Admiral Eberle, CNO from 1923-27, wrote those words about John King, right, the chief gunner's mate of the USS Mohican in 1888. But they could easily apply to all three old salts, from left, David Ireland, Gilbert H. Purdy, and John T. Griffith. Purdy, 60 years old in this photograph, served another 12 years, and turned 70 on Admiral George Dewey's Olympia during the Spanish-American War.
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