48 Years Ago Today

[bobmoore]

On May 22, 1968 the fast attack boat USS Scorpion, SSN-589, was reported overdue at Norfolk. My boat, the USS Requin (SS-481), and several others immediately put to sea in search of her. We didn't know she had already been dead for a week.

On Memorial Day I remember my friends Joe Miller and Don Karmasek who rode her down, as well as the 3200+ who rode their boats down since December 7, 1941.

Freedom is not free.

[Kirbstone]

Bobmoore,

I am old enough to remember most of 1968 like it were yesterday. For you, having lost friends and colleagues serving at sea must be a painful personal memory.

While I worked in Germany in the 80s & 90s I made a good friend whose father went down serving aboard the Bismark. My friend was only 2 years old at the time, so had no personal memory of his father.
Visiting their Naval war museum at Laboe, near Kiel I learned that of all the WW2 submariners who served in the German navy 55% of them went down with their ships.

Tom

[bobmoore]

Actually, the Kriegsmarine lost nearly 800 boats and 28,000 men. These losses were 75%. In comparison, the US Navy lost 52 boats (10 because of a loudmouth Congressman from Kentucky).

[Kirbstone]

Anyway, the bottom line is that those who chose to serve at Sea were signing up for a better than even chance of losing their lives.
I suppose the stated casualty percentages vary with whose version of history you are reading.

Tom

[dillon]

My late uncle, my Dad's younger brother, was at Pearl harbor, but he was US Army. He lost a close friend at Hickham Field. He would never say much about it, except to say he was thankful that he was not stationed in the Philippines at the time war broke out, else he might not have made it through. His unit supported heavy bomber groups from island to island in the Pacific.

My Dad had been in the Army from 1936 to 1939. By 1942 he was married with 2 children, and was a police officer, riding an Indian motorcycle in rural NC, chasing down bootleggers. He had been a marksman for his Division (3rd) out at Vancouver Barracks, near Portland OR, and later at Fort Lewis WA . He met my mom there and they had a "necessary elopement" , we believe, though they didn't speak of it. It seems meeting that young co-ed college girl selling popcorn at an amusement park in Portland was the highlight of his military career, but a close second was being assigned to paint General George Marshall's base residence; he spoke of that often, I suppose because of Marshall's outstanding legacy, which contributed to lasting peace in Europe. The Army wrote to Dad twice in 1942 to ask him to return to duty, promising him he would be stationed in the US and would be a riflery instructor. Luckily he didn't fall for that, as having 2 kids and being a police officer exempted him from the draft. Had he gone, it is possible that he would have been deployed and that I and three of my siblings might not be here today.

We already had a family member who died (for the Confederacy) at Fort Moultrie, another awarded a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor for battlefield heroism in October 1918, and an uncle by marriage who died in a transport crash in the Alps a few days after the Nazi surrender in 1945. I am grateful that we never lost anyone else in war, despite three more of my uncles serving in WWII, and my brother in Viet Nam. I take Memorial Day very seriously.

[Kirbstone]

Which brings me to that wonderful film 'Saving Private Ryan', played by Matt Damon and starring Tom Hanks. It conveyed a profound message never to be forgotten. One of the most moving war film ever made. It is very instructive go get behind the scenes to the 'making of' it and listen to the directors' and actors' comments.

Tom

[bobmoore]

I suppose the stated casualty percentages vary with whose version of history you are reading.

Tom

No doubt it. But as a 20 year submarine sailor, active in USSVI, I have friends who were Kriegsmarine submariners. One of their organizations is www.uboat.net.
My info comes from them.

[Kirbstone]

Thank you very much for that link, Bobmoore. Even as an armchair submariner I'll get a lot of pleasurable reading from that.

Tom

[Pdxfashionpioneer]

Uboat.net is a terrific resource. I have visited it many times trying to learn more about the incidents that my late father told me about his career with US Coast Guard (1943-45). He served aboard the USS Prudent, a Canadian built corvette. It was a US Navy vessel crewed by Coasties.

Fortunately, neither my father nor any of my uncles who served -- interestingly all of them in the maritime services (one on baby flattops, another in Seabees and Dad) -- were even wounded.

But Memorial Day and Veterans Day deserve more notice for what they really are.

[bobmoore]

Thank you very much for that link, Bobmoore. Even as an armchair submariner I'll get a lot of pleasurable reading from that.

Tom

If you like, try this as well: http://www.northofseveycorners.com/ntins/ntins2.htm. while you are there check the short stories under 062. You might also like http://www.submarinesailor.com.

Enjoy.