Religions > Atheism > Mystery solved: A family’s search for a missing World War II Submarine
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Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"stoney" |
| Date: |
21 Sep 2007 07:14:25 PM |
| Object: |
Mystery solved: A family’s search for a missing World War II Submarine |
http://allday.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/09/21/373301.aspx
Mystery solved: A family’s search for a missing World War II Submarine
Posted: Friday, September 21, 2007 7:54 AM by Jen Brown
Categories: American Story with Bob Dotson
(From Bob Dotson, NBC News National Correspondent)
Longing can chart a better course than Mapquest. After 65 years, the
Abele brothers have finally found their father. Jim Abele commanded
the Grunion, a U.S. Submarine that disappeared off the coast of Alaska
during World War II.
Five years ago, his sons made a deal with their hearts, not their
heads, and went looking for him. It cost them a bundle.
“If this were to be an official Navy project,” John Abele chuckled, “I
would guess that the taxpayers would be paying about ten times what
we’re paying.”
“How much are you paying?” I asked.
“That’s a secret,” he laughed.
Just like the mystery of what happened to their father’s sub.
Military search planes never found where the Grunion sank, but the
brothers from suburban Boston kept looking. Last summer, they began
crisscrossing the Bering Sea probing the depths with Sonar. This
summer they found the sub a mile down on the slope of an underwater
volcano, 12 miles north of Kiska at the western tip of Alaska’s
Aleutian Islands.
Today’s American Story with Bob Dotson gives you an exclusive first
look at the underwater video that solved their 65-year mystery.
The brothers’ big break came, when a Japanese historian found an
account of the Grunion’s last battle. It said there was a
confrontation between a cargo ship and a sub. The freighter’s crew
spotted two torpedoes bubbling toward them. The first one missed.
The second one hit, exploded and stopped the engine. Terrified, the
Japanese seamen turned a deck gun on the sub. They fired 84 times, as
it began to surface.
“There was a dull thud noise and a little spout. Presumably oil, we
don’t know,” said Abele.
Their dad’s sub slid into history’s shadows. Seventy men were never
heard from again.
The last time the boys saw their father was at Sunday dinner here at
his sub base in Groton, Connecticut. Wartime secrecy prevented him
from telling them he was leaving. He slipped away without a kiss or a
wave.
John’s brother, Bruce, told me with a tear in his eye, “We knew that
he was gone when a neighbor called and said she had seen the sub
leave. We didn’t have a chance to say good-bye.”
Four months later their mom got a telegram saying Commander Abele was
missing, then a letter with a Navy Cross, citing him for valor. It
came with a check.
“She sent it back to the government,” said John.
And put her sons to work while she taught violin.
The brothers showed me stacks of letters their mother had received.
She wrote every family who lost someone on the Grunion.
Their mom never remarried. The boys never forgot. Jim never left
their minds.
“How did you finally grieve for your father?” I asked Bruce.
“I used to shoot baskets in the backyard. This is hard to say, but if
I could make five at a time, I’d say, ‘Jim’s coming back!’” He choked
up. “But he never did...”
So, his sons went to him. Some love cannot be measured. It is the
sum of a lifetime of searching.
Want to learn more about the Abele brothers’ efforts to save the USS
Grunion? Here’s where you can find more information:
www.ussgrunion.com/blog.
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| User: "johac" |
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| Title: Re: Mystery solved: A family’s search for a missing World War II Submarine |
22 Sep 2007 01:26:06 AM |
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In article <1gn8f31iih6jdf9vafocmfcib5u28m6fjk@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:
http://allday.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/09/21/373301.aspx
Mystery solved: A family’s search for a missing World War II Submarine
Posted: Friday, September 21, 2007 7:54 AM by Jen Brown
Categories: American Story with Bob Dotson
(From Bob Dotson, NBC News National Correspondent)
Longing can chart a better course than Mapquest. After 65 years, the
Abele brothers have finally found their father. Jim Abele commanded
the Grunion, a U.S. Submarine that disappeared off the coast of Alaska
during World War II.
That's amazing. After al these years.
--
John #1782
"We should always be disposed to believe that which appears to us to be
white is really black, if the hierarchy of the church so decides."
- Saint Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) Founder of the Jesuit Order.
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: Mystery solved: A family’s search for a missing World War II Submarine |
18 Oct 2007 12:50:16 AM |
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On Fri, 21 Sep 2007 23:26:06 -0700, johac
<jhachmann@remove.sbcglobal.net> wrote:
In article <1gn8f31iih6jdf9vafocmfcib5u28m6fjk@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:
http://allday.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/09/21/373301.aspx
Mystery solved: A family’s search for a missing World War II Submarine
Posted: Friday, September 21, 2007 7:54 AM by Jen Brown
Categories: American Story with Bob Dotson
(From Bob Dotson, NBC News National Correspondent)
Longing can chart a better course than Mapquest. After 65 years, the
Abele brothers have finally found their father. Jim Abele commanded
the Grunion, a U.S. Submarine that disappeared off the coast of Alaska
during World War II.
That's amazing. After al these years.
Indeed. I'm glad they were able to solve the mystery.
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