A Soldier's Grave, A Poem In Memory of the USS Measure And All Who Have Served This Country

Clarence Frances Olson

I especially dedicate this poem to those who served aboard the USS Measure.

I know of only two from the WW II minesweeper who are still living. One is my husband, Clarence, and the other is Martin Feinman, who resides in New York City in the summer and Boca Raton in the winter. Marty was a radarman and Clarence was a signalman.

Clarence was on the Measure in the Aleutian Islands when the ship was given to the Russians. He fell into the icy water and says he survived because of his many layers of clothing. He loves to tell how the other sailors were surprised to see him pop back out of the water half frozen.

Germany surrendered and the Russian sailors and our boys had a wild time with the ship's beer supply when she was leased to the Soviets.

The USS Measure from our WWII photo album

The Measure was renamed T-273 by the Russians, and according to Wikipedia, converted to a naval trawler and renamed the Buran. She was purchased in 1956 and was part of the Soviet Navy until 1963, according to Naval History and Heritage Command. There is a ship called Buran listed as part of the Baltic fleet in 1966, according to Haze Gray & Underway.

If anyone can tell us more about the USS Measure, my husband and I would love to hear from you.

Clarence and his sister Sara

A Soldier's Grave

I paused beside a soldier's grave today,

the greedy weeds engulfed the small, white cross.

They coiled their winding, tangled, twisted way,

erasing he, whose name had been embossed.

I brushed the ground that housed the silent tomb,
the hollowed pit then seemed to say to me, 
"There sleeps within this dismal, dungeoned hold,
a lad who died to keep all mankind free."

Like streams in Dante's Hell, my blood ran cold,
then once again the haunting cry exclaimed,
"This body that I hug to me knew fear,
and felt and saw the most atrocious pain."

Men drowning in a sea of crimson blood,
the pleading prayers of youngsters nearing death.
Yet fearlessly he challenged Satan's plan,
then reached Elysium Fields with his last breath.

The ranting ceased and silence took its reign,
A darkness grew and wrapped the grave in dew.
The tears that washed my cheeks were wiped away,
I knelt and kissed the simple cross "Adieu."

Clarence is very much with us today, although not quite this skinny

There will be more photos when the scanner we ordered from the Office Depot arrives