Veterans, Navy honor crew torpedoed off Maine during WWII [Video]

CAPE ELIZABETH, Maine — In the final days of Nazi Germany, far from the European theater, a German U-boat torpedoed an American warship within eyesight of Portland Head Light.

That sacrifice in Maine waters was buried for decades and people are making up for lost time.

At 11 a.m. Tuesday, a small crowd including veterans and active-duty Navy members gathered on the sprawling lawn next to what might be America’s most beloved lighthouse. By accounts of organizers, it was the largest such gathering on this solemn anniversary.

Seventy-nine years to the day, and nearly to the hour, the USS Eagle PE-56 was towing target buoys 5 miles from shore when it was hit April 23, 1945. The vessel split in two and sank. Forty-nine of the 62 crew members died.

Michael Dery helped organize Tuesday’s …