Twin Lakes Base, Submarines WWII, submarine display, speaking engagement and book signing: The Twin Lakes Base meeting is October 28th at the Elks. Oct 31-Nov 2, I will be attending the Arkansas Submarine Veterans WWII, Diamond Chapter gathering at Eureka Springs, AR. The month of November the Twin Lakes Base will have a display of submarine memorabilia at the Baxter County Library, Mountain Home, AR. November 26, 1:30 pm, Commander Wayne Kirk Smith and Mary Nida Smith, will be the speakers at the meeting of the Friends of the Library. Sunday, December 7, 2:00-4:00 pm, I will be one of the authors at the library’s Books Sale & Signing Event.

If you were aboard the USS Carbonero (SS-337) during any of the following dates: May & June 1965 August & September 1966 or April & May 1968, you should contact the nearest VA Medical Center and request an evaluation from their Environmental Agents Group.This was the boat that was used for the SHAD testing to determine vulnerabilities to chemical and/or biological warfare.For more information contact Ted McAnly - his email address is thmjmac@netzero.net .

Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron Seven, NAS, Norfolk, Virginia, was originally established in April 1956, after one year of practice. MELVIN TOLBERT SMITH SOCA (SS) JOINED 1 JUNE 1955, TRANSFERRED 1 NOVEMBER 1961 TO FLEET RESERVE/ RECRUITING STATION – PORTLAND OREGON. 1958-59 Smith was Chief SON/C. He was Chief over about 100 Sonarman during their training. There were about 400 men in each squadron – His Squadron was the first to have a Sonarman. Many of the photos Smith has in his files are Official United States Navy Photographs: CARRIER USS LEYTE (CVS-32), and the USS -1 AIRCRAFT HSS-7 in flight (7/18/58). Commander H.M. Nelson, Secretary of the Navy William B. Franke and Melvin T. Smith in 1958 preparing to go aboard the HSS-7 (another photo has Smith buckling in the Secretary of the Navy). A photo of Smith as Commander Mac A. Graham presented him a letter from Admiral John Smith Thach, USN (1958-1959). Four other Chief Sonarman under Smith was present in the same photo. Admiral Thach was in command of an antisubmarine development unit, with VALLEY FORGE (CVS-45) SERVING AS HIS FLAGSHIP. Smith received the “HELICOPTER RESCUE CERTIFICATE - Know All Men By These Presents that SOC M.T. SMITH USN has been awarded THE “WINGED S” AIR RESCUE EMBLEM having participated in a successful life-saving operation with a Sikorsky Helicopter January 15, 1957 sign by Mr. Sikorsky and L.S. Johnson, General Manager and a Letter of Commendation: “The operation took place while operating from the USS LEYTE. Where Smith was the Sonar Operator of Ho48-3 Buno 138529, which was airborne nearby… Smith and the pilot, LTJG MURRY H. WRIGHT, USS performed this mission demonstrated a high degree of training and skill on the part of both the pilot and crewmen….” Signed by H.M. Nelson. They saved the life of Edmund J. Paczkowski who Mel had spent two days training. Four helicopters take off, Mel and the Captain of the fleet are the last ones to take off going out and coming in they are the first to take off the carrier 23 January 1957. A Letter of Appreciation during SPRINGBOARD 1958, period 24 January – 25 February 1958 (Smith invented by Water Telephone) “Commanding Officer, Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron SEVEN … sign by J.S. Thach COMMANDERS: H.M. NELSON, MAC A. GRAHAM, AND C.R. JOHNSON Melvin T. Smith remembered losing two choppers on the VALLEY FORGE (CVS-45).

It is time to put together the S-28 column for the next All Clear newsletter. Please write back with family updates or any interesting stories you can remember. Anything relating to life aboard, qualifying, standing watches, the food, the people you worked or had liberty with, anything at all. Thanks very much.Terry Kuhn, Yankee Doodle Dandygram Editor yddeditor@gmail.com The All Clear newsletter is the official journal of North Carolina Subvets - Editor /Publisher Jerry "Patch" Paciorek ibpatch@yahoo.com

Charlie "Doc" Rose was a Vietnam Corpsman who wrote a book on his experiences, "Corpsman Up." I wish my brother who served in Vietnam would read this book or I should say, I wish people who know him, but who has never served, or been in the middle of the war would read it. People who serve, go to a war zone and what happens to them is real, very real. Check out Charlie website http://www.charliedocrose.com/

Military website to keep in touch with those veterans you have served with over the years. Check out http://www.togetherweserved.com/ The Twin Lakes Base of the United States Submarine Veterans Inc (USSVI) is sponsoring its first-ever all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast next Saturday, October 11th, from 7-10 am at the American Legion Building, 717 Market Street, Mountain Home (turn between new Liberty Bank on Hwy 62 and old Wal-Mart); watch for signs. The menu includes pancakes, sausage, biscuits & gravy, OJ & coffee. $5 donation per adult, $3 for kids under 10. Proceeds from this event will benefit the MHHS Naval Junior ROTC program.

HOLLAND CLUB MEMBER, UNITED STATES SUBMARINE VETERANS INC.

TWIN LAKES BASE, MOUNTAIN HOME, ARKANSAS

Back Roll L-R Ralph Klotz, Robert Holzapfel, HC Davis, Duane Goodlett, George Harlow

Front Roll L-R Melvin Smith, Robert Lents, Larry Noker

Members not present: Dave Latimer, Bob Buschbacker, Richard Doro, David Latimer, Bill McKinney, John Scairpon

The Twin Lakes Base has twenty-nine members plus two associate members.

----- Original Message ----- From: Alex Buder To: marynida@lakeviewnet.com Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 5:01 PM Subject: Documentary TV Series about WWII Submarine Veterans Dear Ms. Smith, My name is Alex Buder and I am an associate producer at Story House Productions, an award winning television and film documentary company based out of Washington, DC. We are currently in pre-production on a new TV documentary series centered around American WWII submarines and were wondering if you would be willing to assist us in bring the patriotic real life tales of the officers and crew to the screen. Specifically we were hoping that you could help put us in touch with the actual veterans who served aboard the submarines during the War so that we could ask them if they would be willing to be interviewed as part of the series. Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you! Best Regards, -Alex Buder Alex Buder Associate Producer Story House Productions 2233 Wisconsin Ave. NW Washington, DC 20007 202-464-7260 buder@storyhousepro.com _ Original Message ----- From: Alex Buder To: Mary Nida Smith Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2008 2:21 PM Subject: RE: Documentary TV Series about WWII Submarine Veterans Dear Mary Nida, Thank you so much for both your quick and extremely informative response. We are currently in the pre-production phase but wanted to include a rough figure for the number of veterans we were hoping to interview as part of the series and to do this we needed to get in contact with these men in order to be in the accurate with our estimate. Needless to say, the names you provided have launched us well over the top for the number we were hoping to get on such short notice and we thank you profusely. The series itself is currently in pre-production to be broadcast on the History Channel and will focus on the key moments in the tours of several American Submarines in the Pacific Theater of World War II. It is our goal to introduce a new generation as well as those who sadly do not normally have an interest in their history to the patriotic and brave real life experiences of the WWII submarine crews. We are planning to accomplish this through a mixture of 3D animation of the ships and environments with interviews of the actual sailors and examinations of the technology, tactics, and strategies used by the crews. In essence we are seeking to grab the viewers with the animation then show them that each episode was a real, serious event and those who experienced it are the greater and most important elements of the series than any 3D computer generated movie sequence. Since we are in pre-production we do not have a fixed timeline for when we would be conducting the interviews. As I mentioned, we are specifically looking to see how many crewmembers might be interested in participating in the series. Our company has a wealth of experience conducting interviews with military individuals and those who have experienced traumatic events, though in my opinion these interviews will far out shine them by miles. If you’d like to explore our previous work, please feel free to explore our website at www.storyhousepro.com. Specifically, I’d recommend looking at our documentary on the USS Cole. Once again, thank you for getting back to me so expediently and for assisting us with the series. Best Regards, -Alex Buder Alex Buder Associate Producer Story House Productions 2233 Wisconsin Ave. NW Washington, DC 20007 202-464-7260 buder@storyhousepro.c