, retired sailors. Yet, the incident at Da Nang and the victory at Vung Tau were stories that must be told. For it was the end of an era, the end of a war and the end of one of the Navy's forgotten heroes. Some claim a mysterious ship was spotted lurking on the horizon during the current war with Iraq. A carrier in the Persian Gulf picked her up on radar and ordered a Seaman to pinpoint her position. As he raised his binoculars in an attempt to identify if it were friend or foe, the vessel vanished with the speed of light into the setting sun. It was spotted again off the shores of Kuwait. The Marines reported unknown fire that they determined to be from a ship at sea. They say the projectile knocked out an enemy fortress in the north that had been taken over by Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard. The fortress had prevented them from joining up with other US forces in the journey north to Baghdad. And when the smoke cleared that day, magnificent clouds appeared above the sea. The clouds took on strange shapes and glowed with an eerie glow. And when the Marines gazed across the ocean, all they could see was a vanishing wake. And imprinted in the sky were the numbers 468. -END