World War II Submariners Remembered

To say that  the 34^th “Tolling the Boats” was an emotional experience – – – doesn’t do justice to the Service  held at the World War II National Submarine Memorial – West , at the Naval Weapons Station in Seal Beach.

World War II Veterans of the sub-service were there as were the widows of some who were lost during the war and those that had passed on since.

This was the 34^th Memorial Service at the base and considering that the first boat lost was a few days after Pearl Harbor, (the Sea Lion on December 10^th, 1941)….there was a surprisingly large group present.  Almost 400 people by our estimate.

The Memorial has been upgraded recently by donations from many groups and one of the upgrades has made it much more friendly to wheelchair visitors.  In addition there is a reflecting pool and a surprisingly peaceful ambience considering it is next to a busy highway. (This reporter has visited it many times over the years…and I’ve always been the only visitor there.)

Following a wonderful talk about the Submarine Service by the Commander Brien Dickson of the Fast Attack Sub….the Jefferson City, (SSN-769) ex-submariners, widows, family members and those with ties to the men on the 52 ‘boats’ lost in WW II went to stand at each memorial for each boat.  In all over 3,500 US Navy men lost their lives.

As Joe Koch read off the name of each submarine lost..the date and the number of men lost or survived,  Kay Staggs ‘tolled the bell’  and a volunteer who knew someone on the boat walked slowly and placed a flower next to the Memorial for that sub.  There was someone there for each of the 52 subs lost!

There were not many dry eyes in the crowd and that included many future submariners  in Sea Cadets and Boy Scouts.

The first U.S. submarine was bought by the U.S. Navy and commissioned in 1900 and on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese failed to attack the sub-pens at Pearl Harbor, they left a tiny fleet of subs that reeked havoc on them in the Pacific. Today the U.S. has a fleet that is without equal.  The new nuclear submarines played a major role in winning the Cold War and continue to protect U.S. interests worldwide.

In a future issue What’s Up In Seal Beach intends to do a more in depth article on the submarine fleet and the Naval Weapon’s Station.

Today, however, we honor “..Those still on patrol”