Transcript
Oral History of John L. “Jack” Herron
Aug 1944 - Nov 1947
Interviewed by: CW2 Mark J. Denger
California Center for Military HistorySubmarines: USS Cusk (SS-348)
USS Cusk (SS-348)USS Atule (SS-403)USS Toro (SS-422)Interview:
S: Jack Herron, Long Beach, California. February 24, 1927. Lived there all my life went to school there until I entered the service in 1944. Graduated from Wilson High School in Long Beach, went in the service, went to boot camp in San Diego, completed that. Gave us three choices, my first choice was Under Water Demolition, I had been a surfer and had grown up on the beach and thought I could handle the rough open ocean swimming. So I put my name in there, I thought I could do okay. My second choice was just after the Normandy had caught fire in New York and turned on its side with so much water on it to put the fire out and, and the Navy put a Hardhat Diving School on the Normandy and I thought that would be a pretty good choice to maybe finish up the war and come home and maybe start a business, piers, bridges, and under water construction. My third choice was Submarines. And I don’t think the ink was even dry on the choice when two other fellows and I were on the train headed for New London, Connecticut, that’s how I ended up in the Submarine Service in 1944.
Jack Herron, Long Beach, California. February 24, 1927. Lived there all my life went to school there until I entered the service in 1944. Graduated from Wilson High School in Long Beach, went in the service, went to boot camp in San Diego, completed that. Gave us three choices, my first choice was Under Water Demolition, I had been a surfer and had grown up on the beach and thought I could handle the rough open ocean swimming. So I put my name in there, I thought I could do okay. My second choice was just after the Normandy had caught fire in New York and turned on its side with so much water on it to put the fire out and, and the Navy put a Hardhat Diving School on the Normandy and I thought that would be a pretty good choice to maybe finish up the war and come home and maybe start a business, piers, bridges, and under water construction. My third choice was Submarines. And I don’t think the ink was even dry on the choice when two other fellows and I were on the train headed for New London, Connecticut, that’s how I ended up in the Submarine Service in 1944. S: Okay December 7th, I was fourteen years old, lived in Long Beach and in the family room that morning, woman across the street came over and said I don’t know if you know this or not but Pearl Harbor has been bombed, and that’s how it all started. I was in junior high ninth grade. As we got to the tenth, and eleventh and twelve grade in high school. We begun to have more and more of our class mates that were a year or two ahead of us come back to school and tell us about the war and some of them had had major injuries. One fellow came back with just half a leg. And there was an atmosphere of let us get out of this school to win this war. So there was an enormous amount of pride in the nation. I think all of us that were in the twelfth grade when I was there were allowed to complete nine weeks of our senior year and then take a, a slip of paper around to all of our instructors and they would sign off. And they would allow us to go through boot camp and one service school and then they would mail you your diploma. And, it’s ironic because the surf was pretty good that year and I had spent a lot of time catching good surf in the wintertime and there was a demerit system in my high school and I wouldn’t have been allowed to walk across the stage along with four or five others, but luckily submarine school, finished that and they mailed my diploma. That’s how I graduated from high school. Our name in the year book was interesting because all of us had gone, all but two boys went in on the same day, they had stars after our names, down at the bottom it said, had departed for the Military service. Kind of interesting.
Okay December 7th, I was fourteen years old, lived in Long Beach and in the family room that morning, woman across the street came over and said I don’t know if you know this or not but Pearl Harbor has been bombed, and that’s how it all started. I was in junior high ninth grade. As we got to the tenth, and eleventh and twelve grade in high school. We begun to have more and more of our class mates that were a year or two ahead of us come back to school and tell us about the war and some of them had had major injuries. One fellow came back with just half a leg. And there was an atmosphere of let us get out of this school to win this war. So there was an enormous amount of pride in the nation. I think all of us that were in the twelfth grade when I was there were allowed to complete nine weeks of our senior year and then take a, a slip of paper around to all of our instructors and they would sign off. And they would allow us to go through boot camp and one service school and then they would mail you your diploma. And, it’s ironic because the surf was pretty good that year and I had spent a lot of time catching good surf in the wintertime and there was a demerit system in my high school and I wouldn’t have been allowed to walk across the stage along with four or five others, but luckily submarine school, finished that and they mailed my diploma. That’s how I graduated from high school. Our name in the year book was interesting because all of us had gone, all but two boys went in on the same day, they had stars after our names, down at the bottom it said, had departed for the Military service. Kind of interesting.Long Beach, California during WWII
S: Well it changed dramatically after the war started because we were a sea coast town and it wasn’t very far into 1942, when a Japanese submarine shelled the beach up above Kettleman Hills and up above Santa Barbara where they were trying to hit a oil field up there and an oil tank, so having had that there were all kinds of activities that parents were involved in, patrolling neighborhoods, closing the shades at night, everybody had dimmers on their cars you didn’t have any headlights. Rationing was almost immediate; you had to have stamps to get fuel, rubber tires, food, all of that. My mother worked in the ration office that was in the Belmont Shore here in Long Beach fire department, and people had to sign up to get stamps to, to get sugar, eggs and that sort of thing. I could remember downtown there was a scrap heap where people would come out of their garages and throw old tires and cans and bottles and all kinds of metal because it was all being directed towards the war efforts, so there was a, was a feeling we were at war, but I was just a young kid and in junior high and high school. We continued with our sports, we continued except we didn’t have any state championships anymore. I was on the track team and they had a Northern Division and a Southern California Division and they awarded it to the best time or the best distance for the Northern and Southern Division and that kind of hurt my feelings because I won the Southern Division in high jump and I beat the guy in the Northern Division, but it was never made a record. So I always kind of “dog gonnit!” Anyways, the war was important to all of us, and the further we went in school, the more we were aware that friends of ours had gone and hadn’t come home. And you developed an, an enormous amount of pride in your nation; and we would honor the service people that would come back and talk to us. And, we all wanted to go and get our job done. That was kind of how it ended up.
Well it changed dramatically after the war started because we were a sea coast town and it wasn’t very far into 1942, when a Japanese submarine shelled the beach up above Kettleman Hills and up above Santa Barbara where they were trying to hit a oil field up there and an oil tank, so having had that there were all kinds of activities that parents were involved in, patrolling neighborhoods, closing the shades at night, everybody had dimmers on their cars you didn’t have any headlights. Rationing was almost immediate; you had to have stamps to get fuel, rubber tires, food, all of that. My mother worked in the ration office that was in the Belmont Shore here in Long Beach fire department, and people had to sign up to get stamps to, to get sugar, eggs and that sort of thing. I could remember downtown there was a scrap heap where people would come out of their garages and throw old tires and cans and bottles and all kinds of metal because it was all being directed towards the war efforts, so there was a, was a feeling we were at war, but I was just a young kid and in junior high and high school. We continued with our sports, we continued except we didn’t have any state championships anymore. I was on the track team and they had a Northern Division and a Southern California Division and they awarded it to the best time or the best distance for the Northern and Southern Division and that kind of hurt my feelings because I won the Southern Division in high jump and I beat the guy in the Northern Division, but it was never made a record. So I always kind of “dog gonnit!” Anyways, the war was important to all of us, and the further we went in school, the more we were aware that friends of ours had gone and hadn’t come home. And you developed an, an enormous amount of pride in your nation; and we would honor the service people that would come back and talk to us. And, we all wanted to go and get our job done. That was kind of how it ended up. The day that we all left school, I had a couple of good buddies that joined the Merchant Marine, we were a seacoast town and that was just natural for them to do that. On liberty ships all over the world, a couple of them didn’t come back. I had a couple of good buddies that went in the Marine Corps. I went Navy. Some stayed another year in school and then made an effort to become an officer to get a commission. We were just too young, we were anxious to get out there and get it done, so. I kind of, thinking back, I kind of wish I had maybe made a little better effort to study for a commission and see if it can be done. Because they ate better, they slept better, I thought they had a better life we than we did although in the submarine service, as you know, I think we had the best life in any part of the military.
Joining the Navy
S: Signed up at the Long Beach recruiting office for the Navy, you know, we were seventeen and you couldn’t go without your parents permission and you had a slip that you had to have them sign, and my Dad was a college graduate and he was kind of frowning on me leaving high school to join the Navy. And I said to him, “But Dad you forgot you flew airplanes in World War I,” and he said, “Yeah, but I was in my second year in college and there was a war on,” and I said, “I know, there’s a war on here, and I’ve just got to do it, I don’t want be the only boy left in my class that doesn’t go into the military.” Anyway, He finally caved in and signed, and I joined the Navy.
Signed up at the Long Beach recruiting office for the Navy, you know, we were seventeen and you couldn’t go without your parents permission and you had a slip that you had to have them sign, and my Dad was a college graduate and he was kind of frowning on me leaving high school to join the Navy. And I said to him, “But Dad you forgot you flew airplanes in World War I,” and he said, “Yeah, but I was in my second year in college and there was a war on,” and I said, “I know, there’s a war on here, and I’ve just got to do it, I don’t want be the only boy left in my class that doesn’t go into the military.” Anyway, He finally caved in and signed, and I joined the Navy.Boot Camp
S: We, the day we were to report, my mother took me in the car, downtown Long Beach and we all got on the red car the Pacific Electric. There must have been oh, 15, 18 guys my age and some older we got on there to report to Los Angeles. We got up there, I’m a little shy, a little timid a skinny kid you know and there were some pretty good size guys, and. I didn’t want to offend anybody so we all got on a bus and they took us down to, to San Diego boot camp and that was quiet an experience. There were a lot of things that were new to me and all you do is follow directions and try to keep your nose out of trouble and boot camp went by pretty easily. You know we all had to swim, we all had to march you know all the stuff that went with it. Then we came to the three choices and of course mine was submarine service so I ended up there.
We, the day we were to report, my mother took me in the car, downtown Long Beach and we all got on the red car the Pacific Electric. There must have been oh, 15, 18 guys my age and some older we got on there to report to Los Angeles. We got up there, I’m a little shy, a little timid a skinny kid you know and there were some pretty good size guys, and. I didn’t want to offend anybody so we all got on a bus and they took us down to, to San Diego boot camp and that was quiet an experience. There were a lot of things that were new to me and all you do is follow directions and try to keep your nose out of trouble and boot camp went by pretty easily. You know we all had to swim, we all had to march you know all the stuff that went with it. Then we came to the three choices and of course mine was submarine service so I ended up there. You Never Know Who One Might Meet
S:Seventeen years old, I report to boot camp in San Diego I forget the number of the company, but in the company was Gene Kelley, a movie star, dancer, singer and often in the evenings he would dance on that long, long picnic table the whole length of the barracks and we lost track of him. We all went different places, figured he was gone and I had end up going back to New London with in the submarine service and went to a USO show on the base there, and rather than a, a sailor like me here was this USO Company coming through with Gene Kelley and he is now a full Lieutenant, so things can change if you are a celebrity and that’s all I am going to say.
Seventeen years old, I report to boot camp in San Diego I forget the number of the company, but in the company was Gene Kelley, a movie star, dancer, singer and often in the evenings he would dance on that long, long picnic table the whole length of the barracks and we lost track of him. We all went different places, figured he was gone and I had end up going back to New London with in the submarine service and went to a USO show on the base there, and rather than a, a sailor like me here was this USO Company coming through with Gene Kelley and he is now a full Lieutenant, so things can change if you are a celebrity and that’s all I am going to say.Submarine School
S: I am with two other guys on a train, my first train ride ever, going across the country. Got as far as I think it was Chicago we had to change trains once and went to New York and changed again and then up to New London, Connecticut and they had a bus waiting and they took as all to the sub base. We went into a building that was called the Spritz’s Navy. And Spritz was a Chief that was in charge of getting all of us pre sub-school guys all kind of lined up and giving us a little taste of what we were to expect in sub school. He was a pretty tough taskmaster, a very interesting guy. Tougher than an old boot you know, and if he liked you, you got evening duties like you’d be an usher at the theater there on the sub base, if he didn’t like you, and I was one of those, he would send you down to where they were hauling the boats in the railway and you got a chance to work up in some of the tanks and clean them and check valves and all that kind of stuff- dirty filthy. The reason he did not like me is really kind of a funny story. He lined all of us up as they started with the first one, came on down you were suppose to tell your name and where you were from? It got down to me and I said “Jack Herron, Long Beach, California”. He stopped right there and he said, “Well I’ll be damned, if it isn’t another fruitcake from the land of the fruits and nuts!” I thought geez, what’s this all about? I just grew up in California and I had no way of changing any of that. Anyway, I was one that he sent down to the lower base where the boats were up on the railway and we got to work inside some of those tanks so from the inside out I got a chance to see the submarine. School went well, started, met some wonderful guys, we got along well, there was a lot of studying, I loved it. I had messed with automobiles as a kid we had built hot rods in our garages, and so the mechanics of it all were, were just sort of second nature like the charts and the flows and the systems and pressures and temperatures and all the things that went with it just sort of hit me where I felt I was competent. So I did well in the school.
I am with two other guys on a train, my first train ride ever, going across the country. Got as far as I think it was Chicago we had to change trains once and went to New York and changed again and then up to New London, Connecticut and they had a bus waiting and they took as all to the sub base. We went into a building that was called the Spritz’s Navy. And Spritz was a Chief that was in charge of getting all of us pre sub-school guys all kind of lined up and giving us a little taste of what we were to expect in sub school. He was a pretty tough taskmaster, a very interesting guy. Tougher than an old boot you know, and if he liked you, you got evening duties like you’d be an usher at the theater there on the sub base, if he didn’t like you, and I was one of those, he would send you down to where they were hauling the boats in the railway and you got a chance to work up in some of the tanks and clean them and check valves and all that kind of stuff- dirty filthy. The reason he did not like me is really kind of a funny story. He lined all of us up as they started with the first one, came on down you were suppose to tell your name and where you were from? It got down to me and I said “Jack Herron, Long Beach, California”. He stopped right there and he said, “Well I’ll be damned, if it isn’t another fruitcake from the land of the fruits and nuts!” I thought geez, what’s this all about? I just grew up in California and I had no way of changing any of that. Anyway, I was one that he sent down to the lower base where the boats were up on the railway and we got to work inside some of those tanks so from the inside out I got a chance to see the submarine. School went well, started, met some wonderful guys, we got along well, there was a lot of studying, I loved it. I had messed with automobiles as a kid we had built hot rods in our garages, and so the mechanics of it all were, were just sort of second nature like the charts and the flows and the systems and pressures and temperatures and all the things that went with it just sort of hit me where I felt I was competent. So I did well in the school.Jack’s First Dive
S:Got through sub school, my first ride on a submarine was on what was called an “O” boat. There were a lot of “S” boats still serving the fleet, but the “O” boats were so archaic they had become school boats and so our first dive was on an “O” boat and I was a just little bit stunned. I think they took sixteen of us down and spread us out through the boat at different positions and the diving alarm sounded and I was in the control room and I will never forget it. There were huge emergency break levers called Kingston Valves and some guy, a Chief with a Chief’s hat on put a foot up on a the bulk head and got a hold of one of these and pulled it down and some other fellows came out with big gallon cans empty and put them down in specific places in the part of the boat I was in. I thought gee that was kind of strange- no one was chewing tobacco, I don’t know what the are going to do about that. We go down and barely get under the surface and all of a sudden a little stream of water comes through a rivet and goes right into the can down there and one came down over there. I did not have a good impression of what submarines were going to be like, it was hard for me to figure out how we were going to win a war with equipment like this, but this was just the school.
Got through sub school, my first ride on a submarine was on what was called an “O” boat. There were a lot of “S” boats still serving the fleet, but the “O” boats were so archaic they had become school boats and so our first dive was on an “O” boat and I was a just little bit stunned. I think they took sixteen of us down and spread us out through the boat at different positions and the diving alarm sounded and I was in the control room and I will never forget it. There were huge emergency break levers called Kingston Valves and some guy, a Chief with a Chief’s hat on put a foot up on a the bulk head and got a hold of one of these and pulled it down and some other fellows came out with big gallon cans empty and put them down in specific places in the part of the boat I was in. I thought gee that was kind of strange- no one was chewing tobacco, I don’t know what the are going to do about that. We go down and barely get under the surface and all of a sudden a little stream of water comes through a rivet and goes right into the can down there and one came down over there. I did not have a good impression of what submarines were going to be like, it was hard for me to figure out how we were going to win a war with equipment like this, but this was just the school.Advanced Schooling
S:Got through sub school and at that time they, they wanted us to have a specialty area where we could strike for a certain rating: a radioman, a torpedo man, a gunner’s mate, an electrician, and mechanically I felt that I knew my way around a little so I asked for submarine diesel school and went down there and really enjoyed it. One of the benefits of having a little bit of prior mechanical knowledge was that if you did well, you generally got a pretty good assignment in the fleet somewhere once you got through with that school.
Got through sub school and at that time they, they wanted us to have a specialty area where we could strike for a certain rating: a radioman, a torpedo man, a gunner’s mate, an electrician, and mechanically I felt that I knew my way around a little so I asked for submarine diesel school and went down there and really enjoyed it. One of the benefits of having a little bit of prior mechanical knowledge was that if you did well, you generally got a pretty good assignment in the fleet somewhere once you got through with that school.USS Cusk (SS-348)
S:It happened to me, I got sent right to new construction down at EB, which was the Electric Boat Company, where they were building boats and I got assigned to the USS CUSK (SS-348). Now the CUSK had been launched but it wasn’t in commission and we would go down everyday as part of the new construction crew, climb all over the boat and trace lines, and systems and draw pictures and attend classes and, and ironically I reported to a man that was the Executive Officer, by the name of Bill Norington, and Bill lives right here in Los Alamitos, and he’s a member of our chapter [U.S. Submarine Veterans of World War II] and we laugh about those days. I was just a lowly fireman, probably shaved about once or twice a week and he was the Executive Officer of a submarine and, and we didn’t hook up again until here at this chapter.
It happened to me, I got sent right to new construction down at EB, which was the Electric Boat Company, where they were building boats and I got assigned to the USS CUSK (SS-348). Now the CUSK had been launched but it wasn’t in commission and we would go down everyday as part of the new construction crew, climb all over the boat and trace lines, and systems and draw pictures and attend classes and, and ironically I reported to a man that was the Executive Officer, by the name of Bill Norington, and Bill lives right here in Los Alamitos, and he’s a member of our chapter [U.S. Submarine Veterans of World War II] and we laugh about those days. I was just a lowly fireman, probably shaved about once or twice a week and he was the Executive Officer of a submarine and, and we didn’t hook up again until here at this chapter.USS Atule (SS-403)
S:This is now fall of 1945. I went aboard the USS ATULE (SS-403) right around Thanksgiving. It was in Portsmouth, and I felt really fortunate because we had one of the better Skippers in the entire submarine group and his name was Jack Maurer. He was a Lieutenant Commander at the time and I just felt that I could pattern my life after somebody it would be him. But anyway, we came back down to New London and we were in the sub school assigned to taking officers out every day on Long Island sound. We would make 16 dives and come back. Then we had an assignment that was going to take us up to ice flow. They wanted to take a submarine under the ice to take some pictures to find out how the different temperature gradients of water under it would affect the operation of a submarine, etc. So we went to the yard and they built some guards up over the periscope sheers and mounted some lights on the lookout stands, put a camera between the sheers, took us up to a barracks in New London, and had us leave all of our clothing there so we could be assigned and issued Army foul weather gear, experimental stuff, and this all worked pretty well.
This is now fall of 1945. I went aboard the USS ATULE (SS-403) right around Thanksgiving. It was in Portsmouth, and I felt really fortunate because we had one of the better Skippers in the entire submarine group and his name was Jack Maurer. He was a Lieutenant Commander at the time and I just felt that I could pattern my life after somebody it would be him. But anyway, we came back down to New London and we were in the sub school assigned to taking officers out every day on Long Island sound. We would make 16 dives and come back. Then we had an assignment that was going to take us up to ice flow. They wanted to take a submarine under the ice to take some pictures to find out how the different temperature gradients of water under it would affect the operation of a submarine, etc. So we went to the yard and they built some guards up over the periscope sheers and mounted some lights on the lookout stands, put a camera between the sheers, took us up to a barracks in New London, and had us leave all of our clothing there so we could be assigned and issued Army foul weather gear, experimental stuff, and this all worked pretty well. We didn’t look like sailors; we looked more like soldiers. Then in early in July ‘46, we started up the west coast of Greenland and we were 53 days above the Arctic circle. For a diesel boat, fleet boat, it was really awkward because we really didn’t have a lot of heat on the inside of the boat, and we would have ice in some of the lower flats inside of the boat. It was hard to keep warm. Once we passed the Arctic circle, we began to take a series of dives every day at the same time, and they would go to 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 feet and take little samples of water. We would put them in these boxes that we had sitting in the passage ways and take it back to the Navy Department so they could run salinity tests to find out what the degree of salt was in the water, all the way up the west coast of Greenland, all the way through the Thule area and up into Baffin Bay and right up to the ice flow. They sent the Norton Sound, a tender, up to accompany us, and we were now to dive under the ice. It was interesting because we had just a regular gyro compass aboard the boat we didn’t have any inertial navigation. We just had regular compasses and once we got up that far, everything began to sort of point to South, and we would have a hard time finding our way, once we got under the ice. So they sent this tender up and she was to ping on us and follow us as we went under the ice.
Well, it’s not very dramatic but we went very slow and dropped it down below periscope depth and then some. I think it was 5 feet. And we’d begin very, very slowly to go under the ice. Just a few hundred yards began to scrape so they dropped it down 25 feet, we went further and scraped again, and we were 87 feet keel depth under this ice and still scraping it and had no idea what we were hitting, but taking these pictures all the time with these flood lights and, we went about a mile and I can remember the Skipper saying, “OK, all hands now hear this: We have been here, we have done what we were supposed to do. Drop this thing down 5 feet and back us out of here.” So we backed all the way back out, not knowing anything about what we had taken pictures of and so on. So when we finally got out and surfaced, they took the cameras over to the Norton Sound, and they developed all the film. There wasn’t anything to see, the lights didn’t work, the camera, everything was gray. We never saw anything. This looked like a piece of gray paint up there. Anyway, that’s where it was. We fired torpedoes at icebergs, to see what damage we would do, which was negligent. I mean you get little shards of ice flying around and that’s about it. Huge bang, a lot of noise.
We sent a shore party over to see if we could get any fresh meat as we had a dory that was upside down on our afterdeck by the 5 inch. We had plugs in it so that we could drain the air out of it when we were submerged, but when we put the plugs back in it, turned it over, launched it, we were able to get 6 guys in it. They took all the handguns from the boat, 45’s, a machine gun, and all the stuff they had. All we could hear, all day long, was shooting up in the hills. You know, there’s big mountains up there. And we thought “This is going to be great. We’re going to have some fresh meat tonight and this is going to be fun.” And so they came back and came aboard, and the only thing they shot was a rabbit that had very little hair on it, they were holding it by the ears, and it looked like it had already been skinned.
While we were up there, we had a young seaman by the name of Ferrie, and he began to get ill with a pulmonary hemorrhage. What had happened before they sent us up on this trip, they put us all through the [diving] tank there in New London. You could do 50 feet. You had to do 50 feet, and then 100 feet was optional. And a bunch of us did 100 feet just because it was a kick, and he was one of them. Evidently he didn’t breathe continuously through his Momson Lung and must’ve ruptured a lung, because by the time we got up, way up into Baffin Bay, he was quite ill and began to bleed internally. They couldn’t stop it and we had no way to get him out, and he died onboard. So, we took fire extinguishers and froze the body and wrapped him all up in a sheet and put him in a meat locker and called for some help. And a seaplane tender, I cannot remember the name of it, came up and they had a PBY on there. They flew the PBY over, landed and took a pharmacist mate and a couple of fire extinguishers aboard the rubber boat, got him over in the PBY. Because the war is over, you had to bring the body back the states. The family had requested that the body come back. The plane took off to bring the body back to New York. And they had to land in Goose Bay Labrador to refuel. In landing, the PBY hit ice, and it opened it up. The plane’s going to sink and they’ve now got one of our pharmacist mates and they got our dead shipmate, and they got the crew of the PBY. They’ve got to get them off in a rubber boat that they’re inflating, and they got rescued, but eventually they finally got the body back to New York.
The Skipper wanted to have [memorial] services outside on the boat. We are in water that is about 29 degrees. None of us have a pea coat. Some didn’t even have dress blues, some just had the regular undress blues. That’s all we had because we had left everything in the lockers back in New London at the barracks. So here we are, up there, and they’re reading the service, and it was appropriate that we would do it. We didn’t have a body to commit but we wanted to do the service, and we just about froze. We finally got down and all got bundled up again and we took off. But, it was an interesting time.
When we brought all the material back from the Navy Department, we found that there was significant glacier run-off. We would be at 100 feet going along in salt water, and all of a sudden we would start to sink and it was quite rapid. You would just go right on down because we had hit fresh water, and you would just sink like a stone. And so the trim was very difficult to keep all the time. While we would be submerged, we could hear pinging. We didn’t know where it was coming from. We would surface, daylight all the time, it never got dark, and we could see a ship off on the horizon and the Skipper would head towards it, and that ship would move away from us. We never found out until after it was all over that it was a Russian ship pinging the bottom, trying to chart the bottom of that channel between Greenland and what was then Canada in Labrador, way up in that area up there. Prior to any of the nuclear boats even going under the Poles, we were trying to get charts and find our way around and it was pretty primitive. But it was exciting.
To talk a little more about the death of the seaman that we had up there, Paul Ferrie. When we froze the body with the fire extinguishers and wrapped him in the sheet, we put him down in the meat locker which is in the after battery. It’s in the mess hall area. There’s a big hatch that you go down in there and the mess attendants and stewards from officer’s country forward of the battery come back and use that ice box down there. In that refrigerator was a lot of storage and I guess nobody told one of them that we had a body down there; because the next day, the hatch opened up and we had all forgotten about it and, and this mess attendant went on down there and we heard this horrible scream down there and we figured that all of a sudden he had found the body of one of our shipmates. They had to explain it to him. But he never went back down there in that refrigerator again; that was the end of it. He stayed in the forward battery, and was not very pleased with what he found.
We completed the trip up there. We stopped in the Magdalane Islands, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, a French town, all fisherman. We dropped an anchor in the morning, just as the sun was coming up, we could hear a lot of, like “Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop--poppety-pop, pop-pop” noises, and we didn’t know what that was and out of this fog and mist comes 50-75 little, tiny dories with 1-cyllinder engines in them all going out to fish for the day, fish for cod for the day, and when they came back, they came right by the boat, and we hailed a couple of them and we got a couple of dozen cod, big, nice, fresh cod, caught 2-3 hours before and we had fresh fish that night which was really pretty nicely done.
Qualified in Submarines
S:It was now back to the states. Coming back I qualified on the ATULE. A big day in my life. I think all submariners are very proud of the day you qualify. The Skipper shakes your hand. The first dock you hit, they throw you overboard. It’s kind of fun. But I was just tickled because I had worked hard at it and was very proud and pleased to be a member of the crew.
It was now back to the states. Coming back I qualified on the ATULE. A big day in my life. I think all submariners are very proud of the day you qualify. The Skipper shakes your hand. The first dock you hit, they throw you overboard. It’s kind of fun. But I was just tickled because I had worked hard at it and was very proud and pleased to be a member of the crew.Sub Base, New London as a School Boat
S:When we came on back to New London, we became a school boat again, taking out the officers and crew and students. I remember one officer. A student officer by the name of Robert Kaufman. Kaufman came out, came aboard us as a Ensign. He was born and raised in Washington, D.C., his dad had been an Admiral in the Navy and he had gone to a school in Washington, D.C. But he had gone to school with a First Class Quartermaster on our boat by the name of Francis Ruth. Here’s a guy with, you know, two lady’s names. You know, we used to kid him all the time. He had a lady’s front name and a lady’s last name, but anyway, those two guys, Ensign Kaufman and Frank Ruth had gone to school together so they were good buddies and Ruth was a Quartermaster. He stood watch on the bridge and he was always in the Conning Tower, and Kaufman, this Ensign, was on the trim-manifold when he made his first dive. And our Skipper, Jack Maurer, was up in the Coding Tower. We went down to periscope depth and Ensign Kaufman was right behind me and giving orders for the stern planes and trim-manifold. And the Skipper calls down from the conning tower “Watch your trim, Bob!” You know, that stern voice, and I’ll never forget it because Robert Kaufman, when he got transferred off that ATULE and made JG. Our Yeoman was named Steve Zamminek. Zamminek was a New York Yankees fan, he knew every player; every game they ever played; and he’d spend all kinds of time at the Yankee Stadium when he was off on liberty and stuff. Now he and Kaufman were baseball nuts, and when Kaufman was giving all his material for Zamminek to type, he typed in Yogi Kaufman. And so when the papers arrived at his next station, here was not Ensign or JG Robert Kaufman, it was Yogi and it stayed with him all the way through when he retired as an Admiral. Yogi Kaufman and his son are very spectacular photographers, they’ve done great books, one called Steel Boats, Iron Men, and it’s about submarines and all, but I’ll never forget when he was just a raw Ensign came aboard and made his first dive. And those are things that stick with you, you know, through all the years.
When we came on back to New London, we became a school boat again, taking out the officers and crew and students. I remember one officer. A student officer by the name of Robert Kaufman. Kaufman came out, came aboard us as a Ensign. He was born and raised in Washington, D.C., his dad had been an Admiral in the Navy and he had gone to a school in Washington, D.C. But he had gone to school with a First Class Quartermaster on our boat by the name of Francis Ruth. Here’s a guy with, you know, two lady’s names. You know, we used to kid him all the time. He had a lady’s front name and a lady’s last name, but anyway, those two guys, Ensign Kaufman and Frank Ruth had gone to school together so they were good buddies and Ruth was a Quartermaster. He stood watch on the bridge and he was always in the Conning Tower, and Kaufman, this Ensign, was on the trim-manifold when he made his first dive. And our Skipper, Jack Maurer, was up in the Coding Tower. We went down to periscope depth and Ensign Kaufman was right behind me and giving orders for the stern planes and trim-manifold. And the Skipper calls down from the conning tower “Watch your trim, Bob!” You know, that stern voice, and I’ll never forget it because Robert Kaufman, when he got transferred off that ATULE and made JG. Our Yeoman was named Steve Zamminek. Zamminek was a New York Yankees fan, he knew every player; every game they ever played; and he’d spend all kinds of time at the Yankee Stadium when he was off on liberty and stuff. Now he and Kaufman were baseball nuts, and when Kaufman was giving all his material for Zamminek to type, he typed in Yogi Kaufman. And so when the papers arrived at his next station, here was not Ensign or JG Robert Kaufman, it was Yogi and it stayed with him all the way through when he retired as an Admiral. Yogi Kaufman and his son are very spectacular photographers, they’ve done great books, one called Steel Boats, Iron Men, and it’s about submarines and all, but I’ll never forget when he was just a raw Ensign came aboard and made his first dive. And those are things that stick with you, you know, through all the years.Jack gets a Nickname
S:When I first reported aboard the ATULE, we were on our first cruise, heading down the Caribbean. We were all in the mess hall. Everybody that lives in the mess hall when you’re off watch and they’re hanging around, and they all started saying “Okay everybody, bring out of your wallet, bring the picture of your sweetie, of the gal you left at home on the beach, the one that you really think is the love of your life.” So everybody’s bringing out these pictures and I didn’t have one and so they started to ride me a little about it. “Okay Herron, where’s yours? Where’s the love of your life? Come on, bring your wallet out.” So I took my wallet out and opened it up and very sheepishly brought the picture that I had in there. It was of a Hot Rod that I had built and left home in my garage. The pride of my life you know. I had spent a lot of time on it. All the intricate parts of a car were there. It was a 1929 Roadster with a 29 C block and a B crank, and in it duel carburetors and overhead valves. All the things that you make race cars out of. And so right then, my name became Hot Rod Herron. So, people get nicknames, everybody on the boat has a nickname, and I was Hot Rod from then on. And so whenever we went to a Navy Yard, and the boat was going up out of the railway or something, I would be the ship’s driver. They would issue us a station wagon and a pick-up truck. It was just a lot of fun.
When I first reported aboard the ATULE, we were on our first cruise, heading down the Caribbean. We were all in the mess hall. Everybody that lives in the mess hall when you’re off watch and they’re hanging around, and they all started saying “Okay everybody, bring out of your wallet, bring the picture of your sweetie, of the gal you left at home on the beach, the one that you really think is the love of your life.” So everybody’s bringing out these pictures and I didn’t have one and so they started to ride me a little about it. “Okay Herron, where’s yours? Where’s the love of your life? Come on, bring your wallet out.” So I took my wallet out and opened it up and very sheepishly brought the picture that I had in there. It was of a Hot Rod that I had built and left home in my garage. The pride of my life you know. I had spent a lot of time on it. All the intricate parts of a car were there. It was a 1929 Roadster with a 29 C block and a B crank, and in it duel carburetors and overhead valves. All the things that you make race cars out of. And so right then, my name became Hot Rod Herron. So, people get nicknames, everybody on the boat has a nickname, and I was Hot Rod from then on. And so whenever we went to a Navy Yard, and the boat was going up out of the railway or something, I would be the ship’s driver. They would issue us a station wagon and a pick-up truck. It was just a lot of fun. Here’s a story about that. I love cars as all young guys do. And we were on a bus on our way to Hartford, Connecticut on liberty and we’re going by a used car lot. And here was a ’40 Ford convertible, maroon with a beige top sitting on the used car lot. I asked the bus driver to stop and I got off. I went over, looked at that car. I just loved it. Here I was 18 years old I couldn’t own a car in the state of Connecticut. So I got on the phone and called the boat and one of our Auxiliary Gang, a guy named Jack McKee, a first class, good friend. I asked him if I would buy him a case of beer, if he would come to Hartfort on the next bus and let me register a car in his name. And that then we would sign an agreement that it was really my car, but it was in his name. So he did, and I of course owed him a case of beer and we did that. But I had that car there, so in New London, you had to park outside the gate, you couldn’t bring the car in the gate. And then at night, when I would get a couple of my buddies and we would drive to New Haven to watch the Midget Auto Races. We would come back and we’d be back about midnight, we’d make the rounds of all the bars in New London and get all of our buddies that had maybe had too much to drink in the car and take them back to the base. So I was sort of a drunk shuttle, you know, back and forth, and it was a lot of fun.
When we got to Philadelphia, they were going to take our boat, put it up in the railway, and cut the entire maneuvering room out of it. And here, here’s a submarine with 8 compartments long sitting in the railway and you can stand back and look at it. And they cut the maneuvering room out, so here’s everything right out to the engine room, and here’s the after torpedo room, and there’s a big empty space in here, and they bring another maneuvering room and they just put it right down in there and what they did the took away our, our motors that were high speed and reduction gears because there was this enormous wind noise that would come out of the reduction gears, and some of the newer boats, when they were built, were built with slow-speed motors, but ours was built with high-speed motors and the reduction gears and so you would broadcast that noise through the water and any enemy could pick you up, you know, miles and miles away. So we had ours changed while we were at the Navy yard. I was the ship’s duty driver and they had issued us this station wagon. It was a ’41 Mercury. And of course I owned a ’40 Ford convertible. Now, at that time, 1940 and ’41, there was a 10-horse power difference in the engines, in the Mercury engine and the Ford engine. So, I got a bunch of buddies and a couple of torpedomen together and we got in my car and that station wagon, opened the torpedo shop there in the Philadelphia Navy Yard, and took our both cars in there, the station wagon and mine, and swapped engines. We used all the chain falls, all the tools and all that kind of stuff, and, so I had this Mercury engine in my Ford convertible, and the station wagon had my Ford engine. I don’t know what ever happened, I don’t know if anybody ever found out or not, but when I got that car back to California, I had a devil of a time getting it registered because the engine numbers were wrong, and I just kept saying “I have no idea,” you know, “I don’t have a clue how this happened.” But anyway, that’s, that’s neither here nor there. Embarrassing stories.
Tic-Tac-Toe
S:We went to fleet maneuvers in the Caribbean, came back to Bermuda for a four day stay. I had the duty first day. My friend, Frank Kiss Etah Joe, looked just like one of the Eskimos that we had met up north and had paddled a kayak to us and we traded a harpoon for a flashlight, but Frank Kiss and I was in the duty section of the engine room. Everybody had gone ashore, there being just a few of us on board, and the water was 80 degrees, crystal clear. I dove over the side of the boat to take a look at the bottom and it was covered with moss. You know, kind of growthy in there, and I made a Tic-Tac-Toe thing, and put a “zero” and I said “Hey Frank, come on down.“ So he went in and put an “X” and we played Tic-Tac-Toe on the bottom of the ATULE for hours. And then we began to get a little creative. We began to sign our names in it and all this is down underneath the water; who’s ever going to see it?
We went to fleet maneuvers in the Caribbean, came back to Bermuda for a four day stay. I had the duty first day. My friend, Frank Kiss Etah Joe, looked just like one of the Eskimos that we had met up north and had paddled a kayak to us and we traded a harpoon for a flashlight, but Frank Kiss and I was in the duty section of the engine room. Everybody had gone ashore, there being just a few of us on board, and the water was 80 degrees, crystal clear. I dove over the side of the boat to take a look at the bottom and it was covered with moss. You know, kind of growthy in there, and I made a Tic-Tac-Toe thing, and put a “zero” and I said “Hey Frank, come on down.“ So he went in and put an “X” and we played Tic-Tac-Toe on the bottom of the ATULE for hours. And then we began to get a little creative. We began to sign our names in it and all this is down underneath the water; who’s ever going to see it? Well low and behold, we leave Bermuda come right to the sub-base at New London and go to degaussing pier. They demagnetized the boat and then up the railway it goes. As the boat is coming up in the railway, we’re all standing around and talking and having a big time and the speaker goes and I can hear it calling: “Herron report to the Skipper” or “Report to the Captain.” So I go wandering around, I find him and I say: “Hey Skip, you want to see me?” He says “Yeah. Jack can you explain what this is all about right here?” And here’s the boat coming up out of the water with my name all over the bottom and Tic-Tac-Toe. I explained it to him and he said “Well, there’s no harm done. But when we paint the boat you will find yourself in boatswain’s chair and we will tow you back and forth with a paint gun in your hand into a barrel of bottom paint. But we’ll swing you and you’ll get a chance to paint the entire portside of the boat.” So that was my penalty; you know, I had to paint the boat and got filthy, dirty, but…
Transition USS Atule (SS-403) to the USS Toro (SS-422)
S:Stayed aboard the ATULE and in February of ’47, we were going to put the boat out of commission. It was a very good boat. A thick skin hull, a good boat, two 5-inch guns rather than one. We had a second one put on Majulo. It was a good boat but they were going to put it out of commission, save it, mothball it. They took somewhere between 15 and 20 of us and transferred us over to a boat called the TORO, the 422. ATULE was 403. The 422, another thick-skinned boat, a good boat, was the very first boat that was mothballed after the war. They wanted to put TORO back into commission to find out how long it took, what was the expense, what it cost the Navy, how much stuff was stolen when they moth-balled it, and then to operate the boat as part of the fleet. We, we did that, we put it back into commission, they had even, even after we had it in commission they even towed a captured German submarine, I think it was the 571 or the 551, something like that. And they towed it out of Boston, about 40 miles and gave us an experimental torpedo to fire at this captured German submarine. We had to be still in the water. They didn’t know what this fish (torpedo) was going to do. So we were dead in the water, standing by to get underway if we had to get the boat turned in any way. We fired it from the surface, and pictures of the boat and the track of the torpedo and its explosion were published in a series of four panels in the LA Times. And it was taken from a Derigiable, a Navy lighter-than-air aircraft, and my mother cut it out of the newspaper because it was the TORO. We had fired and sunk a ship, but it was long after the war had been over. This was now like it was somewhere in the June-July of ’47.
Stayed aboard the ATULE and in February of ’47, we were going to put the boat out of commission. It was a very good boat. A thick skin hull, a good boat, two 5-inch guns rather than one. We had a second one put on Majulo. It was a good boat but they were going to put it out of commission, save it, mothball it. They took somewhere between 15 and 20 of us and transferred us over to a boat called the TORO, the 422. ATULE was 403. The 422, another thick-skinned boat, a good boat, was the very first boat that was mothballed after the war. They wanted to put TORO back into commission to find out how long it took, what was the expense, what it cost the Navy, how much stuff was stolen when they moth-balled it, and then to operate the boat as part of the fleet. We, we did that, we put it back into commission, they had even, even after we had it in commission they even towed a captured German submarine, I think it was the 571 or the 551, something like that. And they towed it out of Boston, about 40 miles and gave us an experimental torpedo to fire at this captured German submarine. We had to be still in the water. They didn’t know what this fish (torpedo) was going to do. So we were dead in the water, standing by to get underway if we had to get the boat turned in any way. We fired it from the surface, and pictures of the boat and the track of the torpedo and its explosion were published in a series of four panels in the LA Times. And it was taken from a Derigiable, a Navy lighter-than-air aircraft, and my mother cut it out of the newspaper because it was the TORO. We had fired and sunk a ship, but it was long after the war had been over. This was now like it was somewhere in the June-July of ’47.Discharge to Retirement
S:I stayed aboard the TORO, until I was discharged. I was only in for what was called a “minority cruise.” I went in and got discharged just prior to being 21. Got paid off with a couple of guys, they were good buddies. I went off to Danvers, Mass and lived at one fellow’s house with him, we were paid off together, I stayed there a month, then I drove the car home, went back to school, signed under the GI bill, went to college, majored in chemistry, and stayed at Shell Chemical for 10 years in Ventura, California. We started a brand new, beautiful plant to make urea which was then a bulk cattle feed and also a supplement for nitrogen source for growth. Stayed there for 10 years and then realized that I wasn’t going to make a lot of money there. I loved boats and cars and raising kids and buying houses. I had an opportunity to join as a member firm of the New York Stock Exchange, as a registered representative of the New York Stock Exchange. It was Eastman Dillon Union Securities. I had never taken a business course in my life, so I thought I was sort of a fish out of water, but, did well, stayed there 5 years in Ventura. I then got an opportunity to join a trust company in Boston at 5200 Berkeley Street called Massachusetts Financial Services. Stayed there 25 years, traveled the country and represented them in the institutional sales department. Decided that the travel was going to kill me and wanted to come back to California. So, I asked to be transferred, they gave me the territory of southern California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Hawaii. And so I was selling to the member firms of the New York Stock Exchange our trust services and investment management. It’s one of those things that you just are at the right place at the right time. It’s nothing that you do, it’s just good fortune, you know you happen to be there and we did okay and, and kept a life together, put the kids through college, when I came back out to California. I stayed 10 years at a firm called Crowell Wheaton, a member firm of the New York Stock Exchange, was a partner of the firm, did the hiring and training and branch management, that sort of thing. And, I retired in ’93 and…
I stayed aboard the TORO, until I was discharged. I was only in for what was called a “minority cruise.” I went in and got discharged just prior to being 21. Got paid off with a couple of guys, they were good buddies. I went off to Danvers, Mass and lived at one fellow’s house with him, we were paid off together, I stayed there a month, then I drove the car home, went back to school, signed under the GI bill, went to college, majored in chemistry, and stayed at Shell Chemical for 10 years in Ventura, California. We started a brand new, beautiful plant to make urea which was then a bulk cattle feed and also a supplement for nitrogen source for growth. Stayed there for 10 years and then realized that I wasn’t going to make a lot of money there. I loved boats and cars and raising kids and buying houses. I had an opportunity to join as a member firm of the New York Stock Exchange, as a registered representative of the New York Stock Exchange. It was Eastman Dillon Union Securities. I had never taken a business course in my life, so I thought I was sort of a fish out of water, but, did well, stayed there 5 years in Ventura. I then got an opportunity to join a trust company in Boston at 5200 Berkeley Street called Massachusetts Financial Services. Stayed there 25 years, traveled the country and represented them in the institutional sales department. Decided that the travel was going to kill me and wanted to come back to California. So, I asked to be transferred, they gave me the territory of southern California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Hawaii. And so I was selling to the member firms of the New York Stock Exchange our trust services and investment management. It’s one of those things that you just are at the right place at the right time. It’s nothing that you do, it’s just good fortune, you know you happen to be there and we did okay and, and kept a life together, put the kids through college, when I came back out to California. I stayed 10 years at a firm called Crowell Wheaton, a member firm of the New York Stock Exchange, was a partner of the firm, did the hiring and training and branch management, that sort of thing. And, I retired in ’93 and… Reunions
S:I was home one day in September ’93, my wife said “I don’t know if you know this or not, but there are a bunch of submarine veterans of World War II meeting out at Disneyland.” I said “You got to be kidding.” I knew nothing of the organization U.S. Submarine Veterans of World War II. I had joined the Navy Submarine League down in San Diego about 10 years before. Joe McGrievey down there had said to me one time “You know, you’ve come a long way down here you ought to join the group up in the Long Beach area.” I didn’t realize what group he was talking about. It turned out that he was talking about was the Los Angeles Area Chapter of U.S. Submarine Veterans of World War II.
I was home one day in September ’93, my wife said “I don’t know if you know this or not, but there are a bunch of submarine veterans of World War II meeting out at Disneyland.” I said “You got to be kidding.” I knew nothing of the organization U.S. Submarine Veterans of World War II. I had joined the Navy Submarine League down in San Diego about 10 years before. Joe McGrievey down there had said to me one time “You know, you’ve come a long way down here you ought to join the group up in the Long Beach area.” I didn’t realize what group he was talking about. It turned out that he was talking about was the Los Angeles Area Chapter of U.S. Submarine Veterans of World War II. This was ’93 and I read this article about the Sub Vets meeting out at Disneyland, national convention, so I went out there. I paid my money to register, got a little badge that said Jack Herron, ATULE 403. Most of us had boat names on our stuff. We would use the boat we qualified on, or that was the one that I used anyway. Although I did serve on the TORO. Anyway I got there and was signing up when standing behind me a fellow says to me “Hey Herron, what are you doing here?” I turned around and it’s Bill Stewart. It’s the guy that I got paid off with, served 3 years with and live him a month up in Danvers, Massachusetts before I went home to California. So he’s there and we’re talking there was a great big board outside the hospitality suite with little circles on it and the circles were indicating a table number on the inside where you could find your boat. So I looked up ATULE and it was table 41. So I kind of walked over towards this table in the corner, a table with a bunch of guys all sitting there, I didn’t recognize one of them. They all had gray hair, they all put a little weight on, except the guy who’s back was to me. He had this ball cap kind of jauntily over to one side. I know everyone can do this one time in your life but you know you know that person. I had not seen this guy since 1947, and this was now ‘93. And I bent down and I said “You’ve got to be Charles John Joseph McAtamaney.” And he stood up and he turned around and he said “Well if it isn’t John Livingston Herron.” He was the guy in charge of the engine room that I first reported to aboard the ATULE. I was his oiler. I sailed with him in that same engine room for 2-½ years and on the TORO for almost another 8 months. We had spent all that time together, funny stories and all that, but anyway we had a handshake and a hug and he introduced me to all the guys. Only a couple of them I knew because the rest of them had already been paid off and had gone home before I came aboard.
Memories
S:I guess one of the joys of the Submarine Service is that you develop contacts with other men that you would never, never believe how strong it is. It’s just something you can’t forget. It’s inbred in you. There are times you’ll wake up at night and hear something and it will remind you of a sound on the boat. When you go aboard a museum boat and you smell something and you’ll flashback to those days. You know, it was just part of your life. So I had a wonderful, wonderful career, and then luckily I was able to retire in ’93. My wife and I enjoy boating, and I’ve been a member of the chapter [Los Angeles Area Chapter, U.S. Submarine Veterans of World War II] ever since ’93 and this is the highlight of my life. These are the guys that I sailed with. Most of us were on different boats and served different times together but there are some people that were on the same boat with me here. We are all shipmates; that’s just exactly what this is. It’s a love affair with guys that you respect. We’ve got this wonderful memorial out in front [National World War II Submarine Veterans Memorial, Seal Beach, California], every Memorial Day we have a huge group of people that are just fascinated with the submarine story. We get 300 to 400 guests that come and watch our services and we pay tribute to each boat that was lost, each one of the 52, and we ring a bell for each. We tell how many were lost on that boat because our buddies that went out there and didn’t come back, have no crosses anywhere. We don’t know where they’re buried. We don’t know what happened. We just know that they are on “eternal patrol”. That’s it.
I guess one of the joys of the Submarine Service is that you develop contacts with other men that you would never, never believe how strong it is. It’s just something you can’t forget. It’s inbred in you. There are times you’ll wake up at night and hear something and it will remind you of a sound on the boat. When you go aboard a museum boat and you smell something and you’ll flashback to those days. You know, it was just part of your life. So I had a wonderful, wonderful career, and then luckily I was able to retire in ’93. My wife and I enjoy boating, and I’ve been a member of the chapter [Los Angeles Area Chapter, U.S. Submarine Veterans of World War II] ever since ’93 and this is the highlight of my life. These are the guys that I sailed with. Most of us were on different boats and served different times together but there are some people that were on the same boat with me here. We are all shipmates; that’s just exactly what this is. It’s a love affair with guys that you respect. We’ve got this wonderful memorial out in front [National World War II Submarine Veterans Memorial, Seal Beach, California], every Memorial Day we have a huge group of people that are just fascinated with the submarine story. We get 300 to 400 guests that come and watch our services and we pay tribute to each boat that was lost, each one of the 52, and we ring a bell for each. We tell how many were lost on that boat because our buddies that went out there and didn’t come back, have no crosses anywhere. We don’t know where they’re buried. We don’t know what happened. We just know that they are on “eternal patrol”. That’s it.Jack’s Thoughts on the Memorial
S:Just a little bit more about the memorial. It affects everybody differently, but that memorial is there as a dedication to the 52 boats that went down. On each boat somewhere between 80 or 85 members of the crew would be lost. Sometimes they didn’t lose many at all, sometimes they didn’t lose any and the boat was lost. But this is a memorial out here for those that gave their lives, in the service of the country. And we are close to them because we all served under the same conditions, and it’s very difficult to explain but, in the Submarine Service, every time you would come into a port they would transfer a certain percent of the crew to another boat as experienced people and bring new people in and so you were moving from boat to boat, so you sailed with many, many of these men that did not come back from patrols in the Pacific. And it’s that dedication that we have. Out there, 52 of them, and of course we’ve included the 2 nuclear boats that were lost in 60’s, USS THRESHER (SSN-593) and USS SCORPION (SSN-589). We all served in the same kind of conditions and we have enormous respect for all of the other submarine sailors because we just have that knowledge that, you never know if you’re going to come back to see the sun again. That’s the kind of a thing we have. We have a Memorial Day service and people come to join us to, hear and see the dedication. It’s very moving, it’s emotional. As grown men we have shipmates all over the country but we will meet in a hug and there’s just some kind of a bond that you develop sailing around on a sea going sewer pipe that you cannot break. It’s just something that is absolutely unforgettable in your mind. Smells, noises, anything will trigger an event back in those days; but that’s what we do. We owe it to those that didn’t come back and, so, it’s wonderful, a pleasant experience for those of us that can participate in it.
Just a little bit more about the memorial. It affects everybody differently, but that memorial is there as a dedication to the 52 boats that went down. On each boat somewhere between 80 or 85 members of the crew would be lost. Sometimes they didn’t lose many at all, sometimes they didn’t lose any and the boat was lost. But this is a memorial out here for those that gave their lives, in the service of the country. And we are close to them because we all served under the same conditions, and it’s very difficult to explain but, in the Submarine Service, every time you would come into a port they would transfer a certain percent of the crew to another boat as experienced people and bring new people in and so you were moving from boat to boat, so you sailed with many, many of these men that did not come back from patrols in the Pacific. And it’s that dedication that we have. Out there, 52 of them, and of course we’ve included the 2 nuclear boats that were lost in 60’s, USS THRESHER (SSN-593) and USS SCORPION (SSN-589). We all served in the same kind of conditions and we have enormous respect for all of the other submarine sailors because we just have that knowledge that, you never know if you’re going to come back to see the sun again. That’s the kind of a thing we have. We have a Memorial Day service and people come to join us to, hear and see the dedication. It’s very moving, it’s emotional. As grown men we have shipmates all over the country but we will meet in a hug and there’s just some kind of a bond that you develop sailing around on a sea going sewer pipe that you cannot break. It’s just something that is absolutely unforgettable in your mind. Smells, noises, anything will trigger an event back in those days; but that’s what we do. We owe it to those that didn’t come back and, so, it’s wonderful, a pleasant experience for those of us that can participate in it.Conclusion
S:I think maybe that’s going to be the end of it for me. Let me just tell you my name is Jack Herron, I was born in Long Beach, California, February 24, 1927. I went in the Navy the summer of 1944. I came home Thanksgiving of 1947. I spent my life in the securities business really except for 10 years with Shell Chemical. I spent my life in the securities business, retired in ’93, have been a member of this chapter [Los Angeles Area Chapter, U.S. Submarine Veterans of World War II] since ’93, and this is a big part of my life.
I think maybe that’s going to be the end of it for me. Let me just tell you my name is Jack Herron, I was born in Long Beach, California, February 24, 1927. I went in the Navy the summer of 1944. I came home Thanksgiving of 1947. I spent my life in the securities business really except for 10 years with Shell Chemical. I spent my life in the securities business, retired in ’93, have been a member of this chapter [Los Angeles Area Chapter, U.S. Submarine Veterans of World War II] since ’93, and this is a big part of my life. World War II Submarine Veterans History Project
in partnership with the
California State Military Museum
and the
California Military History Educational Project
Collecting Partner
Library of Congress
Veterans History Project
