The United States Submarine Veterans of World War Two was officially started in August of 1955 when a handful of submarine veterans met in Atlantic City to form their own fraternal organization ....but it really started long before that. The true birth date was December 7, 1941. After the Japanese swept across the Pacific, striking Pearl Harbor, only one arm of the fighting forces remained to take the offensive....the submarine. All other forces, land, sea and air, had either been neutralized or were assigned to defensive action. Within a few days after the attack the submarine took the war directly to the front door of the Japanese Empire slashing supply Lines and cutting into invasion convoys.

With such early exposure, heavy submarine losses were inevitable and requests for volunteers were sent out to the fleet. Those who passed the stringent screening came from all parts of the country and all walks of life. From the hills of Tennessee and Kentucky; from the concrete canyons of New York; from the Indiana farms and from the Texas plains, seemingly diverse and yet with common qualities. Each was to take his place in the closely knit family constellation that formed the submarine crew.

In the early days of the war returning submarine men were a common sight in the streets of Honolulu. It was easy to recognize them....their faces were bleached white from weeks submerged and, equally conspicuous, you rarely saw one alone and you never saw one with anyone other than another submarine man. What factors bound these men together with such unparalleled cohesiveness? The initial screening, surely, but much more than that. When a submarine transited its own mine fields and headed out on war patrol, every contact was potentially hostile. Frequently bombed and depth charged by our own aircraft, any contact might send the crews to depth charge stations. West of the 180th meridian every contact was enemy. And returning to Pearl Harbor was to risk attack by Destroyers sent out to escort through the mine fields. Submarine crews soon
learned to have little confidence in all forces who did not wear dolphins.

The guns of war are silent now and the depth charges which once reverberated across the Pacific are heard no more. But their thunder still lives in the hearts of those who challenged their power and the close bond, born in their echoes, will exist forever among the men who lived and fought on submarines.

Billy Grieves