NEWS-01: National Board activity September 2013 Submitted
by: T. Michael Bircumshaw on 10/1/2013
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Shipmates,
A heads up on what the National Board of Directors BOD
has been doing is as follows.
But first a message in behalf of our reason for being
here:
The US Submarines lost in the month of October are:
USS Seawolf (SS-197)
Lost with all hands (82 crew and 17 U.S. Army) on 3 October 1944 when it
was mistaken for a Japanese submarine and sunk by friendly destroyers just
north of Morotai, Republic of the Philippines.
USS S-44 (SS-155) Lost on 7 October 1943 with the loss of
54 men when it was sunk by surface craft off Paramushiru, Kuriles. 2 men survived and were taken prisoner.
USS Wahoo (SS-238)
Lost with all hands (80 men) during a Japanese air and surface attack on
11 October 1943 in La Perouse Strait off northern Japan.
USS Dorado (SS-248)
Lost with all hands (76 men) by an Air Attack on 12 October 1943 in the
SW Atlantic.
USS Darter (SS-227)
Lost on 24 October 1944 when it became grounded on Bombay Shoal off
Palawan then was destroyed. All the crew were rescued by USS Dace.
USS Shark (SS-314) Lost with all hands (90 men) on 24
October 1944 when it was sunk by Japanese surface craft in the channel midway
between Hainan and Bashi Channel.
USS Tang (SS-306) Lost with 78 men on 25 October 1944
when it was sunk by her own torpedo in the north end of the Formosa
Strait. Nine of the crew were taken
prisoner and survived the war. Her
Commanding Officer, Richard O’Kane,
received the Congressional Medal of Honor.
USS Escolar (SS-294) Lost with all hands (82 men) by
possible Japanese Mine in the Yellow Sea off China on 17 October 1944.
USS O-5 (SS-66) Lost on 29 October 1923 with the loss of
3 men when it was sunk after a collision with the SS Ababgarez (owned by the
United Fruit company) off the Panama Canal.
Torpedomans Mate 2d Class (SS) Henry Berault received the Congressional
Medal of Honor for his heroic actions.
September BOD business:
The Smokey Mountain Base proposed the adoption of the “Polaris Military Tartan” as the officialTartan of
USSVI. After much discussing and
cussing, the Polaris Military Tartan was approved by the BOD as the USSVI
official Tartan. Now all we need is for
the Smokey Mountain Base to write up a nice article explaining how it came into
existence in the first place and submit
some photos of one of our hairy legged shipmates in full regalia, in living
color of course.
The BOD approved an additional $8,000.00 for the
operating costs of the national office (contract payments for the office
manager) to allow for the additional 4
months in this (once in a USSVI lifetime) 16 month budget.
The BOD has determined that the annual midterm meeting
will be held in Dallas Texas from the 10-12 of March 2014. For those of you with midterm business items
please get them submitted early enough
for us to consider them.
The following items were opened and discussed but will
remain in “Old Business” for the October online BOD
meeting:
1. National
organization funding.
2. Long
Range Planning. To identify the items of
major significance for our Long Range Planning is to nail down 3 primary
directions:
A. Fund
Raising
B. Member
Recruiting
C. Member
Retention
Everything else is collateral and or secondary to keeping
us healthy and progressing in our purpose and reason for existing
3. This
is related to national funding and is the continuing discussion of the 2014,
50th anniversary memorial coin. Be ready
to get the dozen you will want for family and friends. In fact give it to them with a copy of the
new 2014 USSVI calendar. Everybody needs
to know what fine Sub Vet day it is.
If I missed anything I’m sure someone will remind me in a most gentle way and I will
pass it on.
Have a safe and sane Halloween and brush well after all
of that “Trick or Treating” I know you will all be doing.
Thanks for your service and thanks for being a Sub Vet.
Best,
Michael
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