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WHETSTONE — Like many who served during World War II, the number of men who served on the diesel submarines during the conflict is declining.
On Saturday, the Cactus Chapter of World War II submariners held its annual meeting at John Robson’s Tombstone Territories RV Park. Robson, who has hosted the reunions for about six years, said it may have been the group’s last annual meeting at his RV park.
While there were nearly 100 people in attendance, most of them men served on the nuclear submarines that were built long after the war. Five from World War II showed up for the potluck, along with their family members and a group of riders with various motorcycle organizations.
Before the event began, a number of bikers escorted a 21-foot-long model of the nuclear submarine named for Tucson into the RV park.
  
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But emotions came out with tolling of a bell 52 times and Les Johnson read the names of the subs lost during World War II and the number of lives lost in those sinkings. Johnson served aboard the USS Batfish, SS 310.
Robson, 84, was going to read the names, but said he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.
During his war service, Robson served on the USS Ray, SS 271, where he rose to chief petty officer.
During one patrol, the Ray worked as part of a wolfpack with the USS Harder, SS 257, seeking out and sinking Japanese ships.
The Harder was one of the subs remembered during Saturday’s tolling of the bell ceremony.
Robson choked up after the ceremony, saying he had friends on that boat and it was sunk two days after the Ray parted company from it.
“I was going to do it, but I couldn’t,” Robson said, his voice cracking, his eyes glistening with tears of remembrance.
It was as if a sign in the meeting room stating “Their memories forever submerged in our hearts” really moved him.
The first sub listed as lost was the USS Sealion, SS 195, which was sunk on Dec. 10, 1941. The last named called was the USS Bulhead, SS 332, which went down on Aug. 6, 1945. The Harder was lost on Aug. 24, 1944.
When it comes to submariners, they all remember the name of their boat — subs are called boats, not ships — and the vessel’s number.
For Johnson, it was difficult to read the names of the boats lost and how many of their crew went down with them.
Only one American sub was lost in 1941, but seven were lost in 1942, 17 in 1943, 19 in 1944 and eight in 1945. Most of the losses of the nearly 400 submarines constructed during World War II were in the conflict’s Pacific Theater.
Johnson said that during his patrols he had been depth charged and once bombed by an American airplane.
On his last patrol on the Batfish, the war ended. For him, that was the best news.
The 83-year-old who lives outside of Sahuarita said the Batfish was off the coast of Japan near Nagasaki during that last patrol.
Shipping was light, so the crew used the deck gun and fired at a small Japanese Army post.
They were submerged off Nagasaki Bay when the second atom bomb was dropped on that city, Johnson said. Except for perhaps the captain, no one saw the bomb go off.
Glenn Moats, 84, of Sierra Vista, also was on his last patrol when the war ended.
“It was a successful war patrol,” he said, noting his boat, the USS Moray, SS 300, sank two Japanese cargo ships.
He stayed in the Navy, retiring as a master chief petty officer. Johnson left the Navy after his short war service, first during World War II and later when he re-enlisted during the Korean War, reaching the rank of petty officer second class.
Robson said the Cactus Chapter diesel submariners will now join with “the nuclear guys” and meet with them.
But for any sailor who is lost at sea, they are not dead in their shipmates’ minds.
“They are on eternal patrol,” as many at the meeting said.
Herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
Molon Labe wrote on Nov 9, 2008 3:04 PM: