World War II Submarine Veterans

"DEDICATED TO OUR SHIPMATES WHO SACRIFICED THEIR LIVES IN THEU.S. SUBMARINES DURING WORLD WAR 11"

"CHARTERED BY THE U.S. CONGRESS - NOV 1981" SUBMARINE VETERANS OF WWIISWAMP FOX JOURNAL

LEWIS ALLISON. STATE CDR. (843) 832-8787ED STANKE. PRESIDENT (843) 569-6012

MIGUEL EMERSON TREASURER (843) 553-4109GEORGE SCHARF VICE PRES. (843) 873-3318

BILL ROBERTS. BASE SECRETARY (843)-875-0191ROGER GIBSON. NEWSLETTER EDITOR (843) 875-4933

Our next meeting will be at 1314 North Main Street, Ryan's Family Steak House, Summerville SC onThursday, June 15th: at 1130 we look forward to seeing everyone at the meeting!

Invocation: George Scharf,Lunch: 1130-1215Meeting Called to order: George:

Purpose of the Organization:Pledge of Allegiance: William Jones Tolling ofLost boats: Ed and Lee

ED Stank: PresidentI need your prayers for Pauline she/we have been fighting quite a battle…

Lee Allison: State Commander:

Here we are in a time of national and world events never seen by our generation. ThePhysical heat around our nation has increased with the hot air from Washington this is unbearable.We are now into summer and after a non-winter and spring and so far our base is going strong in accordance otherstates, our WWII Members are now all lifers “or have been” with a count of 14 with two missing or not answering rollcall. “Ray Murphy and Andrew Palenchar” I hope these two men are alive and enjoying their location, Ray is with hisdaughter in Oregon and Andrew was in Colorado…. Our Spring event at the flag ceremony with Connie Mabie andSuzie and her family was great I know Sy was in front of his family during the service, he loved History and wanted to

keep it alive in our memories epically his World War II brothers so we can pass these memories to our children,History must be shared not put away in a box and left to decay…Freedom is not cheap our freedom is paid inBlood…Coming up in June we will be getting ready for a good summer and good times, remember stay out of the hot sun.Lee

Secretary, Bill RobertsNext meeting will be Thursday, 19 April at Ryan’s in Summerville at 1100. There will be information about theSwamp Fox chapter of Subverts WWII in the wake of National being dissolved this September.

February meeting minutes: February meeting had 19 members, nine guest and four WWII shipmates in attendance.Meeting conducted by Ed Stanke, chapter president, with Pledge of Allegiance, tolling of the boats lost in Januaryand February. He introduced the guest and gave update on upcoming Amberjack Memorial and Submarine serviceBirthday memorial. State Commander Lee was absent due to severe pain in hips. Roger Gibson gave update on theFlag Pole dedication for Sy Mabie in Bowman. Treasurer and Secretary Reports made. Dates to remember, March24th Amberjack memorial at Patriots Point, April 11th Submarine Service Birthday at Patriots Point and April 14th FlagPole dedication in Bowman.The Amberjack memorial was deferred to April 11th due to bad weather. It was held in conjunction with theSubmarine Birthday. There was a very good turnout for the occasions. On Saturday there was a great turnout forthe dedication of the flag pole honoring Sy Mabie sponsored by his daughter Suzie. WWII veterans participated inthe event during the recital of I Am the Flag and honoring Sy and all World War Two Veterans.

WWII meeting April 19th 2012Meeting held at Ryan’s in Summerville.Opening prayer; with the blessing of the food and Lunch. Meeting called to order. Conducted bell tolling for Marchand April lost boats. Ed Stank greeted members and guest. We had 24 members and guest. He then updatedeveryone on the condition of his wife who is at the Duke Medical center and told of the help he received from the TarHeel base. Lee reported that Charleston base USSVI will pick up the cost of the Polaris magazine for the WWII SubVets. As the Formal organization of sub Vets WWII will dissolve in September, We will no longer collect dues forthe Swamp Fox Chapter for associate members for national but we will be asking 15 dollars to keep the localbase going. This will be used for the associate members who want to receive the Polaris as soon as we find outwhat the future cost of the magazine. The years past it was 10 dollars for each associate. Feb minutes accepted.Treasurer gave the financial report. Old business: status of the combined base patch Roger Gibson not present togive the information. New business: Picnic will be on 5 May at Bushy Park where we held the Oyster Roast. Goodof the order: Tom Lufkin introduced his fiancée Trudy Glass who will be getting married tomorrow, Friday 20April.

News Letter Editor; RogerI guess by now you have noticed the absence of the newsletter, my computer has failed me with the last six monthsof data I lost everything and had to start over and yes even the email contacts but a lot has happened…We the WWII Sub Vets Charleston Base, Lee Allison Base commander…need to get a few things straightened outand see what direction we “WWII Swamp fox Chapter “and associates will go! From our last count from 263members in South Carolina we are down to 14: we have lost a WWII member “Binkley” who has gone to join hisshipmates on eternal patrol!Discussion with Swampy “Lee Allison” about base closure; we are not shutting down as long as we have WWIImembers staying active in the Swamp Fox Base; yes the WWII National base will shut down this SeptemberBut Charleston base will keep on going until the last man.Lee want to ensure we of the USSVI keep the tradition each year and hold services for the Amberjack at the ColdWar Memorial and if at all possible that we get the original Amberjack memorial moved to North Charleston to theirmemorial site… we shall see… I’ll give the roll call of our surviving members in South Carolina:

Allison, Jones, Henderson, Carswell, Hill, Jenkins, Murphy, Przyboroski, Strickland, Whatley, Wright, Copeland,Palenchar…and Clarkin who lives on Pa. . . .

Robbie our base secretary noted that we had 19 attending the last Feb meeting in with 4 WWII members attending.Meeting held in April 19th I was at a funeral in Arlington cemetery where one of my shipmates was laid to rest he wasa close friend, for those who haven’t been there it is a something on you to do list when you walk among the gravesand see row upon row of those who are laid to rest all heroes who served their country it is really humbling…

April 14th we had a flag dedication at Suzie and Hough Graham house along with Connie Maybe Sy’s widow, it was aperfect day with a good turnout, we had 11 World War Hero’s and one Korean veteran for the this event with at least30 USSVI along with their wives. Suzie wanted this dedication to be for the WWII Veterans and to give our thanks tothem for their service to our country that we may have our freedom.

Suzie along with Stacy Power, Lee Allison and Roger gave their thoughts about WWII. The cold war and thecamaraderie each of us has with our fellow shipmates and Suzie covered what Sy shared with her and her brotherand how he loved his fellow submarine brothers this is why this dedication was so important to her and her family andepically to all who served in WWII, this is your day.

In the ceremony the old flag was retired folded and Drew “Grandson” presented to Connie Mabie “Sy’s Widow”, hethen presented the new flag to Mike Emerson facing the World War Two Veterans held the flag above his head thensaid, “ I am the Flag of the United States of America “the two readers, George and Ken read the verses, as eachverse was read as the flag was passed to each WWII Veteran then as the last verse was read, the flag was taken tothe flag pole and with the National Anthem was played, Drew “Grandson of Sy and Connie” raised the flag then allpledged allegiance to the flag if the United States of America.

Some facts and figures at the end of the World War IITotal world population in 1939 when the Second World War started there was about 1,978,167,400; the totalmilitary losses were 22,572 400 - 25,487,500, the civilian losses due to war and carnage was 37,585.300 –55,207,00 the total death losses were 62,171,400 if we had lost the war what do you think the figures would be!

A survey was conducted among college students who had just graduated; the Questions that they were asked! Whatwas the Holocaust and who was Hitler, the closest answer was by a male student who said was “I think Hitler was aMan” the rest had no idea that a World War had been fought! This is really depressing to me….what are theprofessors teaching our children everyone has a computer or I Pad to get their answers no reading of books forresearch or doing your math problems long hand

One more bit of history, the USS Barb one of the famous boats with Medal of Honor Admiral Fluckey wound up inItaly and was scrapped for razor blades, why couldn’t this piece of history been preserved?

Some more history look at the battle of midway look at what they had and what we had for me I know what sideGod was on, how about you? Again thank you WWII Veterans

USS Cod World War Two Submarine Many veterans served on these BoatsJacks funeral at Arlington

Passing the flag to each WWII Veteran

Flag Ceremony at Bowman to honor the WWII Veterans Raising the colors