Reunions help memories come back to the surface

Recently, I had the opportunity to gather with six shipmates I hadn’t seen for over 50 years. We were shipmates on a rechristened World War II diesel submarine, the USS Bream (SS 243) back in the 1960s. I write this mainly for the following: Veterans of all the services who have had the opportunity to gather once again after all these years know the joy and emotion of doing so.

Many of us were in our late teens or early 20s and are now in our 70s but can fondly remember all the (mostly crazy) things we did back then. What memories. Being Navy submariners, we were all volunteers. The Navy could not assign you to a submarine; you had to volunteer and pass a battery of tests both physical and emotional (you had to be somewhat crazy.) After that, you went to submarine school then to a boat (submarines are called boats, not ships.)

The next eight months or so, you had to learn every system and be able to operate it regardless of whether it was what you ordinarily did. The ocean is unforgiving, especially hundreds of fathoms under the surface. You have only one chance to correct a problem or it’s sayonara. Once you accomplished the above, you were designated “qualified in submarines,” which meant you could wear with pride the Submarine Dolphin pin.

You can probably understand the bond that develops among the crew. We all recognized that our lives depended on one another. Veterans in the other services who were in similar situations, combat or otherwise, can certainly relate to this and I’m sure, when and if they ever get together, will experience what I did several days ago.

Fond, emotional memories I will always cherish.

PETE RATHMELL Garfield