FREEDOM PRESERVED -- LIVES ARE SACRIFICED

United States Navy Band plays taps – a 24 note melody, 150 years old – honoring those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the cause of freedom -- especially remembered Memorial Day. 

"This version of taps was recorded by the United States Navy Band at the following locations: Display Ship Barry, Washington Navy Yard U.S. Navy Memorial, Washington, D.C. Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va.”

The first war in my lifetime, WWII which began when I was a child, is forever imbedded in my memory.   I believe that without a doubt the existence of this country, free, as we know it to be, depended entirely upon our forces prevailing in that war's outcome. Fortunately, allied forces did prevail. 

Our challenge is to safeguard those freedoms with balanced powers among the branches -- executive, legislative, judicial as described in our constitution -- needing to be monitored by public support of a dedicated to truth non-partisan Fourth Estate press.

My only still living cousin who served as a Wave is 96 years old.  My older brother who served in the U.S. Navy submarine service survived the war, but like increasing numbers of aging veterans died in recent years.   

My only brother and sibling focused his later years on Internet searches for reports of naval subs, ships and crews who had been lost at sea during the war.   Some vessels with their occupants had begun to be located in the ocean depths those many decades later and some yet  today. 

My brother was well aware he could easily have been one of those lost at sea.   The enemy fleet had been alarmingly spotted streaming through the Pacific Ocean in the direction of Australia.   At the last minute his commanding officer determined his communication skills were most needed ashore, so reassigned him from the submarine he had expected to be aboard.  That submarine with crew stealthily launched but was never heard from again.   

Regrettably, we have had more wars, more lives lost.    A PBS News Hour special report reveals by clicking on that link how many Americans have died in U.S. wars.  We pay tribute to them all.

COMMEMORATION

Memorial Day is a nationally recognized day dedicated to commemorating those who died in service to our country. History suggests the 1860's was the beginning of this remembrance day. The belief is that many planned or spontaneous gatherings of people in various towns began for the purpose of honoring those who died. Those were times of national differences with the Civil War. Differences of many kinds continue even today, but we should remember:

"Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all."

War dead numbers have continued to multiply since those nineteenth century years -- continuing into my lifetime beginning with World War II. Various memorials to individuals and groups have been created throughout the United States. Washington D. C. is the site of some U. S. National Memorials including one to World War II that was opened to the public on April 29, 2004, then dedicated two days before Memorial Day May 29, 2004.

For those living WWII veterans, whose numbers are dwindling yearly, the following audio/video is of significance. I think it is of special interest for those who have been unable to visit the WWII Memorial, as has been my brother's situation from his Hawaiian Islands home. He served in WWII Pacific Theater U. S. Navy Submarine Service Communications. I know he holds in high regard all those who paid the ultimate price for all of us.

http://youtu.be/rXjyxjjnje8

"An extensively narrated video tour of the WWII Memorial the week after it was opened to the public. It was prepared for a veteran with visual and physical impairments who was unable to visit the memorial personally. The filmmaker hopes other veterans will enjoy it too. All inscriptions are read aloud. (Edited down to 10 min.)"

Personal Memorial Day Perspective

Unexpected Connection to Book

Full Fathom Five

Amazing to me how quickly businesses rush to be first, even to the point of skipping over what's important. Am I missing something? Doesn't Memorial Day come before Father's Day? I entered a couple of national chain brick and mortar bookstores this weekend expecting to see some sort of display of books and DVDs that would reflect a Memorial Day sensibility, or some reference to veterans. Instead, I came face to face with an attractive arrangement of books promoting Father's Day. Isn't that in June? Guess there just isn't time to celebrate Memorial Day this year. Couldn't we do both?

Am I old fashioned wanting to concentrate on honoring the veterans that have given their lives for our country before progressing to whatever the next holiday may be? I didn't move the date up from the traditional 30^th to the 26^th (date changes each year, now,) but I've adjusted to go along with it. Are others more preoccupied with just the long weekend?

The very first war in my lifetime began during my childhood. Subsequent police actions (as one war was called) followed by other declared wars that came later, all seemed quite different to me from that first one I knew, World War II. I'm sure the differences among all those conflicts were of little consequence to the many individuals who were maimed, those with no physical scars but whose lives were forever altered, and especially for all those who had their lives permanently taken from them. What about their families – children, spouses, other friends and relatives?

Nevertheless, that first war of my lifetime, World War II, has forever been deeply imbedded in my memory. I believe that without a doubt the existence of this country, free, as we know it to be, depended entirely upon our forces prevailing in that war's outcome. Fortunately, we did prevail. We actually believed, as did those who gave their lives, that WWII would be the war to end all wars.

Those we honor this Memorial Day have died believing they were doing their utmost to preserve our nation's freedom, in whatever war they served. This commemoration begins with those who fought in the Civil War extending through the present time.

About those bookstores I mentioned above, I was disappointed Saturday when they had no special display of books focused on Memorial Day. There were various special display sections labeled Biography, Memoirs, New Releases, New Hardbacks, Fiction, Non Fiction, other general categories, along with Paperbacks. I noticed mixed into some of these groups were a few books associated with WWII , Korea and Viet Nam in addition to various other collections on tables and bookshelves at the front of the store.

Unexpectedly, even to myself, as this was not my pre-arranged plan, I was able to promote the idea at both stores of featuring a special table or display for Memorial Day, especially to include some books about WWII. Whether or not the suggestion resulted in any action remained to be seen. The idea did seem to come as a surprise to those in both bookstores, with the Manager in one store saying he guessed their corporate people didn't think of doing that, as the word his store received was to promote Father's Day. Maybe they could do both.

I mentioned I had noticed an attractive book display when I walked in the store. I told him, "That's nice, but Father's Day isn't until June. Memorial Day is coming up now." I added, "WWII memoirs, such as Full Fathom Five, are especially significant. Also, fewer and fewer of these Veterans are still living from whom we can learn the lessons of history. Honoring those no longer with us on Memorial Day is especially important for families, those Veterans remaining and all of us. What too many people today don't realize is, that you, I and this store might not even be here like this, if it hadn't been for the men like those WWII Vets we honor."

I was surprised that Saturday to learn the Mgr. at that same bookstore had responded to my query of a week or so earlier and ordered for his shelves some copies of the new book, Full Fathom Five, about which you can read in my previous post. I was delighted when he told me he had received the copies, so I suggested that book and those select titles I noticed on other tables could quickly and easily comprise a display to honor Memorial Day.

Maybe it's too much to expect such a display actually materialized, but I believe I have to speak up about what is important to me. Maybe this will be important to others, too. One thing I have learned in my lifetime is not to remain silent, or just to complain, then wonder why there is no change in the status quo.

I want to explain how I unexpectedly developed a special personal interest in the book, Full Fathom Five. I learned a year ago when talking about this book with one of the most significant men in my life from the time I was a young girl that he had not just been in the Navy during WWII, but was part of the U.S. Navy's Submarine Service – a group consisting entirely of volunteers.

This relative, a decade my senior in age had not strongly emphasized his military duty with the U.S. Navy was actually part of the Submarine Service, when I was growing up, as far as I had known. Maybe I hadn't understood there were various services within the U.S. Navy; perhaps he was modest, or he was just conditioned to follow the automatic general secrecy nature adhered to by those in that Service even long after WWII ended, as the author, Mary Lee Coe Fowler, discusses in her book.

My family member entered the U.S. Naval Service directly from high school in 1943 about the time Mary Lee's father, Commander Coe's active military career was regrettably and tragically ending somewhere in the South Pacific. (I prefer to think Jim Coe and his crew remained on duty for the remainder of WWII, wherever they became lost in the Pacific Ocean.) Ultimately my relative was among personnel assigned to the Admiral in Command of the U. S. Naval Force in the South Pacific, Seventh Fleet, Task Force/Group 71.

I sent my loved one a copy of the book once I realized what a significant connection existed for him with this book's contents about the U.S. Navy's Submarine Service. He had just completed reading Full Fathom Five, the book, when I spoke with him on the phone this weekend. He was impressed, saying the facts in the book, many with which he was quite familiar from experience and extensive reading in recent years, are correct based on his knowledge. Also, he noted he was pleased to have his memory refreshed with the account of the transition of communications (his specialty area) from the Philippines to the transmitters (as he recited over the phone to me the call letters) where he and others were stationed in Australia sending and receiving all transmissions with our submarines in the South Pacific.

He spoke of the U.S.S. Orion submarine tender; named various submarines, including Bluefish, Bullhead; described encountering the Bluefish again after WWII and coincidentally providing maintenance on her when he was in the U.S. Naval Reserve living on the East Coast. Like many others, he was well aware of the special importance of the South Pacific submarine fleet when intelligence information revealed the Japanese fleet was steaming toward Australia. Those in the Submarine Service have stories to exchange with each other of those tension-filled treacherous times during which he was a Radioman stationed on land in Perth, Australia.

Last year through Mother's Day and the first anniversary of my husband's death I recall visiting him and his wife. He was reading quite incessantly at the time, showing me many books which he was still thumbing through their well-worn pages. The books had to do with WW II's Submarine Service, Pigboats, and he talked of author Roscoe (noted in Fowler's book.) He had sought reference listings during these years of all the U.S. Navy's submarines and detailed information about them along with their personnel. He was especially concerned with listings of those submarines and men lost at sea, and any subsequent information, including the fact some once-lost submarine remains have been located in recent years.

He mentioned having earlier begun to research Submariner web sites, also that he had started writing his own memoirs of those times. Unfortunately, medical issues resulted in his having to discontinue independently performing both activities.

He talked about when stationed in Perth, Australia, each time he requested assignment to submarine duty, he was generally turned down by his commanding officer. His officer told him his technical and radio transmission skills were of more vital need on land. He would have been a recipient of some welcome incoming messages from South Pacific submarines and would have been listening intently for some that never came.

He has been interested in all known South Pacific submarine records and stories. Also, he's keenly interested in any new information about long lost submarines located in recent years. The Bullhead and crew would be of special interest to him should it ever be located, since after the boat left its Australian berth the boat's crew was never heard from again, he said.

I cannot imagine what life would have been like without him all these years. I'm glad our mother and I did not have to experience such loss. My heart goes out to the orphans, the Mary Lee Coe Fowler's of the world, their families and all submariners.

I offer this Memorial Day tribute to all those whose presence is with us only in spirit and memory, whatever war in which they had their lives taken from them, but I especially think of those in WWII. Though we may honor this May 26^th date, I'm sure I'll think of this tribute again on the more traditional date of May 30^th -- the date I have been accustomed to recognizing for so many years.

"Full Fathom Five" Special Story

"Full Fathom Five" is a title that has intrigued me. I first encountered the title as a blog a few months after I began reading some blogs a couple of years ago. I eventually learned how and why this title with Shakespearean origins became of such significance to blogger, Mary Lee Coe Fowler, a writer, teacher of English and ESL, stimulating her to write this book.

Mary Lee disclosed she had never known her father, Commander James Coe, who honorably served in the United States Navy Submarine Service during World War II. He was one of the multitudes of U.S. servicemen who had their lives taken from them during that war, including those lost at sea like her father, Commander Coe and his crew.

She never knew Jim Coe as he had returned to duty before she was born. Her brother's and sister's memories were limited as they were quite young, too, when their father left to fulfill his military assignment, ultimately in the Pacific. Mary Lee's ability to learn about her father from the time he was lost at sea was complicated by her mother and others not speaking of him, especially with the children, from the time he was declared lost. Only after her mother's death, and as a mid-life adult reading Shakespeare's "The Tempest," did the author receive the impetus to actively undertake discovering who her father was.

The author's youthful perceptions of this military man who was also her father were influenced by other factors. She was maturing as a young person of Quaker background whose peace-seeking values during the turbulent sixties, in the midst of an increasingly unpopular Viet Nam war, contributed to her formulation of a questioning attitude toward any and all military personnel, motives, actions then, and of other times.

Finally, in her mid-years, determined and curious to know this man, this unknown person to her, she sought information from those who knew her father and mother. She contacted men and women family friends, military men with whom he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, those with whom he served and those he commanded during WWII. She gradually began to piece together a view of various aspects of her father's personality from personal accounts described to her, based on events others shared with him, harvested from their memories.

His professional persona also emerged as fellow Annapolis graduates and other naval personnel related stories from their experiences with and about him. Official records and other naval documents contribute to the authenticity of facts discussed in the book. A striking picture of this naval officer, her father, reveals one of which she and the family are rightfully proud.

Whatever the personal and professional composite perspectives reveal, they are, at best, a tantalizing portrait of Jim Coe, her father, with which she must be satisfied. And yet, I wonder if there might be times when she wishes, "Oh, if only I could have known him." Or, "I wish he could have known me...my family....." Reflections on earlier years must invite memories of past instances when crossing her mind are thoughts like, "I wish I could have turned to him for counsel and comfort, or given him solace....."

I think based on conclusions drawn from some of his own reported and documented actions, he would be pleased with the manner in which his life, beliefs, values are presented here. His dedication to the United States Navy, and especially the Submarine Service, is above reproach. He more than fulfilled his duty, but he did not just blindly serve. He worked behind the scenes in a constructive manner toward correcting inequities that needed changing.

Like her father, the author, too, has examined issues research revealed affected daily life and survival for him and his crew(s.) This was especially so of those matters known to be of concern to her father, some of his crew and other officers, in her effort to present a true picture of certain known facts. She shares an appreciative humor for her father's own introduction of subtle levity into a serious issue which attracted unexpected attention from fellow Submariners and Naval Brass.

Analysis and reasoning enable her to make some logical inferences, drawing conclusions and describing conjectures that are worthy of consideration. She refers to known information that has provided distressing facts about some military decision making processes, possible deficient military equipment, imprudent choices based on political issues that may have resulted in the death of submariners.

I was impressed with the fact our country had such valiant warriors as her father, his crew and the other Submariners. Valiant warriors is what they were, those who persisted in performing their duties to the utmost of their abilities in a dedicated, just and honorable manner despite obstacles not of their making.

I find it deeply regrettable any of them had to function under less than optimum conditions. Regret, however, is insufficient for any of those whose lives were forever altered, or who did not survive at all, just as it is for their loved ones.

Thank you for conducting this search for your father, Mary Lee Coe Fowler.

Thanks to all those who shared their impressions, stories, memories, facts, documents.

Thank you for sharing Jim Coe and yourself in Full Fathom Five -- A Daughter's Search.

I'm sharing this early in a tribute before Memorial Day, especially to Submarine Service veterans, those lost at sea and all these orphan families. Those who are interested and intrigued by both the personal search of the author and the well-written laypersons descriptions of the U.S. Navy's Submarine Service will have an opportunity to order, possibly even receive this book to begin reading Memorial Day.

(Yes, this is a blatant book promotion from which I have nothing to gain, nor is the author even aware I'm doing so. I am clearly impacted by the nature of this story for more reasons than I've described here that I may write about later. I've also requested my local chain bookstore(s) feature a few copies in their brick and mortar stores (you might wish to do the same) though the book can be ordered online including at Amazon.com.)