A Sailor's Death

Heatstroke or brutality?

Sailors in the Seventh Fleet know the U.S.S. Ranger is one tough ship. Captain Dan Pedersen sets a high standard for discipline, and his aircraft carrier is well equipped to contend with those who fail to meet it. Persistent rule breakers are confined to the correctional custody unit (CCU), where they are subjected to "retraining"--a program of drills and indoctrination designed to reinstill the lessons of boot camp or, as one veteran puts it, "to make you feel stupid and look stupider." Further instruction may be given in the brig--a solitary cell where the diet is sometimes bread and water.

Airman Recruit Paul A. Trerice, 21, was no stranger to naval correctional practices. He had been busted once on a minor drug charge and again after being caught off limits with a WAVE in her barracks. Early last month while shipmates enjoyed liberty in Hong Kong, he was confined to the CCU for falling asleep while on duty. But Trerice was not responding to treatment. After two unauthorized absences from the ship, he was placed in the brig. On April 14, Trerice refused to complete an exercise session for CCU inmates. According to some accounts, he asked to report to sick bay, but was instead commanded to lie face down on the sun-baked flight deck. There is disagreement about how long he remained there: 25 minutes, says the Navy; more than one hour, say some shipmates.

All agree that Trerice did not live long thereafter. Upon returning to the CCU, he requested medical help and collapsed. Doctors rushed to the CCU but were too late. Within an hour Trerice died. The cause, said a Navy coroner: cardiopulmonary arrest due to heatstroke.

William and Irene Trerice of Algonac, Mich., were shocked to learn that their son, a 6-ft. 5-in., 230-Ib. high school football tackle, had died of a heart attack. "He was always lifting weights and jogging, and he could bench press 300 Ibs.," said the senior Trerice, a 13-year Air Force veteran. He might have accepted the loss, he said, had it not been for "snafus" in informing the family of Paul's death and in returning his body. His suspicions were also raised by some of Paul's friends on the Ranger; one sent Trerice the message: "Don't let them get away with this one."

Concerned about the circumstances of his son's death, Trerice arranged a private autopsy. It revealed that Paul had been handcuffed shortly before his death, something that was not mentioned in the Navy's report. Trerice was further disturbed when a Ranger cook reportedly contradicted the official story that Paul had eaten breakfast the morning of his death. Though the Navy insists it is not so, Trerice began to wonder if his son had eaten anything more than bread and water the last two days of his life. Last month Trerice sued the Navy for $4.1 million over his son's death and alleged mishandling of the body. He also persuaded Michigan Senators Donald Riegle Jr. and Carl Levin and Congressman David Bonior to seek a full Navy investigation.

Navy officials had already begun a study, which they were soon forced to broaden. Word of the Trerice death had produced a tidal wave of tales of naval abuse. Ex-Ranger Crewman Neil Hodgson, 18, of Detroit, claimed that a beating in the ship's CCU left him with a ruptured eardrum. Fellow Veteran Steve Richards, 27, also of Detroit, said he received a 13-stitch leg wound there. The two joined another pair of Ranger sailors in suing the Navy for brutality and violation of their rights. A third suit may be filed by the Rev. Robert Mercer and his wife of Detroit. The body of Mercer's stepson Bernal Johnson, 21, was found in a Philippine river on April 24, two days after he escaped from a CCU at the Subic Bay Naval Base. An autopsy showed "possible marks of violence" around the neck. Mercer suspects naval foul play: "My son was a good swimmer, unless he was pushed into the water unconscious."

The Navy has virtually completed the initial investigation into Trerice's death, and, says Admiral Donald C. Davis, commander in chief, U.S. Navy, Pacific, "it has found no evidence that the cause was from other than heatstroke." Even if it is vindicated or charges are dropped, the Navy can ill afford scandal at a time when recruitment is lagging. "These boys were volunteers," insists Bill Trerice. "We don't even treat people in prisons that way."

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